11. Certain nonsexual smells turn me on, why?

You’re not alone in this regard. The nonsexual smells that arouse various people are almost limitless and include those of foods, cleaning materials, clothing, machines animals, furniture, and even medicine.
Why does this happen? Because smell triggers memories. Your first kiss may have been in a kitchen filled with fresh baked pie; mine was under a recently polished mahogany desk. The first place we have sex, the breath of a special person, the hideaway where we met a secret lover, the soap we used when preparing for a date—all get an honored place in our olfactory hall of fame.
Like taste, smell bypasses the cognitive, rational part of the brain. This makes it a perfect way to store memories connected with feeling rather thought. The smell of mahogany polish—and the taste of the boysenberry jam my six-year-old girl-friend had eating—will always excite me just a bit.