Just a random musing: When I was around 8 or so, my beloved centenarian aunt gifted me with a cedar box full of hard raspberry candies for Christmas. The candies evaporated quickly, but the cedar box continued to delight for years. There is nothing like the smell of solid cedarwood. Coming back from her last trip to Maine, my beloved brought me back a little kiss of cedarwood from Bailey Island (points for the reference). It smells heavenly.

Nowadays you go to a furniture store and they trumpet “Cedarwood Drawers!” or similar things. What they mean is that human technology has managed to slice cedar into a veneer about three molecules thick, whose smell will have evaporated before they even get it off the truck

Case in point: Espresso Cedar Chest, for sale at RC Willey in  Orem, Utah for $229.00.

Crafted for functionality as well as elegance, this cedar chest makes a charming and sensible addition to your home. Solid wood construction and a plush seat cushion provide sturdy usability. Classic styling ensures it will be a family heirloom for years to come.

Solid wood… but what they don’t say is that at that price it’s going to be solid pine, with one of those vanishingly-thin cedar veneers inside. The odor will be like lipstick: one kiss and its’ gone.

It’s an abomination. Give me solid cedar, or give me death.

The Old Wolf has spoken.