Archive for October, 2007
The Magic of Scratch and Sniff Stickers
History
Creative Teaching Press (CTP), Trend Enterprises, and Mello Smello are just some of the companies that had marketed the immensely popular ‘scratch and sniff’ stickers in the 80’s. The 3M corporation invented microencapsulated fragrances that were later incorporated into matte paper stickers and became the scratch and sniff stickers we know today. Although scratch and sniff stickers were available only through educational catalogues, they were soon available for ‘non-educational’ purposes also.
How scratch and sniff stickers work
Scratch and sniff stickers use a technology called microencapsulation. Microencapsulation is designed to trap the aroma generating chemical and encapsulate it in small gelatin or plastic spheres. The spheres are extremely small and are no more than a few microns in diameter. Since all fragrance is essentially vapor, the spheres actually act as store houses of fragrance. When the sticker is scratched, the microcapsules rupture releasing the fragrance. Before microencapsulation, the best a manufacturer could do was capture fragrance in fragrance sticks or in absorbent materials. Microencapsulating is a much more effective way of trapping fragrance. Read more
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