This is the meaning of smelling a dead person’s habit. Kiran Desai wrote of many tropes in her latest book, The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny. Seher, Sonia’s mother, said to her: “I still smell cherry tobacco and know he’s with me. He must have come to see you.” (Desai, p. 200)
It was Siegfried Barbier’s habit to smoke his pipe while sitting outdoors, looking out at Bandarpunch.
Legend says that while the dead may not appear in visible form to be seen by others, they might be able to carry their regular smells, to alert the living relatives, that they are near.
A dreamer is able to smell even while sleeping. The following is a story.
Dreaming of smelling cough syrup
Have you ever dreamed of smelling a scent even while asleep? This woman told me she dreamed she received the stimulus of smell in her sleep. She said she thought she smelled the scent of her grandfather’ cough syrup, which he was using just before his death.