Bowling ball maker finds sweet smell of success

The company also is considering putting the scents in its lower-end balls that turn up in bowling alleys.

Neil Stremmel, research director for the United States Bowling Congress in Greendale, Wis., bowling’s regulatory body, said most bowlers don’t use the balls for scent or color, but for their performance — such as if they curve a certain way.

But, “I like the smell of my grape ball,” he said.

“It’s a secondary thing for the upper echelon or top bowlers,” Stremmel said. “I could see newcomers or average bowlers, you know, getting into it for that reason because it’s cool or they think somebody might think it’s cool.”

The scents can help bowlers’ concentration, since many bring the ball near their nose at the lane, Kloempken said.

“It gets into a natural part of the routine for a lot of the bowlers,” he said. “It gets them in a certain frame of mind.”

Joe Cerar Jr., owner of Wisconsin’s largest bowling retailer, Bowler’s Pro Shop in Milwaukee, attests to that. Cerar said his peppermint-scented ball helped him last year when he competed in the PBA Senior Tournament.

“I felt more calm and relaxed,” he said. “I went from nervous to calm and I was smelling the peppermint.”

Cerar’s shop has 15 different scented balls and he said the smell makes a difference when someone chooses between two balls of the same price.

“On a fringe customer who is undecided, it’s sometimes a determining factor,” Cerar said.

Two people, of thousands, have told him they wouldn’t buy a ball because of the scent, he said.

John Petroff, 46, of Milwaukee, was in the shop recently to order cinnamon- and amaretto-scented balls. He has 10 to 20 balls, which include cinnamon apple, wintergreen, blueberry and peppermint scents.

He doesn’t pick them just for their scent, he said, but that doesn’t hurt.

“The bag does smell better especially when you have four or five of them,” Petroff said.

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