Patchouli is a scented oil beloved of hippie chicks ... along with love beads and earth shoes. It stinks, IMO.
I picture the mother who accosted you as having been a hippie.
Perhaps I was being a little too obscure?
I was in Vietnam and then the hospital for a while, so I sort of missed out of some of the weirdness. That was a really insane time, wasn’t it?