[1] He began his journalism career in 1987 as a stringer in The Christian Science Monitor's Southeast Asia bureau,[2] and later became a Contributing Editor to U.S. News & World Report.

[5] Burr's The Emperor of Scent, published in 2003, tells how the French-Italian scientist Luca Turin originated the theory about the functioning of the sense of smell.

Burr's March 2005 New Yorker article recounted Jean-Claude Ellena's year-long creation, in Paris and Grasse, of Hermès' Un Jardin sur le Nil.

[10] The New York Times reported that when asked about his refusal to display packaging or bottles, Burr replied "[T]he smell [is] the work of art.

The DSA produces exhibitions such as Hyper-Natural: Scent from Art to Design at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.”[12] The Bogotá newspaper El Tiempo in its edition of 2 December 2011 carried an article on how Burr reportedly had failed to disclose his sexual orientation in petitioning to adopt two Colombian orphans.