When I was framing houses-
Roof is done, time to start siding-
The smell of cedar sawdust after putting a new, sharp blade in the saw.
Wonderful.

So nasty


Necrotic bowel is the worst smell ever

Not to mention fresh GI bleed.....

.

Likes, for better or worse:

- A freshly popped can of tennis balls
- Unfiltered camels, but only if mixed with other carpentry
aromas - like mildly scorched wood. Minor second place for a
milder cigar
- Cannabis - and not coincidentally, (faint) skunk on the breeze
in the summer and even sunburnt beer in green/clear bottles
- Pine tar/pitch for wooden XC skis
- Burger King exhaust (the vapors, not the horrific actual food)
- My own farts

Dislikes:
- Anything "fruutey" that reminds me of urinal cakes
- Fake/cloying "barbecue" aroma, except for Burger King
- Anyone else's farts

Rotting flesh. Human is worse.

About 44 years ago the baby in diapers discovered undiluted grape juice. Unthinkingly, we let him have a bunch of it. Well, that went through him like **** through a goose along with the smooshed-up green beans he also devoured.

So, mom starts changing him on one of those elevated changing table things we kept in the bathroom.

Then the smell hit.

The sounds of a gagging commotion brought me swiftly into the danger zone just in time.

Mom was trying to keep junior on the table thing with one hand and covering her mouth with the other whilst falling out of consciousness. Suddenly prioritizing, I let mom collapse in a choking heap of revulsion, saved the kid from rolling off with one hand and put the other to work pinching my nose, which only helped a little.

Fortunately, it all worked out in the end.

Like:
Most cooking smells
Fresh coffee (unflavored, please)
Gasoline
Motor oil (IMHO, synthethic smell better than 100% dino oil)
Grease
Machining cutting oil

One of the best things I ever smelled was years ago a co-worker heating his homemade venison sausage over a hotplate.

Dislike
New rubber tires
Tire smoke
Mineral spirits, especially the new "low odor" type (gives me a nasty headache)
Cooking garlic (I'm allergic, it turns out, which kinda sucks)
Really strong locker room stank (damn - how did I ever put up with that when I was younger?)
Many perfumes
Car air fresheners (some are gag-inducing)
Vomit smell (not just the smell - it brings back too many memories)
The distinctive urine smell (mixed with other smells) in the NYC subway
And likely worst: The acidic smell inside a chicken coop

Note: Because of my profession, I have smelled burning flesh (via anatomy lab and electrosurgical tool) human vascular and organ tissue (including necrotic tissue), and formaldehyde-like solvents, as well as various bodily fluids and I don't remember those as bad smells - they just "were".

Gear oil and decomp are the worst

Likes:
The smell of an old school hardware store.
Two stroke boat exhaust first thing in the morning before the "lake is glass" ski.
Spring smell of the trees flowing sap and leaves budding.
VW aircooled engine exhaust.
Freshly ground or freshly opened coffee.
The fall forest mountain bike ride smell.
Dislikes:
The smell of heavy equipment diesel exhaust after a cold winter day startup.
Sick dog diarrhea in the house,
Any scent by Axe.

Another like:
The smell of a fresh Christmas tree in the house...
Ours is coming down tomorrow. It held up very well and took water consistently through the weeks it was up.

Dislikes. Hydrogen sulfide, briefly. Likes phosgene, very briefly.

i'll take a light scent of patchouli over febreeze.
i finally sold my RZ350, last year - previous to that?
older guys would (quite often) run over and sniff that thing - like a junkyard dog on a ripe carcass.

Nothing can beat the smell of my garage about an hour after parking my 59 BMW R60 after a long ride.

Nothing.

Theres alot of smells that we will likely never smell again. Probably because they are from harmful chemicals. But old houses is one. Like you had a good chance of coming across them in the 80s or 90s to smell a good old house but its gone away now. Once in a long while you might come upon a whiff that will bring back the memory of it. Another one is proper starting fluid. I came upon 3 cans of 70s stuff and man they dont make it like that anymore im afraid to use it.

I will miss running columns of ether or hexane:chloroform.