I do miss the smells of O-chem lab. It is like hearing a crips clear note played when you have only ever heard chords. I think my favorite was thymol, a thyme extract. Something I've smelled a thousand times but never in isolation.

IMO benzene smells like gasoline (and AFAIK is mostly responsible for its smell), but somewhat sweeter and more concentrated.

It's a different, "aggressive" sweetness than that of chlorocarbons, which to me are far more pleasant.

Too bad they're all quite harmful otherwise.

Sweet? I'd rather liken it to period blood, but more metallic and kind of... vicious. Its smell is hardly comparable to its relatives xylene, toluene, ethyl benzene.