Yeah, indeed it aint healthy... but that didn't stop me from smelling it just once in undergrad. I had to get at least one whiff of this iconic compount
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.
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.
I liked xylene most, followed by toluene. Maybe it's bias because you know it is carcinogenic... but indeed benzene isn't as nice as the others. Vicious undertones, that's very apt.
