Flat and... There's a kind of bitter, chemical smell to it, though.
What happens instead is that the natural odor is transcribed into what is most often described as an unpleasant aroma, typically a "'burned,' 'rotting,' 'fecal,' or 'chemical' smell."
It was an astringent, chemical smell - the smell of a tannery, or a broken bottle in a doctor's office.
It was a pungent, chemical smell.
The pungent, chemical smell that meant 3M's two big plants were running was missing.
Because of the distinctly chemical smell and feel of thermal paper, many people dislike using it.
The air had that thin, foul, chemical smell of a world neither completely terraformed nor totally inimical to man.
It might have been coated with something because it had a slightly chemical smell when it burned.
The hands had a sharp, chemical smell.
Noises in the night woke the inhabitants from deep, drugged sleep, and the dawn came through greenish mists with a sharp, chemical smell.
