Printed from smellbook.com/smells/hay. This printout keeps the entry for Hay itself: its description, reference card, Connections, questions, evidence, related smells, record details, states, names and citation. It leaves out your own notes, the map, the lists of paths, routes, stories and fragrance directions, and the lists headed “Also linked to” (other entries that share its place or material) and “Linked from”; they are on the page online. The entries this one links to are still printed under Connections and Related smells.
Categories and types group entries for browsing; they are editorial, not evidence. How smells are grouped.
Dry grassy warmth with sweet, dusty and sun-warmed field associations.
Its type, Source, means the smell is named after “a physical origin that can contribute a smell”; it is not an evidence source, such as a study or a book.
Hay smells dry, grassy and warm, with a sweet, sun-baked note that some compare to tea leaves or tobacco. EDITORIAL
Named in the VERIFIED claims about this smell: not a list of what it is made of, and not its cause.
This entry links to
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Links SmellBook records for this entry: where you meet it, what was written about it, molecules and related smells. EDITORIAL links are chosen by SmellBook editors, VERIFIED links come from VERIFIED claims and HISTORICAL links describe what one source wrote at one time. Nothing here is a ranking, and a molecule is not presented as the cause of the smell.
QUESTIONS ABOUT HAY
Hay smells dry, grassy and warm, with a sweet, sun-baked note that some compare to tea leaves or tobacco. A fine dustiness rises when it is shaken, giving the nose a tickly, dry texture. Freshly baled hay is greener and sweeter; older hay turns flatter and more dusty. It is often confused with straw, which is paler, thinner and less sweet.
It is met in barns and stables, in fields after mowing, and along country lanes beside freshly baled fields. Pet bedding, rabbit hutches and decorative bales carry a milder version indoors.
Typical settings: barn, field, dry grass.
SmellBook links it to 2 place pages: see them in Connections.
One VERIFIED scientific claim from one published source is recorded for this entry: Volatiles released as cut grass dries. This claim says only what its source supports, in the scope shown with it.
The scientific study behind this evidence is chemistry or emission work, not a study of how the smell is perceived.
It also has one historical source, which records what was written without stating the time described, not a scientific finding: see its historical records.
6 molecules are named in this claim; see the evidence for the role the claim gives them. The molecules this claim names were detected or measured in the study. The claim does not say they shape the smell.
Hay represents dried plant material and differs from the vivid green smell of freshly cut grass.
Words that are easy to mix up: Why is creamy not just sweet? and Is every warm smell spicy?
One historical source describes it. It describes a time it does not state, no later than its publication, not the present: see its date in Connections; the sources are with the evidence below.
Answers marked EDITORIAL are written by SmellBook editors to describe the experience and add no scientific fact. Answers marked VERIFIED point to claims on published sources, checked against each source's own summary where one was available (each claim's page says how); what each claim supports is in its own text and scope.
Scientific evidence · 1 claim
Conditions or places studied
Volatiles released as cut grass dries
In laboratory measurements, cut grass and clover released a burst of volatile compounds when cut, followed by a second, more intense emission lasting several hours as the plants began to dry, with enhanced emissions of methanol, acetaldehyde, acetone and butanone besides the (Z)-3-hexenal, (Z)-3-hexenol and hexenyl acetate released on wounding.
Freshly cut grass and clover drying in a laboratory; the source does not mention haymaking or study finished hay, and it measures emissions, not odour.
Also covers: chemistry reported (the claim names compounds or kinds of compounds).
How this was found: Emissions or air measured. What a material, product or place releases into the air was measured, usually without assessing odour. Source: primary study; material-emission work.
Joost A. de Gouw, Carleton J. Howard, Thomas G. Custer & Ray Fall
DOI 10.1029/1999gl900076Historical evidence · 1 claim
The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica's article on hay as fodder says good hay should come out green and smelling of coumarin, the substance it credits with the scent of new-mown hay.
A reference work describing hay quality in its own time; SmellBook records what it says, not a present-day analysis of hay.
How this was found: Historical text. A published historical text, read on a digitised page; it records what was written when it was published. Source: historical record.
Passage: p. 109. Published 1911, the latest time it can describe; not the present.
Unsigned
Each molecule is named by the claim shown after it. These molecules were detected or measured in the study. About molecules in SmellBook
Links chosen by SmellBook editors, not a ranking.
Associations can vary strongly by person, place and culture.
PATHS FROM HERE
Each step is a relationship SmellBook editors recorded in the knowledge graph, named as it is published there. Paths are not ranked or personalised, and they do not mean the smells smell alike.
Each step is a molecule that a VERIFIED claim names for both smells, in whatever role the claims state. Sharing a molecule does not mean two smells smell alike.
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WHERE THIS SMELL APPEARS
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FOR RESEARCHERS AND EDITORS
Identity, revision history, corrections and how to cite Hay.
CULTURAL: This entry's associations depend on context, language, memory or culture; its description and smell words are editorial. It says nothing about research or historical evidence; evidence for this entry is shown separately: VERIFIED.
A state says how an entry is met, such as wet, aged or roasted. It does not create a new smell, and it adds no scientific fact by itself: states marked EDITORIAL come from the entry's own records, and only those marked VERIFIED are reported by a VERIFIED claim.
How this entry is identified and named, for citing it or matching it with other records.
SmellBook SB-0062 — Haysmellbook:smell:hayhttps://smellbook.com/smells/haySmellBook. (2026). Hay (revision 3, 2026-10-06). SmellBook Public Atlas. smellbook:smell:hay. https://smellbook.com/smells/hay@misc{smellbook_hay_r3,
author = {{SmellBook}},
title = {Hay},
year = {2026},
note = {SmellBook Public Atlas, revision 3, 2026-10-06, smellbook:smell:hay},
url = {https://smellbook.com/smells/hay}
}TY - ENCYC ID - smellbook-hay-r3 TI - Hay AU - SmellBook T2 - SmellBook Public Atlas PY - 2026 DA - 2026/10/06 ET - revision 3 UR - https://smellbook.com/smells/hay N1 - SB-0062; smellbook:smell:hay; resolver https://smellbook.com/id/smell/hay ER -
The citation names revision 3 of 2026-10-06, so a reader can tell exactly which version was cited. Citing records what was read; it does not grant a licence.
Hay represents dried plant material and differs from the vivid green smell of freshly cut grass.
Other entries whose editors linked to Hay:
Editorial description expanded to answer what it smells like and where you meet it; independently reviewed.
Created 2026-09-22 · Updated 2026-10-06Dataset history In the SmellBook dataset since the first of three dataset releases of 2026-09-30.
No correction notices published for this entry. Corrections policyEVIDENCE MATTERS
SmellBook separates cultural association, community perception, verified evidence, prediction and experimental relationships rather than presenting them as the same thing. Read the evidence guide ↗ See the evidence coverage report ↗