I've been betrayed too many times, than to expect there to be any progress.
This is actually a real thing in chemistry labs.
Smelling chemicals to identify them used to be done routinely as an identification step; along with taste (although that has been eschewed for obvious reasons).
Some chemicals may be dangerous to smell directly, such as strong bases/acids or volatile aromatic compounds. So instruction for smell step (if deemed safe) is to waft vapors towards your face with your hand, not put your nose over the tube.