The Smell of a Match

The chemical composition of the match in its history changed radically from material such as phosphorus and potassium chlorate to a more safer materials (arriving to the safety match - or swedish - that uses red phosphorus instead of the white one).

Each chemical composition characterizes the smell of that single match, that change from the state: when it is off many of those have no smell at all or just that of the wooden stick.
The first matches were characterized by a bad smell due to the potassium. Adding phosphorus the smell was no more annoying.

When it burns the match spreads the smell of the sulphur for a short time.
A little curiosity about matches and smells is that they were used to hide unpleasant odors thanks to the sulphur itself.