What does Athelas smell like to you?
 

The evidence we have is pretty scanty, but it seems that the smell of King-activated athelas changes based on who's getting healed. When Faramir's under treatment, it smells like roses, but Eowyn gets a clean mountain breeze and Merry gets heather.

Smell is a powerful thing--it goes directly to your brain instead of getting routed the way all the other sense are, and the part of the brain that processes it is closely linked to memories and their formation. So it makes sense on an innate level that in order to be healed of soul-hurts, athelas would activate on smell to make you feel comfortable and loved--the opposite, in a word, of the deleterious effects of the Black Breath.

So. Imagine that you've been plotholed to Middle-earth during the Siege of Minas Tirith, get whacked hard with the Black Breath, and get to experience the Healing Hands firsthand.

What kind of smells would the kingsfoil-steam give off?

Pine

Minty - like peppermint tea. A very refreshing smell! As a matter of fact, I do have some natural peppermint oil that I use for rubbing my forehead when I have a headache, and it does me good.

Hazelnut

Wintergreen. Refreshing, calming, smells like home (grew all around our house) and thrives under the sun and the pines. It grows wild, and can be found in the winter....

A really good frankincense.

Some incense, however, can be absolutely foul--so not them.

lavender

Calendula.

Pot.

Or melted brown sugar.

But probably pot.

Clover.

Freshly crushed krishna tulsi, a cultivar of holy basil I grow in the summer (imagine a mix of regular basil, anise, and watermelon)

Victory? :D

Well, my association with a "healing" scent would be eucalyptus, which smells very clean and cool and is actually used medicinally (though the Black Breath might be a tall order).
But then, the question asks what makes you feel "comfortable and loved". I think maybe jasmine in that case.

Spring air, the kind you get in late March and that makes you feel hopeful inside. :)

This reminds me of the Amortentia potion in Harry Potter (please don't eat me!) "the potion smells differently to different people according to what attracts them." Copying or coincidence? :p

As soon as I read about Amortentia in HBP I immediately thought of athelas.

However, there are some differences. First of all, HP states the personalized scent outright; in Tolkien it's only very lightly implied. Then there's the fact that athelas seems to correspond to who's supposed to be healed, not who's smelling it. And finally, presumably Amortentia would have considerable romantic elements to its scent.

For me (after a day's long thought), I'm going to have to go with the smell of sunshine, grass, and dirt, tinged with the faint whiff of freshly-laden sunscreen.

What does Athelas smell like?
 

It smells like teen spirit.

No wait, that's what Nirvana smells like. After a shower more than likely.

It could smell like opium, as it seems to have the same relaxing effects. Not that I know what opium smells like, of course.

Hey! My eleventy-eleventh post! Another useless milestone reached with little or no effort. Woot!

Bacon.

<- athelas leaf
 

Probably the sea and damp forest somehow combined. Or just one of them.

Or on a very different note... freshly printed paperbacks. :D

Yeah the sweet scent of the sea, and then I mean an actual ocean, is quite something, that might be it. I also enjoy a damp Scandinavian spruce and pine forest, but there's something stuffy, almost stifling about them too so I'm not sure it would be ideal bringing me back from the brink of death.

The pine forests of the Mediterranean region smells more like Athelas would I think.

Oh, and freshly baked cinnamon bun.

Have to admit that was the first thing that came to my mind too. Smells good. Or so I've heard.

Yes, that's why I mentioned opium, which is very aromatic. It is not only the smell of Athelas, but the plant also has somewhat of a narcotic nature, allowing the grievously wounded a peaceful sleep.

I'm sure in the 4th Age bored Hobbit teenagers started putting Kingsfoil in their pipes to smoke.

Which is why it's important to point out that the plant's ability to enhance feelings of relaxation, peacefulness and happiness is strictly for medicinal purposes. There's absolutely no need for any of that unless you already suffer from a mortal disease. In fact, that kind of well-being is a punishable offence. That's right, stay away from the Athelas leaves, kids!

It smells minty, but tastes quite bitter (which is why it remains a medicinal herb instead of one used in cooking).

Parsley.

Smells like napalm in the morning.

Just kidding!
I would believe it to give out a smell like the dewy glade in a beautiful morn.

I'm torn between the ocean, fresh coffee, kittens, and sage. Some of your answers are hilarious. I can only imagine being torn from death's door by the aromas of bacon, pot, heroin, and eucalyptus. Jarirng, indeed.

Which reminds me of my favorite Ogden Nash quote: "Parsley is gharsely."

Elvish Parsley, of course.

Smells like Bengay, I'd say! :p

In my imagination Athelas would smell something like Basil leaves. Or aromatic like the Cistus, a flowering shrub that grows in the Mediterranian macchia.

freshly mowed grass......or rain.....or lavender......or cookies

:D

Cinnamon, and wet wood, and cinnamon, and old books (seriously, old books smell really nice, much nicer than new ones). And did I mention cinnamon?:D

For me it would be the smell after it rained.

As for what I thought in the books, I kind of thought it smelled like wet hemp.

A smell that can bring me into warmth and comfort from a dark and terrifying place?

The perfect warm blend of skin, soap, coffee, cinnamon, denim, and Old Spice.

Or dark chocolate. But that's a bit anti-dementor for this site...

If I had to pick a plant-ish scent to wake me up and make me feel alive, however, I'd choose lemongrass.

I would definitely have to say puppy breath. It sounds weird but it smell sooooo good when they are little.
If a plant smell, I would have to agree with Fea and say lemongrass, very refreshing.

awesome.

the smell when i step outside when it is snowing. that cold icy wintery smell of frozen pavement and clear air.

Nature.
 

It's just too much to give anything more specific - It would smell like summer, winter, spring, and fall at once, it would be snowy and rainy and sunny and cloudy and warm and cold and day and night and evening and morning, it would be the ocean and a pine forest... no, change that to any forest, and prairie and mountains and rivers and whatever else I forgot to mention.
I just couldn't decide! :D I know what isn't going to be there - cities, or anything to do with them. And there's going to be a tinge of mint in it - for some reason I always assosiated athelas with mint. :p

Don't laugh, but it's gotta be the smell you get when you open a can of tuna. It brings back wonderful memories. :p

Sort of a mixture between mint and eucalyptus :p With a hint of fresh mist.

No, it doesn't sound weird, you are totally right about puppy breath.

I think for me athelas would smell like fresh winter air. Or new spring grass.

Actually, the modern me would go for a combination of 'fresh coffee + good tobacco plus a whiff of special aftershave', but two of these ingredients are missing from ME. :D

Hmm.... The most healing and enchanting smell in the world.

I think athelas would smell like sun-warmed, dried pine needles. Sharp and pungent, but fresh and clean.

For me it would have a sort of lavender smell to it, maybe. With a hint of oak leaf (smells like the earth after it falls from the tree and decays, in case some of you don't know). So a real earthy smell to me, maybe the woods after a nice rainfall. :) I'm thinking more so the latter of the options I listed.