Your remarks demonstrate that aroma/odor can be very subjective.

All true ambers (when rubbed or burnt) smell much more alike than different; and all smell different from plastics. You may think a particular smell "is more like plastic," but that is a very misleading thing to write, in terms of advising others.

In the thirty-something years I have been dealing with amber, I have yet to meet anyone who could characterize one smell and compare it to another in a meaningful way. This happens because we have a limited vocabulary to accomodate thousands or millions of distinct aromas. Added to that, the primary plastics used to imitate amber (Celluloid, Acrylic, something else that's thermolibile (I haven't identified yet), and phenolic plastics EACH have distinct odors, and yet all are "plasticy." Celluloid, Acrylic, and the third one each have slightly resinous smells—and yet they remain distinct from the aroma of natural resins. The smell of burning phenolic plastic has the smell of carbolic acid (NOT "carbon" as stated elsewhere), and is possibly the most chemical and unpleasant aroma of any amber imitations

Jamey.