Beer?
Wine?
Whiskey?
Saki?
Embalming fluid?
Ambergris?
Sulphur?
Placenta?
Are we allowed to play 20 questions?
has to be done
Vagina? 
EDIT: It seems the “Big Grin” emote is a headslap…anyone else notice this?
Risotto?
Oh, wait … it smelled like a preposition?
Nope. Some of you are close though. A few more guesses and I’ll start giving out hints.
gasoline?
olive oil?
rubbing alcohol?
dishwashing liquid?
that stinky stuff they perm your hair with?
C’mon, Auto, the suspense is killing me. I want to hear part 2.
Kitten?
Dog?
Cheese?
Right idea, but the wrong process. If the vase had smelled like beer, I would have to wonder why it smelled like beer. The smell from this vase was obvious once we thought a little bit about how it was produced.
Copper? Charcoal? Smoke? Burned rubber? Almonds? Straw?
Did it smell like slave labor?
Truthfully, I got nothing. I really just wanted to pop into the thread to say that the use of “snooter” in the OP was hilarious, and this is now my standard vote anytime anyone asks what they should change their screenname to.
Decomposition instead of fermentation, maybe? Compost or an earthy smell?
I was thinking fermentation, because maybe the vase had been used to make wine or for allowing bread to rise, or something like that.
[QUOTE=Atomicktom]
Did it smell like slave labor?
QUOTE]
Did it smell like Teen Spirit?
Clues to date:
“the smell could be mistaken for other smells, which use similar products for different treatments”
“It truly was a unique, unmistakable and completely unexpected aroma”
“unique smell, but at the same time, there are lots of different things that smell like it that all use the same process”
“A smell that results from a process” - not fermenting beer, right idea though
“The smell from this vase was obvious once we thought a little bit about how it was produced.”
Guesses-
Something related to the production of the vase:
Brass, brass polish, wood, wood polish
Something related to shipping the vase
Sawdust, packing material
Something related to a normal use for the vase:
plants, rotting water
Something related to an abnormal use for the vase
Heroin, opium, marijuana, semen, dead animals, gold,
monkey paw, mummy hand, proprieter’s ex- lover
Fish or bird eggs, fox or other animal den smells
Bee’s, honey, pickles
Beer, paint, glue, hair, tanning chemicals, soap, urine, fertilizer, nitrates, WMD
One of these answers is extremely close to what we said it smelled like, but we did mention one of these answers once we started talking about the process that made the vase.
OK, another hint. It’s something dopers like.
Pie? 
Pie? Squid? Sheep? Goats? Dope?
It’s killing me.