Saffron smells strong, leathery, soft, earthy, hay-like, reminding slightly of rubber. The scent comes from the chemical compounds of picrocrocin and safranal. Saffron is often added to perfumes to support a leather chord.
Furthermore, early stories were told that on occasions, Egyptians wore wax cones suffused with flowers and saffron which, when melted, perfumed their hair with the sweet-pungent smell; that Romans bathed in tubs filled with water sprinkled with saffron threads; that the Greek god Zeus slept in a bed strewn with saffron; and that the Romans perfumed their marital beds with saffron, apparently for sensual reasons. In the Middle East, sandalwood and saffron were blended to come up with a relaxing fragrance that also relieved headaches.
Moreover, modern perfumers take advantage of the fact that saffron blends well as middle notes with other essences and fragrances to come up with a formula for floral perfumes. And in India, they have a hundred-year-old practice of stuffing saffron in special tobacco called ‘ZAAFRANI ZARDA’ that perfumed the air with the aroma.