I Got Paid to Rank Imaginary Sandwich Smells 🥪👃💸

If someone told me a year ago that I’d earn real money by sniffing imaginary sandwich smells and ranking them, I’d have politely offered them a glass of water and a good night’s sleep. Yet here I am, 36 days into using the ScentSniff App, a bizarre platform that pays users in micro-payments to react to scents that don’t technically exist. And the wild part? I’ve made over $47.63, one imaginary meatball sub at a time.

Chapter 1: The App That Thinks Smell Is Optional

Let’s start at the top. The app is called ScentSniff (unironically). It promises users a chance to “train your sensory imagination and get rewarded for it.” In simpler terms: they show you a hyper-realistic photo of a sandwich, describe the supposed smell in a sentence or two, and ask you to rank it between “Heavenly” and “Dumpster Fire.”

There’s no real aroma. Just your brain, your biases, and your bizarrely active sandwich imagination.

Some examples:

• “Imagine the toasty warmth of sourdough hugging a slab of rosemary-roasted turkey, layered with truffle aioli.”
• “This sub smells like leftover egg salad forgotten in a humid gym bag.”

You click, you rank, and you earn crypto.

Welcome to 2025.

Chapter 2: Smelling With Your Mind — Is That a Thing?

Strangely, yes. There’s an entire field called “scent cognition” where researchers explore how memory and imagination influence our perception of smells. ScentSniff claims it’s backed by a team of neuroscientists and olfactory researchers who are training an AI model to predict public smell perception — even when the scents don’t exist.

I initially downloaded it out of boredom (and because someone on Reddit said they made $5 in their first day). I thought it was a joke. But by day three, I found myself whispering “mmm, smoked brisket with chipotle mayo” to my phone like a sommelier on a sandwich bender.

Chapter 3: My First Ranking Session – “Mustard Trauma”

The app starts you with a batch of 10 sandwiches per session. You’re shown each photo, a smell description, and then asked to:

• Rate it from 1 to 5 stars
• Choose a mood the smell evokes (e.g. “cozy,” “chaotic,” “tragic,” “mysterious”)
• Suggest a nickname (optional, but rewarded with bonus points)

My first session included a faux “Grilled Tuna Melt with Jalapeño Dust.” I gave it 2 stars and labeled it “Regretful Tuesday.”

Another one — a peanut butter and pickle sandwich — earned a solid 5 stars and the nickname “The Pregnant Hero.”

Every 10 sandwiches gave me around 0.40 SniffCoins, which at the time converted to roughly $0.15 USD. Not life-changing, but weirdly addictive.

Chapter 4: Ranking Smells, Earning Crypto, Questioning Reality

The more I used the app, the more questions I had:

• Why do I instinctively know what a “basil-infused pastrami panini” should smell like?
• Why is my brain convinced it can distinguish between “artisanal cheddar” and “gas station cheese”?
• Have I gone nose-blind in real life?

But also:

• Why am I enjoying this so much?

There’s something weirdly therapeutic about reacting to fake food. No calories. No judgment. Just vibes.

And the reward system isn’t just random — the app actually tracks consistency. If you give similar reactions to similar scent descriptions over time, you get higher “Olfactory Credibility,” which increases your SniffCoin multiplier.

I once made $3.27 in a single 25-minute session after hitting “Gold Nose Tier.”

My proudest moment? Ranking a fake Cuban sandwich as “Emotionally unstable but confident” and getting 54 upvotes from the ScentSniff community.

Chapter 5: Who’s Funding This Madness?

This is where things get real. According to the app’s FAQ and whitepaper:

• ScentSniff is part of a larger olfactory AI startup trying to build an artificial “smell prediction engine” for virtual environments, food brands, and AR/VR companies.
• Your data helps train this AI to understand how humans think something smells based on text and visuals alone.
• Companies pay to access the anonymized data — and that’s how user rewards are funded.

In short: You’re helping build a robot nose.

And getting paid in tokens for it.

Chapter 6: Duck Sandwiches, Dream Scents, and Smell Battles

Once you reach level 12 (which I did after two weeks), the app unlocks Smell Battles — competitive sessions where users sniff the same imaginary sandwich and vote on each other’s responses.

One of the challenges: “Invent a smell profile for a sandwich made for a duck.”

My entry:

“Cornbread slices soaked in pond water, with hints of cracked pepper and fish oil.”

I ranked it 1 star and titled it: “Quack Snack of Sadness.”

I won 8.3 SniffCoins.

Another day, the prompt was: “Describe a sandwich smell you dreamed about.”

That got personal. I described my childhood memory of grilled halloumi and lemon — turned dream sequence.

I didn’t win, but I earned comments like:

“Made me weep into my screen.”

“This is sandwich poetry.”

Chapter 7: Can You Make Real Money Ranking Fake Sandwich Smells?

Let’s break it down.

After a full month using the app (around 20–30 minutes a day), here are my earnings:

• Total SniffCoins earned: 912.5
• Conversion rate: ~100 SniffCoins = $5
• Total cashed out: $45.62
• Total crypto received: 0.00072 ETH

Some people on the leaderboard are making over $100/month, mostly because they:

• Refer others (you get 10 SniffCoins per referral)
• Participate in weekend “Speed Smell Marathons”
• Rank 100+ sandwiches a day (don’t ask how)

I’m not quitting my job over this, but as a side hustle fueled by fake mayo and fantasy mustard, it’s oddly… profitable?

Chapter 8: The Dark Side of Sandwich Smell Fame

I’d be lying if I said there weren’t some side effects:

• I now associate emotions with sandwich descriptions. “Melancholy”? That’s roast beef and vinegar slaw.
• I once tried to actually sniff my phone while staring at a photo of a BLT.
• I’m haunted by a virtual sandwich called “Blueberry Hummus Nightmare.”

And yes, I dream in sandwich smells now. I can’t explain it.

Also, I caught myself arguing with a stranger on the in-app forum over the “correct rating” of an imaginary wasabi-smoked ham baguette.

(For the record, it’s a 2-star sandwich. Fight me.)

Chapter 9: Will This Be the Future of AI Training?

What’s wild is this might just be the beginning.

ScentSniff’s creators are reportedly developing:

• A VR companion where smells are simulated via temperature and vibration patterns.
• A ScentGPT model that can generate smell descriptions based on emotions or scenarios.
• And, yes, real-life partnerships with sandwich brands looking to test marketing copy for imaginary flavors before launching real products.

In other words, we may soon be living in a world where imagining how something smells is a legitimate job.

And honestly? I’m here for it.

✅ 

Sources

• ScentSniff App — www.scentsniff.ai (official website)
• “Olfactory Imagination and Memory,” Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 2023
• Reddit r/WeirdSideHustles — Monthly threads on ScentSniff user earnings
• Whitepaper: “Smell Prediction Models Using Crowd Data” — SniffTech Labs, 2024
• Interview with Elena Rosman, Chief Scent Officer, SniffTech (via Podcast Crypto & Croutons, April 2025)

Written by the author, Fatima Al-Hajri 👩🏻‍💻