New mown hay (alfalfa?) has a sweet coumarin (tonquin) smell that's found in a few SG blends such as Sam's Flake and 1792. A similar smell is sweet woodruff and is in other blends, although it may be a forbidden flavoring now.Dang it, JS, your post has been bugging me all week. I definitely have seasonal preferences, and never thought about that. I grew up rural and agrarian in Alabama, so maple syrup wasn't a local thing, but sorghum was. It's pressed in the late summer or fall, so maybe it's just a sugar syrup thing that got misaligned somehow. I'm still going to enjoy my Maple Shadows this fall, but your observation has definitely broadened my perspective.
On "hay season-" that usually meant fescue grass, and was always a nasty, toilsome activity that was physically exhausting and wrought havoc on my sinuses. I've never understood reviewers finding notes of hay in tobacco. Sometimes "grass," yes, if that means rye. But not the majority of what I associate with "hay" (we did sometimes bail rye, but not much.) But I agree, Virginia goes with the hay season, but not because it tastes like it. That would be awful.
I just use a tonka bean in my storage jar if I want hay. I like the smell of grass, too, but don't want it in my tobacco.
If it helps, pancakes are a frosty autumn comfort food to many.