I still have some 25 year old Brovira and noticed the difference in smell. It has a wonderful chemical smell where the newer papers don't have it anymore. When I recently (10years ago) rekindled my photo hobby, first thing I noticed is the smell is gone. I love the smell of a fresh box of paper.

I also noticed how paper if left out in the light turn weird colors today where papers of yesteryear (I don't mean old out dated) didn't change much except maybe got slightly darker greenish yellow. That sheet you kept in the easel for focusing. Todays paper turns dark brown or in VC papers they turn a vivid blue, depending on manufacturer. Also the smell of paper today is different.