If you smell burnt toast and you're not actually making toast, you should call your doctor.

My mother was visiting over the weekend to see me and her grandchildren. She was sharing with me that has started smelling burn toast recently. Much to my chagrin, this apparently is a thing.

Phantom smells (smells that aren't really there) can indicate that something might be wrong neurologically. A common misnomer is that phantom smells can be a sign of an impending stroke or heart attack. There is no evidence of this, however. This is the first thing my mother thought, though.

The smell was so strange that she actually thought at one point her neighbor was cooking toast and the smell was wafting through a nearby window.

Phantosmia

Phantosmia, which involves smelling phantom smells such as burnt toast, may indicate an underlying medical condition.

Researchers have found links between the condition and several medical conditions, including head injuries, brain tumors, schizophrenia, upper respiratory tract infections, and sinusitis.

• obtain a person’s medical history and perform a physical examination
• ask questions about the onset and frequency of symptoms and anything that may trigger the phantom smells
• ask about potential contributing causes, such as head injuries, allergies, working conditions, and the person’s history of alcohol and drug use
• request specific tests to rule out possible causes
• perform a nasal endoscopy, which involves inserting a small camera or magnifying lens attached to a thin tube into the nose
• order a CT or MRI scan to provide images of the brain and olfactory region -medicalnewstoday

Phantom smells, as you can see, can potentially mean a bunch of things. My mother is 70 with a history of some cardiac issues, as well as thyroid cancer but is otherwise in current good health.