My regular homebrew store hops dont always smell hoppy until they are ready to drink sometimes before during bottleing maybe even the airlock-these seem to give me a more ideal aroma than the boil. Ocassionally i get a whiff usually when i first add them to the boil or finish at flameout.Otherwise its just grain and dms. I would try using them for late additions maybe dryhop-next time get them fresh , he should have stored them dehydrated-short term may be ok probably weeks not months.
Bottle a beer and stick one in it,and see what happens when it carbs ready to drink, i just threw a few pellots of citra in a bottle of goldn mild i just bottled because i secondaried to harvest the yeast and to dryhop that beer, thought i may as well see what these hops are like earlier and i had a half pack going back to the freezer anyway these hop union citra smelled pretty nice very potent.