King Cobra (2016)

[Little Bird]

Snake Oil with orris, white frankincense, and black copal.

My original, short review for King Cobra:
"On me, King Cobra smells like someone removed the sweet parts of Snake Oil and added in some woodsmoke where the vanilla sweetness would have been. It smells like some sort of dark musk & wood smoke, and it's just too sharp and acrid for my tastes."
Aged after several years, it's mostly sweet, powdery orris and Snake Oil vanilla with hints of woodsmoke. Aged, it seems like a lot of the Snake Pit blends have become more vanilla-y. I digress.

 

This new version doesn't smell like orris, frankincense or copal to me. It smells like a very clean, perfumey, chemical musk. If I didn't know what I was wearing, I would have guessed some sort of white musk single note. I would never pick out the frankincense or copal. As it dries down, it's the same, but I'm noticing the smokiness of Snake Oil and some powdery vanilla. It's a cleaner, muskier Snake Oil to my nose.

 

I'm very curious to read other reviews of these.

[zankoku_zen]

Hmm, to me this is a sweeter more resinous version of Snake Oil with a touch of orris. But you kinda have to go hunting for the orris.

 

To me, based on my review of the 2006 version and this 2016 version, I'd say they are actually pretty similar on my skin. Low throw and wear length.

[Casablanca]

On the wand: Powdery incense.

 

Wet: Powdery iris incense -- with Snake Oil behind it. Based on some of the Snakes I've been trying, I didn't think the SO would come through at this stage. The SO is lovely as usual. However, I'm not an iris person, and also not a frankincense person, and I smell those, though I can't pick out the copal. This smells to me like some soft floral baby powder trying to hide something that smells good.

 

Dry: Less iris now, and a touch more frank, but this is now mostly SO. Overall low throw.

 

Edit: Addendum to my earlier review. King Cobra has sat for a couple months, at least, and I just threw it on again on a whim. It's now mostly Snake Oil, but with a soft floral, resinous tinge. I like it now. Maybe a first for me with iris.

Edited June 22, 2016 by Casablanca

[VetchVesper]

I looove this. I definately get copal in the bottle and when this is initially wet. I also get lots of frankincense which is pretty awesome, b/c frankincense almost always goes to baby powder on me, but this actually smells like the little chunks of resin I burn on my coal incense burner and it stays that way. I'm picking up the Snake Oil mostly as a sweetened patchouli. I don't really get any vanilla. On me this is dry, but not powdery, earthy incense w/ a metallic tang. It's very brassy smelling and rich, and I can totally get a king cobra vibe. This would totally work for a guy too. Jeebus. My bottle list GROWS.

Edited May 20, 2016 by VetchVesper

[Numanoid]

Don't remember if I ever got to try the original version, but here goes for the 2016 on.

 

In bottle - sniffing this, i get the snake oil for sure, but it is faint, but not bad! I think I detect something else, but not sure if it is the copal maybe, I am not sure I know what that smells like!

 

On skin - Lovely!! I get lovely snake oil that I love fresh or aged, but then I think I am detecting the frankincense.... which at times, in other blends, can be too much for me, but maybe because this is listed as white frankincense, it isn't as powerful.

 

Dry down - OOH, I love this!! This is a beautiful blend of SO and the incense. If you love incense blends and SO, you need to get this. This is soft, yet there! Glad I got me some!!

[milo]

Resins and Snake Oil. This really isn't that much different than the previous incarnation. The only difference that I can detect is that after a few hours, it seems sweeter and more like Snake Oil with spicy resins rather than spicy resins with Snake Oil. So wearable, even though I find this snake to be the most masculine, this newer version may be leaning unisex to feminine. Im curious to see how this one ages. Definite WIN!!!

Edited June 29, 2016 by milo

[Teaker]

I had trouble picking out the individual notes in this. All I could detect was something sweet and a bit like incense. I'm not really familiar with frankincense but I'm guessing that's the prominent note in here, with a little dribble of vanilla underneath. I actually really, really like this. It's just the right level of sweetness. It's a touch powdery as well.

 

The warm and almost fuzzy quality of the scent reminds me a bit of black musk. It's quite light and has minimal throw, I need to press my nose to my skin to smell it after a few hours. I'd consider getting a bottle of this for days when I want something sweet but very unobtrusive to wear.

[Haltija]

I never smelled the original so I cannot compare.

 

But this is very resinous on me, but a sweeter resinous. I definitely get a heavy dose of the orris with the snake oil. The snake oil is lending the heavy spicy sweetness that I really like. I can't pick out any black copal and the frankincense is almost non existent. After a while it leans toward smelling powdery and resinous after the sweetness fades, not that I mind. I use this term for a lot of these resinous blends, but it feels old to me, ancient and magical. Love

[doomsday_disco]

I haven't tried the original version.

 

In the decant: The orris note stands out to me the most. Orris and I are not friends, so of course it would be the most prominent note to my nose. I also get some of the resins and the musk of the Snake Oil.

 

Wet: I am getting lots of orris, some white frankincense, and the smoky black copal backed by a Snake Oil base (with the musk being the most prominent part of the Snake Oil to me here, and then the spices). It smells like I dived into a pool of baby powder, because orris hates me.

 

Dry: Alas, it is still an orris party on my skin, with the resins lingering behind the powdery orris The Snake Oil is light, lurking in the background. I mostly smell its vanilla with just a hint of its spices.

 

Verdict: I’m really glad I got to try this one, but King Cobra is one snake that just does not mesh with my skin chemistry (thanks, orris).

Edited June 1, 2018 by dementia_divine

[theredkilt]

I have aged my botlle for almost 3 months because i couldn't exactly pinpoint the drydown in terms of what the final olfactive result was.

 

What i get on the drydown now are the spicy notes of Snake Oil on a layer of sheer light orris and a somewhat muted white frankincense note.The throw is not huge, but with age this could improve.

Edited October 7, 2018 by theredkilt

[Lucchesa]

 My recent experience with Coffee Beans and Copal has left me more aware of what copal smells like, and I can make out a lot of it in my King Cobra decant.  It's copal, powdery orris and a thin thread of frankincense, and as it starts to dry the Snake Oil distinguishes itself from the background.  I think it would work better on me with more frankincense and less orris, but this is another Snake I'm happy to wear.  It's got a little throw (more than I usually get) and decent wear length, though nothing like the crazy half-life of pure Snake Oil.  Powdery, resiny Snake Oil with emphasis on the sweet vanilla aspects of SO.