Three and Twenty

[DiesMali]

Caesar caught Cascas arm and ran it through with his stylus, but as he tried to leap to his feet, he was stopped by another wound. When he saw that he was beset on every side by drawn daggers, he muffled his head in his robe, and at the same time drew down its lap to his feet with his left hand, in order to fall more decently, with the lower part of his body also covered. And in this wise he was stabbed with three and twenty wounds, uttering not a word, but merely a groan at the first stroke, though some have written that when Marcus Brutus rushed at him, he said in Greek, You too, my child?

All the conspirators made off, and he lay there lifeless for some time, until finally three common slaves put him on a litter and carried him home, with one arm hanging down.
Suetonius

Faithlessness and treachery; resignation in the face of the betrayals of those we hold most dear: smoky vetiver, myrrh, and labdanum with bleak agarwood and tobacco.

In the bottle: MYRRH and some tobacco.

Wet on my skin: Woodsy, dark vetiver-tobacco-spice...and something a little sour.

Dry: Okay, so I ordered this because my bottle of A Grievous Swarm is slowly getting lower and lower, and it's one of my favourite scents when I'm in the mood for something very unusual and dark. Some of the notes in this, and something about the description, reminded me of that and so I took a chance on it. I'd probably have ordered it anyway, but I just had a hunch that it would be a scent cousin to my beloved swarm of black flies. IT IS. This is a little more biting and sharp, with a slightly sour edge, but that gritty vetiver and tobacco is similar enough that there's a stupid grin on my face. The labdanum is stronger than the black pepper in AGS, and there's no vanilla here to smooth anything out - this is dark, woodsy, and gritty. I'm hoping the sour (turpentine-like) edge on that labdanum and/or agarwood goes away after it has aged and had time to settle, but otherwise it's a scent cousin, but not at all identical, to A Grievous Swarm. Vetiver and tobacco forward, then myrrh and labdanum, then chips of drying, aged agarwood.

[zankoku_zen]

Myrrh, tobacco, smoke and a touch of agarwood which at turns smells both sour and like olives. Dark, woodsy, olives. Very masculine. Good throw and wear length.

[sprout]

Wet, this is very, very vetiver forward. Only fans of vetiver will likely persevere past the opening. No smoke or BBQ sauce here, this vetiver is green, rooty, syrupy.

 

Early drydown the tobacco overtakes the vetiver, and gritty is an apt descriptive. This is dried tobacco leaves, sans smoke or any sweetness to tamper the grit. This lacks the zippy pepper note from Grievous Swarm, so the evolution is gradual rather than oscillating, but the scent progresses and the comparison is reasonable. If you liked the grittiness of the tobacco in Grievous, you'll like this. It's dry and menacing.

 

Late drydown, this is the resin festival you'd predict from the notes. I usually amp myrrh, but it's behaved here, just providing support. The labdanum and oudh are woody and merge with the tobacco note. Stems and Dried leaves are suggested. This is definitely unisex but not so masculine as to deter the ladies, assuming that they hung in after the vetiver top.

 

All in all, masterful. I am considering a bottle but I think I prefer Interfector or Swarm. I may try layering this with French Vanilla for s&g's. Considering my obsession with the number 23, this will probably be a FB purchase.

 

Agree with ZZ, this has impressive sillage and it lasted well past 8 hours.

Edited April 16, 2017 by sprout

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Sweet, rich, smoky-sour vetiver and rich tobacco. I do get a faint briney scent that I could see some likening to olives, but that fades quickly on me. The sweetness and richness of the tobacco in this is killer. Myrrh and labdanum have combines to add to that rich sweetness. This is one of those chewy, sticky scents that I really enjoy. I figured this would be too masculine for me, but it's not at all (and I really prefer feminine scents and rarely wear anything that could be perceived as masculine). Gosh I like this! Way more than I expected! I really only tried it because I loved the name....

 

Dry: LOVE this. Sweet (but not too sweet), sultry, rich red musk and resins. Elegant, feminine, alluring. I need a bottle.

[Little Bird]

I like the sweet, syrupy myrrh and sweet tobacco in this, and the dry, woody undertones. I do get a woodsmoke scent from it as well, but nothing like olives or greenery (and I like olives, so this wouldn't have been bad for me, lol). I usually don't care for smoky fragrances, but this isn't overwhelming smoke, and it doesn't smell like charred bbq the way that some of bpal's vetiver notes do.

The drydown is like someone set sweet myrrh, sticky tobacco leaves, and a few planks of dark, dry wood on fire. No spiciness to the tobacco and it's not as rich and heavy as French Tobacco single note is on me.

I'd consider getting a bottle of this one, but I already have a hoard of French Tobacco and Bulgarian Tobacco single note to satisfy my tobacco needs. The sweet myrrh does make this lean towards a sweet tobacco on me, though.