Hanging Johnny

[zankoku_zen]

Hemp rope, red sandalwood, and white cedar.

[birdieflyaway]

Oh, hello! Boy, that's some fresh hemp in that rope. It's just what it sounds like from there, there's the sandalwood yesss...then a light cedar. A faint hint of something waxy? I kind of love this. It feels playful. Just havin' a good time on a sun-baked plank, hanging people I guess.  

[groovyrooby]

Simple and very pleasant. I was very surprised at how much my husband liked this one! Tested from a decant that rested a few days.

 

This starts as warm, spicy sandalwood. A little incensey. I was really interested in getting to know the 'hemp' note, as I've seen folks get really excited about it. I'm not sure if it didn't come through or smells too much like other notes that I can't distinguish it, but nothing novel here.

 

Eventually the cedar gains a little too much ground and tips this in the direction of mothballs for my liking. I really enjoy cedar sometimes, but maybe that's how the hemp rope note presented to me, as damp and industrial. Sadly, the sandalwood & spice lost ground on me.

[Lucchesa]

This is the third time today I've reapplied Hanging Johnny, but I'm happy to do it.  It's a lot of hemp, with cedar and a cedary sandalwood, and the overall effect is outdoorsy and light-hearted.  I wish it lasted longer -- it would be easily bottle-worthy.  A different kind of unisex evergreen scent, with a prominent hemp note -- if Rogue has too much rosin or Ask the Nearest Hippie too much pot and patchouli, Hanging Johnny is your man. 

[zankoku_zen]

Red sandalwood and a whiff of hemp. Basically, I'm getting a ton of red sandalwood. It's sort of delicate. Very lovely.

[Abyssgazesback]

Hanging Johnny struggles to make a good first impression and fails. Please be patient though. Sweet sweet red sandalwood. I smell frankincense, and I stand by my case. I put Anne Bonny on next to it, and Hanging Johnny is sweeter. There’s a billowing quality. Beth’s blending and formulating is just constantly evolving and I’m perpetually in awe. There’s subtlety and finesse where brash volume used to live. I love and value both. Anne Bonny you’d wear to a service industry Halloween brawl. Hanging Johnny, you’d wear to a black tie costume party.

[starbrow]

Sniff sniff...mmmm sexy red sandalwood, spiced and sweet. My first few whiffs of this in my empty bottle were nothing but great! I immediately got taken back to my days of smelling Anne Bonny, so of course I had to whip her out to do a little comparison once it was time for skin testing.

 

On the skin, this is still predominantly red sandalwood, which is a smooth, dry, deep sandalwood with some heat and spice to it - hence the "red". Coiled around this beautiful red wood is the hemp note, which lends both sweetness, a touch of salt, and a hint of mustiness. Like I don't want to scare anyone off by thinking this is animalic or repellent - I've smelled some blends that are one or both, and Johnny is not - but there is definitely some "lived-in-ship"ness to this scent. The white cedar is a sun-bleached, pale-smelling version of what may be a familiar note in its traditional form. It definitely lets the red sandalwood and hemp speak plenty loud.

 

Now, let's compare! Anne Bonny has always been a dry, androgynous kind of blend, beautifully balanced, nothing flashy, a little incensey from the frankincense backing the red sandalwood and red patchouli. In the beginning of my BPAL days when I first smelled her, I thought she was missing something. I know now I was looking for something a little sweeter before I really learned to adore the frankincense note on its own merits.

 

If "sweeter Anne Bonny" sounds fab to you, Hanging Johnny is your ticket. He's Anne Bonny's surprisingly adorable lover, picking up plenty of her red sandalwood from all those nights in the sheets, but both more tender and more saucy from the hemp (is he smoking it? HMMM) and his woods have a scruffier quality to them from the white cedar, with some sharp edges as opposed to Anne's smooth impenetrability. He's just as wearable by many genders as she is, he just is not as stoic as she is, more spicy and dirty, and I kind of love that for him.

 

I will absolutely be picking up a bottle!

 

Edited May 1, 2021 by starbrow

[monocainsheresy]

This is about 80% hemp rope, 15% cedar, and 5% sandalwood on me. There's a burst of warm sandalwood a minute or two after it hits the skin, but after that it disappears and is all fresh hemp rope and cedar shavings. Very nice balance between clean and dirty here, ever so slightly spiced. Herbal but very much in a brand-new-rope kind of way. 

 

Think "antique cedar chest full to the brim with coils of freshly woven hemp rope."

[Estamets]

Hot, spicy sandalwood. Golden, floating, incense-like… this is an airy scent: a windy ship deck, not a closed up sauna. 
 

I also get black pepper from this- or maybe red? I may be anosmic to the hemp: there is nothing earthy, funky, or alive/growing in this, nor do I pick up any of the oil that finished hemp rope has.
 

It’s pure dry spicy woods, or sandalwood incense. Great throw. 
 

Simple and beautiful. I would wear this at the beach or to an outdoor tropical bar where the primary light source is tiki torches and it’s okay to wear your bikini under your dress.