Cigarettes and Offerings

[whisperstilled]

"I think," he pronounced, gloomily, "that our kind, we like the cigarettes so much because they remind us of the offerings that once they burned for us, the smoke rising up as they sought our approval or our favor."

Cigarette smoke overlapping with the resonance of long-forgotten incenses.

American Gods has been more hits than misses for me, so high hopes for this one.

Wet: Wow. Yikes. Sharp, medicinal cigarette smoke, kind of like a clove cigarette. Smells like literal medicine from a medicine cabinet. Like Victorian medicine. Like camphor.

Dry: Okay, sweetening up and becoming less terrifying as it dries and the resins start to come up. This is dry, burning stick incense over a softer resin like myrrh or frankincense. I'm tempted to say it reminds me of nag champa, though it's been so long since I smelled the real thing that I will defer to others with better incense experience to pinpoint the actual base. It's still too harsh and sour for my taste, but smokey incense fans will love this one. I feel like this would layer well, but that sharp cigarette smoke base is just a no go for me without something to soften it.

[Jenjin]

A medicinal camphor hits first and then transforms into something just a bit like long ago smoked cigarettes. The incense notes have a dark resinous, sappy tone that transforms this into a deeply earthy scent, almost like the ashtray was made out of an old log covered with drippy resins. I'm also getting loamy notes, along with something like rain and creosote that grounds the whole thing and gives it sharp teeth. This is way too smoky, crumbly burned wood charcoal for it to be big-bottle worthy for me, but if you are a fan of darkly cloaked romantic scents, it's definitely worth a try and might even blow your mind.

Edited May 30, 2017 by Jenjin

[zankoku_zen]

It starts of as smokey cigarettes, with an herbal background. And it smells like I'd imagine an incense shop or voodoo shop smells. This smells like this would be used for ritual purposes. As it dries down, I get a sweeter incense note, still slightly herby, but much more of a perfume smell.

 

I am actually digging this one alot and will have to find at least a partial. UGH. So good.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Sweet, earthy, and medicinal. This doesn't smell like smoke OR incense to me, I don't know what that is. It DOES smell like old man though, so I guess that's pretty accurate? It's not awful, really. Reminds me a bit of my grandpa, who typically smelled like alcohol and motor oil and wood shavings.

 

 

Dry: I swear there's a motor oil note in this, that reminds me of Streets of Detroit maybe? Something. And of my grandpa. This is quite pleasant, but I can't wear it. Makes me a bit sad, actually.

[galahad]

In the Bottle:

Faintly smoky and incensey

On the Skin:

As above but a little stronger. As it warms the cigaette smoke note intensifies a little more. The resins sweeten as it warms leading to an ashen resinous incense.

On the Drydown:

I really like this. It doesn't have a lot of power but sits close to the skin. It ends as a sweet charred incense with a gritty foundation

[roseus]

Ashy cigarettes and sweet incense. More pleasant than it sounds but not my thing.

[Blood onmy hands]

If I describe something as smelling like cigarettes, cigarette smoke, cigarette ash or dirty ash tray, that's generally a bad thing, but this isn't bad. It's more like the sweet curl of cigar smoke than the harsh blast of cigarette smoke. It does have a sort of melancholy feel to it, and you smell it and can imagine someone burning sweet incense and smoking cigarettes, lonely and looking out a window with nowhere to go and no one to see. I don't know why it comes off as so somber to me, but it captures the mood perfectly. Sweet frankincense and myrrh in a cloudy room full of cigar and cigarette smoke.

[fundercat55]

I'm really digging this. Wet and in the first five minutes of wear, I was sure this was going to be a hard pass. Slightly acrid, sharp, mentholated cigarette smoke. No thanks. But as it dries down, it becomes sweeter, softer, rounder- incense and the sweet, chewy scent of pipe tobacco. Lovely. It's a fairly low throw, medium wear length on me.

[cassiejaynebunk]

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM SO GOOD. at first the cigarette smoke is really sharp - almost sent me into a nicotine fit LOL. I haven't smoked in 6+ years and this brought it RIGHT BACK. omg. then as it dries down the inscence comes up and goddamn i am in love with this one. it's bad gal hippie all in one. smoking a cigarette on a road trip in your cut offs and tye dye with your bare feet on the dash and a dream catcher hanging from the rear view. love it.

[theseagrows]

oh boy, the cigarette smoke note is more literal than i imagined. it's pretty smoky, at least so far. it smells like this scotch i once drank at a scottish owned bar in san francisco. (one of my favorite bars in SF-edinburgh castle. go if you visit ) anyway, yeah, it smells super smoky and kind of like rubbery burning tire tread. or maybe my chemistry just amps this to 11. i smell the incense in the background, which is a headshop type incense, but the rubbery smoke still dominates and is quite strong. yeah, i think i'll need to scrub this one off soon...

 

ETA: i did not scrub and 1-2 hours after first applied, it smells nice-it's a lingering incense with a hint of sweet leather, and i like this stage, just not sure i can stand that beginning part with my skin chemistry.

Edited February 16, 2018 by theseagrows