Kote
Slumberhouse (2011)

"The imagination: polished teak planks brushed in clementine juice, rubbed dry with tobacco leaves and left in the sun. A brightwood that fully realizes itself in a warm atmosphere with translucent sparks of bronzed pine gum."
- Josh

Wow...it's been a long time coming to actually smell Kote. I loved the note description of "Clementine rubbed onto Teak Wood that is covered by Pine Needle Resin droplets with fresh tobacco leaves". Josh Lobb's description of this fragrance really caught my attention and I wanted to smell it for many years but haven't been able to until now thanks to a very nice fellow Basenotes friend. As far as the actual fragrance goes, this doesn't smell at all like I thought it would based on that wonderful description I mentioned above.

This begins with a very short ghost of a possible clementine note...more like a sweet melange of syrupy sweetness that is undistinguishable as anything citrus, but this stuff is 10 years old and is from a small sample dabber, so of course the citrus would be the first thing to change dramatically. The main player along with the sweet syrupy note,(which reminds me just slightly of the cherry pie filling note I get from Baikal Gris by Areej Le Dore), is a coconutty note that also shows up in Baque by Slumberhouse. In fact, Kote reminds me just a tiny bit of Baque, however Baque is more tobacco heavy and feels more like a finished product than Kote does.

There is a woodiness to Kote, but I was hoping to be able to distinguish the wood as teak, and it's pretty indistinct to my nose. As Kote dries down there is a pretty noticeable dose of vanilla as well and it just sort of gets smoother in the far dry down as it looses some of the coconut vibe, and the sweet syrup subsides.

I was so hopeful that Josh was going to revisit Kote a few years ago when he said he was going to, but of course that never happened. If he would create Kote again and make it smell just like his original note description, I'd be very excited to get a bottle or two. I think his original idea is a great one and if the execution came out like that idea it would be an excellent fragrance in my mind. At least it sure sounds like one to me.

Josh Lobb does what he does very well. Kote has the hallmarks of Slumberhouse: sweet, clove, immortelle plus leather, tobacco, bigarade, tonka(?) and maybe a lutensesque lavender. This one has no dissonant notes (like grev, rume, and vikt), which is less challenging but so COMFORTABLE. Slumberhouse ia all about deep, deep coziness.
I sometimes feel I should sell my 100+ bottles (at least thefall/winter ones), go to Oregon & buy everything this guy's made. Norne, Sova, and Kote are unqualified masterpieces.