La Fumée Intense
Miller Harris (2014)

The review by "Suspended" completely & thoroughly sums up La Fumee Intense. Now that I own and I've worn both La Fumee Intense and La Fumee Original, I totally agree with Suspended's review.

Initially, I had an impossible time telling Miller Harris La Fumee Intense apart from La Fumee Original. But after wearing both for several days, I completely get it now. La Fumee Intense is very similar to Original with a few distinguishable and rather notable differences: less smokiness, less incense and the addition of lavender, vanilla & oud.

La Fumee Intense opens with an extremely intense, green & spicy accord. I assume the opening is cardamom, coriander, lavender and whatever else; whereas Original does not have such an opening. Throughout the wear, Intense evolves as a more floral, creamy developed version of Original, minus the immediate appearance of incense...again, lavender & vanilla (elemi) for certain.

So, floral & vanilla notes are very prominent during the mid-phase as well, lasting about 30 minutes in. The floral addition is actually quite nice; however the opening notes and floral accords DO tone down the incense that I love in La Fumee Original.

The immediate dry-down is where I am split. While MUCH more resinous, thick, syrupy, sweet, powdery and developed than Original, La Fumee Intense loses me a wee-bit with its woody, mid-to-base note (oud) and its syrupy, vanilla (elemi) & amber-ish early dry-down notes. All the notes comprising Intense do beautifully blend after an hour (or more) with intermittent wafting of spiciness, mild incense, amber and lavender. The beautiful interplay of spicy floral woody creamy notes makes La Fumee Intense very appealing. Intense is much more complex than La Fumee Original.

Yet, there is something unmistakably beautiful that I crave and adore in the simpler, cleaner and more linear smoky incense dry down of La Fumee Original (versus the dry down of Intense). Seems like the smokiness and incense of La Fumee Original are lost amongst the more varied and complex notes of Intense.

La Fumee Intense's longevity, performance, silage are all pretty fierce & favorable, as opposed to the closer-to-the body, shorter wearing performance of Original. If this helps, I find La Fumee Original a somewhat "easier," all day, every day wear; whereas due to its intensity and complexity, I might wear La Fumee Intense during the fall/winter months, at night, out for dinner, on a special occasion, etc.

In a very funny way, as Cook.bot noted, with the addition of spiciness, lavender, vanilla & oud, La Fumee Intense seems more suitable for men, whereas La Fumee Original seems more suitable for women. And yes, as this reviewer stated, "...the LATE dry down is quite beautiful and definitely worth the wait."

Either way, you cannot go wrong! Intense, or Original...I love them both!

This is very, very beautiful, but is actually more resinous incense than I can comfortably handle. The incense almost overpowers the warm spices (which makes me feel deprived) and I can't detect florals in the heart at all. I do sense something grassy, which is probably just my nose misinterpreting the chamomile, and I like that very much. The first part of the base was difficult, as I really disliked the oud following on the heels of the incese, but the late drydown was so beautiful that it was worth the trouble. Had pretty astonishing projection, too. I would LOVE to smell this on a man; too bad you can't fast-forward a perfume straight to the base. Makes me eager to smell La Fumee Maroc, too.

This is glorious!

Stays true to the original but with added depth and magic. I find a lot of the Miller Harris line pleasant, a little linear and fleeting but this smells more like a proper perfume, with projection and longevity.

I love La Fumée, but I love this more. The way the cardamom, coriander seed and chamomile come together is just stunning. Each is so clearly definable and yet they meld together in this smoky, spicy, fizzing, radiant concoction. I have no idea how they managed to give this fragrance such an effervescent energy, but boy does it work!

For me, the original is evocative of burning hymn books and cigars. It has a slightly austere quality, almost medicinal in it's opening, like a spiritual cleansing. This is completely missing from the Intense version. The smokey incense notes have been toned down a little and the opening is instantly warm and inviting. Top and heart notes stick about for a long time and the spice is still detectable in the final stages, where the usual ambery, vanillic comfort zone kicks in.

This is worthy of the price tag and is quite possibly Miller Harris' greatest achievement. For me, it's certainly the best of the La Fumée flankers (though I've yet to try Alexandrie.)

I have found a new love.