Smuggler's Notch
Folkwinds (2023)

a perfect poem.
like an avenue of apple trees.
the leaves glow with the orange and brown of autumn.
break.
damp wood to meditate on.
swirling in the village of leaves.
enveloping not excessive fungal and hallucinogenic creatures,
collective rites to the great mother
Eagle,
Slight smoke
there among the leaves
there in the village of leaves and finally
see themselves mutated into syrup, canute and red
swirling in vibrant and persistent joy.

A pretty good jobs!

Thumbs way up, oh yeah! This is a very rich concoction and goes on the skin like 10W40 motor oil in terms of color and viscosity. Using EO parlance, this would be something like a 'pure perfume', so buyer beware of the potency. And watch out for getting it on clothes as it will doubtless stain fabric. That said, what an explosive opening with everything vying for attention all at once. Fortunately, the tobacco stays in the background here and doesn't dominate at all. The sweetness of the Maple Syrup starts right at the beginning and seems to last all the way through, counter-balanced by the lovely resinous and smoky notes which develop and become stronger as the thing dries down.

I have to mention the similarity to Areej le Dore's Agar de Noir. Smuggler's Notch is very much like Agar de Noir in the opening, sweet and aromatic and so beguiling. Maybe it's the orris? The olfactory memory only kicked in on about the third wearing of Smuggler's Notch, and I smelt the high quality oud peeking through, all of a sudden I was back with Agar de Noir. If you liked Agar de Noir, you will LOVE Smuggler's Notch. This is way more than a tribute to Russian Adam's Agar de Noir, as it surpasses it in almost every aspect. I love how it uses American and Canadian cultural themes, creating a beautiful exotic narrative from /of things we have right here around us in the boreal forest. Vermont Cedar, Toasted American Oak, Maple Syrup etc. I don't just love the idea, the smells are wonderful. It's like the thing is alive!

There are just so many interesting things going on here, with little notes peeking in and out all along the dry down. We've been seduced by middle eastern and oriental tropes in artisanal perfumery for too long. I can't wait to smell what Jono Bornstein comes up with next. Go Jono go!

Of course, it is already sold out, we can only hope there is another batch in the works. You can still get samples from FRAGNANIMOUS last time I checked.

Up top I get natural deer musk, some cherry pipe tobacco sweetness, boozy woodiness, and a reddish-brown berry-like oud. It’s immediately enormous, which I should have anticipated with the inky army-green oil slick the sprayer left on my arm. In the heart, I get spices; tons of cinnamon and nutmeg, and a natural smelling red apple..but it doesn’t feel gourmand as it’s tempered by the tobacco and oud, the former of which smells authentically like a humidor of damp, leathery maduro and the latter of which takes on an over-steeped black tea quality, darkly tannic with a camphoraceous licorice facet. Underneath there is a burnt caramel sweetness that is perfectly tempered by a light dusting of rose, wafts of wood smoke and occasionally the deer musk from the opening which comes in and out of focus for me. The final stage is a sweetly mapled woodiness, the aforementioned caramel revealing itself as immortelle, implemented in the best of ways, that glues itself to your skin for days and survives multiple showers. This whole progression happens slowly and deliberately, at any point that I focus in on it throughout the day I am shocked by how dramatically nonlinear it is while remaining pleasant at every stage. It has some softly glowing, ashy-grey smokiness and the fruity qualities provide some lift but overall it feels warmly pitch-dark, like traversing a wooded pass on a moonless night with nothing but a candlestick barely resisting the blustery winds. Hushed, despite its insane longevity. Santi Ana By Night feels appropriate, but there’s a hint of American Pharoah in here as well, at least it’s comfortably animalic base and cherry facets. With the darkness, the spices, the sweetness and the smoke It may dethrone Mond as my platonic ideal Halloween scent, but I’ll have to reserve judgement until October comes around.

The influences are there; if I had to provide a reference point I’d say it feels like a mashup between a natural deer musk centric scent like EO2 or Onthamara with Slumberhouse’s more atmospheric, bucolic/autumnal (think Sova or Kiste) side but at the end of the day this is original and, as an experiment, is an enormous success to me. As a 4th release from a new nose, it’s unreal and has me eager to try whatever is coming next.