Reviews of Or Black (1982)
by Pascal Morabito

The northern face of leather chypre. It’s as natural and luxurious as it gets in masculine perfumery, with no chemicals to disturb its transparent balance. It’s dark, green, and bitter, exceedingly dry and astringent, without an atom of sweetness. It’s bleak, Plutonian and monomaniacally focused. The smoke is persistent but soft. It smolders the scent of liquid grey suede, but it’s a little too clean for a leather chypre, with a dusty, peppered sage and well-integrated vetiver working throughout the development. Indeed, the vetiver smells Haitian, and it could be responsible for some of the smoke, because it’s not the robust smoke you get from Knize Ten and a few others. Either way, the birch tar (the leather smells like it’s from birch tar rather than isoquinolines) is putting out its share. There’s little sign of anything overtly animalic, but I guess a few drops of castoreum could be in there smoothing things out. Perhaps it’s the labdanum, but when they attenuated the castoreum in Antaeus, the difference was striking. The whole thing was cleaner, animal smells were attenuated, vetiver became more prominent, and it was considerably less interesting. If there’s any castoreum in this, it isn’t much, and I think the fragrance would be a lot more interesting if it were there in adequate amounts. Turin compared OB to Rive Gauche pour Homme, and I can definitely understand it. It’s grey and aloof like a good fougere should be, but up close OB’s smooth like a chypre, not prickly and effervescent like a fougere. Another reason sampling is so deceptive. Because when you actually wear OB, it becomes a different animal. It’s quite a bit more aromatic (an energetic, fougere-like aromatic) than you may have been led to believe, and along with its bitter, astringent nature, you might even taste it for a while. As Turin described it, “…like triple-distilled Earl Grey, a step beyond even Rive Gauche pour Homme in its saturine glory”. So is it a chypre or a fougere? Well it’s obviously a hybrid. And it doesn’t matter anyway. Things don’t always be classified. I prefer them not to be. The fragrance is structurally adequate, but nothing exceptional, and definitely not the best example of top-down design. Either way, it’s a great one compared to most masculines. It just works its way down the road in a killer ride, smoother as it goes, makes a little noise at times, but mainly just delta waves and the occasional theta, until the suede’s so soft I could make love to it, or make pillows out of it so I can hold onto ‘em as I sleep on my furry bed. The evolution moves pretty fast, and even though the drydown isn’t all that interesting, it’s as clear and smooth as my girlfriend’s freshly powdered bottom. The balsamic labdanum softens everything, as a dusty oakmoss and a high quality, somewhat sensual musk hang around with woody vetiver and a drop of benzoin and amber. The stuff is seriously well blended. It’s also a decent example of the chypric justaposition of bergamot, oakmoss and labdanum. It’s also capable of being severely energetic. At times, the astringency is not far from gasoline, and you might feel like you need to get out and take care of some business. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s just another trait that resembles a good fougere – liveliness, zest, focus, energy, bite, etc. There’s no question that Or Black’s got bite. It gets my attention perhaps more than anything I’ve worn. For reference, Ted Lapidus pour Homme (1978) is somewhat related, though it smells better, is significantly more comfortable, and superior all around (TLPH 78 has nothing to do with the fragrance by the same name that came out in 2005 or so. That’s not a reissue, it’s a completely different scent). TLPH is as handsome as Derby (Guerlain), but smokier, and less elegantly Guerlain. Unfortunately there are few bottles on the planet, and they’re getting pretty old. Or Black has some of the same feel as 1000 (Patou), but it’s obviously more bitter, green, leathery, astringent, masculine, etc. Either way, women could easily wear it if they wanted. It might even work better on them. Women can wear any masculine scent and often smell more alluring than they would in many of the feminines. They'd probably smell incredible in Or Black. Nothing's more sexy on a woman than a leather chypre.

I should also mention that this stuff smells amazing on clothes. It deepens and softens, and maintains the scent of rich, heavy suede. That's true of most leathers. They smell great on clothes. I remember Luca Turin used to advise that many of them should be worn on clothes exclusively. Or Black could easily be one of those.

Or Black is a high quality fragrance, especially for a masculine, and it's definitely worth five stars, or a thumb.

smells like black leather thrown in to the black hole with handful of white florals thrown in. one cant help feel the suspended nature of the accords. whats more, it has a lovely drydown. A timeless chypre.

A fantastic dark leather scent. At first I smell real darkness like birch tar leather with a soft side and the similarity to Kolnisch Juchten is remarkable. Both have a nice sweet amber base to their dark tar leather notes. As it dries down it becomes smoothe and quite subtle. As the base opens a slight vetiver undernote gives the dark soft leather an earthy deep forest floor feel. Quite by accident, I happened to layer PM OR with a spritz of Outrageous and the most amazing deep leather scent with an irridescent wintergreen polish resulted - a wintergreen leather. Amazing! I will wear this Moribito OR / Outrageous combo more often. A happy accident. But, Pascal Moribito OR all by itself is magnificent.

Very strong and very dark scent. The name I find is totally appropriate. Slightly synthetic, but not so much so that it's off-putting to my nose. One must be cautious in applying this scent due to its strength. Mucho aromatic.

Not a whole lot of progression going on here for me. Leather pepper blast with a touch of citrus. Viberts nose is assuredly more attuned than mine and he experiences complexities, whereas I experience a linear scent, but it's all good.

If you like your juice towering and dark, jump on board and sample this Morabito offering. Sillage and longevity no problem here.

Excellent, well made scent which starts of smelling very much like a classic leathery chypre, but it soon dries down for a lovely, insency fougere. Very dark scent with rich aromatic presence. Benzoin and tonkian musk adds a nice sweet touch to it. Very masculine old school but not dated by any means.

If you find this intriguing, but find it too expensive or hard to find, then you probably should want to try Tabac Man. It shares alot similarities with this one, even the bottle of that one is colored in black and red.

OK, you know the drill: spend ages looking for some much-praised, hard-to-find, or discontinued fragrance, only to discover that it’s utterly ordinary or near identical to something else. Yohji Homme, Moss Breches, and Eau du Fier come immediately to mind. I was expecting the same of Pascal Morabito’s Or Black. Surprise!

My first thought? “Wow!” My next? “Oh, crap – now I’m going to have to track this stuff down and spend a fortune on a bottle of it.”

Or Black leaves the bottle smelling like pure rubbing alcohol, but it’s mere seconds before one of the most complex accords I can remember assembles itself like one of those Transformer toys my eight year-old nephew is so fond of. Good grief, what’s in there? Smoky Lapsang Souchong tea, dry leather, moss, a campfire, vetiver, tobacco, animalic musks, a touch of rose and frankincense? Is that even a tiny trace of oudh I smell in there? I give up. I don’t want to think about it as much as just to smell it.

Or Black sweetens ever so slightly as it ages, but the pipe tobacco, leather, and campfire notes assign it the same dry, sophisticated mood as Guerlain’s Derby or Shiseido’s Basala. Luca Turin calls Or Black a fougere, but I’d be more inclined to group it with the leather chypres, since I don’t get all that much of the classic fougere’s coumarin or lavender out of it’s composition. The smoky moss and leather drydown is a real treat, enhanced by the round, yet pungent animalic musk that blends it seamlessly with the skin. I caution against sampling Or Black, lest you too be driven to acquire this elusive masterpiece.

I like this very formal scent but can't say I'm crazy about it, nor would I re-buy. To my nose, it's a dark, smooth leather mixed with olive oils.
Weird.

I have never ben a fan of leather chypre's... I think of them as 70's macho and not particularly wearable. That has changed. This is perhaps the most wearable scents in my collection. It is eminently sophisticated and stays close to the skin. The leather note is dark and cut well by the pepper. The herbs are warm and deep but it is not too hot or dark to wear in warmer weather.

One of the better leather chypres out there. A calm and balanced scent that's not fussy, too macho or overly sweet, with just the right doses of spice, warmth and a hard edge. The leather in Or Black has a slightly chemical feel to it which sometimes brings to mind Cuir Ottoman or Santa Maria Novella's Nostalgia, but that doesn't spoil it a bit.

A visit to the library? The strange, reserved, clean smell of the pages of old volumes bound in soft calf leather?

I love leather base scents and Morabito Or Black is wonderful; as it should be. Jean louis Sieuzac created it, the artist who also gave us Be Ami, Opium. The pepper is biting in a nice way and the leather is a dark leather that last quite well.At the end there's a lovely lingering floral note.

I love this scent.
This scent is a very rich leather chypre so modern 70's style.
A blend of bergamot, Pepper, Leather, Sage, Benjoin, Cistus, Vetiver, Amber, Tonkinian musc, Oak moss.
Think of the scent like Antaeus meets DK Fuel for men, very rich yet very unusual. It has the powdery leather/oak moss notes of Antaeus, yet it is softened and almost suede like with Tonkinian Musk.