parfums*PARFUMS Series 3 Incense: Jaisalmer (2002)
by Comme des Garçons

Dry, herby-woody and balsamic scent with masculine appeal. More complex and less aggressive than its close cousin, Avignon.

Most of all, Jaisalmer is reminiscent of old wood, old furniture. If you've ever been in an auction room stacked with furniture of various ages and states of repair, this is it.

18th December, 2011.

Spirit of the Tiger mixed with CdG White. Great!!

30th November, 2011.

Spice, incense, cedar - what's not to love?

This is by far the most rich and complex of the CdG Incense range, and by far my favourite. I would second previous comments about its longevity, but while it's around it's magnificent.

15th October, 2011.

A rich incense opening! But not the kind of incense that we can find in Avignon, where mixed with myrrh gives us a church feeling.

Here we have a incense note accompanied by spicy notes like cardamon upon a resinous base where benzoin shines. A very versatile incense based fragrance if I may say.

9th October, 2011.

I was walking through an arts festival here in Portland a few weeks ago, and was struck by the smell of something magical coming from a woodworking demo... I joined the crowd watching the planing and sanding. Nostrils flaring, I kept looking for the pot of burning incense nearby, there was none to be found. When the crowd dispersed, I stayed, as the scent remained steady.
Asking the craftsman what I was smelling, he took a long curl from off the table he was working on, telling me it was yellow cedar. Over the course of the next thee days, I returned to his booth to smell fresh yellow cedar again and again.
It was when I applied Jaisalmer (a scent I had worn many times previously) that I made the connection.

Not merely a ceder scent, this can almost be described as a single note scent. Yellow ceder. Bliss.

17th September, 2011.

A lovely, warm scent -- pungently woody and smoky on the one side, soapy and invigoating on the other. The invigoratingly clean element surely derives from aldehydes and cinnamon, which brings me to the conclusion that this is the earthier, woodier cousin to "Hotel Costes"; both have that irresistible soapy-cinnamon note I don't come across very often. The incense note is relatively weak; the wood notes win out. This is only mentionable as the scent appears in the CdG series of incense-inspired scents.
The only down side: The drydown of this eau de toilette pales in comparison to the non-stop drydown of eau de parfum "Comme des Garcons 2". Two spritzes of the latter and your're set for the whole day; "Jaisalmer" requires 6-7 spritzes and you don't really make it past your lunch break. But still -- extemely pleasant. I wonder if Jaisalmer/India smells anything like this? Would be a dream.

9th August, 2010.