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

Comme des Garçons’ Jaisalmer opens on a balsamic-astringent accord that smells a lot like liniment. A dark, smoky frankincense note emerges quickly underneath, but its stony demeanor is tempered by sweet spices. The warm spice and camphoraceous liniment volley back and forth over Jaisalmer’s heart and so manage to keep the nose engaged through their constant, balanced activity.

With all this talk of liniment, I can’t help but mention Heeley’s recent Spirit of the Tiger, which plays the liniment-and-incense game in a more literal manner. So much so that it winds up smelling all too much like Tiger Balm. Now while there’s nothing wrong with the smell of Tiger Balm, why spend $150 US on a bottle of niche perfume when you can get the real thing for three dollars at your local drugstore? Jaisalmer doesn’t fall into this literalist trap, and its more subtle take on camphor, balsam, and frankincense winds up making it at once a more wearable and a more interesting fragrance.

While Jaisalmer is easily the most medicinal scent in the Comme des Garçons incense series, it is also (along with Ouarzazate,) one of the sweetest, and hence most approachable. It’s stimulating, yet also comfortable, with very little of the forbidding austerity that turns some people away from Avignon or Kyoto. A nice introduction to this line, or to incense fragrances in general.

Minty incense? That's what I get. Smokey and cool. Fresh and woody. Not bad.

Pimento berries, cardamom, cinnamon, incense, guiac wood, ebony, amber, benzoin
This surprised me. My preconception is that it would be quite spicy. It is not. Rather, it is a green scent in the sappy/medicinal style. It has a slightly sweet opening, but in no sense is this cloying. There are peppery notes and very good cedar wood notes that are like a sweet, aromatic cedar chest rather than pencil shavings. The amber is very restrained, and the benzoin gives intensity to the overall fragrance. I think this is quite distinctive.

There are clearly people here with more advanced noses than mine, but I would like to add that the cedar smell in this is definitely smokey and burnt (in a good way) - it's not cedar chips in a closet, it's cedar chips smoking in a barbeque.

I bought this at the same time as the Commes Des Garcons Series 8 Lime, because, contrary to common sense, they smell amazing layered together. Honestly, I can't imagine wearing this by itself, but it works really well adding a smoky, woodsy layer to an amazing array of sweeter scents that I have. Try it with rose scents (I like Le Labo's Rose 31). I also use it to tone down Jo Malone's Pomegranite Noir and make it more masculine.

It was totally worth buying the whole bottle, and I find this to be one of my go-to scents.

A freshly sharpened pink pencil.

This is a wonderful wood fragrance. Yes there is some incense, but it's not as important to Jaisalmer than it is to the other frags in this series. This is really a nice spicy cedar fragrance. It's thumbs way up for Jaisalmer, although it would be improved if there was a bit more incense. Layering this with Kyoto is very, very nice.

spicy and intriguing.
not an everyday scent, but to wear on special occasions.

Jaisalmer: opens with lush spicy notes, mainly those which evoke sweet aroma, smells of barks with a touch of chilli. the spicy notes is well rounded by midnotes with a heavy hand of woody notes, this scent is not dry but, its definitely warm though... somewhere in midnotes i felt as if i have reached the basenotes and there would be no development here on, oh well, i was wrong, the woody notes starts to wear off revealing the sweetest incense notes, i think this one is the "sweetest" of the incense series with a very camphory cool feel potent enuff to numb ones nostrils....definitely wearable, be prepared for "what are you wearing! you smell exotic." comment.

CDG incense series:

The incense series in general, startled me at first. kyoto and Jaisalmer would probably be the two which would come across embracing you immediately, saying that it doesnt mean it doesnt have substance, only that the other two, Avignon and Zagorsk, are pretty bold, no holds barred, really intense scents but, couple of wears in to it and one would appreciate all of these for their respective qualities.

Incense series is dark, woody, smoky, mysterious, resinous, earthy, dusty and loaded with incense in general. though they all have the same characters, they smell poles apart from each other in their approach. a definite for someone who is looking for an adventure, a spiritual and meditative adventure in perfumery.

Jaisalmer is predominantly a cedar fragrance with lashings of vetiver and pepper which smells the same from the application all the way to the drydown. The pepper/wood combination reminded me a lot of 10 Corso Como which is chiefly sandalwood whereas Jaisalmer is mostly cedar (to my nose, anyways). I also agree with a fellow Basenotes reviewer who described Jaisalmer as conjuring up “images of campfires and charred pieces of wood”. The pepper note reminded me a good deal of Ormonde Jayne’s Isfarkand. Lastly, although it is characterized as an incense fragrance, Jaisalmer does not have a heavy “churchy” incense smell. In fact, it is quite dry and aromatic. If you enjoy Diptyque’s Tam Dao, Diptyque’s Feu de Bois, Ormonde Jayne’s Isfarkand, CdG’s Ouzarzate or 10 Corso Como, Jaisalmer would definitely appeal to you.

From what I’ve been able to glean from various sources, here are the notes: cedar, vetiver, cardamom, incense, cinnamon, amber, benzoin, pimento berries, guaiac wood and pink pepper.

The incense is certainly there in the opening, and it is accompanied by a feast of spices and a substantial aromatic element — perhaps the guaiac wood. This is a beauty! It is intoxicating. Rich, deep-toned, and dry, the incense combines with the lush spices, the semisweet berry note, and the resinous woods to create an edgy but wearable fragrance. This accord of exotic spiciness, the muted dry incense, and the aromatic wood gives a rather strong sillage at first, but the potent accord quickly mellows to one that doesn’t project very much: It stays sensually close to the skin in a subtle but rich dry wood / amber accord with only the barest touch of incense. Jaisalmer is the least incensy of the incense series, but it is probably the most complex fragrance of the group: It has a genuine progression of the pyramid levels and it depends less on incense and more on a wider variety of notes. The most complete and complex of the incense series, my only concern is that, on my skin, it doesn’t last as long as the others.

Gucci pour Homme and Bois d'Ombrie (minus the famous vinegar note). Throw in a little synthetic incense and we're cookin' with gas, folks.

Good stuff!

Notes:
cardamom, incense, cinnamon, amber, benzoin, pimento, berries, guaiac wood (aka gaiac wood or saint wood), ebony

My favourite of the range, very strange as it doesn't have any flower note and in me smell deliciously kind of flowery with incense ('course).
Maybe it can be the cinammon and the berries.
Also get the metallic aura.
Fascinating piece. Very recommended.

For me, Jaisalmer is easily the most challenging fragrance in this series. I suspect there´s a good amount of raw vetiver in there. A note that with it´s earthy and soily qualities certainly is not a favourite of mine. I do however like this fragrance anyway. Like the others have pointed out, it is intensely smokey and spicy. I too get images of campfires and charred pieces of wood when wearing it, and I like it! Jaisalmer is intensely dry, a bit dirty and very masculine, would not want to smell this on my girlfriend. Like many CdG´s it is an aquired taste, so don´t buy blind. It´s siblings, Quarzazate and Avignon are mucher safer bets if you´re into incense and want a cool avantgarde approach to it. Jaisalmer´s staying power outlasts both of those easily though.

Smells exactly like clear-burning pine resin incense. There's a slightly metallic edge on dry down on my skin, but the overall effect is exactly what I'd hoped for: the scent of incense. So far no other incense type fragrances have captured this so well for me. (Though I undesttand that that could also be dependant on the type of incense I was expecting to smell.)

I walk through the silver birch trees of dappled white, the leaf strew dry and dusty underfoot. Ancient moss covered boulders squat turgid with slow thoughts whilst forest incense is warmth surrounding and rises peppery and resinous. I am held within its embrace.

I love all of the incense series, but chose this above the others. I have visited Jaisalmer many times and this does not smell like the place at all!! One would expect to smell indian type incense here,or indeed bazaar spices but instead it smells like eastern european gothic churche type incense. That being said, I still love this frag, so will forgive the misleading name. Smells exactly like the Lithuanian fragrance Jozias Stravithicus, but much better longevity. Just wish it was more readily available in the UK.

To quote the Dead Kennedys: "Chemical Warfare, Chemical Warfare, Chemical Warfare, Warfare, Warfare." Blasphemy? Let me explain myself: I think CdG is an avantgarde fashion house that makes a point of stressing the 'artificiality' of their fragrances. In upper echelon perfumery synthetics are generally employed to make a fragrance appear more natural. I should think CdG would have a gas using natural ingedients to produce a synthetic smelling perfume (but I guess economy dictates they use synthetics to that end after all). Now, I am a great lover of incense, and regarding perfumes Incensi by Villoresi and Valentino's Vendetta pour homme are among my two favorites, both give an incredibly authentic, i.e. very natural smelling rendition of incense. With Jaisalmer,IMHO, the synthetics scream in your face. It's an Indian spice market allright, but, like a 'ship in bottle,' it's a 'spicemarket in test tube,' assembled with pride and a sense of irony. Which is fine by me, except I really don't much like ISO-E-Super, somehow it just massively irritates me. But please don't let this opinion by a minority of one spoil your enjoyment of this fine fragrance. In fact, my bottle is up for swap :-).

I don't get the oriental spice market at all, I get a northern evergreen forest: tar, wood, resin, tree sap and campfire smoke. A metallic edge too, like in Zagorsk. Very warm and comforting, if you find woodsy scents comforting.

Wow, what a great, complex scent!! In many ways, it seems to have a similarity to Vetiver Extraordinaire... But with less of the earthy smell and more of the spices. Lovely.

This is the best of this line and that's saying a lot. Indian spice bazaar is a perfect description. Woods and exotic spicies come together to make a perfect combination.

Dry and crisp, an Indian spice bazaar. I fell head over heels for this wonderful scent. The cardamom and cinnamon chase one all the way through the incense bazaar in the center and the fragrant woods on the base. Fragrant and exotic without being cloying or syrupy. This is a perfectly pressed Kurta with very subtle tone on tone embroidery. Jaisalmer feels clean and actually a bit business focused. I really like this one for office wear.