Chergui (2001)
by Serge Lutens Les Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido

Chergui is incredible but it's fairly girly. Thumbs high up in the sky for a girl who'd wear this. Thumbs up in the sky for a guy who can get away with it as well.

A tobacco-laced soft oriental made slightly powdery by iris and musk notes. This is a bit challenging at the top because of the odd combination of honey, tobacco, and musk which states the theme. The dryness of the tobacco, combined with the sweetness of honey and the powdery note of musk makes an odd, tickle-my-nose kind of impression on me. Yet the whole is so delicately balanced and resolves beautifully, like a dissonant chord returning to the tonic. It is hard to resist the brilliant development and the excellence of the drydown. This scent could well be taken as the paradigm of a soft oriental: the hallmark musk, amber, incense, and sandalwood accord here assisted by elegant florals (rose and a light iris) and the evanescent pipe tobacco note. Mysterious, alluring, intoxicating.

Chergui - Honey, hay, tobacco blended masterfully to exude a warmness and coziness like no other. B R I L L I A N T.

Chergui's opening is all spices, woods, and sweet resins. The spices in Chergui are so well blended that the individual notes are hard to distinguish, but I'm pretty sure I catch coriander, clove, and black pepper in the mix. However, an immense wave of syrup crashes over the arrangement to wash away the woods and carry Chergui through its drydown, though the final stage is lent some counterpoint by the faint cries of the drowning cloves and black pepper.

To my sorry nose, Chergui shares a base that's very similar to several other Lutens scents, including Arabie, Fumerie Turque, and Ambre Sultan. It starts out as a rich and interesting spicy oriental, but winds up overwhelmed by the out-of-balance and overly sweetened base notes.

Oh boy, another fragrance that I've done a 180 on. Well actually, this time it's not my fault, it's the fragrance itself. Chergui was recently reformulated, rendering it less thick, powdery and sweet. It's now more on the dry hay and tobacco side, making it wearable and enjoyable for me. Although many dislike the reformulation, I can't help but give it a thumbs up.

Chergui smells to me like tobacco, hay and (slightly smokey), sweet and syrupy vanilla and benzoin. It then goes through a number of stages, highlighting different notes until it dries down to a slightly animalic base. The whole thing is anything but dry to my nose, and makes me think of a warm and humid day on a farm where the air is filled with cow dung, hay, sweet-vanillic pipe tobacco and a touch of baby powder.

8.75/10

This reminds me of Arabie without the camphor note. Spicy, powdery, vanillic, and so, so sweet. Warm, comforting, and wonderful, but at the same time it makes me want to pinch my nose and gird my throat against the vanillic assault. A person could have a seizure from this much treacle.