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

I might get a lot of heat for this, but I just can't stand Chergui. After 2 tries, I've had more than enough of its overpowering syrupy-sweet smell. I like gourmands and sweet fragrances, but this is just too sweet in the wrong way. Not only is Chergui more syrupy than maple syrup from Montreal, but it makes me think of a middle aged bohemian woman (which is not what I'd like to smell like, considering I'm a 22 year old male).

Balance out the syrup, and this would be more classy and wearable - otherwise, I'm sorry to say "Bleeccchh."

6/10

Edit: 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 incredibly enjoyable for me. Although many dislike the reformulation, I can't help but give it a thumbs up.

8.75/10

Chergui pays hommage to some of the greats of the past, especially to Habanita, and is more classical in structure than most of the other Lutens orientals. It starts out a spicey sweet jam and finishes a wonderful tobacco amber. "The Guide" claims that the bottom notes are due to hay absolute, and if this is true, I LOVE hay absolute. Florals are present, but they are blended so well that it is difficult to point out any particular floral scent. This fragrance is expensive, but it smells expensive. It is tradition with a beautiful twist. Sillage and longevity are great, as one would expect. I cannot wait to own a bottle of this juice. It plays a familiar tune, but it marches to a different drummer.

This one is really different—dry, resinous, and semi-sweet—an intriguing beginning. Then the beautiful spices and the delicate florals begin rising up into the accord while the resinous aromatics waft in and out. These second movements happen quite quickly and what remains is, not concreteness, but a string of wispy memory impressions. What is left is the smell of hay freshly cut in the field—drying but not lifeless... still warm with the waning life-force, decaying and sweetening in the Saharan sun...

Chergui attacks from all directions—it happens all at once, everywhere. It is a dance of a thousand wind devils—dust and odors and passing beauty twirl in the sun. Chergui has such a radiantly sunlit transparency. Most scents of mystery are dark — Chergui's mystery is eye-blinding. Here the enigma doesn’t lie in the shadows and closed air of a crypt; Here the mystery dances in the desiccating winds and the brilliant sunlight. (Edit of 12 May 2006 review.)

For the first hour there is just so much going on in Chergui, it’s so well blended that breaking it down is hard going. Slightly spicy, brown sugar, with tobacco, burnt grass, maple syrup and most importantly ambergris.

Gradually Chergui becomes more sticky sweet as the top notes leave revealing the ambergris more and more. Some of the spiciness remains throughout but ultimately it’s the ambergris that governs until the end, which incidentally is sometime during my sleep.

There’s no disputing that Chergui smells good, in my opinion the first hour is best. I’m just not really sure if I want to smell of Chergui, sweet fragrances just aren’t my thing and ambergris is sickening for me. If you like Bulgari Black or Burberry Brit for Women this is for you. And me, well if you put a dessert in front of me called Chergui and I’d gobble it up before you could say “Jack Rabbit” and before it goes off.

I get wet pavement big time with this. The pavement that's been sitting out in the sun, baking and collecting the dirt, grime, dust and soil of the weeks since the last rain. Then dump some incense and syrup in the mix.

Something in the opening of Chergui kills my sense of smell. Shortly after taking a whiff of this I can't smell it again until several minutes later.

The dry-down is a generic-smelling vanillic gourmand. Not unpleasant but certainly nothing worthy of all the praise. It seems this fragrance has acquired the me-too bandwagon syndrome where one well-respected reviewer has created a following regardless of the quality of said fragrance.

Bois Blond by Parfumerie Generale does the hay thing much better.

Chergui oh..chergui..im in love with this...imagine a 1000 tea leaves placed over each other with lime skin placed in between every 200 of these leaves..throw in a good measure of hay and slightly dry tobacco leaves...now place a wheathered genuine leather saddle on each side like sandwich, it may be worn out in the sun, but it's authentic leather...now place all this in between steel weights a ton each and crush em up...what do you get? juice first, but then oil..every last drop of life, every last drop of life left poured into a bottle.

this one will never try to please, its there to give the user an ethreal experience. an experience of another place..a place one has never been. smoky green at first with a sultry leather/tobaco mids & with one of most divine amber and animalic musk notes ever.

CHERGUI. First impression: amazing but somewhat mainstream. It certainly smells luxurious like an expensive perfume for a gentleman. The development is complex and the drydown may be a little honey-laden for some though it retains an aura of masculinity with a deft touch of smoky tobacco. Overall this is a heady scent women could easily love on their guy; in fact a young female passenger was leaning ever closer towards me on the train ride home. An unequivocal BUY.

Sometimes words won't do. Words get taken into a backroom and are beaten, punched and stamped into dust. Obscenely beautiful.

Smells like the Vanilla-y goodness that is Sailor Jerry Rum.
(Hello, Bvlgari Black, is that you in there?)

For months I was unsure about Chergui – I found it to be a very moody scent. However, with the 50ml limited edition bottles quickly dwindling in supply, I decided to take the plunge and have no regrets.

Its nuances really emerge when worn on bitterly cold days, hence the difficulty I had in initially ‘getting it’. After reaching this moment of enlightenment, enjoying it during the autumn and winter months (regardless of the weather) has become second nature.

Warm, complex and utterly sensual – this is the ultimate oriental.

[Original submission date: 02 February 2007]

I'm wearing Chergui today for the first time in a while. The question I ask myself is: "How beautiful is this juice?", followed quickly by: "Why aren't I wearing this more frequently?".

Chergui opens with a warm spiced milk, honeyed-tea accord. I get amber and sweet tobacco in spades after a couple of hours. It projects beautifully and more than one would imagine. I got complimented from every lady I met this morning (OK it was only 3), still, this is the only time this has happened to me...

This review is long overdue for what is an amazing oriental!

A very typical Serge Lutens but among the least looney. Not over the top. Or at least not over the top for Serge though we still get the trademark honey schtick. Women would probably like this one--on themselves. And of course on a man they love.
But then the same could be said for Musc Ravageur, M7, JHL, most amber scents, and any one of hundreds of other sweet frags that are considered hip and cool. (Somehow I can't envision Coty's Raw Vanilla making the grade but Tauer's whatchamacallit in French desert is a shoo in) Lutens has found his niche.

What a funny little fragrance this is.  It reminds me of the fair, whether it means to or not.  I don't know if it's that honey and hay imagery getting the best of my senses, but I am reminded of a hot summer day at a country carnival; clad in sandals and a sundress, walking atop asphalt and dirt strewn with hay.  Games surround, with their bright colors and flashing lights, the occasional bll ringing, indicating a winner; ferris wheel rising above the background, screams from the rollercoaster, and the smells of cotton candy and elephant ears made less sweet by bitter hot asphalt and the sharpness of stacked haybales.Chergui doesn't last long on me, five hours at best.  I did not wish it to come back.  It is fun enough, out of the ordinary, but for me, maybe a little too virtual reality.  It shares a note with Aomassai that is sharply medicinal and burns my nostrils.  Maybe it is the hay?  Chergui is sweeter through and through, though, which tempers the hay and makes it more wearable for me than Aomassai. 

Sorry, it smells the same than Pi - Givenchy to me.
And I don't like that.

Chergui is undoubtedly the epitome of the Lutenesque style.

A smooth, deep, and honeyed blend of hay, spices, tobacco, tea, light florals (I smell a bit of iris) and the usual oriental suspects -- vanilla and amber. Altogether a top-notch oriental. Highly recommended, especially as an introduction to the Serge Lutens brand.

The head gives this four stars, as that is what it deserves -- but my heart gives it five, as I am in love with this concoction.

Started out hating this but I now appreciate it for what it is. An overly sweet spicy concoction with a slight floral heart. Tobacco, honeyed florals, amber, all very prominent in this. Somewhat similar to Sables but this is actually wearable. Absurdly powerful and loud.

The complexity of Chergui astonishes me. The ethereal, unfathomable loveliness of the green floral top notes with faint wafts of powder give way to an almost masculine, voluptuous bergamot, burning wood and leathery cologne-like body before settling to a smoky, patchouli-vetiver warmth. It wafts from the pulse points to encircle the body, the three notes echoing off each other at various intervals in the drydown. I'll wear this even though it smells more like a man's perfume despite a personal preference for intoxicating florals. It conjures reverie...This perfume isn't for lads - Chergui would be the scent of an older, wiser, dangerously handsome world traveler, a man with a past but who is at peace with himself, and who is about to fall in love with a reckless, defiantly intelligent, complicated younger woman.

A few Serge Lutens scents have this one certain arrid, stinky note that ruins the whole thing for me. If it wasn't for this one thing that I'm too much of a novice to know what it is, the rest of it would be beautiful for me. Gris Clair had this in spades, a huge blast of that arrid, super ICK note. I find it in this one too, so sad. I wanted to love this one so badly. The description alone had me scrambling to get a sample. It was heartbreaking to detect that one gross scent in this otherwise haunting and unique perfume.

Superb top accord, lovely bergamot and green notes but really quite subtle compared to the big amber which is present here right from the start. The heart is immensly rich with deep, complex dry hay and sweet blonde tobacco, a touch of florals and powdery iris. However, it is the base which dominates; so much so that I have to be concentrating to really notice the other factors (and I do wonder if anyone smelling it on me is likey to be concentrating that hard). A wonderful honeyed amber with a touch of fuzzy musk glues the whole thing together and the other accords can seem like token decorations of this at times.

At any rate Chergui (like many SL fragrances) has a very unified overal effect without a crisp deliniation between top, heart and base. The blending is sublime. It ends up with a strange combination of animalic hay and tobacco and naive sweet honey and amber, with a little savoury spice.

The projection is controlled and the longevity high.

I would prefer this in a lower concentration; I think it would make a better masculine as an EDT, but is very wearable in small doses as it is.

Chergui starts off with a burnt fire embers and burnt incense opening but fades quickly into a rough medicinal, moldy-cinnamon and leather accord. There is a heavy sweetness to this fragrance [perhaps the honey and the hay sugar (as
described by the Luckyscent website); a sweetness that comes from spices such as cinnamon, not sickly-cloying like candy. The medicinal fades quickly as well and the sweetness stays around through the lifespan of the cologne. There is a lavender-like facet to this scent, however, lavender is not listed so I would assume it is the combination of the iris mixed with the sandalwood and rose which gives Chergui a slight indelicate floral undertone. The dry-down is very peaceful, meaning that it is a soft vanillic wood that reminds one of an exstinguished fire from the fireplace and the scent is lingering in the air still.

The sillage is somewhat moderate, meaning those close to you can smell it and yet, it does not announce itself; this cologne wears close to the skin. Chergui is a strong fragrance but with a sophisticated, urbane demeanor. The longevity is excellent...let's just say that you get what you pay for; well worth the money!

I feel this Eau de Parfum is more of a Winter fragrance. One can wear this for an evening out, under a tuxedo, or to a board meeting. Chergui is a very classy and elegant albeit different cologne, yet wearable.

If and/or when you are ready to splurge on an Eau de Parfum that is different and elegant, then I would highly recommend Chergui by Serge Lutens!

I had to LOL when I read Benjamin's review...I do the same thing especially on trying days, it makes the world a better place! I find Cherqui hypnotic, seductive, unique deeply sweet and intoxicating mellowness at the end.

Apparently there are two formulations of Chergui -- the brown (original) and the green (newer). From reading the Basenotes forums, others have said they smell exactly the same. However, my review is of the brown juice. (I haven't tried the newer green version yet.) It has everything I love to smell, and nothing I don't (patchouli). It opens with something kind of green and citrusy (bergamot perhaps?), but that is short-lived. After that, it's mostly candy-sweet amber, cinnamon, vanilla to me. Some people have listed hay, honey, leather as things they smell. I really don't get any leather. If one is looking for leather, there are tougher leathery scents out there (i.e. Bandit, Tuscan Leather), but this is not one of them. And musk? I'm not a big fan of musk, and if there's musk in here, it's rather mild. It's nothing like the heavy-hitting Musc Ravageur to me. Sillage on me was moderate. It wafts around me nicely, but doesn't precede me into a room. Longevity is incredible. After 12 hours, I was still giving off waves of amber-vanilla -- the drydown. It stays close to my skin though. It's not a sillage monster, by far. 'Just a nice gourmandy oriental. Thumbs up from me! Too bad it's so hard to find, and mucho expensive to boot!

Sticky! Rather than sumptuous, Chergui was syrupy. A nauseating Stephanotis note, as in Nocturnes by Caron, with a touch sweat, but not enough to redeem it. I bought a full bottle based on some reviews, and that bottle needs a new home fast! Want it? Free to good home.

It smells very good, no doubt about it. Lasts well too. Loads and loads of coumarin in Chergui. To me it smells a lot like a mixture of honey, hay, vanilla and tea. Sugary, smooth and luminous.

Chergui is definitely unisex, but in my opinion it leans clearly towards feminine side, and I personally find it a tad too much so. For that reason I`m not going to full size bottle here for myself, but I would certainly love to smell this on a woman. It would be heavenly.

Btw, something has been wrong with the colouring chemichals of Chergui : I have heard the juice has turned into green in someones bottles, and I have had a sample vial myself where Chergui had turned into very dark brown, changing the cap of that sample from transparent white into purple red !!
I`ve heard the news this was somekind of bad in production, concerning some specific batch(es), but still I find it very odd that this luxury house can screw things up like this.

Starts very well, but is rather soapy and very strong. Ends with a vanilla/sandalwood blend some of Serge Lutens scents have that is cloying and nasty on me. Scrubbed.

Chergui is an elegant oriental scent which deserves all these positive reviews.

Serge Lutens is one of the most highly acclaimed fashion houses, so obviously I had very high expectations from their fragrances. Chergui was my first experience with Lutens, but it wasn't as earthshaking as I was hoping. Certain notes remind me of Givenchy's Pi... very sweet and vanillic, but Chergui is richer and deeper. It's not a bad fragrance, for sure, but to me it seems more like a designer creation than one I would normally expect from Lutens, namely a complex, unusual niche fragrance.

I acquired from Lutens their set of wax samples, which I have tested from time to time. Chergui was one that I enjoyed and it struck me as smooth, sensual and sophisticated with a well-rounded tobacco note. So when opportunity came to purchase a bottle I did so. Unfortunately, in the liquid fragrance the tobacco was more potent, a tad bitter and clashed with the smoothness around it. I learned a valuable lesson for myself: don’t buy a Lutens on the basis of a wax sample. Test the actual liquid before buying.

When I paid this kind of money for a fragrance, I want people to smell it. Fullstop.

The only good thing about this is that it smells nice...hence the neutral rating.

Zero sillage and projection on my skin. I should have invested in Opium PH, which is THE eau de parfum for men IMO.

Tea, honey, hay, musk, woods, and rose, in that order, is what I'm smelling. It's a freaking magical work of art. Actually it quite smells like an exotic spiced tea with milk and honey. People here have mentioned leather and tobacco, but I don't see it.
The only problem with Chergui is that rose accord that makes this just a tad too feminine. That doesn't mean it can't be for you, it just can't be on me.

But if you're a woman wearing this, you could get all sorts of unwanted attention...

ya hear me?

Does anyone else go to a dentist who uses a cleansing tooth paste which smells of Chergui? That's about all I get from this, which develops into that scent melded with cinnamon. Under all this is the treacly Lutens structure which quite frankly is just too damn sweet for this lad.
Admittedly, I am trying this from a Perfumed Court decant, and not the original bottle, but I'm willing to bet the source is pure.
That being the case, I'm glad this has its adherents; I am not one of them. This is one of three scents I've worn (Polo Blue and Montale Cuir d'Arabie the others) where I've actually had to wash them off lest there be imminent sickness.
Blind buyers beware: do not be lulled into the fantasia of hay, tobacco, and amber, thinking this a lost city of El Dorado. Try before you buy, unless you want an olfactory hallucination of dental fillings by Dr. Resnick.

It will be difficult to top jenson's delightful and spot-on description - tea leaves, lime rind, hot sun, leather... crushed and producing the finest droplets of elixir.

I am compelled though, to expand on one particular note: There is a sugar in the drydown - one that is quite stately, grown up and magnificent. It's a sugar that would make a little kid frown. This is no pixie stix, but a raw, wild sugar crystalized on rough frame screens set out in that same hot sun that dried jenson's aforementioned saddle. "hay sugar"? Turbinado? call it what you will, this is big kid stuff.

My husband and I had to get one bottle each - too great to share, sadly quite hard to find. The remarkable part here - he has normally worn only novelty gourmands till now; Demeter's Hot Fudge Brownie and Dulce de Leche, Luna's Wookie's Cookie and the like. What does this have to do with Chergui? Only that it's sugar can not go unmentioned, that sweet grounding note can not be under-emphasized. This scent, for all the leather, is just so very edible. A sparkling but deep-colored summer quencher that you simply could gulp down by the pitcher, yet you also want to savor each sip. A fragrance fit for hot weather, while never becoming frivolous. A heavy, rough sugar that says "adults only."

An absolute dream of a scent. One of the very best.

I tried several of the Luten scents and just cannot wear them.
They all come off as cheap Wizard air deodorizer on me.
So overwhelming that I got a headache and nausea like I do with Poison.

I'm jealous of those who experience discernible spices in this because that is what I was expecting, and sort of hoping for. But from start to finish, Chergui is silky and smooth on me, rich, enveloping, and initially a bit powdery. Though not at all the experience I'd set myself up for, Chergui has done anything but dissappoint me. Though the fragrance itself is a dark rich brown, I see it in my mind's eye as more of a light cream/tan. There's something luxuriously rich in Chergui, like the sensation of milky tea with honey and vanilla, and this dense, creamy sweetness is the element that intensifies the most on me as I wear it. It is one of those non-gourmand delights which make my mouth water without necessarily conjuring images of dessert. I think the dry sweetness of hay and tobacco mixed with the luscious creaminess of iris and amber is very alluring but has me wondering what this has to do with hot spicy wind gusts. Whatever the case, Chergui, gently intense, rich without being stifling, threw me for a loop. It is fantastically delicious but perhaps not in the way you might have been expecting.

Chergui resonates with me on several levels; it is a scent which offers the wearer, if your body chemistry so allows, the chance to experience a completely unbiquitous experience. From the warmth of the hay and the amber to the sweetness of the honey, the creamy texture of the iris and the mellow sting of the leather; this perfume invites you to make a Middle Eastern memory and for those who are familiar with the region, the reproduction of that region's sensuality is astounding.

Despite not being able to remain faithful to one fragrance, Chergui is and always will be my big love, the warm, strong arms of a cashmere sage, forever protecting me from the eye of the Mistral.....

Rousse’s bigger brother; thinks it’s tough but is no more than Chief Constable of midWales [ for US readers = sheriff of a suburb of Seattle]. You can still detect the Lutens sweet accord at the root of it all and the freckles are just as visible as in Rousse though it has coconut and cumin matting on its chest in a frail attempt at bristles; it has less of a story to tell than Rousse and once it’s got started it just stands in the corner, sweating a bit at the armpits, talking about leather and how the freemasons do excellent charity work.

Rich, creamy, woody, heavy on the amber. I was told that I'd like this scent if I enjoyed the amber of ck Obsession. Well, I do enjoy the opening of Chergui but it feels like it fades quickly. At it's base, it's certainly a Lutens scent as I've felt like I've worn it before (I've tried many other Lutens and I like this). For me, this house has it's huge ups and downs but never a so-so scent. While classy, this one doesn't do it for me. Great for a romantic cool fall winter evening with a beautiful lady.

Chergui's opening is all deep spices and woods, accompanied by a lot of amber. And I mean A LOT of amber. 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, amber waves (and they're not grain) wash away the woods and carry away the 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 amber accord.

I think this is my holy grail. Chergui opens with a puff of spicy flowers, not too overpowering or age defining, slightly green. Drying out she actually warms up with the honey note that is so very feral in Meil de Bois; here the note sits closer to the skin, adding an undeniable sex appeal that does not scream out like MdB. The sweet amber is golden and lovely: not too masculine, stuffy or hippy (all things amber can do on my skin). It is such a wonderful fragrance...perfect for any occasion.

I have to admit that indulge myself, spray a bit on the back of my hand and forearm before I go to bed, and curl up into my pillow and have the best sleep. I use it only on the weekends, maybe too strong for the office. I'm drunk with it, it's a scent that has a long longevity, it's there the next afternoon if I've not washed.
It's a smoky rich scent that's not at sweet even though there's honey in there, or I think so.
Again, it's my favourite indulge. Diam Blond now has competition too.

I don't deny the beauty of Chergui. It is a very nicely constructed blend of honey, hay, amber, and some nice floral notes. However, I honestly find it hard to believe that is is one of the absolute favorites here if not the favorite on the entire site. This is extremely close to the skin. I completely 100% understand that some, if not most don't want to be too loud with too much projection so everyone within 20 feet of you can smell you. However, at this price tag, I really don't want to bury my nose to my wrist to try and detect it. I for one believe most Lutens' are way too potent (Arabie, Miel de Bois, etc), but this one is just way too weak. If this had let's say average sillage, it would be in my wardrobe in a second.

This scent is my first approach to all the exclusive scents.I was really impressed by it.This scent manages to be both spicy,dry and sweet at the same time.The first notes that came through on me is a leather note, soon to develop into spices.Pepper and clove is the notes that my nose picked up.I did not get any flowers after the first dry leathernotes and spices,but lots of amber and maybe a touch of honey.The only downside of this fragrance is that I think it gets a littlebit too close to the skin on me.But sometimes that's a good thing too.

If Musc Ravageur is the seduction, then Chergui is the conquest.

Fireplace conquest, though, not savage back alley stuff. This is romance in a bottle -- sweet, syrupy vanilla in which to douse your lover and eat him/her up.

Perfect juice for rainy days, honeymoons and other events that call for crackling flames, glassfuls of Bollinger, and lots of Luther Vandross in the background.

Romance in a bottle.

I'm a big amber fan and Chergui delivers the amber, big time! I love to transition to this in the early evening from something fresh, like Annick Goutal's Vetiver. It puts me in a sensuous, happy mood. Great longevity and a bit softer then Ambre Sultan.

This is one of the rare Lutens where I like the opening less than later stages. Most of my other favourite Lutens (Ambre SUltan, Fumerie Turque, Bois Oriental, Cedre, Arabie), start out with an explosion of heavenly, sweet, wet and fleeting topnotes that last only for a few minutes, then settle into something warm and lovely, and eventually leave a base that is nice but missing all of the addictive flavours - usually just musty Cedar with a couple of decarative complimentary notes are left, (or else beeswax with Fumerie Turque) which is nice but the beauty is all gone.

WIth Chergui it's the opposite - it starts off with some strong powdery notes and one in particular which I can't pinpoint and which I don't particularly like - some kind of herb spice we use in foods - and isn't particularly sweet or wet. Then after a half hour to an hour it gets sweet and has a perfect balance. It does capture a bit of the feel of a hot wind.

Lovely!

The chaste and drunken sister to Sable by Goutal, Chergui is a spice cake floating on a cloud of sherry-soaked cotton candy, Chergui starts off Christian and ends up Pagan.

No hay or leather, etc for me (sigh.) Just expensive Syrup. Gum. Resin. Wax. Unguents. melted ice-cream. Messiah-annoiting oil, perhaps. Lingering and rich and, if you are at all heavy handed, oppressive. It will grow on me no doubt but when even the decants are expensive, I want easier gratification.
Glad I just got the decant.

I bought Chergui in Rome as the first of my permanently growing collection of fragrances by Serge Lutens. As much as I appreciate all the others: This is the one I love, and this is the one I barely use because the situation has to be so special that it's on the height of the fragrance. "If I could have only one..." - you know how this phrase should end. But this time it's true: Chergui i s my holy grail, the most precious one - regardless of availability or price - in my collection.

I have made the experience that, although others describe it as "sunny", it doesn't suit me on warmer days. Much of its magic get's lost when the fragrance mixes with something so worldly like sweat.

You know these sunny days, when you wonder where all the people around you come from. Where have they been during winter? Why do they have to be there? Chergui is not worthy to be worn among the crowd. It's holy character get's spoiled by the plebs of mind. I save it for lonely winter days, for pensive moments full of memory. This fragrance is my ultimate consolation.

Honeyed hay, leather, grass and herbs! A great fragrance combination, masterfully done and I could not stop admiring it. But its not the of the right century for me. Its a Romantic vision of the world that is not real for me. Its like admiring a great old artwork at the Met - the northern European renaissance painters who glorified the innocence of the hard rural life. The wheat gatherrs and oxen in the sunny fields - Hans Holbein or Albrecht Durer in bottle! I need more mystery, a little jazz, subtle counter beats etc in a fragrance. Many will admire this one, but few will be challenged enough to wear it everyday over time.

Oriental for sure, and I love orientals! Chergui is powdery soft, richly deep and slightly sweet. It reminds me of 2 scents from the 80's ~ Ombre Rose and Lutece. It strikes me as a "comfort scent". Brings about a feeling of coziness. Special!

THIS is a marvel of a scent. If Solal in Albert Cohen's Belle du Seigneur ought to be qualified by a scent, this would be it, just it ...
Embracing, Enchanting, Enthralling ...
Serge Lutens not only succeeded in bringing this full of depth masterpiece to life, but also contributed to enchance the fleeting realm of scent and enchain us ( perfume fans ) to his feet.

Sweet and vanillic, a spicy and powdery version of Douce Amere, with a base of patchouli. Not an everyday scent, but sure to impress with its sensual opulence. I haven't sniffed many Lutens, but from what I've smelled, there was nothing I didn't like about it. High price tag, but to me it's worth every penny.

First of all I was impressed by the dark brown of this fragrance. But the greatest shock was after the first smell:unique! And so on and on. This is what you really can define a masterpiece.
A fragrance that couldn't be in your wardrobe. Other words could be useless.

a little bit too much "chicha toffa" for my skin
but good in the air in my private boudoir (2/3 sprays on the curtain)

So wonderful were the reviews that I did the stupid thing--I couldn't find a sample, but all the notes seemed perfect, so I ordered a full bottle.

It is a lovely fragrance,interesting and rich, but my chemistry takes the musk and blows it up all out of proportion. And on me, that isn't pleasant.

The hay and leather is absolutely yummy, and the sweet, which could have been too heavy, is tempered by honey, amber and musk.

If only I had purchased Arabie instead--you know, the one all my friends talked me out of. Proving once more that no matter what it smells like on someone else, if you haven't tried it yourself, don't buy a full bottle.

Chergui. What a name! What a fragrance! I searched high and low as, for some reason, it is now scarce, but the effort was worth it.

Chergui starts out beatific, and ends, hours later, even more so. There is simply no part of the Chergui perfume experience that I can disparage. It is perfection, the paragon of Orientals. It's sunshine on a warm Summer day, bottled. It is a smile on a beautiful girl's face.

Chegui is beyond good, it is scintillating.

It appears that a few nostrils require a serious overhaul or something of the kind.....No "Collision" going on here.

Just Utter Rapture.......

Of all the SL line, I find this the most balanced and multi-faceted. It's warm and honeyed but never cloying, hints of spice and tobacco waft over me the entire day, incense, leather, wool, you name it. It's a North African fairy tale come to life, a real genie in a bottle!This is a terribly romantic scent, and not, I believe, for the office.

Chergui -- I want to devour it. A perfect balance of tobacco leaf, hay, honey, and very subtle herbaceous and floral notes. The tobacco is most prominent at first, and the hay and honey linger on the skin like late afternoon sun. One of the most compelling scents ever created.

I must say that even the best of reviews of this fragrance make it sound like exactly the kind of nauseating mess I try to avoid. This artificial, cloying amber/vanilla era actually closes up my throat sometimes. Thank you for helping me avoid this collision.

Notes: honey, musk, leather, incense, tobacco leaf, hay sugar, amber, iris, rose, sandalwood.

Chergui is a fantastic and unusual oriental, and in my opinion, one of the best fragrances from the house of Serge Lutens.

As can be seen from the note listing above, Chergui contains a wide range of interesting and sometimes contrasting notes. However, everything is so well blended, that the prominent impression is of a sweet, slightly smoky and herbal concoction. And thats what it smells like too. The hay note is prominent, and along with the tobacco, brings about that smoky herbal smell, which is very well balanced by the honey, amber and musk notes. If used in slightly more than moderate amounts, I have observed a slight bug-spray or petrol note effect to it, but thats just a small knock against this excellent creation. Longevity is great too.

Fans of Dzing! and Bulgari Black will love this - I understand that theres a segment of fragrance fans who dont care for this particular type of fragrance, but it still warrants a sample at the very least. Great stuff !

Such a clash of notes, I can't figure it out, is it cosy or nauseating? Warm, sweet notes like honey, musk and amber collide with a watery coolness reminiscent of cucumber and schampoo. Weird. The sweet/sour/watery mustiness of it smells close to rottening. And above it all a nice, dry, smoky hint of incense.
I'm sorry, but I just can't take the clash between gourmand sweet and watery "fresh", between warm and cool, I find it sickening.

Chergui is by no means a terrible fragrance, but it's so painfully not my thing that I have difficulty formulating anything worthwhile to say about it. A nice resinous quality paired with an overwhelming, and ultimately distracting, syrupy sweetness. Strictly for those who like to smell sticky.

Beguiling sweetness, hay and honey, leather and flowers, perfectly androgynous. For a journey across golden amber landscapes. Chergui feels more like home, like my own skin and my interior life than anything I've ever known. It feels like the warmth of the fireside, walks in autumn fields, my love's embrace ... the sweet familiar scent of home after a long journey.

It's a very dry and slightly sweet fragrance. The hay and dry ambery notes are the most apparent to me. I also get a smokey wood note. To me it smells like roasting marshmallows by a camp fire. It's a bit on the feminine side but can be pulled off by a man with no problem at all. It's simply BEAUTIFUL. Nicely balanced and excellent longevity. But it's not an everyday scent for me and I would save it for special occassions. I personally wear it on my wrist to bed as a comfort scent.

The is The Perfect Honey-Tobacco-Incense-Amber fragrance. It knocks Luctor et Emergo and Ginestet Botrytis off the top of this category's list for me, and I've both of these for several years. Chergui is sweet, rich, warm, woodsy, and, best of all, slightly mysterious. It has a lot of character and many moods. It'sfascinating, and a masterpiece, in my opinion!

Everyone else has already said it best - a dizzying oriental with all the right notes. Opulence in a bottle.

I was very lucky to try this exclusive and it impressed me deeply. It is an amalgam of honey , musk , leather , incense , tobacco leaf , hey sugar , amber , iris , rose and sandalwood.
All those notes are not instantly recognisable to me here. It opens with strong tobbaco and sandalwood with amber , that is very potent and might turn you off. Then it mellows into a suntan-lotion type of scent , like skin "baked" under the sun on a hot beach. No rose discernible for me whatsoever. Several minutes later it becomes honeyed and soft and barely there , whiffs of it caught when the body is heated up again.

A very very deep scent evocing a middle eastern scenery. Serge performs his magic again. :-)

Chergui is one of the most beautiful honey based fragrances I have come across. It’s very rich and full bodied. There are notes of hay and spices that offset the sweetness beautifully. This is a very warm and well blended fragrance. One of Lutens best.

I found Chergui to be less original than I had hoped--it kept reminding me of some other scent, and I kept feeling like it was *just* on the tip of my nose. I prefer Lutens' more striking scents like Muscs Koublai Khan and Vetiver Oriental, and even his herbal 'dirty' Ambre Sultan.
That said, I do enjoy Chergui--it is honey with incense and smoky spices, and some warm hay-like tones. It's in the same 'family' as L'Artisan Tea for Two (which I found much more unique and also enjoy) and Ginestet Botrytis and Escada Collection (but less cloying). What makes Chergui somewhat distinct is what I think of as Lutens-accord, which isn't so much common basenotes as a common touch, a way of creating depth and warmth in a fragrance while at the same time maintaining a transparency to the notes and an airiness throughout the entire progression of the fragrance without monster sillage. Jo Malone seems to exemplify this trend--perhaps it is a trend--and take it a step further into more of a 'clean' feeling, whereas Lutens still creates sensual skin scents.

It was Chergui that made me a Serge Lutens fan.
It was and still is my holy grail of fragrances. I am transported on this fragrance and strated me off loving honey based fragrances. To me this scent exudes exoticism.....the most glorious mixture EVER!!!

This is one of my favourite, if not THE favourite Lutens scent. It is a creamy, dark scent full of honey and various spice. It melts perfectly to body chemistry and skin.

Chergui is one of the fullest, most gorgeous Orientals there is; sweet, smoky, superbly rich scent with honey, hay sugar, tobacco, musk, amber and leather notes.