Reviews of Dzongkha (2006)
by L'Artisan Parfumeur

The only positive thing that I can say is that Dzongkha is different. It's not different in the way that Dzing is different. It's not complex; it's schizophrenic. It can't decide whether to be a soft leather tea or to be a gourmand or to be a study in woods & herbs. The juxtaposition is unpleasant. I'm glad for the adventure in sampling this scent, but I would not wear it in a million years.

Re-review from a year ago. Usually, when I retry a frag a year or so later, I will find redeeming qualities I did not detect the first time around.

Not so with Dzongkha. As a matter of fact, my review is now a thumbs down. THIS is an unpleasant and strange fragrance. It's a confused mess of avante-garde thinking transposed onto a fragrance.

You can keep it.

An obnoxious fabric-softener floral paired with the essential-oil smell of my all natural tick-repellent. The latter is actually nicer - and repels ticks, so I'll pass on L'Artisan's offering.

fruity-floral opening with deep whisky, sweet incense and wood. good, but not for me.

Struggling to get a handle on this one, but I can't get past the rubbery, sour urine note that starts strong and never receds.

I love this stuff, absolutely love it. Timbuktu is nice but this one is spectacular. If it's an incense fragrance it's only an undercurrent of frankincense, not an incense powerhouse like Heeley Cardinal, Amouage Gold or Etro Messe de Minuit. The most prominent note I get is actually a celery note, it is very fresh and lasts for a couple of hours. There is a slightly sweet floral note in here too. I don't have a whole lot of drill-down detail but this very pleasant, very wearable around the house or around the office, and is one of my new favorite fragrances...

Peony, lychee, chai tea with milk, vetiver, incense, cyprior grass, cedar, leather, iris.
I am slightly disappointed in this scent. On me, it is essentially a light green, leather/iris scent. I was hoping for more interesting and exotic incense notes. The opening is very aromatic, green, tangy, and acidic. I’m not sure what that note is, it seems familiar to me but I can’t place it. Perhaps it is a green treatment of vetiver with the grassy notes. Where are the “wild smoky teas” and the “woods mixed with spices”? I didn’t notice them.

L'Artisan Dzongkha

As a lover of incense scents Bertrand Duchaufour has become my "go-to" nose for these kinds of scents. In his incense portfolio he has Amouiage Jubilation XXV, CdG Kyoto and Avignon, and L'Artisan Aedes and Timbuktu. In 2006 he created a second scent for L'Artisan playing on some of the themes he explored in 2004's Timbuktu. If Timbuktu was the incense of the streets, Dzongkha is the incense of the temple. The combination of floral notes with the incense makes this a much more refined experience than Timbuktu. Right from the top there is a beautiful sweet floral which according to the notes is peony. This slowly becomes the more focused and less-sweet iris. The heart is a mix of the spiciness of cardamom, the smokiness of tea, and the watery sweetness of lychee. Underneath all of this, right from the beginning, is the incense. At the beginning it is lighter and taking second-billing to the floral notes. In the heart is has become part of the ensemble adding both smoke and sweet to the other notes. Finally in the base it has the stage to itself and gives off a memorable soliloquy for my nose. It is always nice that the constants in one's life are there and for me M. Duchaufour, incense notes and excellent scents are becoming as sure a thing as the sun coming up.

This is indeed a strange one, unlike anything I have tried so far. I would love this on me or my husband. I find it fascinating and exciting because it's different. I agree it is dry due to the incense , also somehow managing to be green (think drooping, dew-ladden cedar branches) at the same time which makes you think of dampness. So it's wet and dry. Confused yet? Yeah me too. But somehow it comes together in such a way that is really beautiful and so different. I don't think of it as standoffish or reserved. Snobby? I can't think of a fragrance as being able to pull that off personally. Everyone has their own opinion and that's more than fine. Not sure I agree though with those words for this fragrance. The strange aspects of it may be off-putting for some, but for others who yearn for something out of the ordinary I'd say test this out. I wasn't sorry I did!

On me, it's all about the cardamom. My co worker pin pointed it some time ago; "you smell like a cardamom bun", and she couldn't stop sniffing me. Of course, it's so much more than this. Dzongkha takes almost a metallic, cool turn, but it's also very green and almost herbal at times. It's hard to find the right words to describe this scent, but one thing is sure - it's unique.

Imagine yourself at a temple in the mountains, where incense wafts into the open air and a cool fountain flows over grey stones. L'Artisan claims that Bernard Duchaufour had such a setting in mind when he made Dzongha (specifically, a Bhutanese Buddhist temple), and for once the company hype matches the product exactly. Wear Dzongha to re-create the peaceful, meditative mood of a an outdoor temple anywhere, anytime! This unsual fragrace smells of clean wet stones, iris, incense and woods. It's powdery, but also airy and not the least bit heavy. Behind the more dominant notes is something green and cool, almost menthol. The fragrance is linear, changeing little from start to finish, although it becomes a bit sweeter as it dries down. The only incense fragrance I've tried that is not in the least bit smokey. Altogether marvelous. Wear it, and feel the troubles of this world fade away.

This is a bit insane. I'm bizarrely drawn to it (it feels like being drawn to something you shouldn't be drawn to, in itself an experience that sets your pulse racing!). I'm also thrown because I don't normally like the smell of whisky - and this smells a lot like whisky (single malt, clear, dry, woody). It also smells like celeriac root and red rubber bands.

W.T.F.

And yet it's really quite beautiful! And I do want to smell of it. I have fallen in love with a very improbable beast.

This wonderful creation is very visual to me. It evokes the feeling that I am in a little outdoor cafe sitting in a wooden chair reading a book with fresh flowers on the table while enjoying a lovely chai tea; the scents all mingling with the lofty smell of incense lingering heavily in the air from the temple festival down the way.

I totally get this and love every single last second of it.

Fantastic. 5 stars.

Very natural smelling, but another one of the L'artisans that smell like some of my early essential oil/sd-39 overloads.
A very deep woody/vetiver/herbal scent.
Stand-offish is a good term for this woody, as it's not inviting.
It's very reserved and snobby.

one of the loveliest creations of Bertrand Duchaufour for L'artisan...what a beauty. this has been everything i wished CDG incense series would be like.

i would liek ot borrow what Vibert said here and i quote him "The initial blast of hot, dry, smoky incense is almost hallucinogenic. I’m immediately transported to some half-imagined, ancient landscape that’s at once faintly familiar and disorienting"

how true, take all tht and take certain elements and approach of Gucci Ph and you have Dzongkha. for those who know me, can tell, how much i appreciate Gucci Ph...but with Dzongkha...man..im willin to part my bottle of Gucci any day. its masterpiece...with wonderful incense notes on a enchanting base on woods..

Top notes are cedar and vetiver very green, very dry. Feel like they are burning my eyes. When the cardamom is added in ten minutes you can hardly define the leather note in the middle. It is an attractive leather note but obscured by the mentholly green cedar and cardamom. After a while comes very near to vetiver by guerlain except the cardamom.

A floral grassy note opens this up and kills my olfactory sense right away, I can't smell anything else. It's not strong but it's not particularly inviting either. Feels like a weak version of Chinatown. Disappointing.

I don't know what it is with me and the compositions of Bertrand Duchaufour. On the one hand I fully recognize the creativity and craftsmanship of his work, yet on the other I don't think I've smelled a single fragrance of his that I can honestly say I love. Like, yes, but not love.

I got a decant of this and, over the past year or so, have worn it perhaps a half dozen times. I hardly ever feel the desire to so. The reason, I've come to conclude, is the lychee note. I occasionally eat lychee fruit, but it's one of the last things I want to smell like. This is a consistent pattern with me and B.D.--he always throws something in there, one note, that drags the whole thing down for me.

This one really does it for me - it actually helps one to be mindful and focused, in addition to smelling great. It makes me want to carry its attitude around all day.

It is expensive, and I went looking for similars. Right now I have Dzongkha on me left arm and Gucci Pour Homme on my right. GpH is like the unenlightened big brother of Dzongkha - lower, cruder, but the drydowns are very parallel. Meditation without the master. Dzongkha takes the camping in the woods incense of GpH and transforms it to another plane - smoother, more accomplished, effortless.

The opening, for me, was all hay and pepper, very dry. A little later, warm incense and wood emerged, but didn't stay around long enough for me. It finally settled into something like pimento and orrisroot. I wanted to like this because every description of it that I'd read on perfume websites made me imagine that it would be a scent that was right up my alley, but in the end I just couldn't get into it. It stayed way too dry and distant for my tastes.

It's said that people have no patience anymore, but I'm certainly not hanging around for this to settle down into something tolerable. Not a patch on Timbuktu, which is like honey compared to this furnace for the nose.

Kaern

Excellent release from L'Artisan. After a few so and so fragrances, especially the austere and boring Timbuktu, this house is right back on track with Fou d'absinthe and Dzongkha.

By no means an instant crowdpleaser, Dzongkha is an extremely dry and somewhat demanding scent. Lovely pale iris opens the blend that progresses into deep spices, tea and muted smoke. All notes with significant dryness as their common denominator. The drydown, that lingers forever, is a woodsy leather with subtle incense - truly exotic. Like many reviewers attest, it is a very evocative blend - romantic as in breathtaking nature and stunning vistas. This may sound a bit cliche - but There is defintely a "zen" to this fragrance. A mellow calm and without even the slightest hint of superficiality.

Give Dzongkha a serious try/wear, and don´t let a bad or perplexing first impression scare you of. For those willing to give this eau de toilette some time, chances are it´ll be a very rewarding experience. Simply superb.

Certainly one of the most intriguing fragrances I’ve tried in the last few months. The opening that I get is very floral and quite astounding – a wild burst of peony on a bed of papyrus neutrality. It’s quite an impressive opening. I can’t find that tea with milk accord they mention. Whatever… the floral explosion is supported and controlled by a papyrus neutrality that both emphasizes and contrasts the peony burst. Then, rising from the background is a smoky spicy incense – more smoke than incense – spiced, among other things, by the heat of chilies – powdered red serranos, I would guess. I’ve never smelled anything quite like it in a fragrance, and it certainly is enchanting. The peony greatness is gone in a few minutes, but the smoky, spicy incense holds on and on over the neutral base. The smoke is eventually joined by cedar and iris in a heart accord that is as unique as the opening – full, dramatic, and fulfilling. The final accord is the powdery iris / soft leather that holds as a skin scent for hours. I love the performance of Dzongkha throughout the day. It holds, discreetly, for longer than most L’Artisans manage to. When all is said and done, Dzongkha turns out to be an iris scent – one that can compete on equal terms with my other favorite iris fragrances. It’s good to see that L’Artisan can still come up with well made, excellent performing, creative fragrances. It is a winner and a must buy for me.

On my skin this opened with whisky. A good single malt whisky. I checked with my husband and he agreed. Then I got the wood of the cask. Finally I was left with a smooth lemon.

It was very nice, very unisex and very unusual without being outre or unwearable.
It's not for me, but I wouldn't be unhappy if a sales assistant sprayed me with this as I walked through a department store.

The iris grounds this one beautifully, but is not so earthy and dominant as some irises.

Couple that (the iris) with a strong use of incense notes and you have a delicious combination -- smoldering incense and charcoal on an open, damp piece of fragrant earth.

This one truly is a journey unto itself, though, much like Mechant Loup. Perfect for pensive moments and quiet days alone or with a single loved one.

Every time I use this fragrance I notice different notes. I agree that it is slightly similar to Passage d'enfer, but I fing it much more woody. I feel at times it is very similar to Bois D'Iris by the Different Company. Enough incense to help with meditation on stressful days, and spicy enough to help with moments in your life when you need a bit of spice!! Not a scent I would use to work, as I feel this would mainly be appreciated by perfume lovers who steer clear of high street mediocrity.

Dzongkha took me by surprise! I expected something sheer and cool and meditative with incense and tea, probably dry and not sweet but still on the "pretty" side with the fruity and floral notes. Instead I get pretty much straight up chilli peppers! I love fiery and peppery perfumes so that's not a problem. Still, I wonder what causes it? It's not the first time I find pepper or chili in a scent that hardly even have spice notes listed. I think it's the sharpness of vetiver combined with something else, maybe the incense and wood, that does it. Maybe the cypriol, whatever that is? The cardamom alone is hardly this fiery!

The initial blast of hot, dry, smoky incense is almost hallucinogenic. I’m immediately transported to some half-imagined, ancient landscape that’s at once faintly familiar and disorienting.

An extremely deft peony note soon mellows and rounds out the scent, so that the heart is less austere than the searing top notes. It’s all still very mysterious, and the rich, rich incense just keeps deepening with time. Exotic spices, woods, and balsamic notes flicker in and out of the background as the drydown progresses, but the glowing incense never fully loses its grip.

Dzongkha could pass as a better behaved sibling of Timbuktu; cleaner, sweeter, and less harsh. Dzongkha smolders where Timbuktu has long since charred, making it a much more wearable scent for me. Lovely for wintertime, and a nice antidote to cold, wet weather. It also lasts better than many L’Artisan fragrances.

Lichee and cardamom beautifully open this breathtaking blend. Attention getting. Followed by peony, iris, tea leaves and incense. The top notes are fresh and cool. Interesting. The dry down brings a little warmth. It is with much pleasure I tell you the incense note is restrained, but lends an almost "Caron" classic urn undercurrent. The iris turns a little musty/dusty on my skin after about 20 minutes. For me, the beginning of Dzongkha is the best part. After that, I can walk away from it with no regret.

This strikes me as a masculine fragrance. It is dry and smoky, with only a touch of sweetness. Cedar is the first note that I recognize. It is quite woody and outdoorsy. There is a smoky incense note that is soft yet persistent. A light sweetness occurs in the form of cardamom or peony, a bit green and sugary at the same time. The development is interesting, ending up like a warm, glowing ember on my skin, smoldering like green twigs in a campfire. This is an unusual, stand-out fragrance that has one of the best presentations of the smoke note.

Dzongkha actually seems to be a relative to Passage d'Enfer at first; both imply a dry incense note and an almost spiritual character. But while PdE gets brighter due to the lily accord, Dzongkha becomes more and more mysterious and sublime. The iris note begins to come to the foreground and gives a certain coolness to the whole composition, but the spices keep it from getting too cold. Iris root still is the predominant note in Dzongkha. An awesome scent from L'Artisan, with good sillage (without ever being overpowering) and decent longevity. It develops very differently on different skin types, so test before you buy.

Oh this was just terrible. This was one of the few fragrances that I have ever wanted to scrub off immediately. It smelled like Whiskey from the moment it hit my skin and still smelled like whiskey 3 hours later. Only after 3 hours did it start to evolve and then it just smelled like L'Artisan's Timbuktu so I thought "What's the point?" As far as lasting power goes - it was still there after I showered.

Leather. Leave it to your jacket to smell like this, not your skin.

L'Artisan fragrances bring out a real dichotomy of duality in me. I either love them or hate them. Mandarine Tout Simplement I loved, but it vanished from my skin in seconds. Ananas Fizz is a wonderful scent for an hour. Saffran Troublant is a horrible scent for a day. (Just my opinion, I know it has many fans.) Four d'Absinthe starts out as a strong, fabulous smell, and within an hour it settles into a smell of unwashed armpits.

So I wasn't sure where Dzongkha would fall. It fell into my heart. At first it was stony and dry, like a wind brisking along a November mountain ridge. Then the incense wafted up, as if I were approaching a monastery on the ridge. Then a wisp of dry iris. The chai and cardamom, which I had hoped to find, was gone, if it was ever there.

It smells almost sacred, the smell you would wear on a spiritual journey. Not for everyone, but a wonderful scent for explorers.

Dzongkha - was it worth the wait? I find it turning into quite an earthy smell, a bit too soft on the incense, a slight floral note (but not overwhelming as in the beginnings of Dior Homme's iris), but still nicely balanced overall. I do detect a slight leather accord towards its base though. Quite soft for a leather (nothing hardcore as the one seen in Montale's CdA). Sillage seems a bit weak though. I'll stick with my favorite L'A for now: T42

No, a plain fragrace with an unpleasant whiff of dust and smoked fish!!!!
A complete delusion.

I had high hopes for this. What a great original name for a fragrance. Unfortunately, the scent itself is not so original. Fruity, with heavy doses of iris, it reminds me greatly of Bois d'Iris. It's not as exotic or interesting as I had hoped, rather, it's more a straight iris scent, not as interesting as Iris Silver Mist or Iris Taizo. As it dries, it takes on that fuzzy, powdery, dusty rooty iris quality. It lasts a long while and develops a good bit, but none of the stages of this development are all that intriguing.

Because I love Bertrand Duchaufour's earlier L'Artisan creation - Timbuktu - I had high hopes for Dzongkha and I wasn't disappointed! Surprisingly, Dzongkha reminds me of Après l'Ondée. It has an "old-fashioned" vibe and is cool (as opposed to warm) and slightly sweet.

The first impression of Dzongkha is surprisingly fruity, almost "pink" and raspberry-like, followed by dry, powdery iris and wood notes.

A very lovely, introspective and meditative scent, I definitely want to have a bottle of this!