It took me a few wears before I was sold on the drydown. As noted in my initial post I was skeptical of it. I actually find it very smoky and ashen. I really can't fathom how it can be said that it's not very smoky and incense-y. I'm just curious what the drydown smells like to you Cairo.
As with any of the more complex scents, they deserve a few wears before judgment is cast, if only because it often takes the nose a few wears to fully understand what is going on and see a fragrance for what it is instead of merely trying to think of it in terms of other fragrances - something I know I find myself doing (often subconsciously) on the first wearing in an attempt to better understand the fragrance.
I know it took me a few wears to love Dhofar!

I hope you'll find the love with this scent. It's complexities and unique facets are a bit more 'hidden' than in some fragrances, and I really do understand how a lot of people think it is 'very similar to x or y' and yet after numerous wearings (7 or 8 now in a matter of two weeks, yikes!

) I find it more unique than ever before and truly one of the finest smoky, dark incense offerings I've ever sampled. Yes, I do see some parallels to other fragrances (mostly Dali PH and Serge Noire, with a bit of Gucci PH too), but it's far more natural and nuanced than Dali PH, and also more incensey whereas Dali is more leathery, and its more varied than Serge Noire with its transition from a green top to a grey and ashen base, whereas Serge Noire is more dark throughout and also more spice oriented (with its dark cinnamon and cumin notes). Perhaps best of all, I find the drydown to be very "thick" and full of body, unlike so many scents where the woody drydown becomes airy and ethereal. In this way, I find it similar to Epic Man - not so much in smell, but in the way it maintains its density even into the late dry down.