Oud Immortel
This fragrance opens with a bright flower note to which an accord of dried grass adds an interesting nuance of smoke and hay. As this pleasant accord blooms on my skin, I am able to see the tobacco and the papyrus leaves that compose it. The floral top note is quickly engulfed by the tobacco-papyrus melange and from this moment onwards frames the composition. To me this scent is more about hay, dried flowers, mown meadows in August than about humidors, pipe smoke and the smoking rooms of a gentlemen's club. However, as the fragrance progresses there is a shift from the outside (countryside) to the inside (gentlemen's club), because it gradually morphs into the clean, purposely old-fashioned scent of expensive handmade soap. I cannot say which combination of notes is responsible for that, but the result is very nice, but ultimately rather common. I would compare this Byredo offering to Etro's Gomma, although this time I frankly prefer the Byredo.