Bottle Design:
Alnoor Design

Poivre Samarcande Hermès 2004

7.7 / 10 255 Ratings

A popular perfume by Hermès for women and men, released in 2004. The scent is spicy-woody. It is still in production.
Pronunciation Compare

Main accords

Spicy

Woody

Green

Fresh

Earthy

Fragrance Notes

Oak

Green pepper Pimento

Pimento

Perfumer

Jean-Claude Ellena

Ratings

Scent

7.7255 Ratings

Longevity

6.6184 Ratings

Sillage

5.7174 Ratings

Bottle

7.9175 Ratings

Value for money

6.240 Ratings

Submitted by Sani, last update on 10/25/2025.

Interesting Facts

The fragrance is part of the Collection Hermessence collection.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

Bang

Parco Palladiano V: Lauro

Pape Satàn

:P

The Beat for Men Eau de Toilette

Monocle Scent Two: Laurel

Reviews

18 in-depth fragrance descriptions

07/31/2014

10Scent 2.5Longevity 2.5Sillage

MasterLi
376 Reviews

MasterLi

Helpful Review 5

The peppery disappearing act...

I have tried quite a few out of the Hermèssence line, and I have a huge respect for Jean-Claude Ellena. His compositions for Hermèssence aren't always liked by everyone.

That being said, I'll give my impressions of Poivre Samarcande. In a nutshell... what this fragrance is all about, is Iso-E-Super. This goes a long way towards explaining why people love this scent. If you look at the top five fragrances with Iso-E-Super, they are:

1 Molecule 01 (escentric molecules, 2005) 100%
2 Perles de Lalique (Lalique, 2007) 80%
3 Poivre Samarcande (Herme`s, 2004) 71%
4 Escentric 01 (escentric molecules, 2005) 65%
5 Terre d'Hermes (Hermes, 2006) 55%

So I think with people saying they get a great amount of compliments with this scent is due largely to the high presence of Iso-E-Super in the composition.

What I will say is that it is a very nice scent, the pepper mixed with the hints of oak and paprika etc. does give it a very nice, refined vibe. What really makes this special is the combination of the above with Iso-E-Super, which gives a linear, woody almost "flinty" vibe which stays throughout and stops this from being just about the pepper.

Overall, I don't think this is bad in any way in terms of smell, but the problem is, as with Molecule 01... if you spray this on, you won't detect it on yourself, so you'll have to "assume" that it's there and it's doing it's job.

Personally, whilst I do appreciate it as the art for what it is... I think you could just buy Molecule 01, or even Ellena's own Terre d'Hermès or Déclaration, which will do a similar job to this but for less in my opinion.

03/22/2015

8Scent 2.5Sillage

ScentedSalon
96 Reviews

ScentedSalon

4

Pale Pepper

In the typical style of JC Ellena, this pepper is tame and so very smooth. The sillage and lasting power are minimal, which is consistent with the Hermessence collection. Apart from the black pepper, I really cannot isolate any other notes. It reminds me of other male fragrances in character, which is to say this is not original. With a name like Samarqand, I don't see any reference to spice markets. It is all about the pepper without creaminess, sweetness or depth.

12/18/2012

5Scent 5Longevity 2.5Sillage

Drseid
828 Reviews

Drseid

2

Jean-Claude Ellena Is A Master, But This Is Not His Best Work...

Poivre Samarcande opens with a gargantuan blast of black peppercorn supported by cumin and maybe just the faintest hint of fiery red pepper. The pepper and cumin remain into the heart notes, but luckily settle down to more manageable levels. There is also a hint of supporting cedar wood to bolster the scent up a bit. And that is pretty much it... Pepper, cumin and cedar; very minimalist like most of the Hermessence line. Projection is minimal to below average and longevity is average.

I am not really enjoying Poivre Samarcande much, I confess. It just is too simplistic, and I don't like the cumin in it at all. The scent pretty much stays linear throughout which also does not drive any new interest. I guess this is just another disappointment from one of my favorite noses, Jean-Claude Ellena. I find when he hits, there is none better, but his misses can be pretty bad, and there are plenty of them. This is not a complete failure, but it is not noteworthy at all and at these lofty prices anything less than that is unacceptable. If I want a superior pepper scent I would easily go with Piper Nigrum from Lorenzo Villoresi for less money before buying this. I give Poivre Samarcande a middling neutral and a 2.5 out 5 rating.

06/23/2016

7Scent 6Longevity 6Sillage

Meggi
1018 Reviews

Translated · Show original

Meggi

Top Review 27

Variations of Paprika

A strict, patchouli-rough opening that immediately turns bitter. Oak? Possibly acorns? I would never have thought of that on my own, but fine by me. Oak leaves and acorns contain plenty of tannins and such stuff.

I grew up in a village, where we, as children, of course, examined and collected everything. We dragged bags full of acorns, especially to Mr. D. across the street, a forester who was happy to receive food for his animal protégés and always gave us a few marks in return. The autumnal windfall abruptly ended when the D. family emigrated to Cameroon one day.

Unfortunately, the two large oaks in front of our house also shed masses of leaves, which we always had to rake up practically to the last leaf because nothing would decompose in an acceptable time. Probably no fungus would touch that, which has its five senses together. It’s too tough and bitter for them. So: Tannin-bitter, we’ll just accept that.

But now finally to the various faces of paprika. At first, I thought of the spice, as it actually smells surprisingly like sweet paprika powder from the shaker within two or three minutes. I find this much more pronounced than the pepper that has mostly been highlighted in previous comments. However, this stuff has seen better days and has become a bit musty. My mother had such a relic in the kitchen cupboard; it was probably used too rarely in the predominantly bourgeois cooking of my childhood and thus became somewhat aged.

The spice contrasts nicely with something cooling. "Green notes" are fine, of course not what one generally imagines. I think of... cucumber? Or - of course! - green pepper. Suddenly it smells like the bulgur salad my wife recently made with ajvar, cucumber, and pepper.

Thirdly, a hint of sweetness appears. Sweet paprika? It completes the paprika trio, which makes me feel quite entertained during the first hour of the scent.

After that, a warming glow takes over. The paprika (which I would still call before the pepper) reveals its spiciness. Underneath, a piercing rubber note forms like a second layer. Black, soft rubber in the sun. An idea of sweet, light, and overtone-rich smoke from a source I cannot identify completes the transformed scent impression. The aforementioned glow recedes already in the second hour, the pepper emerges, it becomes woodier, sharper, and in character, a bit more distant.

The repeatedly mentioned leather associations I can easily understand in the middle part. My favorite colleague even expressed herself accordingly without any prior bias. The pepper spice has calmed down a bit, revealing a rough, dusty patchouli base. For some time now, I have suspected that patchouli and leather sometimes cooperate very closely in terms of scent. Soft, light, rough leather, gently spiced. Fits perfectly.

In the afternoon, a somewhat bland and slightly artificial wood note breaks through. Apparently, the significant part of the scent progression gradually fades away around the fifth or sixth hour. The increasingly banana-like note in the steadily more isolated wood ultimately reinforces this suspicion.

Conclusion: Hmm. Noble. And not unoriginal. At least for about six hours. It doesn’t seem as reduced and static to me as I had feared. I just wish for better longevity of the main part.

I thank Turandot for the sample.

07/19/2011

8Scent 7.5Longevity

Apicius
1328 Reviews

Translated · Show original

Apicius

Top Review 19

Noble Wood for the Leather Handbag!

Hermès scents are hard to come by; one must make an effort to visit a boutique of this brand to purchase something from the collection, or order directly from Hermès. Alongside the mass-market business, where Hermès is successful with Terre d'Hermès and many other fragrances, a small, high-priced exclusive line is presented here. Can we expect particularly fine scents?

Hermès, as a fashion label, deals with leather, especially women's handbags made from this material, which can be purchased for four-figure sums. Naturally, fragrances that underline the idea of fine leather fit into the concept. I’m not sure if I should go so far as to call Poivre Samarcande a leather scent - no leathery notes are listed! And yet, Poivre Samarcande comes close to the character of the idea of fine leather. One could say that Poivre Samarcande can comment on and accompany fine leather goods.

Pepper is one of those fragrance notes that I find not very catchy. Many other spices are unmistakable: cloves, cinnamon, caraway, etc. But pepper? We generally use pepper for its spiciness, yet a plain pepper-and-salt cuisine is considered boring. I feel the same way about perfumes with the note of pepper - I perceive the sharpness and the piquant nature of pepper, but usually, its spiciness is overshadowed by other fragrance components.

With Poivre Samarcande, it may be a bit different. The sharpness plays a role primarily in the top notes, where I can also clearly detect a hint of paprika. But once that fades, there is indeed something that comes quite close to the smell or taste of black pepper. The name is well chosen! Otherwise, the main component in Poivre Samarcande seems to be a finely tuned cedarwood note. The spiciness of caraway gives it a slightly dirty character. One can sense patchouli and green notes, but vetiver - as in Terre d'Hermès - is definitely omitted, even though a kinship can be recognized through the wood notes. Overall, Poivre Samarcande does not come across as overly complex - here, a single accord has been worked out and placed in the spotlight.

Oh yes, this is a fine scent, but one that you have to get used to a bit. There is this leather character, this slightly animalistic quality, but also something like distinction. In front of my nose, there is a play of closeness and distance, very confusing. Does this perfume invite you to embrace the wearer, or does it, on the contrary, repel? "Come to me, but don’t come too close," seems to be the confusing message. I think one should carefully consider whether and on what occasions to wear Poivre Samarcande. This scent can evoke interest and perhaps even fascination, but what about sympathy, openness, friendliness?

Without a doubt, Poivre Samarcande is a noteworthy perfume. It appears closed and minimalist, and the high price of €170 for 100 ml is justified by the fact that Jean Claude Ellena has created a masterfully balanced and elegantly appealing composition here. Poivre Samarcande certainly ranks among the best woody scents currently available. It can definitely be seen as a finer, more puristic variant of the well-known Terre d'Hermès and can be recommended to its fans.

A thank you to Coriolon for the sample!

More reviews