See Prices

More

We may earn a commission when you buy from links on our site, including the eBay Partner Network and Amazon.

A City on Fire Imaginary Authors 2014

6.6 / 10 285 Ratings

A perfume by Imaginary Authors for men, released in 2014. The scent is smoky-woody. It is still in production.
Pronunciation Compare

More

We may earn a commission when you buy from links on our site, including the eBay Partner Network and Amazon.

Main accords

Smoky

Woody

Spicy

Resinous

Earthy

Fragrance Notes

Burnt match Berries

Berries

Cade juniper

Labdanum

Cardamom

Clearwood™

Spikenard

Perfumer

Josh Meyer

Ratings

Scent

6.6285 Ratings

Longevity

7.7219 Ratings

Sillage

7.2219 Ratings

Bottle

7.2210 Ratings

Value for money

6.8115 Ratings

Submitted by Franfan20 · last update on 01/16/2026.

Source-backed & verified

Interesting Facts

Imaginary Authors developed this fragrance exclusively for Machus, a men's fashion retailer in Portland.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

Bois d'Ascèse

Terror & Magnificence

By the Fireplace

Vi Et Armis

Cedar Forest

Black Series - A: Killer Vanilla

Reviews

33 in-depth fragrance descriptions

02/27/2020

8.5Scent 7Longevity 7Sillage

SmellGoodGuy
81 Reviews

SmellGoodGuy

Helpful Review 2

Only for Lovers of Avant Garde/Niche in the True Sense of the Word, Fragrances..

If you're into dumb reach frags, you'll hate this. If you think fragrances like: Hamdani, Guilty Absolute pour Homme, Tyrannosaurus Rex, L'Air du Désert Marocain, The Night, etc... are unwearable or are only to be appreciated and not worn; stay away from this. You will think the same.

However, if you ARE into those fragrances, then you'll absolutely fall head over heels for this composition.

It probably sounds crazy but, to me, this smells of a medicinal, black soap from a high end source. One i would definitely buy if there were one.

True to it's name, it smells of smoke, but it also has a subtle sweetness to it, attributed to the "dark berries" accord, no doubt. The cardamon helps to marry both the cade oil and the sweetness, creating one well blended composition. I'm not too familiar with the note of labdanum, but i do understand it can have a powdery sweetness to it and probably accentuates the smoky aspect of the composition, helping to make the fragrance a wearable "city on fire" and not a sad, municipal, accident.

Overall, if you like literal niche fragrances and want to project the avant garde type you are, you'll like this.

Updated on 02/27/2020

01/01/2025

4.5Scent 9Longevity 8Sillage

Banjeekundt
103 Reviews

Banjeekundt

2

Fahrenheit 451

The smell of this perfume is all in its name—it's a city on fire. It's the city in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, just after its bombardment, when all that remained was ash.

From start to finish, it's very very smoky, acrid and a bit resinous. The burnt match note is spot-on, down to the sulfurous sting that was apparent in the open. The smoke in this was quite strong and only really began to soften after hour six or seven. This lasted for nine to ten hours on my skin.

I couldn't detect much of an evolution with this scent, but it did gain a more woodsy quality around the second hour. I definitely couldn't pick up on any berries in this, though there may have been a hint of the coniferous juniper in there halfway through the wear.

Overall, if you like heavily smoky scents, this is the fragrance for you. I don't mind some smokiness but this was a bit overbearing and made me a little nauseous for the first few hours. Wearer's discretion is advised.

08/09/2020

9.5Scent 10Longevity 8Sillage

Carboytony
116 Reviews

Carboytony

2

Burn baby Burn!

I'm a huge fan of smokey scents and this never fails to deliver. It's very smokey, yes, but it's not a typical burning wood and leaves fragrance. Indeed, the some note is almost sweet, it's more opaque in texture. It's the scent of a burnt match, supported by notes of Cade, Spikenard, berries and cardamom. Labdanum in the base adds a dirty, leathery note to this. Smokey and seductive.

10/08/2025

9Scent 9Longevity 9Sillage

peppermoth
1 Review

peppermoth

1

Sophisticated and powerful.

From the first seconds of application, City on Fire will make it clear what you have committed to for the rest of the day. This is a strong, long lasting perfume, with a wide sillage. This is a scent which one never quite stops noticing on themselves, which is perhaps ideal from an unusual boutique perfume with a lot of character.

The main accord, as is no surprise, is smoke, and it comes out of the bottle loud and without any subtly. Rather than 'bonfire' or 'bush-fire' this reminds me much more of the smell of a handful of smoked peat, or the inside of a freshly charred bourbon barrel. There is a cleanness to the smoke that I just don't associate with standing near an active fire. Only the pleasant aspects of smoke are here - nothing about it is ashy, stale, or unwashed from a camping trip.

As the perfume top notes mellow, the wood characters become far more pronounced, changing the flavour of the smoke to something that reminds me of an aromatic wood fueled meat smoker (sans the meat. A spiced melange of cinnamon and cardamon also becomes noticeable, giving it a savory quality.

Finally, at the end of the day when you are left with the base notes, the smoke is certainly still there, but has made room for a suede leather, amber, dark vanilla, and cardamon pod sweetness. making it a very comforting, but complex scent. Much less blazing inferno as it is sitting in a warm hotel bar with a well kept fireplace.
I think this is an obvious scent for the colder months, being that it is quite cozy once the intensity dissipates. However, I could also see this working really well as an attention grabbing choice for a summers night out for drinks at a bar.

I was not sure what to expect when trying this, given some of the more over-the-top reviews left for it, but I was pleased to find this was far from a one note novelty, or especially challenging. Given the intensity of the smoke character, I couldn't imagine many other fragrances would compliment this for layering, but that hardly comes into consideration given how well it performs on its own. It is a very well balanced and sophisticated (albeit strong) perfume that I really enjoyed.

Apply with restraint. A little goes a long way with City on Fire.

03/11/2024

6.5Scent 6Longevity 6Sillage

DressUpWitch
50 Reviews

DressUpWitch

1

It's growing on me

This fragrance was the biggest driver for me to purchase the Imaginary Authors completed works short story collection: I had to know what it smelled like.

I've mostly enjoyed this as a sort of costume when trying to get into the headspace for a specific creative project. But I'm also starting to enjoy it for its own merits. It's definitely not an everyday scent for me, but it IS wearable. The match smell is definitely there at first spray, but the longest lasting note is sharp and tangy. (Probably the cade oil?) I think it would layer nicely with a balsam or maybe even citrus.

That said, I'm not sure I'd be willing to buy a larger size when my sample runs out.

More reviews