Patchouli Nobile Nobile 1942 2009 Eau de Parfum

Right at the beginning I get white chocolaty boozy patchouli with a hint of lemon. Lemon is not too zesty. I imagine myself sitting with a friend in a bar drinking old barrel rum or cognac. Booziness, however does not last for more then few minutes and I get pepper - Cambodian white pepper, the sort that makes you nearly sneeze when you put nose close to it. Patchouli stays in the background and is just lovely. Later I get vanilla like sweetness and forest floor full of moss - moss here is dry, not wet like it would be in the forest. There is tobacco, too.

I first smelled this a couple of years ago while travelling in Italy, and the memory of that sampling lingered until I was able to try it again back at home. I think this may have kick-started a love of patchouli for me. I hope you enjoy the review and thank you for watching.

You have to like patchouli to enjoy this one. To me, the patchouli in this fragrance is less reminiscent of dark chocolate and closer to earthy tobacco leaves. It's not my favorite take on patchouli: I much prefer the bitchy snootiness of Tom Ford's White Patchouli, or the complexity of Antonio Visconti's Rebel, or the wild jungle cocoa notes of Yves Rocher's Nouveau Genre. Don't get me wrong, Nobile 1942's interpretation is also beautiful and if you are a lover of the hippie herb, you should at least sample it, but for me, I prefer all the other perfumes I mentioned here when it comes to a good patchouli.

Patchouli Nobile is a far more nuanced take on the ambery patch genre than anything else I have smelled. The familiar tandem of earthy patchouli and caramelic labdanum is elevated in two ways. First, by way of a fougère-ish accord – a textured umami brew of sandalwood, cedar, geranium (or lemon), and oakmoss – which gives it an unexpectedly masculine dimension. And second, with a touch of smoke by way of a cured ham guaiacol and a sharp, piney frankincense. Patchouli Nobile is not the first ambery patch to draft in some frankincense or myrrh for moral support – Patchouly by Profumum Roma also treads this path – but to my knowledge, it is one of the rare modern ambery patch scents that dips a toe so unabashedly into fougère territory. (This of course makes sense, as patchouli has drafted in as an oakmoss replacer by perfumers for both fougères and chypres since IFRA first started clearing its throat).

However, despite its substantial Italian charm, Patchouli Nobile is too on the shy and retiring side to appeal to me. It is almost too subtle. Then there is the issue of the typical Nobile 1942 drydown, which seems to rely on a roster of cheap, slightly scratchy white or woody musks. I bought it, I wore it, I tried to go steady with it, but it never put out in the specific way I wanted it to. In the end, wearing Patchouli Nobile made me long instead for the gutsier, older versions of Givenchy Gentleman and L’Instant de Guerlain pour Homme Eau Extrême by Guerlain, both of which do a more convincing job of marrying the earthiness of patchouli to something sweet (amber, cocoa, sandalwood) and something fougère-ish (lavender, coumarin, anise). I sold my bottle, which wasn’t hard, because this is difficult to source outside of the EU (and sometimes, indeed, outside of Italy).

Alongside my growing interest in fragrances, I have another beloved quirk. Shoes. So I leisurely stroll through my usual spots. I stand in front of a table. On it, pairs of shoes arranged in two rows. A feast for the eyes. Crocket & Jones, Alden, Santoni, Alt-Wien. In the middle of the room stands a small glass display case with a selection of classic men's fragrances. Out of the corner of my eye, I catch sight of a single bottle on the lowest shelf. Glass with an oval metal emblem. What holds my gaze is the rich golden content. One of the salespeople quietly says, "Patchouli, Nobile 1942, perfect for autumn." Would you like to try it?

Yes, I would.

On the skin:
A very soft, dark, resinous-citrus note. The whole thing is clearly on the floral side. For a moment, it becomes somewhat, let’s say, musty. (It fits nicely with the scent backdrop in the store). Fabric rolls, leather shoes, old furniture, parquet, shoe care from A to Z, etc. Gradually, a very subtly sour, bright, plywood note pushes to the forefront. After about 30 minutes, the fragrance opens up, and I perceive a fresh minty note. Then something almost medicinal that I can't quite place. The scent becomes darker, earthier. In the background, light malty, fermented tea notes shimmer, hints of pine honey, and floral peaks keep reappearing. As it settles, slightly smoky dark wood tones join together with honey and a note that is almost mocha-like for me, creating a very close-to-the-skin and soothing overall impression.
Perhaps inspired by the shoes, I associate this fragrance with a very specific color. The reddish-brown of freshly burst chestnuts.

For me, a fragrance for autumn/winter. In the end, very soft. Longevity on my skin is 6 to 7 hours. Definitely more suitable for the "advanced semesters." I don’t want to use the term niche fragrance, but this patchouli is more for enthusiasts. It certainly has its quirks. Quite noble. In contrast, the patchouli from Etro seems almost brash.