On The Road Timothy Han Edition Perfumes 2015

Rrroooaarrrrr….. Cloud of smoke, tar, lemon: the start of the fragrance journey on a cool, breezy summer morning in the big city. Gasoline and asphalt fumes from the summer night and the memory of the evening in the jazz cellar still linger in the air, fruit crates filled with citrus from the street vendor who has just set up contribute a zesty freshness, the cool morning wind already carries a hint of the scents of the countryside (fields, forests...) into the city. From afar, the opening reminds me of Knize Ten, but I can't compare anymore, the sample was long ago: probably the smoke and the urban vibe.

The journey takes us through suburbs to the countryside. We visit a sawmill - it smells of freshly sawn wood, slightly burnt from the heat of the saw blade. We have plenty of leisure and admire next door a painter's studio filled with swirls of turpentine. The strong colors: gray, brown, green, ochre - just like the scent that accompanies us!

Later, around noon, we stroll through a very open coniferous forest, the warmth of the strong sun rays makes the scent of pine and fir cones rise from the forest floor. We are not entirely sure, but we think we occasionally catch faintly sweet wafts from a sunlit lavender field that must be nearby.

In the afternoon of this warm, sunny August day, the grain fields are already harvested, and somewhere straw fires are probably burning, the narrow road leads us to the place where we will arrive. The wind has stopped, it is quiet, in the afternoon sun the scent impressions become subdued, hay, straw, dry herbs, dry moss, dead wood from the nearby field hedge exude a crackling-quiet, restrained aroma, almost creamy (that must be the tonka bean). Wrapped in the fading woody-mild scent tapestry, we still sense a bit of asphalt, smoke, and turpentine, letting the memories of the day pass by…..

On The Road is indeed a fragrance journey, a road movie. Similar in its dominant smoky note are Mississippi Medicine and Burning Barbershop by D.S. & Durga. Mississippi Medicine is more citrusy and bright, Burning Barbershop sweeter and more lavender-like. As colors, I would assign Mississippi Medicine light yellow-sulfur yellow-gray, Burning Barbershop purple-gray, and On The Road gray-light brown-green ochre. The two Durga fragrances are somewhat more pastel, while On The Road is more vividly drawn, like an expressive yet harmonious color woodcut.

Objective, aesthetically proportioned bottle. Beautiful outer box designed with photographic art, the title photo can be freely selected when ordering. Inspiring scent, inspired design (this also applies to Timothy Han's website). The fragrance name refers to the novel by Jack Kerouac, 1957: the content is characterized in Wikipedia as "Sex, Drugs 'n' Jazz," a wild journey of two men across the North American continent to Mexico. I should probably read it!

(Personal P.S.: Fragrances with birch tar notes had previously deterred me, I quickly dismissed Knize Ten back then, and I initially had a spontaneous aversion to the two mentioned D.S. & Durga fragrances, which later turned into affection. Why the decision for a bottle of "On The Road" now? Perhaps I was simply ready for a smoky scent, for THIS scent. Perhaps because I wore the fragrance for the first time just before Christmas, at a time that matched the name of the fragrance: the completely surprising transformation of my neighbor's house (single-family home, rural-suburban southern German outskirts) into a shelter for refugee families from Syria and Iraq: the new, impressive, and even friendly contacts that arise with the families, their moving stories, make one experience how "To Be On The Road" is a fundamental human condition. It's good if there is also an "arrival" in the meantime!)