Let's start, this fragrance was designed to give fans of Tigerwood Royale a sprayable form of their favorite ouds.
But what is Tigerwood Royale anyway?
Tigerwood Royale is definitely not for oud rookies and can come across as somewhat off-putting or too intense for some people. This is not because this oud has any animalic/fecal or barnyard notes.
It smells very intensely mineral, leathery, smoky, and in my opinion, also slightly like gasoline.
Now the question is, how can you make a perfume out of this? Actually, Tigerwood is not a perfume as defined by the norms of perfumery, as it consists only of top and base notes and completely forgoes heart notes.
This perfume can best be compared to a tree.
Tigerwood Royale is the trunk, and the other ingredients are the branches.
You perceive Tigerwood Royale the whole time until the end.
As soon as you spray it, you notice a wonderful coffee/cocoa note that envelops the Tigerwood Royale along with ambergris.
The tobacco notes add a certain warmth to the whole thing and nicely round off this extreme first impression.
After a while, the coffee note becomes softer, and the musk merges with the ambergris and Tigerwood Royale into an extremely good blend.
Notes like pepper, vanilla, black tea, etc. are only faintly noticeable as they serve more to give the tiger a certain smoothness.
Oakmoss and the wood notes act as a booster for the fragrance with the black ambergris and have a significant impact on the projection of the scent, which I really like.
All in all, from my perspective, it is a perfect balance of extremely dark oud and animalic-sweet-spicy coffee notes.
Ensar consistently manages to blend the finest naturals with the treasures from the royal reserves of the former Sultan Qaboos of Oman into olfactory masterpieces, and he has succeeded again in this case.
As for longevity, I would say it lasts about 7 hours on my skin and easily until the next day on clothes.
The sillage of this fragrance is quite strong in the first few hours; you definitely leave a good cloud behind you at the beginning.
I find coffee to be a very tricky component in perfumes, and many coffee fragrances I have tested so far I found quite off-putting or unwearable, as they were simply too gourmand, artificial, or intense. Until a few months ago, Oud Luwak by Areej Le Dore was the only one I would label as a wearable coffee scent, and I think anyone who appreciated the qualities of a Luwak will simply love the Tigerwood.
I would describe this perfume as one of the most complex and controversial creations Ensar has made so far, as it has not pleased fans of Tigerwood Royale at all, yet many people who did not like the Tigerwood Royale oud enjoy it extremely well.
I took my time with a final opinion, as Ensar's fragrances continue to evolve over time, and I can now say with full conviction that this perfume is one of the best in my collection. I would even label it as a signature candidate if it weren't limited and likely to be sold out forever.
