Scents of Wood

The house Scents of Wood caught my attention a while back. The concept of aging perfumes and oils in wooden barrels is intriguing. Today, a US discounter emailed me a news letter and it contained a link to an interview with the founder of Scents of Wood, Fabrice Croisé (video below). He was born in France but lives in Utah. The perfumes are made and aged in New York and then shipped to his Utah workshop where they are bottled and boxed. 

Anyway, the video piqued my curiosity. They have nice "build it yourself" sample sets with 16 fragrances currently available. For those of you who don't know my tastes, I like very masculine fragrances and  in general not very sweet (although there are exceptions). Challenging or animalic notes and accords do not frighten me, but aren't necessary. 

I'm looking for suggestions to build a sample set. The largest set has 6 scents and I'd be willing to buy 2 sets for a total of 12 scents (if I get enough recommendations). What is your opinion of Scents of Wood? What are your recommendations for ones I should sample? The house FBs are pricey but the samples are quite reasonable.

Cedar in Acacia
Hinoki in Hinoki
Leather in Bourbon
Oak in Oak
Orange in Chestnut
Oud in Bourbon
Oud in Calvados
Patchouli in Rye
Plum in Cognac
Praline in Maple
Sandalwood in Oak
Vetiver in Bloom
Apricot in Cognac
Pine in the Sun
Fig in Oud
Plum in Cognac Vintage 2024

Definitely Plum in Cognac

I hear Praline in Maple is good.

Apricot in Cognac 🤔

You have me wanting to sample them as well. 

Plum in Cognac, and the Vetiver ones jump out to me. 

Vetiver in Bloom and Leather in Bourbon

Honorable mention Oud in Calvados

I ended up ordering samples I was too intrigued lol. 

I got a sample of Calm in Cedar through Scentbird and I really like it but I did find that it leans a little sweet and fairly feminine so based on what you're looking for it may not be what you want but it's still a really lovely fragrance 🙂 (it may be a Scentbird exclusive though)

I have Oak in Oak (it was my SOTD yesterday). From what I've picked up of your tastes Smirky, I think you'd like it. The simplest way to describe it, and it really doesn't do the fragrance justice, is that it will smell like a lumber yard or wood shop. Like I said, that description doesn't do the fragrance justice. It is more complex than that. Surprisingly, my wife really likes the fragrance on me. Other fragrances from the house I smelled were all good (it has been a year and a half since I put my nose to the other fragrances so I really can't give recommendations - I had smelled a lot of fragrances from different houses that day). You won't go wrong picking from the notes you like.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.  Of course, going through them there were 7 I wanted to try. So, I got the 6 sample set and 1 sample. These are my choices:

Don't forget to let us know what you think of them. 

Yes, I will write reviews for all of them. If I remember, I'll come back to this thread and give a summary.

Wearing Plum In Cognac today and also wondering what any of you think of it?

It’s warm, sweet, boozy, a little resinous, obviously woody lol.

Reminds me, but not the same, as Angels' Share Eau de Parfum and Herod but smoother.

No cheapness in the smell, not synthetic or anything.

I think their “method” with the barrel aged stuff adds some to the depth and character.

Although it’s not a mass appealing smell I could see wearing it quite often in Winter and getting away with it.

Slightly off topic, but I *love* that wheel diagram that shows groupings and concentration!  I wish more perfumers would do this where it's possible.   Also my notes on Praline in Maple in 2023 were 'authentic caramel gourmand, dries down to masc-leaning barrel wood'  probably not very helpful lol

I LOVE this house. I own quite a few of theirs (mostly the small bottles to keep the crazy collection under control). I hope you enjoy them, they really are fantastic!