Incense image via Pixabay

If there is one note that gets my attention in a fragrance, it is incense. Its smoky, dusty, mournfully resonant character can evoke memories of childhood mass or the serenity of Japanese temples, hear the heart-stirring organ music of the Notre Dame in Filippo Sorcinelli’s extraordinary Sauf fragrances, take the mind and heart on the metaphysical journeys of Olivier Durbano’s Parfums de Pierres Poemes series, or into the fading pages of antiquity itself through Dawn Spencer Hurwitz’s Onycha. While there are so many stunning incense perfumes it was quite difficult to single out only three, these fragrances are not only among my favourites but represent very different interpretations of this ephemeral, transportive substance.

Olivier Durbano Rock Crystal courtesy of Olivier Durbano

Olivier Durbano Parfum de Pierre Poemes Rock Crystal (Olivier Durbano) 2005: Revisiting Olivier Durbano’s Rock Crystal, I am once again struck by how brilliantly he intersperses churchlike notes of frankincense and myrrh with the distinct mineral smell of stone and herbal forest floor in this wonderfully evocative creation. The churchy frankincense remains the commanding note throughout the development of Rock Crystal but is woven into earthy and temporal notes to paint an olfactory triptych of earth, sky, and soul. Smoky frankincense dominates the opening but is tempered by a steely mineral note that feels elemental, chilly and almost damp. Herbal and dry spice notes ground the airy quality of the incense with a reference to humanity, while cedar, vetiver and oakmoss speak of the trees that reach towards the sky. Rock Crystal is proof that, as author Jules Renard reflected, “On earth there is no heaven, but there are pieces of it.”

Notes: orange flower, pepper, coriander, cardamom, cumin, incense, olibanum, benzoin, myrrh, cistus, sandalwood, cedar, vetiver, everlasting flower, oakmoss, musk.

DSH Perfumes Onycha (courtesy of Dawn Spencer-Hurwitz

DSH Perfumes Onycha (Dawn Spencer Hurwitz) 2016: One of most extraordinary incense creations I’ve come across is Dawn Spencer Hurwitz’s Onycha, whose notes resonate with ancient texts and time. Onycha is one of the ingredients of holy incense recorded in Exodus, but its origins remain a mystery. Some scholars believe it to be a fine powder derived from the membrane of a Red Sea mollusk, while others have landed on the gemstone onyx or resins benzoin and labdanum. Spencer Hurwitz’s interpretation joins all these possibilities in a dark, roasted brew that interweaves onycha shell, labdanum, benzoin, and woods like the threads of Penelope’s loom. This is perfume as echo, plaintively calling to something very old in our DNA.

The opening is rich with roasted choya nakh shell and benzoin. The toasted mineral smell contrasting with the richness of the resin is mesmerizing. The blend of warm, syrupy and roasted-woody aromas is intoxicating, almost gourmand until a saline tang of ocean and a distinct smokiness very like burnt embers in a fireplace emerge alongside a distinct mineral note, like the residue of the sea on sun baked shells. It is familiar and unearthly; the perfume of a past life, of a memory so far back in time it exists only in stories.

Notes: Onycha tincture, labdanum, Siam benzoin, oude, fossil amber, Himalayan cedar, Siam wood, Mysore sandalwood, choya nakh, oppoponax, and frankincense (sacra).

Filippo Sorcinelli Contre Bombarde 32 (courtesy of the brand)

Filippo Sorcinelli Contre Bombarde 32: The first three perfumes of Filippo Sorcinelli’s Extrait de Musique collection (formerly Sauf) are inspired by organ stops of the Grand Orgue of Notre Dame. Sorcinelli, founder of UNUM, is himself a classically trained organist who was playing in major cathedrals by age 13, translated these musical timbres into one of the most stirringly beautiful incense collections anywhere. Plein Jeu III – V is a rich, symphonic chorus, and Voix Humaine, a stunning, reed-like soprano with a gourmand edge and a smell of melting candles. Contre Bombarde 32, my favourite, is a sonorous, woody incense with contrapuntal opening notes of bitter orange and elemi and a resinous heart. Mellifluous caramel and vanilla play off herbal, dry aromas like a musical scale climbing and reversing. These notes harmonize with baritone woods, muted with age and polish. If there is a more perfect warm incense fragrance, it must be waiting in the hereafter.

Notes: Elemi, juniper, bitter orange, cedar, sandalwood, amber, caramel, vanilla.

Our world continues to churn with such turmoil that the divine can seem quite out of reach. But a few drops of Rock Crystal, Onycha, and Contre Bombarde 32 may, for a few rapturous moments, conjure a sense of beyond. May they be a restorative for you as well.

Disclaimer: Olivier Durbano Rock Crystal and Filippo Sorcinelli Contre Bombarde 32 from my personal collection, DSH Perfumes Onycha sample generously provided by DSH Perfumes. My opinions, as always, are my own.

Lauryn Beer, Senior Editor

For our Incense Draw

USA, EU and UK Olivier Durbano Rock Crystal for one registered reader 

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