Chapter 5

Chapter 5 centers on burnt, smoky wood. It dominates the whole composition, almost like liquid smoke. The birch note feels photorealistic and a bit oudy — today, I smelled something really similar in my favorite forest. A mineral texture comes from an ink accord — not a literal inkwell ink, but a cool black shadow soaked into the charred wood, one that darkens the texture more than it builds a separate note. Its almost excessive dirtiness creates something I could even describe as cat urine combined with moss. It is strongly animalic and musky. In the full drydown, an amber-sandalwood sweetness with a vanilla facet appears. As usual, Ajmal clearly put a lot of care into the craftsmanship. Chapter 5 reminds me of monasteries with centuries-old furnishings and incense in the background — specifically Meteora in Greece, at least to me. At the same time, it still feels industrial and urban. It smells like those monks got a job in heavy industry in the 1980s. The projection is limited; it is better to keep this perfume to yourself than to treat everyone around you to a truly niche stinker. The longevity is high — I can still smell it the next day. In fragrances this esoteric, it's difficult to define the gender, but I think it's quite unisex, lightly male-leaning, and suited to cold weather. Even so, I think they are hellishly expensive for only 50 ml in the bottle. Fortunately, I got it for less than the usual price — €32 shipped. A snobbier brand could probably price it five times higher. The snobbish quality is there, but this is also a challenging perfume with limited appeal, and that makes the cost harder to justify. Blind-buying it as a normal person would be insane. It smells like someone with no interest in being liked at all. Overall, Chapter 5 is well-made and memorable in a way that many Middle Eastern smoky woods are not. It captures charred birch with unusual realism, adds a dark mineral undertone, and then complicates everything with a confrontational edge. Beautifully made, deeply hostile, and somehow all the better for it. Opening note: 9+ Sillage/Projection: 6+ Drydown: 9- Longevity: 9 Blend/Composition: 9+ Versatility: 5- Uniqueness: 9 Value for money: 6- Bottle design/Aesthetics: 9- Overall experience: 9- Blind-buy rating: 2-

alt note: DOES ANYONE ELSE SEE THIS ONE PARTICULAR CHARACTER HERE the one with the black hair and leather coat and white eyes YK THE ONE. update: FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY this is becoming my signature fuck yeah it is update 2: so my man complimented me for this layered with akro dark and a lavender body spray. he likes smoky and weird perfumes and i was nervous at first that it might have a bad impression but it wasn't bad at all! ink notes for the win?

Bought blindly for the promise of ink and smoke and incense, but this is so much better than just that. Just like Tiger84 says, "gloriously animalic". In fact, so animalic that I was quite surprised to not find something like castoreum or civet in the notes breakdown. The animalics remind me of those used in something like Peau de Bete (Liquides Imaginaires), hovering somewhere between aldehydes, musk, and piss. It's addictive.

Tested it in Abu Dhabi, when i was buying a bottle of Shams. This one and Chapter 2 is the most prominent to my nose. Will buy it definately if i will ever be in countries with Ajmal shops Basically it's a pretty safe oud, artificial, synthetic scent. I don't really know about ink, tbh, but maybe that's what i'm talking about. Without oud somehow gave me a hint of CDG Concrete, but without this harsh mineral note

Ajmal Chapter V is a dark, inkysh wood fragrance that brings to mind polished timber soaked in black ink, with a strong tattoo-studio vibe. Longevity and projection are moderate rather than massive. If you like Akro Ink, Chapter V does it better!!! Its deeper, smoother, and more wearable.

Yep, it's exactly the same as black laquer and I bought it for 30 euros. Step your game up Tom Ford! Love this. It's not challenging, the smoke is gentle.

Marvellous, animalic, ugly but sweet. THE smokiest fragrance i own. Big performance right out of the bottle.

i NEED to make this my signature. NEED.

I have both black lacquer and this one (chapter 5) and i can tell you that they are almost identical. Black lacquer is very dull and has mid performance but people who like dark masculine fragrances would like it, but still dont waste you money on TF and get this one (chapter 5) because its cheaper and not synthetic or has bad quality, actually it smells as good as black lacquer

Tested in store, opens up with a clear ink and dry woody accord. Mineral note takes over quickly with burning smoky birch. Funny thing, on my hand the dry down reminds me of spicy nutmeg. Complex/unique perfume hence not safe blind buy. This perfume sillage/longevity is great even after I washed my hand i could still smell it!

A smoky, slightly dirty scent of wood smoke (birch tar) underpinned by vanilla and reminiscent of ink. An interesting blend, personally reminiscent of Patchouli 24 (Le Labo) and Black Lacquer (Tom Ford), but with a slightly animalic twist. Worth a try, especially at this price.

Good, strong and unique fragrance (in a beutiful bottle), but definitely notes here are misleading - as someone mentioned below, strong animalic note (similar even to Kouros) is definitely present here

At first sniff it is gloriously animalic, it carries the same tannery aspect I adore in Aoud Cuir d'Arabie, with some added pissy animalic aspect also present in Leather Oud and Kouros. I'm not sure how it will change with time, but if it stays just like this, perhaps just stronger, I'll be happy. I would have been glad to just get the "ink" note people talk about here, but what I'm getting from this is much better. I wasn't expecting such a wonderfully, unabashedly dirty fragrance out of this, it smells quite a mixture of what I love in animalic scents.

Not unique by any stretch and a clear and less prickly riff on Patchouli 24 by Le Labo, which I get more than Tom Ford Black Lacquer. Barbecur sauce like birch and a weak, cold ink note leaves me feeling empty. If you ink, like true ink, Zoologist Squid is brilliantly done.

Starts nice ish but the dry down smells like “cats” note in musc ravageur

My brain made association to those challenging BeauFort fragrances