The Holy Mountain

I have been on a quest for a smoky fragrance that resonates with me, and thus far, all the usual suspects just make me say to myself this is one big Beggin' Strip on my skin ("dogs don't know it's not bacon!"). I remember so many times when mixing and blending as a novice perfumer and asking friends what kind of the scent they'd love to have if I were to do a bespoke for them, "something smoky, like a campfire or burning leaves." I'd smile while rolling my eyes from the inside because I just wasn't excited with the idea. Let's face it, this just wasn't a concept that riveted me. So I tried City of Fire, and Bois Sikar, and while quite nice for what they are, just felt as though they were missing an element or two to keep them from making my brain feel like this is too savory for my own skin, too literal, too legible to be considered a true perfume. I get much the same feeling with overt coffee or gourmand scents. Supporting notes that become the main role don't always suit my taste. In comes Holy Mountain and suddenly it hit me: green and smoke, green and smoke. Holy Mountain is chaparral, green and tacky, but also tarry and medicinal creosote, phenolic cade oil (juniperus oxycedrus tar), and an incense of Ponderosa Pine resin blended with olibanum. It feels like a retreat, it feels devotional, a tree-hugger's prayer, the truest smoke that I see the plumes and wisps. I am a hippie at heart, I faked until I made it as an urbanite, but I returned to where I belong, as close to the natural world as I can get, and now I am at a ritual of transformation, much like in the assumed namesake Alejandro Jodorowsky film. Then I snap out of it and am back to the humdrum work desk, feeling just a bit more inspired....and imbued with the holy smoke! Awesome stuff.

#1582 in my "Tour de Fragrance" Got this as a decant from scentsplit.com. With pine scents I either hate them or love them ,and I do love this. Pine scents like Pino Sylvestre are disgusting and smell like bathroom cleaner. This scent is more like Tom Ford "Vert d' Encens", Dua "Green Incense", L'Artisan Parfumeur "Fou d' Absinthe" that sort of scent. Though in my opinion the best scent for the money in the piney category is D.S.& Durga "Mississippi Medicine" which is $155 for 100ml and I think worth every penny. This is a great scent for a formal white shirt and tie office, or formal dates, or just because you enjoy it and don't care if anyone else does. It's great quality and all that. But there are many good alternatives for less. Profumo di Firenze "Obscurus" is $60. Tiziana Tirenze "Ecstasy" is $80. If you're okay with an EDT, Caron "Yatigan" $51. Dua's "A Forest Mystery" is a clone of Serge Leutens "File de Aguilles" at $60 for 35ml. I also really like the very similar Les Liquides Imaginaires "Sancti", a somewhat more churchy incense scent I've had a couple of months and love wearing. I found it on sale for just over $100. So, while I really love this scent, $130 for 35 ml seems a lot. That's as much as the very similar and pricey Profumum Roma "Arso" which runs $314 for 100ml, which I also love, but is low down on my acquisition list as this will be. Given the price and that I have several scents like this already, I'll be in no hurry to get a full bottle. A very tiny full bottle.

My hands-down favorite of the Apoteker Tepe line. Smells like a old woodshop, the kind at historical parks where a guy is carving children's toys with hand tools. But it also smells like a druid's forest altar, incensey and ancient. There's a slightly vinegary top note, which is why some people will think BBQ, but to me it's just the terpenic quality of sappy wood. (And within that sap is a natural sweetness - it's not *just* big and burly.) It's more reminiscent of the smoldering coals of a dying fire than cooking meat, certainly. Despite being a Woody capital-W fragrance, it's not really masculine, but genderless in the way that a giant redwood or magic forest sprite is. It's also not as green-smelling as I expected, so for the pine and fir lovers, this doesn't have the fresh needly scent you might be after (or at least doesn't feature it up front like Filles en Aiguilles), but rather the ambery brown of the wood and sap. Which is sorta useful, because it doesn't immediately remind me of christmastime, and makes it more wearable outside of December. I know people hate when you describe a smell in an abstract, metaphorical way, but, y'know, too bad. This is ancient magic, it's something that existed before time and will see us all grow and die and be around until the earth isn't. If you're the kind of person that enjoys camping in a quiet place, watching your campfire die down and wishing the night would never end, this is for you.

I may have finally found my perfect smoky scent. Opens with campfire smoke, then settles into a smoky incense scent. This reminds me a bit of Broken Theories by Kerosene, but retains a smokiness longer, and seems a little more structured (in that the notes are fewer and more distinct/focused). The problem with Broken Theories for me is, while I love the first few hours of wearing, it becomes oddly animalic and a little off-putting to me in the drydown and then lasts forever, like you can literally smell it months later on fabric. The Holy Mountain however is a little more linear and retains that amazing smoky resinous incense vibe for the (albeit shorter) life of the fragrance. As for some of the comparisons... It doesn’t remind me of Mississippi Medicine at all, that one is more woody/piney/fuzzy and not at all smoky to my nose. And I find this more balanced and far more enjoyable than A city on fire, which I was underwhelmed by. Also, if you like this, seek out Brother Night from the same line... it is equally smoky but has a greenness which adds an amazing contrast, like green wood/vegetation burning instead of the seasoned firewood campfire that The Holy Mountain and other scents in this genre seem to mimic. It is not on fragrantica, and was originally a limited release from Apoteker Tepe, but is available now that Nicholas from Pineward has revived this amazing fragrance line.

Fragrantica user babayaga turned me onto this fragrance and company. She greeted me with the sweetest private message and this tailored recommendation/review: "One fragrance I've discovered that makes me feel like I am wrapped in soft textiles of deep red, purple, brown, having tea (possibly with psychoactive ingredients) in the smoky tent of a nomadic family in the Himalayas is Apoteker Tepe's Holy Mountain. Very smoky and resinous, you can read the notes, but there's also a very magical, mysterious quality there." What is there to say other than her spectacular review? Other then THANK YOU babayaga. THANK YOU Apoteker Tepe. This fragrance is so comforting and enlightening-- it's ritualistic, it's native, it's tranquil, it's emotive, a bit psychoactive, a bit shamanic. It's a bonfire smoking at base camp as you canoe up to the shore through the fog. It's home on planet earth. I didn't expect a scent like this to be as wearable as it is. I think this is my first niche love. Thank you.