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.

The Holy Mountain is the "Church in The Woods" narrative told beautifully. The opening is a gently bold churchy incense (I'm not religious, but remember the smells vividly from going to a church school). Then the scent eventually changes to a beautiful sweet tuberose. It's not overly floral on dry-down, but more an enticing sweet note. The blend between the incense and the floral is almost like a soft, yet classy candy-esque vibe (for me). This scent... is tricky to put to words. Perfect incense, gently-there pine vibes in between opening and dry down, then, that almost-candy tuberose. The best part for me is that this fragrance is bold without yelling, and gentle to my sensitive nose. The lack of anything harsh or screechy makes this fragrance perfect for me (& maybe other folk with sensitive noses). You'll get inviting incense, calm woods, and just enough sweetness. Never cloying, yet by your side for the day. Uni-gendered 100% - this fragrance will smell delicious on any human.

A transcendental climb into the woods, for sure. Smoke and resin and pine and all things fine; so mellow, as well as so bracing, it made me think there was frankincense in there too. Just wonderful - a blast of the outdoors, and of the past, and of your dreams. Thanks so much to Fragrantian mmpusa for letting me smell a precious last few drops of this - it's magnificent, a forest wizard just as brave as Norne or Woodcut or Wazamba or Fille en Aiguilles (all masterpieces), but more grave and sage and wise, too. So I also curse whoever at Apoteke decided to discontinue it! (But unlike this scent, I've no magical powers, so that's just pointless pouting on my part.) A genuine revelation.

I would describe this as a one to one campfire fragrance. I am from the pacific northwest and the fir and pine are hyper realistic with a strong (almost savory?) smoke top note. There's a little bit of a sticky green sap scent there for me, but not sweet in the slightest. Wearing this has the same effect of putting on a jacket you took camping a few weeks ago. Fascinating and really pleasant, somewhere between weak and moderate sillage but I think this scent would be best experienced close to the skin anyways. It's not for me, but I would love to meet the person that wears this regularly. I think it would be great for both summer and winter nights.

This perfume is the best of the line in terms of concept and execution. The smokiness combined with the exotic Asian medicine notes makes it a transportive fragrance. It reminds me of walking into a house in a village somewhere in the mountains of China or Tibet and smelling the hearth of someone cooking herbal medicinal tea in the kitchen. Not exactly wearable though. Just very cool to sample.

The Holy Mountain smells like a fey bonfire in a forest dream. Smoky burning wood entangled with the most aromatic incense! Very potent the first half hour, then becomes more of a skin scent. The clean charred wood and incense combination are supported by a smooth aromatic accord that is infused with fir. Truly wonderful, although I yearn for the sillage and longevity to be stronger.

Very comforting and for me, has a nostalgic feel to it. The Holy Mountain is a wonderful blend consisting of swirls of pine woods, smoke and incense/resins. Perfect for cool evenings, this fragrance has a familiar, haunting quality that I personally cannot get enough of. Definitely a sample first scent, but once I did, have been hooked ever since.

Holyy damn this is good! Such a precious scent! The quality and realism in the notes are there. My wife adores this on me. The description on the website is spot on. Some notes are missing here on fragrantica. Parfumo does a better job at fetching the notes.

Worth the wait. Mysterious, has a sexy complexity but also calming and addictive spice notes. The smokiness makes me think of a sunny and dusty room. Not as heavy as one might imagine (in a good way) , still would be a bit suffocating to wear in the summer.

I absolutely love the smell of this perfume. It smells exactly like pine tree sap, which is nostalgic for me. The following are downsides to this perfume: initial spray burns my nose and the longevity is terribly short.

pork roasted over smoky campfire, deep in fir and pine forest. very realistic.

smells like a slightly sweeter fille en aiguilles. dont sleep on this one

So Nicholas Nilsson of Pineward Perfumes has resurrected this Apoteker Tepe lineup. I understand that he has been given the rights and original recipes, though I haven't personally asked him about this project, so I'm spouting hearsay. I've never smelled this prior to Nick taking over, but I DO have a sample from Nick, so allow me to touch on Pineward Perfumes - The Apoteker Tepe Collection The Holy Mountain, circa. 2022 So, The Holy Mountain showcases pine. Now, this is not pine needles. Do not think that this is green, terpenic, balsamic, sappy conifer needles, because it isn't - this smells like pine resin straight from the wood. If you've ever collected the sap drippings from felled pine, you'll know that there's nothing overtly green or coniferous about it, but rather, it's woody, dry, splintery, and actually somewhat "smoky". Like lightly charred pine wood. That's the pine we find here. It still has a twinge of that aromatic balsam smell, but I get mostly resin. This is draped over incense (more myrrh-like to my nose), and some seriously leathery, almost smouldering labdanum facets. With fir being my single favourite aroma ever, I can say that, I don't really spot much of its presence here. It's there, but it's not Christmas tree boughs, it's not a walk in the lush green forest - however, there is a subtle whisper of something aromatic beneath the deep, dense, dark and dry woody/smoky/incense components, so perhaps it's there just to provide lift and fresh nuance, and this little nod to fir does indeed become a bit more apparent as it rests on skin for a while and the smoky tones settle down. Other than that, it's a rather linear, albeit incredibly natural creation, highlighting pine resin, incense, labdanum, and a hint of coniferous smoke. It's smoky, woody, and resinous. Simple, yet still manages to touch that core and evoke imagery of all things sacred, hallowed, tribal, nomadic, indigenous, liturgical, sacrificial, and agrestic. Much like the smouldering log fire imagery that this one evokes, the actual journey mimics that idea - opening smoky and brash, and slowly dying down to a faint glow - calming, and allowing subtle threads to peak through, with plumes of incense wafting up - the surrounding materials imbued with its deep, fragrant smoke, until the fire's eventual demise, with a charming reminder - the olfactory stain that seems to linger with semi-permanence and live within the environment around you. It actually manages to fall nicely in line with Nick's own unique Pineward creations, and I can see this lineup being a welcome and worthy addition. I don't think it has quite the same presence, potency, or identity as the Pineward line, and Nick could easily build on this base and turn it into something extraordinary with his own signature, but I commend him for breathing life back into something lost, and allegedly upholding the original spirit of it. Sort of fitting, given the overall theme. I'm looking forward to seeing what he does with the rest of this collection.

If you're after a smoky green incense perfume, this one is for you. Though the star of this perfume is not so much the materials and their accords so much as it is the way Saltz handles them. Her particular style is well suited to this genre in that it takes it in the direction I (we) wished the genre would go more often than not: airy and diffusive. The opening notes of pine resin are, for once in a rare while, not sticky and impenetrable, but dry as dust and just as cloudy. It's as if the resin has been ground into a super fine powder and launched into the air. It maintains the green and semi-sharp aromatics that you want out of pine, but the sharpness has been filed down and rounded out very nicely. With a few minutes and a bit of skin heat, a smoky olibanum comes through loud and clear. In keeping to the theme, the incense smoke is not thick and black but cool and gray, like fine tendrils wafting about in a cavernous cathedral made of cold stones. Pinning all of these airy, diffusive, and highly breathable accords to an earthly domain is a balsam and labdanum base that, to my nose, is about the only thing close to a misfire in this perfume. It's a bit too sweet and a bit too amberic, and feels too much like a separate layer. However, note that when I say sweet I don't say it relative to most ambers since, comparatively, the base of Holy Mountain is not that sweet at all - but it's sweet and thick enough to clash a bit with the top and heart. The dry resins and the smoky incense lock hand-in-hand with each other, inseparable and seamless, but they hover too high over this amberic base layer that never seems to touch the perfume's upper layers, which makes it feel a bit disjointed. There is no clear string attaching the stratospheric accords to the land far below. Once the base remains and all that is left is a skin scent, the balsams and labdanum still carry the smokiness that came before, but now the smokiness feels tarry and charcoal like. The thin, gray, evocative tendrils have gotten thicker, blacker, and a bit close. This could very well be intentional; despite Holy Mountain's soft-spoken nature is has an enormity of depth to it that takes you on a very long journey, but because the jump from the stratosphere to the planet's surface happens so quickly and without any clear pathway it feels like you've fallen to earth rather than soared. At all points throughout its life it is striking and beautiful. Do not mistake my criticism for dislike, it's still one of the better green incense smoke perfumes I've smelled in quite a long time. But, it feels like it could've been better still - like a legendary status was in its grasp but it just fell to earth a bit too quickly.

Given its provenance and the chorus of druidical superfans who first brought this fragrance to my attention, I must confess to being initially somewhat underwhelmed by the product itself. After a sharp vinegary opening (ah, that'll be the terpenic woods), I'm struggling to identify either the campfire/BBQ vibe or the ritualistic burnt offerings which so caught the imagination of previous reviewers. As ever, alphairone provides the most helpful identifier: "green and smoke, green and smoke." The "green" is not the springtime freshness of the rising sap (for that seek out Maria Candida Gentile's wonderful Viridarium). The "smoke" is not the sweet complexity of Heeley or Sorcinelli's incense-based work. No, it's "green smoke": the smell of pine scorched by sun or fire, so that the resin oozes out (or is tapped) and hovers in the dry air, with a smell half-way between creosote and cowhide. I imagine the scrubbier areas of Arizona or New Mexico smell like this. In the dry down, the initial impression of turpentine is relieved by hints of honey from the labdanum. If you seek churchy incense you will be disappointed. If you like your perfume to conjure up a vision of Parisian boudoirs or springtime meadows, move on right now. But if you are open to a total immersion in the dry and inhospitable terrain of the chaparral, climb on board and prepare to be delighted!

The Holy Mountain starts with a rich slug of amber, and then goes into piney, smoky incense. This isn't a pure-black smoke scent like Apoteker Tepe's Brother Night; it's both warmer and greener, more full-bodied. Resinous. It's in the same pine-smoke genre as Neandertal Us. Unlike a lot of "pine smoke" scents (Hyde, Epona, Taiga, Tyrannosaurus Rex, etc) The Holy Mountain has no leather. So it doesn't have that meaty richness; it's thinner. Just smoky piney incense and warm amber. Apoteker Tepe's copy mentions lapsang souchong tea, which also fits. But basically all these fine distinctions don't matter much. The Holy Mountain is a fine example of a "Fuck Yeah, Smoke" scent. If you want to smell like a campfire in the woods, you'll like it; if not, not.