OLD SCHOOL BENCH

This perfumer has a unique style. I think they speak a language of memory and nostalgia and transporting you to special places and experiences. The perfumer made it as a special memory experience of an abstract interpretation of an etching art studio. I've never been in one. But in any case. This one is a special place for me according to it's transportative vibe to my own scent memory palate. As if it was waiting for me to discover it. All of the fun of traveling down scent roads is finding something like this for yourself. A place, all your own, that you want to spend lots of time in. I haven't stopped wearing this for a week or more. It's now my signature scent. The place I want to be most often. Bottle purchased. Considering getting a back up. 10 of 10. Strong performance. A good value considering what it does for me even though these are not cheap. At different temperatures and humidities it sings slightly different melodies. All of them beautiful and refrains of one another. A vanillic, rum soaked, cedar/patchouli base, that has other subtle supporting accords that seem to imply a weathered, worldy, wisdom, and use. Like a space of some reverance and veneration but one that has been used, appreciated, and that carries the memory of time. It makes me feel interested, intrigued, nostalgic, calm, quiet, still, reflective, and appreciative. Like I'm smelling a good story. My new all time favorite.

This perfume is time travel. Take a walk round a 1930's classroom, in Shrewsbury, England. The room contains 20 silent children, all scribbling away on their parchments, with hastily sharpened lead pencils. There is a vicious, grey haired school master, sat at his desk at the front of the class, smoking a pipe. There is a small coal fire, which is full of coal, but the school master refuses to light it. A clock ticks in the background, the only thing to break the silence. But, suddenly, a boy coughs. This provokes a completely irrational and highly violent outburst from the school master. He drags the boy to the front of the class, and proceeds to cain him with intense gusto. That is the scene that this scent presents in my head. Lead pencil shavings, parchment, coal dust, wooden furniture and smoky tobacco. It is a very interesting scent and somewhat more of an olfactory experience, rather than a perfume. However, with that said, it does wear very well. It's sillage is not great, but it lasts for quite a while. Another issue I have with it is that it's quite overpriced. You hardly get enough in the bottle to bath a sparrow, making it a "now and again" perfume, rather than something that can be twiddled with every day. 8/10. A unique journey into the past, but needs better sillage and more generosity.

This house is criminally underrated. The perfumer it’s full-on wizard. Every scent feels like it came from a futuristic art gallery run by a forest spirit. I’ve got over 100 bottles in my collection and have sniffed enough perfumes to qualify as a part-time bloodhound, but Min NY still catches me off guard every time. I already have Shaman (holy grail), Onsen (freshie with a twist), and this Old School Bench—which I panic-bought after sniffing Moon Dust and Stardust (both amazing, both currently on my wish list). Old School Bench hits you with smoke from the jump and just... stays there. No fancy opening, no dramatic dry down—just one long, moody campfire with occasional surprise appearances from vetiver, patchouli, and something green and bitter that screams “mysterious botanical garden.” I get Amouage-Opus-XI energy. Longevity and projection are decent. It won’t punch noses, but it’ll vibe with you all day. A solid 8/10 for smoky-woody lovers who want something different but wearable.

Beautiful if you’re from an older city. Reminds me of an old wooden bench with time and human wear over the years. Love it, brings back memories. Somewhat sweet. Very wearable. Reminds me of my youth going to a fifty year old school bench hanging out smelling the memories of those that sat there before. Reminds me of an old oak wine cellar with fifty to seventy year age and angels share. Got a deep organic age vibe with some sweetness. Very nice and pleasant. From SFC and sojourns in NYC. You’ll come across this and brings back the past in a good way.

Such an underrated fragrance. Its in the same style as Straight to heaven from Kilian but it is different. Smells high quality and tells a story. Mainly dry woods, with smooth patchouli, booze and sweetness.

A woody scent with polished furniture feel. It starts with a fresh citruses mixed with dump flowers.Lemons and geranium gives freshness.Patchouli and angelica are giving a moist, dump touch. The vetiver here is almost nutty, giving that characteristic dirty earthy feel. The sweetness comes from vanilla and cacao. It gives a full ambery roundness to the composition. Rum tends to go in a vanilla territory and here it makes for the vallina sweet boozzynes. Whereas Angelica gives off a different liquor feel more close to vermouth. The bees wax, germanium and alcohol makes an accord that is a bit similar to a wood polish.

Old School Bench opens really dry. Dry patchouli, dry cedar and dry, dusty cacao powder. Alsmost like an attack on the lungs. After a while the scent deepens. A touch of honey for the barest hint of sweetness and vetiver and whiskey for a deep smoky flavor. There's a sour note to it as well. The base is pencil shavings and a deep smoked wood accord, like the beams in an old room where fires have been lit for centuries to keep the cold out. I find it simple and quite linear, but in the best way possible. Can't get enough of the smoked woods. It reminds me of ancient lecture halls. A very old school bench indeed.

Nostalgic and unique woody chypre scent evoking the smell of old furniture. The scent opens with aromatic notes of angelica, bergamot and lemon. The heart is mostly wood wax and geranium with slight cacao and rum. The perfume settles on a base of vetiver and cedar with slight hints of vanilla and patchouli. The unisex well blended scent has moderate projection and good longevity. Will definitely take you back to your school days. Enjoy!

At first, I feel more nostalgic than admiring.. The opening of the fragrance reminds me of the early nineties when we entered the small candy store in our neighborhood, then the fragrance settles after that to be more masculine, the perfume in short is okay for men over 35 years old

To be honest, what comes through most clearly is patchouli, sharp and tangy, presented with restraint and intention. The other notes listed in the breakdown never present themselves individually; they remain in service of the composition, quietly shaping and disciplining the patchouli without drawing attention away from it. The result is a classic interpretation done properly. Composed, and thoughtful, it carries a distinctly vintage character and avoids ornamentation or festivity altogether. There is no sense of indulgence here. The patchouli feels studied, clean-edged, and confident, treated almost academically, with structure and control taking precedence over charm. Old School Bench suits daily formal wear and feels especially appropriate in professional or contemplative settings. It leans masculine in temperament and sits particularly well on smokers, where the natural tang of patchouli integrates seamlessly with residual tobacco on skin and fabric, reinforcing its seasoned, lived-in quality. Update: In the deep final stages of the dry down, the vetiver becomes more pronounced. It emerges green and smoky, adding a quiet bitterness and reinforcing the fragrance’s austere, grounded character as it settles close to the skin.

A bit unimaginative. All it is, is a heavy vetiver/patchouli conjunction encased in subtle smoke and sweet undertones. It's nice, but this scent profile that has been done before, and is overworked at this point. Basically, resembles the likes of Timbukto, Laliques' Voyaguer, Private Label or maybe even PG's Monsieur. If you own any of these, this one easily becomes redundant.

Very vintage, I smell mostly the vetiver and the patchouli. It's the most linear fragrance of the maison I've tried so far. Serious, aged, heavy to wear, but I wouldn't say I dislike it. It's simply very far from what I usually wear.

This is all about rubber with mild horse shit, charcoal, very mild smoky pencil shavings and mild smell of tar under the hot summer sun. At the end I get more aromatic rubber with pencil shavings. Quite unique but not pleasant for my nose. It reminds me some nasty arabic fragrancies. Other noticeable notes are cedar, angelica, vetiver, patchouli and traces of geranium. The best part of this scent is the drydown. The opening and the first stage are quite nasty. Performance is good. Long lasting with strong projection for half an hour. Moderate sillage.

The smell of entering an old wood building, like a courthouse. Not musty or moldy, just buildup over the years from old floor cleaner and furniture polish.

Puzzling name aside (I’m assuming it’s an “old bench from a school” rather than an “old-school bench”), this is another strong offering from the collection. In fact, while I personally prefer Moon Dust (and perhaps Barrel), I find this to be the line’s most successful realization of an experimental and articulate vision. It opens with what appears to be a bizarre yet engaging alliance of wood and chocolate that carries an insinuation of a boozy Turkish Delight. Despite this, there’s no overt sweetness as the chocolate notes are rendered with poise. Instead, what emerges is a musty note that becomes a dominant player in the blend—one that elevates this scent into truly distinctive territories. It shares some of Moon Dust’s sense of alienation, but adds an organic pulse through a chord that smells vaguely berry-like and varnished at the same time. Picture an old piece of oak furniture, dripping in character and history—one that’s been given a new lease of life through the application of a semi-sweet chemical process—and you’ll have a sense of what this is about. It’s fairly linear, but is surprisingly accessible and pleasant. I’m honestly not sure how this was accomplished, but it works very well. A real standout.

At first sniff, this smells exactly like a gnarled school desk en-scrawled with badly drawn penises and wood rot. However, the individual notes can be assessed if you look for them. The cacao, cedar and a rather dirty smelling vetiver are the main things contributing to the thick, heavy mustiness. The honey and vanilla give the redolent sweetness of the wood, which I would always smell whenever I pressed my sweaty forehead down on the desk and pretended to be unwell so I could skip class. There is also a strange chemical note, like varnish or paint-stripper, which I attribute to the rum and geranium. The over all effect is successful in so far as it smells like the concept, but quite honestly I can't imagine any sane person would want to spend money to smell like a musty old school bench :/

This is a very pleasant scent to me, but then again, I love wood in perfumes. It doesn't smell particularly synthetic, the notes are mostly quite inexpensive as naturals, at this price point, why not use them? Yeah, the price ..... well this kinda smells like something I might mix up in my own little lab, a bit of a no-brainer of a perfume .... but a very nice smell for those who love wood, and not too heavy on the cedar, thereby avoiding the pencil shaving overdose I sometimes get, say with a Serge Lutens. I must say I loved the scent wafting up from my wrist this morning as I went about my day.

Old School Bench smells to me like a highly modernized take on patchouli. It opens very aromatic and boozy, unsweetened and almost astringent to then *evolve* into a vetiver-infused uber-dry and non-headshop type of patchouli with woody facets. If you're drawn to hyper-modernism, this smells very good in my opinion but the problem with these MiN is often the same: Why pay Yohji Yamamoto prices for a COS shirt? Anyway, this is nice. Rating: 7/10

It reminds me of licorice, ink and metal. Persistent with strong longevity. Very masculine and urban. Recommended to lovers of whisky, leather and tobacco scents. Very good!!

Scent: 8/10 Quality: 8/10 Originality: 6/10 Sillage: 7/10 Projection: 7/10 Longevity: 7/10 Price VS Size: 7/10