Tome

Now, I’m against reviewing a scent based on a sample vial. Perhaps I have my biases, but it leaves room for interpretation. Not enough time and experience with the fragrance, or it didn’t warrant a full-bottle purchase, thus it’s not collection-worthy, or perhaps I was clever enough and didn’t give in to the marketing poetry so abundant these days. Nevertheless, I am breaking my rule with TOME, since I have decided it is full bottle-worthy, and will soon add it to my collection. Much like with Pumpkivus and my longing for a proper pumpkin scent, I have long anticipated a perfume that would do justice to this ambiguous theme, a fragrance to evoke the smell of old books with their leather bindings and yellowed pages. And I have managed to trace down quite a few; however, none were specifically designed around that topic, and only bits and pieces of them stimulated my imagination in that direction. Nevertheless, and once again, just like with Pumpkivus, I had my doubts about whether Nick could pull off this quest. Thankfully, for all the weird people out there, he did. TOME smells quintessentially of old books. Plain and simple. At first, I was impressed, but I had to ask myself, “Is this too literal?” and “Can it be worn as a perfume?” I felt it was a great technical achievement, but more something to spray occasionally in private and marvel at the accuracy with which it achieved its goal than something to feel comfortable and, most importantly, enjoy as a personal scent. However, the more I wore TOME, the more I realized that it was, after all, a perfume that could be thoroughly enjoyed as a scent. As mentioned, the opening vividly resembles the smell of old book pages. There is also an equally accurate “glue accord,” perhaps nodding to the hinge, and an evocative “leather binding” facet. The latter defines TOME globally as a scent. Indeed, I would classify it as a leather perfume. The leather accord comes across as dusty, dry, and old, even rugged, perhaps. There is no saltiness, no smoke, nor animalics to go along. Instead, Nick has decided to use sandalwood, orris, and ambrette to imbue a slightly sweet and powdery finish to his leather. Hence, TOME begins as an overly accurate old-book scent, shifts to a dusty old leather, and finishes as a cozy, slightly sweet, powdery-woody scent that still holds the memory of the books with their leather bindings. It is brilliant in the way it quenches that “imaginary fix” while further evolving and providing a complete perfume experience, and for a leather fiend like myself, a proper leather feast. Lastly, there is an undeniable coziness about it, even a sense of nostalgia, and for me, the two go hand in hand. All I can surmise about TOME is that it is hands-down the most accurate perfume I have tried playing around with this “old books” fictional accord, and I cannot recommend it enough to people who are still on the hunt for such scents. Moreover, fans of leather perfumes will also find TOME worthwhile. IG:@memory.of.scents

Sampling Pineward Perfumes Tome, a 2025 release that fitting smells a lot like an older, leather-bond book, a dry, leathery, spicy, slightly fresh medley consisting of notes of aged leather, paper, parchment, orris, rice, tobacco, and mixed woods. It’s highly evocative and accurate while not being overly provocative and veering on animalic or acerbic—a dry, cozy, pleasant experience nonetheless provided by a rather robust concoction. Overall, I’m really impressed by Tome’s combination of authenticity, uniqueness, relative ease of wearing, and overall quality. In my opinion, it marks a new level of achievement in a new category of fragrance that broadly expands the catalogue, as there’s really nothing like this that I’ve come across in Pineward to date. I’ll have to put some serious thought into nabbing a bottle. Tome is extrait concentration and sold in the US via the house website as well as Luckyscent, mainly, at the standard extrait pricing of $350/230/150 for 100/52/32ml, though it’s still at the older pricing of $130 for 32ml on Luckyscent currently. 8 out of 10

I got a sample and honestly smells almost photorealistic of a really old book you'd find in the library that no one has been in. Like you can just smell picking up the book, opening it, having a little dust come out, and then a heavy whiff of old paper. Then the more leathery aspect comes in, making smell like a whole book. But something I didn't expect is how decent the tea would come in... I was confused were this so so light sweetness came from till I saw. So yeah, its like opening up a very old book while taking some quaint sips of tea. Do I recommend it? I think its nice, wouldn't wear it though but I can see how someone would love this. 8.5/10 Edit: Last through a shower. Take that as you will. Also! Got a tiny bit sweeter! edit 2: All my friends I showed it too says it smells amazing and that its a damn good parfume, one is even considering getting a bottle! Seems its a fan favorite of the parfume samples I have so far.

It literally smells like a book I sprayed it on paper and was like oh this paper..... smells like paper.... Then I sprayed it on skin and yeah more paper. A+ on this report Mr pineward The more experience I have with it I really just fall more and more in love. It’s perfect. I smell the library with soft leather furniture and wooden tables from different eras spanning over hundreds of years even part of the railing of the staircase is new the rest old and porous. I can feel all the textures and all of the time I’d spend there taking some time every so often to look up and examine the high ceilings dust particles and smoke from mugs of coffee and tee swirling and glimmering in the rays of light seeping in through stained glass. I take a deep breath feel gratitude for the beauty and keep on studying

Amazing fragrance. I get paper, leather and woods (cedar mostly) along with leather. Beastly strong. The construction here is really great, and that's normally the trade off with many indie perfumers. You sacrifice some expertise that you'd get from a Grasse trained perfumer in exchange for ingredient quality. But here you give up nothing. If you told me this made with a professionally trained perfumer, I'd believe you. Outstanding work from Nicolas Nilsen. Thanks to my buddy who sent me the decant. I'm going to buy this one eventually. ×××××××××××××××××××××××××× Scent 97/100 Performance 95/100 ××××××××××××××××××××××××××

Received a sample vial when I ordered Fanghorn II (which I highly recommend if you like outdoorsy scents). It's very reminiscent of a chilly fall evening in an hold library surrounded by leather-bound books. The leather and parchment were the strongest notes when I first put it on, but as it sits on my skin, it evolves into a warm, sweet, almost woodsy smell. A full spray is relatively strong and lasts several hours, so I like to use a half spray for a more intimate aura (and to conserve it, lol). Definitely something I'd consider ordering a bigger vial of.

I loved the sample I got of this perfume so much that I ordered another bottle and plan to order more in the future. It's extremely wearable for everyday purposes, much softer than some of the other Pineward scents I've tried. The parchment and the vintage book notes are very upfront, and it has a pleasant dusty smell that becomes more prominent when it dries down. The coffee and tea notes add some lingering sweetness as well. This quickly became my signature and most complimented scent.

I am fond of this scent. I find it to be the more intense, older sibling to Clue's Warm Bulb, which stays closer to the skin & is ever so slightly, more sheer. They are practically identical to me, but I am not a high-tuned nose. Tome is evocative, rich & highly addictive. It sticks well to my jacket, which I love- especially after not wearing it for a few days then poof- there it is. Well suited to a big wool blazer I might add...

I absolutely love this Pineward offering, and I'm glad they finally made it available in full-size bottles. This is an exceptionally photorealistic scent of an old book--like, incredibly accurately so. Where Xyrena's "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!" is the most photorealistic tomato vine scent, Pineward "Tome" is that for books. Very well done!

quickly became one of my favorite scents after getting a tester. opens with a crazy realistic old book smell and dries down into a sweet and almost fruity tea smell. like earl grey with honey or something. i love this smell so much

I love this fragrance. Although I don't necessarily get book from it... my mom told me I smell like cucumbers lol. It is a strange but pleasant smell. I actually can't get enough.

It smells like my grandmother, and that’s a high compliment.

Pretty good fragrance. Starts out smelling like Papillon Anubis , and ends up smelling like Byredo Sellier. It's about 2-3 hours of Anubis, then 4-5 of Sellier. I do think this is a solid entry, and I hope it becomes recognized as such. It's a bit tamer than Anubis, and more deep than Santal 33 (like Sellier is). A departure from the typical Pineward fragrances I've smelled and own, but a good one.

This is very good. Dry and papery, old books, and some hay. There’s a touch of grain or barley malt maybe, some papyrus/paper quality to it, glue, binding... there’s also a subtle wood note like cedar and a thick milkiness which I don’t love. somewhat dry but with a backbone of malt and amber to flesh it out. Mostly like but not my favorite..

Wow! Somewhere between ok and like. This really does smell like a book, however , I’d argue this smells more like a new book vs an old book. The paper, leather and glue is here. Old books have a light sweetness that definitely isn’t here because the breakdown of the paper. There’s a note here I don’t like. Orris root ,maybe? Unisex.

Smells like paper, leather and binding glue, exactly like an old book. Definitely one for the bibliophiles. I've layered it with White Rice by d'Annam since they share an orris note and it definitely gives cozy academia vibes.

This smells like a hot freshly printed piece of paper.

You’re the knight that just reached the castle and slayed the dragon for a spell book. You pick it up and shove your nose into it (for some reason), and you smell this fragrance. The old yellow parchment paper, the slightly cracked leather binding, and the age of the book itself. If you want to smell like a book, THIS is the only fragrance you’ll ever need. Unfortunately I don’t, but it’s a gorgeously crafted fragrance. 4.5/10.

Even though I wouldn’t personally wear this fragrance, I can acknowledge that it’s an olfactory masterpiece. Smells like old books in a crafter’s workshop in a way that I’ve seen other brands attempt but not quite “get.” Underneath the leather and binding glue is a sweetness, almost like vanilla, like whoever is crafting these books is wearing their own vanilla fragrance. A very clever offering from Pineward.

This one delivered exactly what it said it would. It felt like opening up your grandmothers vintage leather purse that’s been wrapped up on the top shelf of a closet for decades, or and old book. I will give this another try in the winter but for now, it goes in my “not for wear” section. It’s extremely strong, almost assaulting. I may give a spray to a sweater or blanket that lives in my reading corner.

This is the first from Pineward that I didn't like. It does what the name says. Dusty old books for the first two hours. Then a woody, oakmoss skin scent that is gone in a flash. Shame. Definitely reminds me of old books. Just not my jam. And the performance is horrible.

I really want to like it... I’m torn right now (no pun intended) It’s giving true paper and glue but also perhaps a faint sense of mothball. Going to give it some more wear time. Overall I’m more inclined to like it for a layering scent.

Opens very medicinal. Almost metholated. The leather note dominates. I really don't think it smells like an old book. Smells more like an old... dentist's office? There's an antiseptic quality to it. It sweetens and turns a little woodier on the drydown, but I find the opening rather offensive. I don't get anything cozy about this at all.

wowwww insane smells like paper with some aging, super realistic leather smell but it's not like leather jacket more like old leather books, reminds me of elementary school when we would go to the library and look at books you would get hit with all the old books smell, I wouldn't wear this all the time buts it's a beautiful scent i think everyone should smell 7/10

Gives you the feeling of mysticism just before acquiring ancient knowledge. The leather note used here makes me think of the hocus pocus book of spells. Leather and parchment paper to start off in the opening and then gets sweeter in a delicate kinda way. If you're a book worm, you know what you're getting yourself into 😉

Layer this with your favorite perfume to add some bookishness to your scent. On its own it's okay, but since it's a pretty simple scent I like to use it to riff off my other bottles.