Japon Noir

This must be the place the note mentioned: intense crushed spices rubbed into cold smoked meat of some long bodied animals body hung to mature. A short relief from freshness like a last gasp of fresh air under a midnight sky before stepping onto the stairs leading to the tea room round the back of some grocery store at Kyoto market. Sweet candied fruit in jars on shelves way out of reach right next to an old tied up bouquet of jasmine flowers hanging upside down from an invisible ceiling absorbing the smoke of burning ginger cubes and patchouli incense sticks. A tattoed and handsome yakuza at the bottom of the stairs, without a doubt a sword for hire tonight, dressed in a black satin suit, effortlessly alert, guarding the entrance behind him sipping from an unlabelled bottle containing what smells even from a distance like port wine mixed with gasoline. He scans with piercing red eyes and merely nods without approval. Inside the chamber it's too dark to see at first but those could be silhouettes of low wooden chaise lounges surrounded by footstools (expensively upholstered in silk without a doubt) upon which slender women in shiny and tight leather outfits are engaging themselves in shadowy play seemingly undisturbed by the oncoming stranger. Japon Noir to me is the crown jewel and a first generation scent of Tom Ford's Private Blends. It's mysterious, sexy-animalic, dangerous, ruthless, dirty, elegant and does capture (for once) the concept of noir. It's also the mentor of Interlude Man of whom is only spoken of in whispers and old scripts. This is the one worth hunting down from the collection; that one or, perhaps, the slightly more woody Bois Rouge. Absolutely marvellous!

If there was somebody to imagine a dark earthy powdery patchouli, Tom Ford would be the one. It does smell Japanese – subtle, fougere, yet powerful and unapologetic. I see it worn by somebody interested in Japanese martial arts, namely of archery, kyūdō. The bow is traditionally made of bamboo, wood and leather, and that’s what Japon Noir is about. The archer wears a glove on the right hand, and the glove is made of the fine leather, deer skin. There’s cypress wood and bamboo wood. The hands are dusted with rice powder, to forbid the bow from slipping. The training court, dōjō, is made of two buildings separated by a open grassy area. The secondary building houses a sand mound and the targets, made of woven dried seagrass. I wrote all these to have a clearer picture of what you are about to smell in a Tom Ford Japon Noir perfume. It is not yabusame, the art of mounted archery. There is no animalic scent, no horse manure. There is only pure, silk woven story of a Vth century Japanese tradition in a XXth century enactment.

Japon Noir is dark, rich, mesmerising and incredibly powerful. WOW was my first thought when i purchased this fragrance (luckily before it was sadly discontinued) and I knew that I was holding something very special in my hands. This is probably one of the more masculine fragrances in the Private Blend collection but it could still very easily be worn by a woman. It has a split personality sort of mentallity. It can be quite heavy and dominant with the heaviness of the leather and patchouli but it also has a subtle kind of sweetness from the Jasmine and Bergamot which help the fragrance avoid being "simply dark". Instead its versitile and very sensual. I detect some incense in the fragrance which also adds a bit of an Oriental touch, it sort of makes me think of Geisha's and tea-houses where they'd entertain men. Which fits well because this fragrance certainly has a seductive and serious side to it. Just wear it and choose how your destiny. 9/10

I'm glad to finally sample Tom Ford Japon Noir, one of the discontinued entries from the original 2007 Private Blend collection. Japon Noir opens quite animalic, with a bit of leather and something spicy, but dries down to a resinous delight very similar to Plum Japonais, and although plum is not a listed note, the amber is very apparent, albeit enveloped in a sort of smokiness. So, as compares to Plum Japonais, Japon Noir is darker, bolder, and a little more masculine. Still, it's not quite like anything I've tried previously, despite the slightly similarity to PJ in the dry down. Performance is strong, as it projects pretty heavily to start and seems to last continually for a while. I would really only use this in the winter, and probably at night or for formal occasions, given its character and strength. I'll try and track down a 50ml bottle of this one but it seems to be a near-impossible task nowadays. 8 out of 10

This is a statement-making power piece. It doesn’t smell like Tom Ford for Men Extreme (as indicated above), but it has sort of the same “vibe”. Very manly, very powerful. I absolutely love TFfME and wear it relatively often, and Japon Noir could fill the same niche - but it’s darker and a more linear scent. Japon Noir isn’t really mass-appealing (but by no means challenging either), so perhaps that’s why it was discontinued. A real shame though, and same as with TFfME and Plum Japonais, which (in my opinion) are all 10/10 masterpieces. The other two are very hard to come by but not impossible, but Japon Noir is just an elusive unicorn. Will treasure the 10ml decant in my possession :))