Description
I was asked to compose this perfume as a custom perfume online by a person who had a very clear idea about what he wanted, in fact he had chosen only 3 essences for his fragrance: Mysore Sandalwood, Tobacco, and Ginger.
As is often the case with simplicity, the result was a fragrance of an unexpected complexity (Simplexity), a strong adventurous character, which brought immediately to my mind souvenirs of my youth spent in wandering travels from Morocco to India.
I did not have to search for discovering the name: Chillum, the Indian pipe in which Sadhus and Malangs smoke the Bang grass and hashish with black tobacco. The perfume is almost all Mysore Sandalwood, the scent of the eastern mystic, the touch of ginger renders it even more Indian while Tobacco, very distinct but in perfect equilibrium with Sandalwood, plays the role of unifying archetype between the Eastern and Western worlds.
Chillum is a very reassuring oriental scent, mostly worn by men or else by ladies with a very strong assertiveness. This is a perfume that women note on a man, and they will feel emotionally attracted to it, especially if her father was a smoker while she was a child.
Years have passed and Mysore Sandalwood trees have almost disappeared from the famed city and the stocks of essence have dwindled to non-existence.
Chillum is then featuring an epoch of the past that is not likely to come back for perfumery, a time when Santalum Album was available to perfumers for conferring his touch of magic to their fragrances.
VEGAN
REVIEWS:
Frangipani.cz (Automatic translation from Czeck original)
Colin Maillard on basenotes –
The opening of Chillum hits you with a sudden, stormy, humid breeze that instantly transports you in a cloudy day in the Mediterranean countryside. Hay, tobacco, an elusive narcotic heart with a camphor/stale structure which I believe is halfway ginger and woods (however never smelled such a free, “rooty” note before), a bag of spices (cloves) and herbs – both aromatic dry herbs, and freshly-cut grass. A subtle animalic base which almost smells like civet, and a number of nuances, aromas, souvenirs: from saffron, to coffee, to aniseed ending in a light breeze scents with balmy notes and honey. Finally a delicate, luminous hint of citrus – or however something equally zesty and refreshing. You’ll be surprised to realise this trip to the raw, inner, charming and quiet countryside on a sleepy afternoon following a thunderstorm is played on three simple components: tobacco, ginger, sandalwood. That’s the power of natural materials when they’re free to bring all the world the comprise. As I said the evocative power is really strong, the tobacco note is simply gorgeous, wet, stout, humid and aromatic like a bed of tobacco leaves left to dry under the sun. As minutes pass it also emerges better a central, really sharp and hard woody note, slightly salty too, with something “archaic” and antique in it, the sort of camphor-waxy-stale feel of a mysterious, old closet used to store scents, spices and secrets for centuries. That’s the sandalwood, a real sandalwood note, which smells like none else – waxy, velvety, deep, finally really “woody”, powdery, earthy, even soapy and floral… a properly said “realistic” all natural scent. The biggest talent of Dubrana is being able to keep the notes “alive”, to treat components with a respectful, almost mystical attitude working to preserve all the suggestions and the stories they can hide in their nature – and which leads him to create more than simple “scents” that “smell” of something. They smell complex, but with the complexity of life: it’s all about cooperating with nature and treating it like a real living thing, more than simply using it to obtain smelling molecules. However speaking of the fragrance itself, it’s a terrific scent, elegant, versatile, deep, harmonic, and with a great longevity. Also with another peculiar feature of many natural scents: the coziness. It triggers memories of trips, gardens, countryside, which may be melancholic or nostalgic, but makes you “feel” connected to the scent, or better said, to yourself via the scent. Simple and beautiful!
9/10
Crdb on basenotes –
I bought this because I wanted a relatively pure, high quality sandalwood and I love Dominique Dubrana’s work so I trusted him to deliver.
On opening the sample for the first time, the opening was very strong ginger, the fresh kind, wet juice oozing as if I had sliced a root in half in front of me. It was overwhelming and I could barely detect the sandalwood underneath. It did not substantially change on skin, having this smoky food side referred to in the other review, but this could be influenced by both having read that review, and living in Asia where fresh ginger is used in a lot of meat preparations.
A week later, I reopened my sample and decided to give it another shot. Somehow the ginger had made peace with the rest and this time, it was a clean sandalwood, still with this wet impression (for some reason I visualise a wet teak deck whilst sailing), much less sweet than usual. If I think very hard about it I can recognize deep, bitter facets from Tabac – it must be the tobacco.
My issue with Chilum is longevity and projection. This is a very muted fragrance, to the extent I could probably spray something else on the skin after a mere couple of hours and not think twice about whatever was left underneath. Also, with Oakmoss and Persona I already have two great woody fragrances from the same line and this one does not reach the same level, I’m afraid… well, I enjoy it at home.
Claire –
Chilum: God, this is real sandalwood – it smells very close to a sample of wild Mysore I have from Sultan Pasha. From the one small test I did, it lasted quite well, and it must be the tobacco leaf and ginger that is bulking out the sandalwoody smell. Mysore sandalwood is a very shy, quiet aroma – divine, yes, but it is almost a private experience between you, yourself, and, well, you. I don’t notice so much the aromas of tobacco and ginger (from one brief wearing) as much as I noticed their ability to amp up the sweet-savory, nutty, “toasted” facets of Mysore. Real Mysore sandalwood needs something to help it lift off the skin and those materials do a great job of supporting the star player without imposing their own character too much. This was instant love for me. I will be returning for a full bottle of Chilum.
Marco –
This is an interesting one, and hard to pin down, not sure this review is definitive.
The house says it’s made of just 3 components, sandalwood, tobacco and ginger, which sounds very unusual. I can only comment on what comes out of it, and to be it smells like a tobacco+leather fragrance, and yes, there is some ginger (as there is, interestingly, in Vintage Tabarome).
The tobacco note is very true, as in their Tabac fragrance what I call the leather note is very animalic, sometimes reminiscent of roast ham I know that doesn’t sound flattering, but in practice it is a good combination.
However, overall I still prefer their Tabac as more classic, more wearable, and also more potent and longer lasting (Chilum is not necessarily less concentrated, but perhaps the ingredients partly cancel each other out or are less well fixated).
Overall, it’s very worth trying.