Nishane Sultan Vetiver Extrait de Parfum

Vetiver is a material with regional accents. Haitian vetiver is smoky and nutty, Javanese darker and more roasted, Bourbon vetiver from Réunion greener and more elegant. Most vetiver fragrances pick one and build around it. Sultan Vetiver, from the Istanbul house Nishane, uses four — Javanese, Bourbon, Haitian and Brazilian — which is less a gimmick than an argument about how much range a single plant contains. Nishane places it in its Collection of Miniature Art and frames it, unsurprisingly given the name, around the conquering spirit of sultans and kings.

The house's own note pyramid is unusually informative. Javanese vetiver leads from the very first moment, alongside absinthe, schinus molle — the pink pepper tree — and bergamot, so the opening is green, bitter and slightly herbal rather than citrus-bright. Nishane's description mentions a neroli note intensified by the vetivers, and that is exactly the effect at the heart, where Bourbon and Haitian vetiver arrive together with neroli and tonka. The neroli keeps it from being austere; the tonka adds a soft sweetness that most serious vetivers refuse. The base is where it stops being a classic and becomes a Nishane: amberwood, leather and Brazilian vetiver, which turn a traditionally dry material warm, slightly animalic and considerably richer than the opening suggests.

It is a versatile fragrance despite the concentration. Vetiver's dryness makes it far more wearable in heat than most extraits, and it holds up well through a hot Highveld day where a sweeter composition would collapse. It suits office wear, evenings and formal occasions equally, and the house sells it as a fragrance for anyone.

Performance is what you would expect from a Nishane extrait: nine to twelve hours is routine, with strong projection for the first two or three and a close, leathery-woody skin scent afterwards. One or two sprays is genuinely sufficient. Three sizes are offered, from 15 ml up to 100 ml, and vetiver being a divisive material — plenty of people simply do not enjoy that rooty bitterness — the smallest is the sensible first purchase.