Sycomore

Chanel first used the name Sycomore around 1930 and then let it disappear for the better part of eighty years. It came back in 2008 in Les Exclusifs de Chanel as something quite different: a vetiver, and one of the very few modern vetivers that can stand beside the genre's benchmarks without apology.

The house description is unusually direct. Deep smoky notes and incisive vetiver combine with vanilla and cedar, for an expression steeped in authenticity. Chanel ties the fragrance to Gabrielle Chanel's childhood in the volcanic country of the Auvergne, and that reference explains it better than a note list would. Sycomore smells of dry earth, cold ash and cut wood.

There is no citrus opening to speak of. It begins where most vetivers end, with a dense smoky vetiver carrying a distinct burnt-match quality, cut with cypress and a green, almost bitter edge. Tobacco leaf drifts through the middle without ever making it a tobacco fragrance. As it dries down, sandalwood and a thread of vanilla soften the smoke without sweetening it, and cedar keeps the whole structure upright. It is austere, and the austerity is the appeal, because there is nothing decorative in it anywhere.

It reads as masculine to most noses, but Chanel places it in the shared part of the collection and it is worn widely by women. It is cool-weather wear for people who like dry things: a Cape winter, a Karoo evening, a wool coat. In full coastal humidity the smoke can feel airless.

Performance is genuinely strong, which is not always true of Chanel's woody work. The eau de parfum version, introduced when the house restaged Les Exclusifs in 2016, gives eight to ten hours with moderate but persistent projection, and it clings to fabric for days afterwards. Two sprays is plenty and four is too many. Chanel also produces a Sycomore scented body oil, which is the sensible route if you want to layer the scent without adding to its trail.