Blackpepper

House: Comme des Garçons

Release: 2016

Perfumer: Antoine Maisondieu

Fragrance Notes

Notes: Madagascan black pepper, Cedarwood, Akigalawood, Tonka bean, Musk

Review

This is the freshly cracked black pepper with nothing but dry woods that pepper heads have been looking for. There are some longevity issues, but this captures the woody facets of black pepper better than most.

In our wear of a 2020 decant, Blackpepper opened with just that beautiful, bright resinous pepper note we hoped it would deliver. We were surprised that after the initial sharp blast faded, this opened rather demurely. Black pepper has fruity aspects, and this scent does have a bright piney, citrus note that opens very floral. The Givaudan captive Akigalawood is a fraction of patchouli that has woody, spicy, and floral notes. Combined with the Tonka and whatever musk element supports the note, we get a delicate white powder floral theme that stays just on the sweet side of bone dry.

As this progresses, the dry wood stays predominant as the oud note from the Akigalawood emerges. We interpret this as sour fruit, floral, leather, but this is a hard note to describe. All of this makes us think of Blackpepper as a vehicle to promote the captive Akigalawood.