Top 10 Black Pepper Perfumes
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Love or hate this 1999 release from Lorenzo Villoresi, most reviewers find the combination of mint, anise, black pepper, and clove to provide a unique, dry uplifting take on woody incense scents. Detractors are overwhelmed by the medicinal impression. For those worried about the anise, the pepper remains central throughout the opening and deep into the heart as it joins with the clove and nutmeg.
Top Notes: Dill, wild Anise and Fennel, Peppermint, Citrus, green and conifers nuances.
Heart Notes: Black Pepper, Origanum, Nutmeg, Elemi, Olibanum, Petitgrain, clove leaves, sea Rosemary and Spicy nuances.
Base Notes: Amber, Styrax, Benzoin, Perù balsam, Myrrh, Atlas Cedarwood and woody nuances.
A high quality incense-driven scent and one of the best from the Prive series. The only thing holding this back from a dry incense, wood, and pepper is the restrained labdanum. Whatever sweetness it lends is minimal. The vetiver adds a green note that evolves into an earthy finish and the frankincense brings a fruity, citrus, resinous brightness that offsets the spicy, dry woodiness. This is not an overly-smoked incense looking to build frankincense into something it is not. The resinous nature of the scent feels wild and free. This is not to be missed by incense fans.
Notes: Pepper, Labdanum, Incense, Vetiver, Cedarwood
This is a sweet and spicy floral perfume, but with a dry and powdery facet to the expert floral blend. The dry down is creamy with vanilla, myrrh, and musks pulling the sweet spice of cinnamon down. Reviewers comment on the luxurious myrrh note blending with the black pepper from the opening until much later in the dry down as more prominent than the powdery floral heart. Some complain that the vanilla dry down is cloying compared to the rest of the scent.
Top Notes: Lemon, Black pepper, Mace, Cardamom
Heart Notes: Orange blossom, Rose, Jasmine, Ylang ylang, Orris, Carnation, Cinnamon
Base notes: Vanilla, Myrrh, Civet, Cedarwood, Rosewood, Amber, Musk
Another spare approach to narrative and note from L’Artisan, this time from perfumer Bertrand Duchafour. Poivre PIquant joined Piment Brûlant and Patchouli Patch in 2002 as a trio of narrowly-focused ingredient scents by Duchafour. L’Artisan notes that this scent was, “… inspired by the ancient rites of marriage in India, where white pepper is rounded with a touch of honey and liquorice.” Black pepper is noted here by L’Artisan and no mention of honey, but this scent does have a sweet honeyed aura in which the pepper does not overwhelm, but does offset the anise well. The sandalwood is creamy, sweet here instead of highlighting the dry facets of the ingredient.
Notes: Black Pepper, Licorice, Sandalwood
Released in 1902, the scent was initially designed for the Duke of Marlborough and named for the family’s Blenheim palace. This has the classic barbershop citrus, lavender, and musk. The pepper and pine combination make this drier and brighter. It maintains a strong following owing to both its cultural history and the clearly recognizable, invigorating scent. A number of reviewers commented that this smells too much of a cleaning solution or wood polish to wear. Despite this risk, Blenheim’s use of pine and pepper in this otherwise traditional cologne are important to the history of modern perfume, pointing towards more current dry pepper/incense creations.
Top Notes: Lemon, Lime, Lavender
Heart Notes: None
Base Notes: Pine, Musk, Black Pepper
This “manly” scent was created by perfumer Ann Gottlieb, who has a great deal of experience creating gendered scents for the Axe line and Marc Jacobs among others. No floral notes here. The Elemi does provide a hint of citrus that plays off the fruity notes in pepper if you stretch the imagination. There is the smash you over the head pepper opening, but it quickly transitions to a relatively transparent wood and vetiver with limited spiciness from the Patchouli.
Top Notes: Black, Pink and white peppercorns
Heart Notes: Woods
Base notes: Elemi resinoid, Benzoin, Vetiver, White moss, Patchouli
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.
Notes: Madagascan black pepper, Cedarwood, Akigalawood, Tonka bean, Musk
The pepper combo is the star all the way into the base. The floral notes are less important than the oud in the base, which is characteristic of Montale and adds a nice twist to the dry woodiness of the pepper and cedar. Some reviewers comment that a citrus note appears (not listed) to distraction of the other scents and that this could be more natural-smelling.
Top Notes: Peruvian pink pepper, Madagascan black pepper
Heart Notes: Floral notes
Base Notes Malayan oud, Cedarwood, Amber
Appreciate the blend of black and pink pepper, which stands out from a relatively restrained incense and rose heart. This scent rides the wave of synthetic, metallic opening and a natural pepper-driven descent to resinous, dry woods.
Top Notes: Tunisian bitter orange, Vietnamese black pepper, Chinese pink pepper
Heart Notes: Samarkand incense, Pimento leaf, Turkish rose
Base notes: African myrrh, New Caledonian sandalwood, Virginia cedarwood
A pleasant punch of bright citrus and woody, spice black and white pepper, V for Men does not surprise, but pleases throughout a solid dry down. Yes, there is Oud listed, but this does not dominate a dry, spicy, comfortable woodiness that lasts far longer than other scents in the category. This is expensive to be so comfortable, but if you are looking for a long-lasting pepper scent with a dry, but interesting woody backbone, this might be your scent.
Top Notes: Elemi, citrus
Heart Notes: Pink pepper, Black pepper, White pepper, Nutmeg, Iris
Base Notes: Amber, Cedarwood, Amber wood, Frankincense, Vetiver, Vanilla, Oud
