Memo "Shams"--"The notes include pepper, ginger, saffron, vetiver, cypriol, tonka bean, birch, tolu, styrax , oud and labdanum."
Wow! In your face sharp, bright wood/incense. To me it has a turpentine note. Big time balsam I am thinking. Resin. I thought I loved it the first time I tried some. But there is a note/accord in this, especially several minutes or so in but which also has legs, that is so sharp it seems to burn my nose and I associate it with the sinus headache I seem to have today. (It is Fall in DC. A sinus headache is pretty standard for me these days!)
Perhaps I will come back around to it. It truly has staying power and is remarkably complex for something that seems so largely woods, woody incense. I am thinking that folks who really like incensey woods will want to give this one a try. Hard to obtain. Not sold in the States as far as I can tell. Memo is s small French house as I understand it.
I tired a dab of thew SH Baque again. Again, I get the bourbon that BillR and Chandos get, but it is just not all that a pure bourbon accord to me. I am liking bourbons these days and I do not think I would like a bourbon that smelled much like this. It would not seem truly bourbon to me. Bourbon is sweet and vanillic and, of course, has charred wood barrel aromas. This has all of that. But seems more honeyed to my nose. Nice enough but not a fav of mine. YMMV and I seem to be in the minority.