Bois D'encens
Note Profile
About
Bois d'Encens is a Robertet speciality, not a raw material found in nature. Olibanum resinoid is co-distilled with Virginian cedarwood oil, and Perfumer Supply House states that "the cedarwood oil generates some molecular reactions in order to modify the composition of the final product". The aim is frankincense without its sharp edge. Fraterworks calls it "Robertet's spiritual incense without harsh edges" and describes "fresh powerful fruity-olibanum top notes without harsh medicinal edges". It ends warm, balsamic and woody-animalic, with a creamy amber-vanilla tone that neither starting material claims on its own.
Scent Profile
Amber_resinous leads, and both resellers put it at the end of the arc in the same words: "a very warm, balsamic, woody-animalic dry-down". Dry_woody is the cedarwood half of the co-distillation, described as "a gentler woody lens" than raw cedar. Fruity is the opening, named first and named as strong in every source: "fresh and powerful fruity-olibanum top-notes". Creamy_woody and sweet_vanillic both come from the closing "creamy amber-vanilla character" and from the "sweetness of fine Virginian cedarwood" the house copy claims for it. Powdery for the "powdery warm embrace" in the heart. Smoky for "faint smokiness", which Perfumer's Apprentice puts as a "soft smoky essence of Incense". Both wordings are qualified, so the value stays under a third. Animalic rests on the single word "animalic" in the shared drydown phrase, with no source saying what kind, so its spread is wide. Below, citrus is inferred rather than quoted: published frankincense carries citrus and this material keeps the olibanum top, so zeroing it would assert an absence nobody stated. Fresh_spice and green are traces on the same reasoning.
ScentWheel
Read off the wheel, not a label applied to the note.
Origin
Made by Robertet. Olibanum resinoid, the gum resin of Boswellia, is combined with Virginian cedarwood oil (Juniperus virginiana) and distilled together. Fraterworks defines the method: "Co-distillation is the process in which two or more materials are turned into a single essential-oil type material by combining them prior to or during distillation." Perfumer's Apprentice sells the same product as a "specialty blend of Natural Isolates from ROBERTET" and calls the method co-extraction. The house description sold with it is "the sweetness of fine Virginian cedarwood with the majesty and richesse of exotic frankincense".
Usage in Perfumery
A base and heart material for incense work where raw olibanum is too sharp. It gives the resin signature without the medicinal top, so it can be used at higher dose than frankincense oil before the composition turns cold. Perfumer's Apprentice files it beside frankincense, myrrh and sandalwood. Fraterworks advertises "400+ hour elegance", which is seller copy with no measurement behind it and should not be read as a substantivity figure.
Similar Notes
Perfumes featuring Bois D'encens
A selection of reviewed perfumes where Bois D'encens appears prominently.
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