Chen Pi

Note Profile

Botanical 1 perfume

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About

Chen pi is aged, sun-dried mandarin or tangerine peel. It does not smell like a citrus oil. It is citrus in retreat: papery, bitter-sweet and faintly medicinal, closer to an old apothecary drawer than to fruit. A brief muted tangerine flash fades within minutes and leaves a dry herbal-woody residue with a camphorous edge.

Scent Profile

Chen Pi smells herbal and dried, like camphor and old dried herbs rather than fresh peel. A dry, aged woody residue sits close behind, warm and slightly sweet, with a faint clove-like spice. A muted, candied citrus note flickers at the start, closer to the memory of tangerine than the fruit, and fades within minutes. A cooling, camphorous and faintly medicinal edge runs through it, with a hint of dried plum underneath.

ScentWheel

Breadthbroad

EnvelopeHeart · ~5h lasting

Family Green & Aromatic, Woody & Earthy, Fresh & Citrus

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Origin

The dried peel of Citrus reticulata, aged for years. Xinhui in Guangdong is the best-known source. The peel is stored for at least three years, and older stock is worth more. It is valued in Chinese medicine and in tea. Ageing builds up phenols such as thymol and 4-vinylguaiacol, which give the medicinal, clove-like side. A few small suppliers sell an aged-peel essential oil or CO2 extract for perfumery.

Usage in Perfumery

Used as a dry, aged alternative to a fresh citrus top, where the point is that the fruit has gone. It sits between citrus and tea-and-wood territory. It can bridge a citrus opening into a herbal or woody heart without a bright, juicy phase. Six perfumes carried the note on 2026-10-10, half of them from Chinese houses.