Cryptomeria

Note Profile

Botanical

About

Cryptomeria is the wood oil of sugi, the Japanese cedar, and it smells dry and woody in the way cedar does. It is smoother and softer than Western cedarwood, with a clean resinous lift at the top and a warm, faintly smoky depth underneath. A little sweetness and a soft spice sit inside the wood rather than on top of it.

Scent Profile

Dry_woody is the note and both trade sources lead with it independently: 'an essential oil with a dry, woody fragrance reminiscent of cedar' and 'smooth, dry-woody, and slightly sweet'. Smoky is the most contested number in this vector. Le Sourceur calls it 'reminiscent of the Oud family of scents due to its unavoidable pyrogenic character' and names 'enveloping smoke', while Herbsmetics describes the same oil without a smoke word at all. 0.35 is a real facet held below what one source alone would give it, and its spread is the widest here. Amber_resinous is contested the same way and in the opposite direction: Herbsmetics names 'clean resin', 'light balsamic air' and 'soft ambered wood', then says sugi is 'less resinous' than Western cedarwood. So the facet is named by one source and qualified by the same source, which is why it sits just above the published cedar rather than well above it. Creamy_woody is the softness both sources insist on, 'smooth cedarwood' and 'subtler and more ethereal'. Below the naming line, green is the 'gentle conifer freshness' named as a top note, earthy is the 'forest earth' named as a base nuance, sweet_vanillic covers 'slightly sweet' and 'subtle gourmand accents', warm_spice is the 'faint spice' and 'hinoki-like warmth', cooling_mentholic is the conifer terpene lift, and fruity is the bare 'slightly fruity' one source gives with no further detail. Nothing is zeroed as a claim of absence.

ScentWheel

Breadthbroad

EnvelopeBase · ~16h lasting

Family Woody & Earthy

Read off the wheel, not a label applied to the note.

Origin

Cryptomeria japonica is a conifer endemic to Japan, where it is called sugi and is the national tree. The timber is described as extremely fragrant, soft, low in density, and reddish-pink in colour. The perfumery material is an essential oil distilled from that wood. A separate leaf oil exists and is a different material, and the sources used here describe the wood.

Usage in Perfumery

Cryptomeria is a woody base and a structural one. It does the job Western cedarwood does but quieter, so it is used where cedar would be too sharp or too pencil-like. It suits incense and hearth themes, because both trade sources reach for smoke and warmth when describing it.