Poivrol

Note Profile

Molecule

About

Poivrol is a Symrise captive, a single synthetic ester. Its maker gives the odour in four words: 'Aromatic, Pepper, Laurel Leaf, Wood'. It is a top-note material. Symrise says it 'imparts fresh spicy top note accents' and sells it as a 'refresher for transparent, flowery accords'. It is not a pepper extract and does not carry the fruity, terpenic opening of a natural pepper oil.

Scent Profile

Fresh_spice leads because every source leads with pepper. Symrise names 'Pepper' second in a four-word profile and Perfume Extract says the material is 'particularly effective for enhancing peppery notes'. This is the bright, dry, diffusive kind of pepper, which is why the facet is fresh_spice rather than warm_spice. Aromatic_herbal takes two of the four datasheet words at once. 'Aromatic' is named first of all, and 'Laurel Leaf' is a herb rather than a spice or a wood. Dry_woody is the fourth word, 'Wood', unqualified in the datasheet and repeated by both resellers. Under 0.25 the vector thins deliberately. Warm_spice rests only on the claim that it 'implements the spicy character in agar wood', which is a use claim about what it does to other materials and not a description of its own smell. Leather has the same weakness and is weaker still: Perfume Extract says it adds richness to leather compositions, which is where perfumers put it, not what it smells of. Green is the leaf half of laurel. Citrus and amber_resinous are traces for a material every source calls fresh and diffusive at the top.

ScentWheel

Breadthmedium

EnvelopeTop · ~2h lasting

Family Spicy, Green & Aromatic, Woody & Earthy

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

Origin

Synthetic. The Symrise datasheet gives the chemical name as methyl-4(or 1)-isopropyl-1(or 4)-methylbicyclo[2.2.2]oct-5-ene-2-carboxylate, a bicyclic ester, listed under CAS 68966-86-9. Nothing is extracted. It is sold neat by Symrise and at 10 per cent in DPG through resellers including Perfume Extract in the UK and Perfumer's Apprentice.

Usage in Perfumery

Narrow and stated by the maker. Two uses recur in all three listings. It freshens transparent floral accords, and it brings out the spicy character in agarwood and oud. Perfume Extract adds that it is 'particularly effective for enhancing peppery notes' and is used 'for adding depth, spice and richness to Oud and Leather compositions'. It is a top-note accent, not a spice base.