La Fumée Classic / La Fumée

House: Miller Harris

Release: 2011

Perfumer: Lyn Harris

Fragrance Notes

Top Notes: Cardamom, Coriander, Frankincense, Cumin, Elemi, Incense

Heart Notes: Cedar, Sandalwood, Cistus, Birch, Cade

Base Notes: Wood, Smoke accord, Amber

Review
Cardamom is not the star of the show in this 2011 release from perfumer Lyn Harris. The cardamom duels with coriander and cumin for spice and with frankincense and elemi for effervescence. The unique aspect of this scent, which could be a complaint from some, is that the smokiness and resin and spice blend are restrained throughout. This restraint, combined with a creamy sandalwood and welcoming amber, makes this wearable through the day without offense.

In our wear of a 2020 decant, this had a strikingly soapy opening that evolved into a sweet spiciness over a minute or so. The spice blend is sublime. On a second wear, cedar comes through in the opening more clearly. There is a fruity brightness from the elemi and cardamom that comes through, perhaps the honey of cardamom absolute. There is a fruity floral note that would have to come from either the cardamom or the Cistus. This sustained fruity, floral spice drew us to include La Fumée Classic in our list of the Top 10 Cardamom Perfumes. Cumin shares many aspects with aldehydes in general. There is a sweet, fatty, spicy note that could be either. We get little spikes of spiciness from the cardamom that peak and fade.

The opening evolves to powder with smoke in the background. The cade and birch tar come through like you are at the fanciest BBQ you could ever imagine. The frankincense continues through the heart and starts to assert itself again as the brighter spicy notes fade.

After an hour or so, the incense and smoke fade and we are left with a woody, full-bodied, dry sandalwood amber. Every time we started to get annoyed with a sweet sandalwood musk, the dry cedar and smoke notes came back to the rescue. This scent gets bonus points for putting some effort into the base, but it does have hours of a sweetish woody, amber, white musk that you have to like to make this a daily wear.

We get moderate projection and sillage and relatively short longevity before hitting a longer-lasting base.