Ormonde Jayne
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The cardamom cracks open like green pods crushed between fingers, releasing a sharp, eucalyptus-tinged spice that merges with juniper's gin-like bite. Bergamot and orange absolute provide citric brightness without juice or zest, more like the bitter white pith. The air accord is immediately apparent—that peculiar sense of breathing in crisp oxygen whilst simultaneously smelling something warm and resinous.
Hedione does its radiant work here, pushing magnolia and violet into an abstract floral haze that hovers rather than settles. The tea emerges properly now, astringent and slightly smoky, whilst rose adds a peppery, geranium-like facet rather than anything remotely romantic. The Iso E Super begins its characteristic hum—that woody-musky vibration that makes everything feel larger and airier than it should.
Suede dominates, soft and slightly salty, intertwined with blonde sandalwood that's more creamy than incense-like. The tobacco finally reveals itself fully but remains ghostly, more the memory of tobacco leaves drying in muslin than actual smoke. Tonka adds a faint sweetness—just enough to round the edges—whilst ambergris provides that mineral, skin-like warmth that makes you want to keep smelling your wrist.
Geza Schön's Montabaco Intensivo is a masterclass in balancing the tangible with the translucent. The tobacco here isn't your grandfather's pipe smoke—it's refined, almost spectral, lifted by Schön's signature Iso E Super and an ingenious air accord that gives the entire composition a levitating quality. The opening salvo of cardamom and juniper creates an aromatic spice that's simultaneously warming and cooling, like stepping into a cedar-lined room with windows flung open to a frost-kissed morning. That clary sage adds a metallic, almost medicinal edge that keeps things from veering into conventional territory.
What makes this fragrance remarkable is how Schön weaves hedione through the heart—that champagne-fizz molecule amplifies the magnolia and rose without turning them sweet or overtly floral. Instead, they read as barely-there whispers, sketched in graphite rather than oil paint. The tea note brings a tannic dryness that complements the suede beautifully, creating this sense of worn leather gloves holding a cup of lapsang souchong.
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3.9/5 (88)