Pana Dora
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The initial spray unleashes a rose that's been steeped in saffron-tinged leather, its floral sweetness immediately complicated by thyme's green, almost camphorous bite. Tobacco leaf brings a honeyed, hay-like quality that wraps around the florals, whilst the spice accord hums underneath—peppery, warm, slightly numbing on the tongue if you were foolish enough to taste it.
As the fragrance settles, it transforms into a spiced bazaar of tonka and cardamom, where cocoa powder mingles with frankincense smoke in a way that feels both sacred and indulgent. The sandalwood emerges as creamy ballast against the cinnamon-clove duet, preventing the composition from becoming too sharp, whilst vanilla rounds the edges without dominating.
What remains is pure woody architecture: Indonesian oud's animalic funk softened by amberwood's golden warmth, with leather providing a supple, skin-like finish. The sweetness has largely burned away, leaving behind something austere yet comforting—the scent of expensive wood panelling in a library where someone once smoked cigars and spilled brandy.
Imperial Wood is a study in contrasts—a fragrance that refuses to choose between opulence and restraint, instead weaving both into something unexpectedly cohesive. Ibrahim Al-Zoubi opens with an audacious pairing: the jammy, almost wine-soaked facets of damask rose colliding with safraleine's metallic-sweet leather accord, whilst thyme and tobacco add a herbal, slightly bitter edge that prevents the composition from sliding into syrupy territory. This is rose refracted through a spice merchant's lens, dusty and complex.
The heart reveals Al-Zoubi's true ambition—a maximalist layering of tonka, cocoa, and vanilla that could easily veer into gourmand excess, yet the frankincense and sandalwood provide the architectural bones needed to support such richness. Cardamom and cinnamon flicker through like embers, whilst clove adds a eugenol-rich medicinal quality that keeps things decidedly adult. The cocoa never reads as chocolate; instead, it lends a bitter-roasted depth that amplifies the woody aspects rather than sweetening them.
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3.9/5 (211)