One of the best Lutens

Tobacco and honey.
Then a bit of incense and amber. Now you have this brilliant scent.
Chergui is one of the easiest Serge Lutens to wear.
Great for colder seasons, it's unisex in my opinion.
Pleasant and very well blended, it's lasting power is around 10 hours.
Projection and sillage are moderate.

some of its parts

Chergui is apparently one of the best sellers in the Lutens line. When I test it and read the list of notes, I'm a believer more or less. I can make out the notes I'm told are there. Yes, there is hay, tobacco, musk. But lord know I've nearly derailed going too far into the madness of a 'list of notes'.

'Notes' are in fact suggestions. But what lies behind a set of notes is an intent. Does the list of notes describe? Or do notes try to convince, that is, lie? Somehow, despite the recognizeability of the notes, I'm not convinced by Chergui. Testing, on blotter and on skin, I say yes to the notes but no to the whole package. It doesn't suggest a Moroccan wind, as the fable goes. Notes aside, Chergui shares the sensibility of many mainstream men's fragrances of the past 10-15 years. The strategy, for want of a better word, is Creedian. Sell it as nich-y, but aim for the height of the bell curve.

I don't mind the strategy. As I've mentioned about the current Guerlain line-up, the big sellers in a line should better the odds that the lower-selling oddball that I love will remain in the line. Either that, or the take-away for the perfumer is that the bell curve is a sales strategy and every perfume should should be a best seller. I try to be optomistic.

Hay, This Is A Good One...

Chergui opens with a sweet dose of sugary hay. The heart notes appear shortly afterwards, showcasing a deep pipe-like sweet tobacco amber combo, with clove-laced honey and incense accents. The scent winds down with the tobacco and amber combo receding, while joining a pleasant musk base finishing off the scent's development. Longevity is quite good, with average projection.

I am not a sweet scent fan at all, but I definitely like Chergui. The tobacco and amber combo is really addictive, and the incense just compliments it so well. I think the scent is very unisex and would work for just about anyone. I have only smelled a handful of scents from the house of Lutens to date, but I am quite impressed. Chergui is highly recommended to all, but a "no brainer" for sophisticated sweet scent lovers, IMO. It is a gorgeous composition earning an excellent 4 stars out of 5.

I'll never underestimate hay again

Most of the notes here seem sort of expected for a sweet oriental unisex perfume with massive sillage and longevity - the amber, leather, musk, tobacco, incense, etc., but I feel like the hay is responsible for that interesting little twist in Chergui's personality that makes it instantly recognizable.

That stuff lying around the barn that horses eat . . . who woulda thought?

Chergui accomplishes a unisex status by doing what lots of other unisex perfumes try to do but fail, which is to come right to the brink of femininity (or masculinity, depending on which side you start on) and then backing off mere molecules shy of going over.

I love the stuff.

Chergui by Serge Lutens

Chergui by Serge Lutens

Hay, Amber, Sweet Tobacco, Sandalwood, Russian Leather, Moroccan rose, Tuscan Iris, White honey.

Reading up on Chergui by Lutens will permit you to find diverse note listings. Almost every site has a different set of accords and as such, I decided to list the above as none of that holds much water anyway. The proof is in the smell.

Only recently have I purchased a sample, so I can assume that what I am reviewing is most likely the newest formula. I would like to start out by saying that Chergui has terrific presence and an envious swirl effect.
The opening of Chergui is an excellent earthy amber that doesn't display a resinous side just yet. The tobacco integrates within a few minutes and the result is a semi sweet, decadent ambacco accord.

There's a spicy aspect to Chergui that offsets the opening nicely. It's a mellow spice and its existence is realized about 5 minutes into the wearing. It's about this stage of transition that I admit to Chergui already being a winner. It begins to evolve a more pronounced sweetness, yet stops short of becoming cloying. The initial two accords have won me over and have me hoping I will enjoy the remainder of the scent.

Once Chergui begins to dry down, the sweet ambacco accord is still prominent on my skin. This tandem is so good that it has every right to still be walking point. The listed leather, sandalwood, honey and iris don't come to pass as individual or even identifiable notes. They seem to be a stacked entity that assembles itself to exist under the ambacco.
Their contribution adds a heady fullness to an already substantial fragrance. There's resin appearing at this stage of Chergui and along with the soft spoken spice accent the amber very nicely. By extended drydown, a full bodied and sensual ambery tobacco with spice and hints of musk envelope the wearer. This is a sexy perfume and would smell beautiful on either gender as far as I'm concerned.

I have had my differences with Serge in the past. I've also been fortunate in that my recent sample ventures of Mr. Eclectic's creations have been positive ones. Chergui, by far, has been the most appealing and pleasurable to wear so far. I thoroughly enjoyed Chene enough to put it on my future purchase list, but now that I've experienced Chergui, Chene must go farther back in the line. Big thumbs up for the Serge and his beautiful ambacco.

A hot, dry desert wind

One thing that I love about Serge Lutens scents is that so many of them paint a scene so vividly in my mind.

Chergui evokes the image of a ghosttown somewhere in the arid expanse of the American west, where a hot dry wind blows dust and tumbleweeds through deserted streets and abandoned buildings. I see this town at dusk, with the last remains of a blazing sunset. The feeling is eerie, but calm, and you can almost sense the life that used to inhabit the place.

If this aroma were a color, it would be red - burning embers, spices and hot baked earth. Honey and amber lend a golden sweetness that offers relief from the dry heat and almost desolate feeling of this scent.

Unlike some Lutens that I really admire but have trouble wearing (ie, Arabie and Douce Amere), I have no trouble with this one. It is a deep scent, but not overpowering and (perhaps owing to the musk) melds well with my skin. Just a beautiful perfume.