Guaiac Wood

What it is

An oily South American hardwood, so dense it sinks in water. The oil is distilled from the wood itself and sets solid at room temperature.

What it smells like

Smoky and tarry with a soft sweetness, like the smell left in a room the morning after a fire. It is one of the few woods that reads as genuinely smoky without the help of birch tar.

Where it sits

Which layer of the pyramid it is listed in, across every fragrance here that carries it. A base note is one you smell for hours; a top note is usually gone within the first.

What it turns up with

How much more often than the catalogue average. 1.0x would be chance, so these are the things that genuinely travel with it rather than the things that are simply common.

When it is worn

Against the average fragrance here. The line marks that average, so a bar past it means this is worn in that season or setting more than most.

Houses that use it most

Counted across the fragrances here, which reflects what we cover as much as what a house makes.

Mancera (10), Amouage (9), Le Labo (9), Parfums De Marly (8), Bvlgari (7), Calvin Klein (4).