Tonka Bean

What it is

The seed of a South American tree, cured until it crystallises with coumarin on the surface. Coumarin was the first synthetic used in a commercial perfume, in 1882, which is where modern perfumery is usually said to start.

What it smells like

Warm almond and vanilla sweetness with a dry hay edge underneath that keeps it from being sugar. It is what makes a fragrance smell soft and slightly blurred, and it sits in the base of an enormous share of masculine releases.

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.

Jean Paul Gaultier (18), Carolina Herrera (16), Guerlain (13), Chanel (10), Azzaro (9), Tom Ford (9).