.
Post by Poodle
.
Hi APJ
I love smokey scents. Burning leaves, pipe tobacco, fireplaces, incense…all those wonderful notes that make you just want to curl up under a warm blanket. With a name like Smoke for the Soul I thought I’d find that type of scent. I thought wrong.
Smoke For the Soul by Fabrice Pellegrin for by Kilian 2014
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Eucalyptus, grapefruit, mate, birch, casmirwood, cannabis, cardamom
Sure, there’s a touch of smokiness in the beginning. Smoke for the Soul takes me back to college where I knew some people who occasionally smoked marijuana. I was never one to smoke anything because it made my throat and lungs burn which was not enjoyable. I was sometimes around people who did though, and this is the perfume of one of those evenings.
Photo Stolen Wikipedia
It all starts with lighting the joint. There’s that bit of smoke and the unmistakable smell of cannabis in the air. The scent gets stronger as it gets passed around the room. There’s not much smokiness anymore really because everyone is holding the smoke in for a bit and then coughing. It’s a bit much so I decide I’m going to wait outside in the cold. There’s a chill in the autumn air and I can smell the leaves blowing on the ground. My friends emerge from the house and with them trails the scent of pot. By this point they’re silly enough to think that a piece of gum will cover up the smell and look to me for that. I’ve got no gum but I do have cough drops so now there’s a hint of eucalyptus in the mix.
Photo Stolen Flickr
The usual goofiness ensues and soon after the munchies kick in. I’m not driving this bunch anywhere so it’s back inside to raid the fridge. There is leftover roast chicken with thyme and lemon in there so that gets popped into the microwave to heat up. Later there’s still the faint smell of cannabis mixed with some generic men’s fragrance the guys spritzed earlier in the evening to try to make themselves appealing to the ladies.
Photo stolen Flickr
That’s the perfume in a nutshell. I can’t say I’d want to smell like this. It’s probably not something you’d wear to work unless you want to get sent to human resources to discuss your drug problem. I’d call it masculine. My hubby agrees but said he wouldn’t wear it. It’s weird and definitely worth a sniff but would I spend a ton of money to smell like it? Nope. No chance.
Further reading: Colognoisseur and Ca Fleure Bon
LuckyScent has $270/50ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $5/.5ml
The search for a Kilian perfume for me to love continues…
Hugs
Poodle
Australian Perfume Junkies 
Never smoked? Ah ha. Course not. I am no fan of Kilian but did have the chance to try this. Uhm – no. Thanks anyway. I do like chicken with thyme though. Hugs. xxx
LikeLike
Nope. I was more interested in a good cocktail and if I came home smelling like that my mom would have had my head on a platter. I’m of a generation that still feared their parents and had tons of catholic guilt to add to the mix. Plus I’m a control freak.
Hugs!
LikeLike
Hey Poodle,
HA! Thank you for this very helpful review. While there is nothing really wrong with the oily, richly green smell of burning marijuana I don’t need it as the soloist in an expensive perfume. One of the smells I really have a hard time with is the scent of old, stale, sour pot that lingers in the homes, cars, upholstery and clothing of the dedicated. Smoke for the Soul sounds like, well… Cheech and Chong Up in Smoke!
Azar xx
LikeLike
Sniff it if you can because like any perfume it may be a different experience for you. It was interesting but I’m not sure what the point is. I don’t mind the smell either but it’s not something I need bottled. It could be my skin just didn’t play nicely with it.
Hugs
LikeLike
Thanks for saving me a little money on sampling this one. I can happily live without the smell of MJ. I don’t mind the cannabis accord in Trayee or in Dawn Spenser Hurwitz’s cannibis scents, in fact I think they have done lovely and fascinating things with a scent that basically dislike, but your description of this one doesn’t exactly sound enticing
LikeLike
I love Trayee! Love it. So I’m not against the aroma. This was just too much of a scent memory for me to erase. I can’t imagine you liking this but I could be wrong.
Hugs
LikeLike
Hey there Poodle!
I love the exciting things that by Kilian are trying. I think it would be heaps of fun being a part of their development process. Imagine coming up with some of these wacky ideas.
To be perfectly honest I am a frag wimp, what I really want from my personal scent is something I feel reflects my laid back and casual approach to most things. While I can praise and adore many cutting edge, boundary pushing scents what I really want is to smell fabulous.
To me smelling like a dope smoker, or a roast dinner is not what I want.
I REALLY loved Light My Fire from the 2014 range.
Portia xx
LikeLike
Portia, this is not related to this review at all – but inspired by you I got a sample of Nuda that I am trying for the very first time this morning. Myyyyyyy goooooooodness, it is really lovely.
LikeLike
Sun Mi,
I am so sorry. That one is TOO good. Sadly discontinued.
It’s like a white floral symphony, isn’t it?
Enjoy
Portia xx
LikeLike
Light my Fire was much better than this and on the right person, wearable. I admire them trying to break new ground and push boundaries but I’m with you and at the end of the day I just want to smell good.
Hugs
LikeLike
I feel like we are the naughty perfumistas up the back row, in miniskirts, smoking. It’s not really the way most of us roll.
Portia x
LikeLike
Never smoked? Well!! I love the smell of dried marijuana but not a fan of the burning one. When I saw this on the web I was thinking about trying but, now no. In general, I quite like the By Killian line. 🙂
LikeLike
Don’t let me stop you from trying it. It’s worth a sniff if you like those kinds of things. You may actually like it. There are people who do. It’s possibly my chemistry didn’t work with it and yours might. That’s the beauty of perfumes. They are just a bit different on everyone.
Hugs
LikeLike
Hilarious post Poodle! I like you have no desire to smell like I just left a pot party! Thanks for the giggles this morning!
LikeLike
I’m happy to have given you a laugh. You missed the moment at Sniffa when this turned into a chicken dinner on my arm. Daisy got so excited. It’s a food thing.
Hugs
LikeLike
Dear Poodle – I loved this hilarious post. 🙂 I have never smoked, and in my utter naivete, it was only a few years ago that I finally began to recognize the smell of pot – and only because I associated it mentally with skunks. =) This sounds like nothing I would ever ever want to try, but it has made me hungry for some chicken!
LikeLike
I never minded the smell of skunks until my dogs got sprayed. I can assure you this perfume smells nothing like that. At all.
If you see this perfume, do try it. I always say try them regardless of what I might think. There are plenty of perfumes I love that others hate so you never know what might work. It’s the smell of thyme and something else in this that makes me think chicken. Very odd.
Hugs
LikeLike
I think I will stick to my Walkers Roast Chicken & Thyme crisps, of which I happen to have a large packet on the go. Thanks for trying this one so I don’t have to, as they say. 😉
LikeLike
Those sound tasty. My mom used to buy a cracker called Chicken in a Biscuit. I wonder if they’re similar.
Like I’ve told everyone else, try it if you see it. It wasn’t what I’d call a scrubber. I stuck it out until the end but its not something I’d actually want to wear.
Hugs
LikeLike
Hey Poodle! I tried but did not like any of By Kilian Addictive State of Mind collection. Somehow, they all smelled dusty in the worst way possible and absolutely not worth the money.
LikeLike
I’m glad it’s not just me. I feel bad when I write about perfumes that didn’t work for me but I think it’s helpful. On my skin this was too weird to not write about.
Hugs.
LikeLike
Well thank you indeed Poodle for sniffing out this stinker.
One less temptation to resist!
Bless you,
Sister Mary
LikeLike
Oh Sister, I don’t think you’d be tempted by this. If you ever do sample it, please steer clear of Mother Superior for a while or she will be convinced you were indulging yourself with things a woman of the cloth should not.
Blessings and hugs!
LikeLike
Well growing up in NZ it would be quite difficult to escape the smell of the ole MJ. Saying that I really don’t want to smell like it and probably not one for the workplace. I will try it though if it comes to the local parfumerie that stock By Kilian. I like a few of their scents but especially the first releases and the Ouds.
LikeLike
It’s interesting but I think some of the older Kilian’s are much better and much more wearable.
Hugs
LikeLike
I really love his earlier offerings too MeganInStMaxime and Poodle, before he started courting the mass market.
Portia xx
LikeLike
Poodle (just in case you’re still reading comments – I’m extremely late this time), I smiled reading your review. But I see your “never smoked” and raise you “I’m not sure I’d recognize the smell of MJ” 😉 But I didn’t like this perfume and wouldn’t want to spend any money on it.
LikeLike
Hi Undina!
Better late than never! I’m not surprised you didn’t like this one.
I used to smell the smoke at concerts but I didn’t really know what it was at the time. I think there are a lot of people who wouldn’t easily recognize the scent.
Hugs
LikeLike