Not another loud oud. Timber is wood at its most refined — cypress, cardamom, frankincense, and palo santo woven into something monolithic yet approachable. A quiet masterpiece from Amouage’s Library Collection.
The Scent
Opus XVI opens with tremendous monumentality — cypress, cardamom, juniper, and pink pepper create a bold, vertical expression of wood that feels like walking into an ancient forest. There’s a surprising cocoa note in the opening that adds a dry, almost dusty sweetness, keeping things from becoming purely aromatic. It’s structured, serious, and immediately recognisable as something special.
The heart is where Timber transforms. Lavandin and fir balsam bring a luminous, almost kinetic energy, while Hojari frankincense — Amouage’s signature, sourced from Oman’s Dhofar region — threads through with a smoky, resinous clarity that elevates the entire composition. Then the base arrives: palo santo, vanilla bourbon, sandalwood, cedar, and patchouli. The vanilla is restrained — more wood’s natural sweetness than confection — and the palo santo adds a sacred, meditative depth. This isn’t a lumberyard; it’s a temple carved from a single tree.
The Collection
Part of Amouage’s Library Collection (Opus series), Opus XVI Timber was created by perfumer Alexis Grugeon. At 25% oil concentration with five weeks of ageing (three maceration, two maturation), it’s a statement about wood as both material and metaphor: vast, monolithic, yet never anything less than approachable. As Amouage puts it: “a celebration of the most primal forms of past knowledge while keeping its optimistic sights set on the wisdom yet to be acquired.”
Notes
- Top: Cypress, Cardamom, Juniper, Pink Pepper, Cocoa
- Heart: Lavandin, Fir Balsam, Hojari Frankincense
- Base: Palo Santo, Vanilla Bourbon, Sandalwood, Cedarwood, Patchouli
Who It’s For
If you love woody fragrances but find most of them either too sweet or too aggressive, Timber is your answer. It’s for the person who appreciates texture over volume — the grain of the wood, the age of the tree, the quiet confidence of something built to last. Unisex but leans traditionally masculine. Perfect for cooler weather, formal occasions, and anyone who wants to smell sophisticated without smelling like everyone else at the party.
Performance
10–14 hours on skin with moderate to strong projection. The 25% oil concentration gives it real staying power without the harshness of some extraits. The scent transforms significantly after the first hour — what starts as a bold woody statement mellows into a soft, mossy, almost tree-bark character that stays close and meditative for hours.
The genuine article, from the source — Alexis Grugeon’s wood meditation, delivered as intended.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.