THE HOUSE OF OUD
GAMBLING
2023
PERFUMER
Maurizio Cerizza
Adrenalin
bergamot
coffee
sichuan pepper
whiskey
cypress
elemi
galbanum
mastic
ambrette
amyris
benzoin
cedarwood
guaiac wood
musk
vetiver
‘The game on the rocks. Adrenalinic.’ – The House Of Oud
Whereas with Wabisabi I was pleasantly surprised in the opening, with Gambling I quickly knew it wasn’t for me.
Straight away this is quite a loud and hefty fragrance. What’s really interesting here is the combination with the citrussy opening. There’s an almost similar, airy kind of citrus brightness as in Wabisabi. There it’s lime, but both have this feeling of a harsh, airy, cleaning product (maybe it’s the elemi?).
Here, it’s aided by the cypress to give Gambling a much more masculine leaning, foresty vibe.
As mentioned, despite the citrus, it’s quite heavy and dark straight away. Some spices, a hint of booze (although not all that prominent to me), and mostly a sweet, but almost burnt woodiness. It’s a bit green, it’s resinous. Most of the time smelling of a fiery woody scent (also reminding me a bit of the burnt, fiery quality of Chantecaille’s vetiver fragrances), other moments almost like a tree sap, more akin to more retro fragrances or Les Abstrait’s Des Cendres.
The green isn’t my thing, but it’s after 1-2 hours that it starts to turn into something that I found harder to wear. Later in the wear, I get dry Tobaccos. Again, smelling quite retro. There’s even moments where I wonder if it teases a leather scent coming through. Like a spicy, ambrette-leather fragrance. Later it reverts back to a more green spicy woody scent fully.
Overall, quite rough, masculine-leaning scent that takes me to imaginary memories of the 80’s (I wasn’t born yet). Picturing that a lockerroom would smell like this after a men’s football match.
A big fragrance. Not my jam. Individual components don’t really work for my taste, but its the combination and denseness that add to making this a tiring experience for me. If you’re into your fougere, woody, leathery, tobacco powerhouses, it may be worth a look though.