EX IDOLO
RYDER

2015

PERFUMER
Matthew Zhuk

Sweet pipe tobacco
Aromatic Esters
Amber
Dark woods
Jasmine
Frankincense

‘Inspired by the history of the members clubs of St James and Mayfair, Ryder is a juxtaposition of sweet tobacco and aromatic esters against a warm woody-amber accord. The fragrance is anchored by a sparkling and ultra-rare Omani frankincense. Although inspired by the past, Ryder is a modern and unisex fragrance; it is worth mentioning that although many of the members clubs started as male-only, a large number of them now invite women as well. To represent this, Ryder’s distinctive character has been enchanced with a heady, royal jasmine note.’ – Ex Idolo

Ryder is not your average sweet tobacco scent. Instead, it’s one of the most smoky and a slightly more daring scents in this style. Actually, while I always anticipated it as a tobacco scent, that’s only half the story and a tad misleading.

Straight from the opening, it’s almost closer to cigarettes than to tobacco to my nose. At the same time it’s very smooth; rounded like a resinous or balsamic texture. Ex Idolo is more of resinous amber than a tobacco for sure and the sweetness, while surely there, is kept more subtle.

For comparisons, texture wise this reminds me a lot of Les Indemodables Vanille Havane, but it’s a lot less sweet. It has a similar balsamic rolling tobacco with a slightly pungent touch. The smokiness from the tobacco is closer to one of Prin’s Strangers releases than most popular niche tobacco scents (Cigar Rum Intense also has that pungent edge).

Probably because the lack of sweetness, it goes quite medicinal on my skin. There’s a syrupy, slightly boozy core that has a surprising brighter tone to it. It’s making me think of menthol cigarettes for one moment and a camphorous forest vibe on others, before sweetening up enough to totally cover that aspect. Vanilla comes through, but in my (limited) wearing, it seems to fade in and out. It never goes fully sweet like many tobacco scents, but it has that resinous sweet amber (benzoin?) drydown, akin to for example Amouage Royal Tobacco.

Great scent, but I do prefer it a bit sweeter, like Vanille Havane.