Muschio di Quercia / Oak Moss
AbdesSalaam Attar Profumo

I had a couple of samples of "Oak Moss" over the years and my experience has always been the same: Right after application I thought: "Wow, that's it, that's the real deal!" The perfume is so strong and so monochromatic, like a dark green emerald. But after half an hour or so the scent starts to annoy me for the exact same reasons: it's too strong and too monochromatic (dare I say boring). I guess I'm not man enough because it makes me feel weaker and weaker the longer I wear it. "Oak Moss" is something for alpha males like CEOs who want to enhance their bossaura.

Oakmoss (Muschio di Querchia) is one of my favorite fragrances from La Via del Profumo, and in attar format, allows me hours of pleasure, rolling around and luxuriating in its ripped-from-nature goodness. Far more a vetiver scent than an oakmoss, Oakmoss at first smells like wet leaves, upturned soil, bark, wild mint, the air after a rainstorm, and potatoes buried deep in the ashes of a campfire. It plugs me directly into a powerful current of memory: playing War with my brothers and neighborhood friends in the sprawling ditches and orchards once attached to our Famine Era home.

Slowly, the sodden smell of tree sap, mulch, and root dries out, ceding some ground (but not all) to an incensey, blond oakwood note, which is probably cedar but reminds me very much of the aromatic woodiness of Chêne (Serge Lutens) minus the booze. It smells more like split logs drying in a shed and woodsmoke than the oozing wetness of living trees.

The oakmoss has a bitter velvety softness that calls to mind the furred green carpets creeping over the roots and trunks of old oaks in some less trodden part of the forest. And while Oakmoss is far from sweet or creamy, the nuttiness of Dubrana's famous Mysore sandalwood gives it a rounded warmth that speaks to comfort. People have called Oakmoss formal; the kind of scent to wear with a business suit. I can see that, especially in its clipped, almost monolithic elegance. However, the attar is earthier, more sepulchral, and darker-green than the EDT, and reminds me a bit of the way Djedi (Guerlain) and Onda (Vero Profumo) make me feel. Worth saving up for.

This is very expensive but very classy. Not unisex. A solid restrained classy masculine fragrance.
Linear. Just keeps on giving. Oakmoss and Vetiver. Slightly medicinal which stops me giving this a 10/10. What a shame. That's the irony. I have just left a terrible review for Aqua di Parma Intensa (read that as almost all of them) and now I am complaining about missing absolute perfection.
Those of you who read my realistic rather than osmophile reviews know I do not give good reviews easily.
A superb signature cologne.

Fragrance: 9/10
Projection: 7.5/10 --Just where you want it. Two sprays easily enough.
Longevity: 8/10 A good 3-4 hours then another 2 as a skin scent.

Small correction to the previous review. This is the Calatrava of fragrances. Amongst Patek Philips this is the 3970P. Its that good.

Oak Moss is the Patek Philippe Calatrava of the Via del Profumo range: very high quality as with the others, but the most formal, minimalist, clean and understated. It's a bespoke navy suit with a midnight blue tie and a white shirt. There is a stark beauty about this simplicity.

First, a woody start - tree sap, rather than dry wood chips - with some green citrus. A hint of undergrowth in autumn. Fresh sliced orange, only the sharp side, none of the sweetness, except by association.

It retains this profile throughout, with good longevity and projection, turning woodier after an hour, losing the hesperides, gaining nuttier vetiver aspects, whilst remaining stark and serious.

I think this has become my go-to scent if I need to wear a tie, preferably in temperate climate.

In the same family of woody-vetiver, Persona is warmer and friendlier, like a perpetual calendar, still dressy whilst attracting a bit more of attention to itself. Both are worth owning.

A deceptive name for a beautiful silent symphony built around vetiver. The opening is already centered on this great wood note, a superb, realistic, dense and honest rendition of all nuances of vetiver, from humid hay to its green, zesty, hearty sides. I'd say it's the quintessence of wood, without boundaries, restrictions, artificial shapes and without synthetic tricks, just pure vetiver woody greatness – as usual with Dubrana, one of the most honest and sincere perfumers in nowadays' perfumery when it comes to enhancing the voice of nature. I also detect a sharp cedar/oak note, and perhaps sandalwood too, which gives a sweet-syrupy woody note on the very base that perfectly blends with the sweet/wet side of vetiver. Despite being so natural and "free" to express all facets of wood, it's a really elegant and noble cologne, with a superbly aromatic but discrete presence on skin. In its early stages, the drydown is still boldly woody, aromatic and rich, evocative and utterly refined in its compelling simplicity and naturality. The oak moss note is there, although quite light, to support and enhance the earthy-mossy and "rural" side of vetiver more than acting as a "separate" note itself. The very final drydown is a pleasant, silky, aromatic, super cozy and elegant earthy-woody accord with a hint of talcum and a subtle ambery warmth. Worth a try, a purchase and a gift!

8,5/10

Muschio di Quercia is another great favorite of mine among the AbdesSalaam Attar Profumo's natural oily creations. A virile traditional fresh-aromatic mossy chypre. Muschio di Quercia is an exceptional vetiver/sandalwood accord (over an obscure dark-mossy base--real animal moss beyond the IFRA inhibitions) and probably one of my two-three favorite vetivers of the worldwide olfactory panorama. All is natural, incensey, realistic, marvellously boise (but extremely wearable and finally subtle). The note of vetiver is (especially along the first stage) really earthy, wild and mossy/incensey in a dark boise way conjuring me immediately the first Etro Vetiver's formulation (also Etro Sandalo comes in mind at once). I feel in the air the aroma of deep dark forest, it seems to catch dry leaves, oakmoss, musk, tree trunks, barks, dry woodsy berries, woods, earth, hints of resins and misty dust overall combined in to a marvellously realistic olfactory concert of forests fruits. The perfume itself is well crafted for sure, extremely measured and balanced yet elegant and comforting. The aroma is never too much heavy or oppressing, the vetiver is woody for sure although I would not define Muschio di Quercia as a properly "fresh"-woody vetiver. Not so much to add to describe this marvellous composition. Buy it guys.