parfums*PARFUMS Series 2 Red: Sequoia 
Comme des Garçons (2001)

Sequoia opens with rum-soaked aging redwood, soft and damp to the touch, the sweet decay of forest impermanence. For some reason I hear in my mind Bread's "Make it With you," 'life can be short or long, love can be right or wrong,' and theme to the 70s series "Grizzly Adams", 'deep inside the forest is a door into another land.' Granted, this Grizzly Adams may have a bit more manicured beard and more tailored apparel, but there's a corner of rustic beauty in this CDG.

Its heart announces a dry leather, legible, brought to relief through the saturated woods, the feeling of evaporation. It reminds me of when I was a kid and I'd pick at the bark of a deceased tree to see if there were any cool creatures underneath to study. The smells like the color of a mahogany Crayola crayon ('do you know where you're going to?'), feels darker and more earthen as time progresses, with an opoponax oozing under the wooden surface, bittersweet and somewhat reminiscent of aged scotch.

Sequoia is an exemplary study from Bertrand Duchafour of the pungency, texture, and spirit of wood. As John Muir once said: "“This grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never all dried at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor ever rising.”

a sort of strange , typical CDG, surreal woody fragrance...nice sweet booze on the top...tangy and has the just the slightest camphory effect if I smell it up close...kinda smells like a little neighberhood bar with the old wooden bar and nice paneling...and the smell of all the booze that has been spilled...only difference is a little touch of sweetness to the smell and the absence of cigarette smoke...get a faint touch of leather but not anything that I would say smells like oud to me...bottom line - a wood fragrance with some sweetness and flavorings of rum , resin, and leather...not bad but borders , at times , on almost being department store generic designer smelling...

Heavenly Bliss I love it. It has the M7 thing going on but amped up. very boozy/woody scent.Agarwood but not just agarwood (Chinese) gives it a real kicker. also some mahogany added for a fuller,longer lasting scent. Oud is not mentioned but I believe it's in here.. Too bad I only have a decant.. better for cooler weather ..Pros: One of a kindCons: strange"

I'm getting a lot of booze in the top notes of this one, like a straight, peaty scotch just for a minute or two. Soon the actual notes arrive, and initially it's smooth, sweet wood. Not the usual woods + vanilla masculine oriental type, and not the CdG harsh, dry woods with a blast of smoke, but somewhere nicely in the middle. There's just enough resinous sap to remind you of a real conifer tree, but it's not like some scents where a bully at summer camp shoves your face into the side of a pine tree. Unless I'm fatigued from too much reviewing, there's surprisingly little here. It's not that strong, but it doesn't need to be because it's just a big tree, not a stick of incense burning in a monastery that demands your full spiritual contemplation. There's some sweetness, but not too much; it's still well within the territory of mainstream masculine wood scents, like Rocabar decided to lay off the sugary christmas cookies. I guess what I'm trying to say here is that there are a lot of things that Sequoia *isn't*, because it's just a pretty tree in the woods. The simplicity of sweet wood is somewhat of a relief before I try and conquer their Incense series, and now I understand why this was put in the Red series: because like Palisander, it's about quiet, happy warmth.