Quorum Silver 
Antonio Puig (2005)

Quorum is one of the great uber-masculine scents. With its patchouli, pine, leather and tobacco, it ticks all of the right boxes, and the jasmine plays much the same role as the gardenia in Z-14—floral, but manly. Quorum’s Silver flanker shares some of the same notes with its parent (Artemisia and Bergamot in the top notes and amber in the base notes and patchouli) but it is really what makes it different that makes this the wonderful scent that it is.

Quorum Silver opens with fresh, slightly metallic notes reminiscent of Safari for Men and Halston Man/Amber. The dry, spicy heart notes are soon apparent which bring Catalyst for Men and Poivre Samarcande to mind. The real star of the show—a strong and clean cedarwood underscored by a realistic Guaiac Wood—steps onto the stage and stays on to take the last bow.

This is an uplifting scent, more wearable by today’s standards than the original but just as manly and a little more discreet, a little bit drier and brighter but very masculine all the same. I have worn the original Quorum aftershave followed by a few sprays of Quorum Silver which work very well together.

Quorum Silver is one of those creations which makes it difficult to maintain the "all perfumes are unisex" thesis with a straight face. Not an innovative scent, perhaps, but a damn good one. Finely executed from top to bottom. It's something that you've probably smelled before among the many iterations of the traditional aromatic-woods fragrance that were particularly popular in the 70's and 80's. However, Quorum Silver somehow manages to smell modern in spite of those associations, perhaps because it's a bit lighter and livelier, with upbeat citrus notes and well-balanced woods.

In fact, Quorum Silver has classic elements that present themselves as a modern, masculine stunner. It opens very fresh and bright. You get the citrus and the lavender as well as the cardamom. It is a bit soapy, think aromatic fougere, but it is much brighter. This fragrance dries down in stages. Once the opening softens irlt is clean, fresh, citrusy, but you can start to smell the woods. Once it finally dries down, you can smell the nutmeg and the pepper. The whole time it is underscored by ceda. It has a bit of an old-school men's fragrance vibe, which i really love. It reminds me of a young sophisticated guy with intellect beyond his years. A book smart type with style, someone who looks good wearing glasses, someone who seems to make a statement everywhere he goes, not necessarily with words but with his presences and if with words, words of advice, words of widsom.

Smells like a cute accountant who enjoys gadgets but is working over a vintage wood desk and wears bone glasses.

The opening is bright and spicy but quickly dissipates into a more woody/orange & lavender slightly sweet and dry scent. If it had more spicy-ness it would have been perfect, however for the price and the performance you can't fault it.

Quorum Silver is an astonishingly good 'cheapie' that could put many niche scents attempting spiced woods to filthy shame. Silver opens shiny, happy, searing, and bright, like a buzzsaw through the most delicious cedar imaginable, then settles into a bed of crystallized ginger and floral lavender. Subtly piquant pink pepper lifts the cedar off the skin.

This is so delightful and bright, a mood lifter as it were. It dries down to warm genuine guaiac wood (I am well acquainted with the natural material) and spiced amber.

Hats off to the talented perfumer who created this beauty.

Misled by some reviews that called this a "one-note cedar bomb" or likened it to smelling a freshly cut log, I was disappointed to discover that this is *not* primarily or exclusively a cedar fragrance. Instead, "silver" is the key word: it is dominated by a sharp blast of what seems like ozonic metal. Only after I became more familiar with the scent could I begin to untangle the elements of this slightly screechy, synthetic cloud: primarily the pepper-ginger accord, which is framed by secondary notes of slightly soapy musk, slightly sweet tangerine/mandarin, and soft vanillic amber, all on, yes, a bed of light, transparent cedar. The opening pairing of lemon-orange citrus with piercing ginger and black pepper creates a chaotic, clanging tustle between the cool, metallic, sharp citrus, ginger, and pepper notes; as the citrus burns off, the ginger and pepper provide a slightly more natural and gradual transition to a cedar heart, whose raspy edges are rounded off by hints of nutmeg-cinnamon-clove and some vanillic amber. Thankfully, since I dislike lavender, it isn't really detectable as its own note and, if present at all, just adds to the prickly zing of the airy pepper-ginger. Despite the spice notes, QS is never really gourmandy, and instead remains too angular and abstract to be mistaken for anything you can find in the kitchen. The cedar is distinctive and pleasantly woody, but constantly paired with that buzzy, zingy, artificial pepper-ginger—far away from the natural woods I had hoped for.

After my initial disappointment, I've since come around to like this fragrance a lot. But not as something I would regularly wear—still too bright, slightly sweet, and synthetic for my taste. Rather, it makes an excellent room spray, especially bathroom freshener. It has good sillage and excellent longevity (7–8 hours), especially on fabric, where it lasts 24+ hours.

If you're looking for a more straightforward and natural cedar-pepper accord, consider Azzaro Visit, which is a simpler pairing of pink pepper and cedar—slightly cooler, drier and less sweet, less intense, with a more relaxed and transparent vibe—or Comme des Garçons Sequoia (red pimento pepper and cedar) or Wonderwood (mostly cedar). And if you like metallic-spicy synth woods à la CdG, this is a very cheap way to buy into that neighborhood. Overall, an excellent value.

This is a fantastic bargain-bin, hidden gem of fresh masculine fragrance! A classic that stands the test of time.

The notes in this this fragrance blend together so well. I love the lavender and cedar dry-down.

Just excellent for the $15-20 price tag!
Definitely a worthy blind-buy