Chergui (2001)
by Serge Lutens Les Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido

Chergui is an elegant oriental scent which deserves all these positive reviews.

Serge Lutens is one of the most highly acclaimed fashion houses, so obviously I had very high expectations from their fragrances. Chergui was my first experience with Lutens, but it wasn't as earthshaking as I was hoping. Certain notes remind me of Givenchy's Pi... very sweet and vanillic, but Chergui is richer and deeper. It's not a bad fragrance, for sure, but to me it seems more like a designer creation than one I would normally expect from Lutens, namely a complex, unusual niche fragrance.

I acquired from Lutens their set of wax samples, which I have tested from time to time. Chergui was one that I enjoyed and it struck me as smooth, sensual and sophisticated with a well-rounded tobacco note. So when opportunity came to purchase a bottle I did so. Unfortunately, in the liquid fragrance the tobacco was more potent, a tad bitter and clashed with the smoothness around it. I learned a valuable lesson for myself: don’t buy a Lutens on the basis of a wax sample. Test the actual liquid before buying.

When I paid this kind of money for a fragrance, I want people to smell it. Fullstop.

The only good thing about this is that it smells nice...hence the neutral rating.

Zero sillage and projection on my skin. I should have invested in Opium PH, which is THE eau de parfum for men IMO.

Tea, honey, hay, musk, woods, and rose, in that order, is what I'm smelling. It's a freaking magical work of art. Actually it quite smells like an exotic spiced tea with milk and honey. People here have mentioned leather and tobacco, but I don't see it.
The only problem with Chergui is that rose accord that makes this just a tad too feminine. That doesn't mean it can't be for you, it just can't be on me.

But if you're a woman wearing this, you could get all sorts of unwanted attention...

ya hear me?

Does anyone else go to a dentist who uses a cleansing tooth paste which smells of Chergui? That's about all I get from this, which develops into that scent melded with cinnamon. Under all this is the treacly Lutens structure which quite frankly is just too damn sweet for this lad.
Admittedly, I am trying this from a Perfumed Court decant, and not the original bottle, but I'm willing to bet the source is pure.
That being the case, I'm glad this has its adherents; I am not one of them. This is one of three scents I've worn (Polo Blue and Montale Cuir d'Arabie the others) where I've actually had to wash them off lest there be imminent sickness.
Blind buyers beware: do not be lulled into the fantasia of hay, tobacco, and amber, thinking this a lost city of El Dorado. Try before you buy, unless you want an olfactory hallucination of dental fillings by Dr. Resnick.