The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Caravanes d'Encens was launched in 2024 by Awshal. Ilias Ermenidis composed the fragrance around the Frankincense trail once traversed by caravans. The starting idea is beautifully direct: incense as something carried, exchanged, and remembered. Bergamot and praline bring light and sweetness to the first impression, while cinnamon and hazelnut lend warmth before the heart moves toward rose, clove, guaiac wood, geranium, and labdanum. Together, the notes create a composition that opens with brightness and gentle sweetness, then gathers into spice, florals, resinous warmth, and polished woods. The frankincense idea gives the scent a clear sense of smoke, dryness, and aromatic depth, while the contrasting notes keep the structure from feeling one-dimensional.
The interesting part is the contrast. Praline and hazelnut make the opening generous, almost dessert-like, while cinnamon, clove, oud, and incense push it away from simple sweetness. Guaiac wood gives the heart a dry, structural center, while rose and labdanum keep it polished rather than purely gourmand. Down below, tobacco, tonka bean, vanilla, sandalwood, vetiver, and ambroxan extend the composition into a darker register. Nothing here is a single-note showpiece. It's the contrast between edible warmth and resinous depth that gives Caravanes d'Encens its sense of distance, travel, and smoke settling after the journey.
The evolution
The first impression is bright and sweet: praline, bergamot, cinnamon, and hazelnut arrive like warm air carrying a little dust. As the opening settles, rose, clove, geranium, guaiac wood, and labdanum bring structure and spice, making the fragrance feel less like a dessert and more like a well-marked trail. The citrus gives the opening a clean lift, while praline and hazelnut add rounded sweetness. Cinnamon brings a gently spiced warmth that connects the brighter notes with the darker materials that follow. Rose and geranium introduce a floral softness, sharpened by clove and grounded by guaiac wood and labdanum. Then the base takes over. Tobacco, oud, sandalwood, tonka bean, vanilla, vetiver, cypriol, and ambroxan create a darker, woody finish, with sweetness continuing to linger inside the smoke.
Cultural impact
Caravanes d'Encens draws attention to the frankincense trail through its central composition idea and the way incense is treated as a material associated with carrying, exchange, and memory. The fragrance begins with bergamot and praline, where brightness and sweetness create an inviting opening. Cinnamon and hazelnut add warmth, while rose, clove, guaiac wood, geranium, and labdanum give the middle a layered combination of floral, spicy, woody, and resinous character. As the composition settles, tobacco, oud, sandalwood, tonka bean, vanilla, vetiver, cypriol, and ambroxan create a darker, more grounded impression.
The House
AwshalAwshal is a Riyadh-based perfume house that connects contemporary fragrance composition with stories drawn from the Arabian Peninsula and wider regions encountered along historic trade routes. The house is associated with Oman through its collection narrative and presents its fragrances through evocative names such as Bois d'Aksum, Fou d'Amour and Caravanes d'Encens. Its first documented fragrance portfolio consists of ten releases introduced in 2024. Public information about the house remains limited, so its identity is best understood through this initial collection and the recurring themes of resin, wood, spice and atmosphere that give the perfumes their sense of place.
The Creator
Ilias ErmenidisThe Greek-Turkish nose favors transparent structures built on a solid base of natural absolutes. He reaches for oud, ambergris, and rose de mai, but always layers them with unexpected modifiers—citrus zest, spice tinctures, or a whisper of leather.
