The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
The Bishop moves diagonally on a chessboard, never in a straight line. It's the piece that surprises you, arriving from angles you weren't watching. When perfumer Shadi Samra sat down to build Chase's dark interpretation of that piece, the composition had its own logic: something that demands you lean in rather than announce itself from across the room. The result launched in 2024, joining other entries in Chase's chess collection where pieces like White Bishop exist alongside their darker counterparts. Black Bishop carries weight from the moment it opens, a richness that suggests intention, that announces itself through tobacco leaf and dense fruit before the oud even makes its entrance.
The opening pulls you forward with tropical fruit, cannabis, bright lemon and mint, a burst of something almost cheerful before the weight arrives. It's the kind of start that could belong to a lighter fragrance if you weren't paying attention. Then the heart drops ash and tobacco on top of patchouli, and suddenly the board has shifted. The fruit doesn't vanish; it gets pushed to the periphery, bruised by smoke. By the time the oud surfaces in the base alongside ambergris, cypriol, and the musky cold of Hivernal®, the composition has settled into something gravitational and close.
The evolution
The cannabis and fruit do something strange together, almost like a smoothie left next to an ashtray. Bright, green, a little unnerving. That's the opening being honest. As the first hour passes, the tobacco and ash begin to take over, and the fruit doesn't disappear, it just moves to the edges, bruised and smoky. The patchouli thickens everything, grounding the sharper notes in something earthy and slow. As the composition settles into its base, the oud, cypriol, ambergris, and Hivernal® create something that's less sweet than you'd expect and much warmer. The later hours are where the oud finally stops hiding, emerging through the haze like smoke cooled down into wood, still animalic, still warm, still close to skin. What lingers is that gravitational pull, a closeness that stays with you long after the bright top notes have faded into memory.
Cultural impact
Black Bishop carries a smoky, oud-forward weight that sets it apart from the brighter entries in Chase's chess collection. Wearers tend to gravitate toward it for cooler months and evening settings, drawn by the tobacco-oud drydown more than the tropical opening. It reads as an enthusiast's pick, the kind of scent that rewards anyone willing to wait through that first bright burst of fruit and cannabis to reach the denser, ash-laden heart underneath, and eventually the warm, animalic base where oud and ambergris settle into something quietly persistent.
The House
ChaseChase is a niche fragrance house that entered the market with a bold, chess‑inspired series in 2024. The collection pairs the classic symbolism of the game with modern olfactory architecture, offering a white and a black version for each piece – from White Knight to Black Queen. Each scent is presented as a standalone narrative, yet together they form a cohesive, strategic tableau that invites collectors to build their own aromatic opening. The brand positions itself as a laboratory for scent experimentation, emphasizing limited releases and a curated approach to distribution.
The Creator
Shadi SamraShadi favors a modular approach, building fragrances layer by layer. He starts with a robust base—often oud, sandalwood, or amber—then adds a heart of florals or spices that echo the brief’s narrative.
