The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Every fragrance in the Scents of Wood collection begins with a question: what if the alcohol itself carried weight? The house ages organic cane spirit in pre-used wooden barrels, Scotland, Kentucky, Cognac, letting the wood transform the base before a single aromatic compound enters the equation. Apricot in Cognac was born from that premise, named for the two materials that define its character. The apricot arrives lush and honeyed. The cognac, both the barrel and the accord, brings warmth, depth, and a boozy richness that grounds the fruit without dimming it. Sesame was the missing piece: a roasted, nutty counterweight that keeps the sweetness honest.
The combination of apricot and toasted sesame is uncommon in Western perfumery. Apricot brings a lactonic, almost peachy sweetness that tends to read soft or fleeting on its own. Sesame changes that equation, its savory depth pulls the sweetness toward something more substantial, more textured. Here, sandalwood amplifies the effect, adding a creamy, almost buttery wood that extends the drydown well beyond where apricot typically lasts. Benzoin adds resinous warmth, and the cognac accord, drawn from barrels the house has worked with since its founding, ties everything back to the brand's core obsession: base as ingredient, not just medium.
The evolution
The opening arrives bright and immediate. Orange and tangerine give it a citrus spark that lifts the apricot off the skin, that first moment when the fruit smells almost effervescent, like biting into a ripe apricot on a warm afternoon. Within minutes, the sesame takes over. Roasted, nutty, quietly assertive. The apricot doesn't disappear; it deepens, merging with the sesame into something richer and more complex. The sandalwood arrives at the hour mark, creamy and warm, pushing the fruit into the background but never entirely letting go. By the third hour, the drydown settles into a warm amber, benzoin and sandalwood, with a ghost of cognac that stays close to the skin. On fabric, the sesame and sandalwood linger into the next day.
Cultural impact
Apricot in Cognac arrived in 2024 as part of Scents of Wood's subscription collection, disrupting the traditional fragrance retail model by offering alcohol-free, concentrate-based compositions through an alternative channel. The sesame note marked a deliberate departure from typical gourmand aesthetics, introducing nutty warmth that blurs the line between edible and wearable fragrance. Scents of Wood has staked its identity on barrel-aging and cognac-inspired narratives, and this release extends that house tradition while appealing to collectors seeking something outside mainstream releases. The realistic apricot and toasted sesame combination filled a gap in the market for sophisticated fruit-nut compositions that don't lean on sugar or vanilla as default sweetness.
