Or, another Summer Rerun. This Saturday a bunch of us LA-based fume heads are going to get together so sniff stuff, and I am going to bringing this one to the party. Back in 2015 I wrote:
Several years ago when Marina at PST reviewed this scent calling it one of the best leather scents she’d ever smelled I know I had to get a bottle. She described it as almost “meaty” smelling, writing “It is a smell of old, black leather, tar, charred woods and unhealthy, barbaric but tasty meat cooked on campfire.”
Well how could I resist that?
So several years after that I happened to be in San Francisco and decided to pop into the only shop in the states that sells Kölnisch Juchten, Jacqueline Perfumery in Union Square. I have to write that I did so with some trepidation, since some people shared yelp reviews that painted a fearsome portrait of the proprietor. He has tossed people out of his shop, seemingly at random. Well, he was certainly the soul of gallic charm to me- slightly formal, but very polite and kind enough to show me some other items.
So- onto the scent. It’s one of the better leathers out there, and Marina is right- it’s so rich and tarry it’s almost fatty. Then the beautiful, soft patchouli comes in. Yum.
One of the odd things about Los Angeles winters is that although the days can get up into the 70’s the nights can dip into the 30’s, and most buildings built before, say 1990 don’t have much in the way of insulation in the walls. My old apartment on Maple had a crummy gas wall heater that would run for an hour tops before turning itself off, I suppose rather than just burning down the building (my new place has central, which is nice.) So bankies and comfort scents are a must for me in Winter.
Kölnisch Juchten is bottled comfort.
You can get samples of the original (which Marina wrote was even better at Surrender to Chance. You can get the one I did from Jacqueline Perfumery in San Francisco. I believe they ship. (415) 981-0858. Please note the actual store is closed but the phone order line is still up.
Photo of my bottle from the internets?