Fragrance Review:  Hendley Perfumes Fume (2014) + Through Smoke Draw

Looking up Irby PAce

Looking Up by Texas Artist Irby Pace

“Memories, imagination, old sentiments, and associations are more readily reached through the sense of smell than through any other channel.” –Oliver Wendell Holmes

There’s much to be said about a fragrance that evokes strong memories and even more so to be said about the perfumer who creates such a beautiful fragrance. Hans Hendley  is  an independent perfumer  and the creator  of Fume,  a fragrance enveloped in smoke and cloaked in winter warmth.

hans hendley

Hans Hendley of Handley Perfumes

As a Texas native, now residing in Brooklyn, NY, Hans spent much of his early childhood in the woods of East Texas being inspired by the smell of pine trees, sticky sap, fresh soil, and moss covered oak. On Hans' site there is this phrase:  “On the outskirts…a curious discovery awaits” and what a curious discovery Fume is. I first experienced Fume in the winter of 2014 and I immediately fell in love, it’s an olfactory camping trip where the nose is greeted by burning embers and mossy pathways and the heart is clothed in dirt covered denim, a flannel shirt, and worn  leather boots. It’s a cold season fragrance and has both the longevity and sillage to melt the icy grip of winter’s fingers running down your spine.

smoke   texas

 Irby Pace

I asked Hans what inspired him to create Fume and he said, “I wanted to make a fragrance that was very literal, something that smelled exactly like a particular object and not one that was an orchestra of notes that created their own scent. Fume was the result of that desire and to this day is either one of my most hated or loved fragrances I’ve ever created”. Hate it or love it, Fume  embodies the outdoors of East Texas and perhaps even references  the Latin ‘per fumum’, meaning ‘through smoke.


irby pace smoke

 Irby Pace

 When a close friend of mine smelled this fragrance it brought tears to her eyes as she told me, her voice quivering, “This…this… is… the exact smell I remember waking up to as a child when my I was growing up in the country.” Scent is memory and it is to her I dedicate this review.

9786978

Irby Pace 

Through The Smoke by the Nosey Artist

I was abruptly awakened by a strange but familiar noise, a sort of curious scratching followed by a rhythmic and excited patting—scratch…scratch…pat pat pat!  Once I came to it I immediately knew what is was, Boots, our hunter cat, had brought in his latest prey to play with and probably had it cornered in the shower letting what ever rodent it was “try” to escape only to pounce on it with his paws and scratch at it once again. A lot has changed since my parents decided to uproot my sister and I from the comforts of our home in suburban Dallas and replant us in the woods of Hill Country Texas, but there were a few things now that I could always count on. One was the blistering cold we were faced to endure during the winter, even with four or five blankets covering me at night it wasn’t enough to stop the shivering of my body eager for warmth or the dread of waking up at 5:00 a.m. for volley ball practice.

smoke house
Irby Pace

Two was the smell of smoke and burnt Bur Oak from the makeshift furnace my parents made for our barn yard home since we were without central AC or heating. I always enjoyed the smell of burnt wood, but now the pleasure was bitter sweet. The smell would get into everything from our blankets to school clothes-even my long, thick hair that touched the bottom of my back and the kids at school were quick to remind me of our living conditions when they’d make fun of me for smelling like a forest fire. I used to become enraged, even resenting my parents for their decision, but soon I learned to rely on joyful memories for comfort.

smoke irby pace

Irby Pace

After my classmates walked away from their daily rousing I would hold the tail of my flannel shirt to my nose and instantly be reminded of the times when we would sit around the camp fire and my father would tell us all ghost stories while my mom taught my sister and I how to make s’mores; other times I would think of how hard my mom worked to make us as comfortable as possible, even if that meant waking up in the middle of the night to stoke the fire so our toes wouldn’t catch frost bite. 

young girls irby pace

Irby Pace

Yes things have changed quite a bit, but this was my life now and I decided to make the best of it. I crawled out of bed fighting the cold as I slipped on my shoes and climbed down the ladder to walk across the hay a skewed carped of the barn and there my mom was, kneeling by the fire-her face set a glow by the burning embers.“Good morning my love”, her customary greeting to my sister and I, “You mean the world to me and without your presence my heart wouldn’t know such a joy.”

Notes: conifer resins, smoked tea, galbanum, ruh khus, nagarmotha, and oakmoss

The Nosey Artist, Contributor

Editor’s Note For our reviews of Hendley Perfumes Tama, Bourbon, Auric and Rosenthal click hereHans was also featured in our Perfumer’s Workshop Creating a Perfume Organ I really wanted to use a contemporary Texan Artist and chose the work of  Odessa Texas Born Artist Irby Pace who is a professor at Tarant County college in Fort Worth.  His digital art series Idle Voids POP with its creative use of smoke really spoke to me. His greatest influences was his childhood in Texas and it felt right for this piece. Mr. Pace is  not affiliated with  Hans Hendley or CaFleureBon. His art is represented by Galleri Urbane in Dallas

hans hendley fume

Thanks to Hans Hendley of Hendley Perfumes we have a draw for our US registered readers (you need to do this folks or you are ineligible) for a bottle of Fume. To be eligible, please leave a comment with your strongest scent memory, and what you enjoyed about The Nosey Artist’s review of Fume.  If you have a favorite Hendley Perfume, please leave that in your comment as well. Draw ends November 18, 2015.

We announce the winners only on site and on our Facebook page, so Like Cafleurebon and use our RSS option…or your dream prize will be just spilled perfume.

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21 comments

  • Wow. This was my favorite part of the review.
    I first experienced Fume in the winter of 2014 and I immediately fell in love, it’s an olfactory camping trip where the nose is greeted by burning embers and mossy pathways and the heart is clothed in dirt covered denim, a flannel shirt, and worn leather boots. It’s a cold season fragrance and has both the longevity and sillage to melt the icy grip of winter’s fingers running down your spine..
    My favorite scent memory is the smell of fresh falling snow when I was little.
    I have not tried any of Hendley scent. Thank you for the draw, I live in the U.S.

  • BostonScentGuy says:

    Love hearing this scent was based off a scent memory–and an outdoorsy one that I resonate with as well! I’m a big hiker so a scent memory for me is walking through the woods and mountains in upstate NY or New England–moss, wet stone, that spicy/sweet fern smell, and, as you get higher, “Christmas” (aka hemlock, spruce, fir, etc.). Really well-written review! I loved the actual scent description, but also the evocative, sensory story! I’ve never smelled any of these scents, but would love to! Thanks for the draw. I’m in the US.

  • The vividness of the memory in this article really stood out. I haven’t had the opportunity to sample Hendley’s creations. I have unusual scent memories from my childhood as the grandson of the town’s candyman. The store was always cold from the air conditioning with the scent of warm liquid chocolate and toasting nuts in the air. Thanks for the draw—and the memories!

  • What a lovely dedication for this review. 🙂 My most vivid scent memory is of riding my bike through the forest in the fall with my sister, the smell of crushed leaves and cold earth all around. I would love love love to try this, as I’ve been craving woodsmoke lately… our neighbors have a woodburning stove thankfully, so I’ve been able to smell it often lately! I’m sad that I haven’t smelled any Hendley perfumes yet, as they all gernish such great reviews. I’m in the USA. Thanks again.

  • Many scent memories. I remember my mom’s bread baking as a child. I remember camping at Rocky Mtn. National Park and the pine trees made my nose run. We ran out of tissues and my dad went to the camp store and brought back pine scented tissues (that was all that was available). I love associating fragrance with a place, I have one for New Orleans and one for Charleston. I am still on the hunt for one to remind me of Santa Fe. My son recently moved from TX, so I wonder if this would hit a memory. I loved how much his mom loved her children. Kids are stressful, so lovely to read that sentiment. I live in the US. Thanks.

  • Ha, this ‘fume has all my strongest smell memory associations and memories: Smoke, for one, ’cause my father’s gallery burnt in a three-day conflagration and we lived with melted paintings and sculpture for years. Yet, I associate those smells with childhood nicely. And conifer resins, ’cause I spent my best summers in Maine, deep in the woods, getting sticky while I read Poe.
    I have wanted to try any of the Hendleys! Great review. Thanks & cheers.
    In the US, still! 🙂

  • As a Hill Country resident who was wearing muddy denim, a flannel shirt, and old leather boots just hours ago, I really need to smell Fume. I’m not sure what my strongest scent memory is, I have so many. One of my favorites is the strong scent of the cut Ashe Juniper branches that my dad would wire together in a mostly Christmas-tree shaped bundle (and stand up in a sand filled five-gallon bucket, really posh) in lieu of purchasing a real tree. I still feel like every commercial Christmas-tree scented product is totally wrong.
    Im in the US and haven’t smelled any Hendley perfumes yet. Thanks for the draw.

  • my favorite perfume memories are two. the first is smelling Givenchy Gentleman in late 1990s which belonged to my father and just being madly fallen in love with its elegance..the second is smelling Kouros for the first time and just being blown away..it was unlike anything i had ever smelled but there are also other unique creations such as Fahrenheit..but even among unique scents, Kouros left a powerful impression on me…it was such a powerful example of perfume being an art.. in the review, Hans is very clear he wanted to go for a smoky creation that transports one to Texas…I have been to Texas and I know what Hans must have been aiming for when creating this smoky creation.

    I have not smelled anything yet from Hendley Perfumes. thanks a lot for the draw. I am in the US

  • This is a very enjoyable read recalled in such detail that I felt transported to the Big Thicket. I spent some time in the boonies of East Texas many years ago and this review brought back some good memories. One of my earliest scent memories is the woods behind the family farm during the early spring, tapping the maple trees and opening the sugar house to boil the sap into syrup over wood fires. Thanks for the review and draw.

  • A few days ago I was having lunch with a couple of representatives for a customer. The place they chose has a bakery attached to it and I just had to comment on how the smell of freshly baked pastries brought back so many memories. From going to bakeries with my parents on Sunday nights, when I was a child, to passing by a bakery on my way to and from my first job in my late teens. To this day, I feel a sense of safeness and ‘home’ whenever I am inside a bakery and it’s almost as if I was back by my mother trying to decide which pastry I want to have with breakfast the next day… except now I get more than one. 🙂

    I enjoyed the memories the review brought back. I can’t wait for the next trip to the hill country.

    I am in the US. Thanks for the draw.

  • One of my favorites is the smell of lilac bushes. I’m not sure exactly why, but I know my childhood house had some really large bushes of them in the backyard. I avoided them because of the bees, but I loved the smell and the purple colour. Now, when I smell them I have to smile.

    I am loving the sound of Fume. Thanks for reviewing this!
    U.S.

  • baroness_octothorpe says:

    My strongest scent memory is Yosemite Valley. I’ve been looking and looking for a fragrance that really captures that, and this sounds like it might be it! Thanks!

  • Hm, many of my favorite scent memories are associated with fall, like the smell of dried leaves in sunshine 🙂 Fume sounds wonderful, thank you! I am in the US.

  • There is a scent that evokes being home. Hard to define such a perfume. Perhaps it is just the old things in a home that have gathered dust. A piece of toast that burned and the scraped crumb escape. The not unpleasant smell of another person’s body..not talking about body odor but the natural scent that makes one unique. All of this comes to mind when I think about home. Once my parents passed away their belonging were sorted and divided among their kids. Some of those things carried a scent of their home for several years. I would open a box with old letters, an old hat and simple unremarkable things which held my parent’s scent…It was like decanting something rare and fleeting. Eventually their scent did leave, but I still think about it when I look at the box.

  • I love the smell of wood smoke. This smell brings me back to my childhood. Scouts. The cottage. The one place I can entirely forget about all the little stresses that follow me around day to day. Where the landscape is just as untouched as the first time it was seen. Every time I catch a whiff of burning wood I feel like I’m there for a moment, and it feels good!

    Thanks for the review! I am really excited about this fragrance.
    USA

  • skiclimblive09 says:

    I love the smell of or cottage’s old musty rug. gross. but so comforting. as an adult I learned the torture it is when it comes to allergies.

    US here.

  • My strongest scent memory is of Old Spice cologne and my dad. I enjoyed The Nosey Artist’s review of the “olfactory camping trip” that is Fume. I am drawn to try love/hate fragrances that make a statement. I have not yet had the pleasure of wearing a Hendley Perfume

  • Very interesting article, congratulations to The Artist’s Nosey.
    I had heard good thing about Hendley Perfumes, but I not had the opportunity to experience them yet.
    Face perfumes as they are a fume? Yeah probably! So if we could see the traces of fragrances, fume would be the perfect image.
    Well fragrance like it or not will always reflect a memory, being that memory of the perfumer who created the fragrance or bringing past memories of the person who’s wearing it. My strongest scent memory is of my grandmother’s cooking, especially the spices and sweets. It must be why today I am so fond of spicy fragrances and gourmands.
    I’m in the US.

  • My greatest scent memory is that of my old home, by the bay in southern NJ. When I would run on the beach early spring mornings, the scent of coniferous trees would mesh with that of an indescribable wild flower wafting through the air, and it was just heavenly. Narcotic. I loved The Nosey Artist’s description of campfires, s’mores and ghost stories. That takes me way back, too. Fume sounds amazing, and I have yet to try anything by Hendley. Thanks, I’m in the US.

  • Wow, this one struck home for me, a Fort Worth gal. I love the fact that this scent evoked such a strong scent memory from the author’s friend. Outdoor scents really speak to me, and this one might remind me of camping trips on cold nights. I am not familiar with Hans’ perfumes, but I will have to seek out this former Texan’s work. Thanks, I’m in the USA.

  • Love hearing this scent was based off a scent memory! I used to hike as a child so a scent memory for me is walking through the woods and mountains in New England. There’s a forest-floor leaf smell, and moss, wet stone, growing wood, dry wood. Autumn smells–leaves, apples, that hint of cold over sun-warmed woods–are particularly strong.

    Really well-written review! I loved the evocative, sensory, and emotionally charged story.

    I want to try Fume because “it’s an olfactory camping trip where the nose is greeted by burning embers and mossy pathways and the heart is clothed in dirt covered denim, a flannel shirt, and worn leather boots.”I’ve never smelled any of these scents, but would love to!

    Thanks for the review
    USA