The Fruit of Chapter One

Four of the eight Chapter One extraits sit in the Fruity family, and each holds its fruit at a different stage: cool pineapple in 01 Before The Crown, ripe mango and pomelo in 02 What Remains of Summer, syrupy plum in 05 Plum Beneath Snow, and dried fruit with rum in 07 The Last Golden Hour. Read in that order, they move from fresh-cut to dried. A fifth, 04 Tea Beneath Clouds, keeps a single fig. This essay takes them one at a time, so you can find the fruit you want before you choose the bottle.

Cool and sharp: 01 Before The Crown

"The hour before everything changes." Cool pineapple and citrus, struck against smoke and ashen birch. The fruit stays bright and a little sharp, and the smoke beneath keeps it dry. If you like fruit with an edge, start here. Before The Crown, Note by Note follows each of its four notes.

Ripe and bright: 02 What Remains of Summer

"Heat held a little longer than it should be." Ripe mango and bright pomelo, with a ginger edge, over dry amber and vetiver. Of the four, 02 puts the fruit most plainly in front, and the amber and vetiver hold it from below. What Remains of Summer, Note by Note goes through all five notes.

Dark and spiced: 05 Plum Beneath Snow

"Dark fruit, warm under a cold sky." Syrupy plum and spice, laid over smoked oud and resin. Its own description calls it opulent, and a little severe. This is the darkest fruit in the chapter, and the only one set against oud. Plum Beneath Snow, Note by Note reads the bottle itself, and Oud Without the Mythology covers what lies beneath the plum.

Dried and warm: 07 The Last Golden Hour

"The light, just before it goes." Bitter orange against dried fruit and rum, over warm amber and blonde tobacco, with tonka and vanilla beneath. It is the warmest and sweetest of the four, and its fruit sits among the tobacco and rum. Where 05 is dark fruit with resin, 07 is dried fruit with tobacco. The Last Golden Hour, Note by Note takes all seven notes in turn.

One fig: 04 Tea Beneath Clouds

04 sits outside the Fruity family, but it carries one fruit note: fig, with soft musk beneath bergamot and oolong tea. If the four above feel like too much fruit, this is the quiet one, worn close. Tea Beneath Clouds, Note by Note reads it from the tea down.

Choosing between them

Read them in pairs. For fruit with smoke, 01 and 05 both carry it, 01 bright and 05 dark; Three Kinds of Smoke sets them beside 08. For warmth, 05 and 07 sit side by side, plum and resin against dried fruit, tobacco and rum; Chapter One for the Colder Months reads them for autumn and winter. 02 is the summer one, with the fruit first.

All four are on one page under Fruity, and Find Your Fragrance sorts the whole chapter by family. The Woods of Chapter One reads the same bottles from below, by the wood under the fruit. The Ambers of Chapter One reads 02, 05 and 07 by their warmth, and Ginger and Spice in Chapter One follows the ginger in 02 and the spice beside the plum in 05. Each is an extrait at 30% concentration or more, composed and made by hand by Dave Martin in La Conner, Washington, and each comes in 10 ml as well as 30 ml and 50 ml, so you can get to know a fragrance before a larger bottle.

Where the fruit goes next

Dave's next releases are for fall: darker, fruit-forward fragrances and smoky incense, with soft musks and skin scents worn close beside them. Each release is a limited run of about 35 bottles in all, and people on the list get two full days to buy before it opens to everyone. Beyond Chapter One has more on where the chapter leads.

If two of these are close for you, write to Dave. He answers every email himself and will tell you where he would start, for yourself or as a gift, and he can add a handwritten note to the order.