I thought this frag was a winner when I first smelled it, but now it’s official - the 2013 FIFI Award for best niche perfume was awarded to Volutes, by Diptyque.

Volutes means ‘curls of smoke’ and it opens with sensuous note of tobacco from the combination of the pungent, bitter scent of Egyptian cigarettes balanced with the honeyed, floral and dried fruit notes of aromatic pipe tobacco. Iris is here too but it’s smoothed with musk making it full and fatty, which plumps up the tobacco. The iris playing off the tobacco is what makes the opening so OMG. As it blooms, it gets warm and spicy from pink and black pepper. The iris starts to fade but the tobacco stays – it smells smoky, woody and sweet from immortelle. I also get a note of hay. At the base it gets resinous, and leathery from styrax, benzoin and opoponax with a note of bitterness from myrrh.

The drydown of the EDP is smokey and sweet, with a slight bitterness that makes it stand out. It’s not at all heavy or harsh but refined, polished and wearable.

Notes: iris flower, tobacco leaf, honey, dried fruits, pink pepper, black pepper, saffron, hay, immortelle, myrhh, styrax, opoponax and benzoin.