Filippo Sorcinelli
Sacristie Des Arbres
The Story
MEMENTO is the Latin word a priest says in the sacristy before Mass, and it names eight extraits Filippo Sorcinelli launched together at Esxence in March 2024. Seven are tied to a real sacristy; this one takes a centuries-old forest instead. Sorcinelli plays organ for papal liturgies and writes his notes as a fugue: subject, countersubject, tail.
Amber
Golden resin glowing warm
A soft, resinous glow built from labdanum, benzoin, and vanilla, sweet but dusky, like sun-warmed tree sap with a hint of incense smoke. It radiates a cozy, golden heat that wraps close to the skin and lingers.
Woody
Dry grain of cut timber
The smell of cedar shavings, sandalwood, and dry vetiver roots, a sanded, resinous warmth with a faint pencil-box rasp. It feels grx0t9bnej and composed, the quiet backbone that makes a scent read as serious and lasting.
Aromatic
Crushed herbs in cool air
The green, camphorous coolness of lavender, rosemary, sage, and thyme, like herbs bruised between the fingers. It feels clean, invigorating, and a touch austere, the crisp backbone of a classic barbershop freshness.
Vanilla
Creamy bean steeped in warmth
The soft, custardy sweetness of cured vanilla pods, rich and balsamic with a faint boozy, smoky depth beneath the cream. It feels comforting and skin-warm, a tender glow that smooths and rounds everything it touches.
Smoky
Charred wood and rising embers
The dry, charred scent of burning wood, smoldering incense, and lingering ash, sometimes tarry, sometimes wispy and gray. It feels brooding and atmospheric, conjuring a dying fire and a cool current of air carrying its last breath.
Balsamic
Warm resin and sweet amber
A warm, syrupy richness of tree resins and golden amber, soft and slightly sweet with a vanillic, almost honeyed glow. It feels enveloping and slow, settling into the skin like candlelight, comforting and faintly sacred.
Pine Essence
A conifer branch snapped in cold air
What it is
Pine essence is the house's wording for pine essential oil, steam-distilled from the needles and young twigs of Pinus species, Scots pine among the most used. The distillate is dominated by terpenes, alpha-pinene and limonene, with bornyl acetate giving it a cool, slightly sweet balsamic edge.
How it smells
Sharp, green and resinous, the smell of a conifer branch snapped in cold air. There is turpentine bite and a camphorous lift at the top, then a drier, sappy sweetness underneath, faintly citric. It reads clean and outdoor rather than warm or woody.
In perfumery
A top-note material used for lift and for cold, open-air realism in fougeres, chypres and forest accords. It pairs with incense, cedar, vetiver, juniper and mint, and a small dose keeps resinous compositions from turning heavy. Overdosed, it tips quickly toward household cleaner.
Good to know
Turpentine, the distillate of pine resin, is one of perfumery's quiet workhorses: alpha-pinene recovered from it, much of it a by-product of paper pulping, is a starting material for many synthetic aroma chemicals. Pine oil itself oxidises readily, and the oxidation products are the sensitising ones, so industry standards require a low peroxide value.
Virginia Cedar
Dry pencil-shaving warmth from the eastern redcedar
What it is
Oil from Juniperus virginiana, the eastern redcedar, a juniper rather than a true cedar, growing across the eastern United States. Sawmill shavings and wood waste are steam-distilled into cedarwood Virginia oil, rich in cedrol and the cedrenes; the same wood traditionally made lead pencils.
How it smells
Dry, soft and woody, smelling distinctly of freshly sharpened pencils and cedar closets. It opens clean and faintly sweet with a balsamic edge, then dries into a smooth, mildly resinous, pencil-shaving warmth, gentler and rounder than the sharper Atlas or Texas cedars.
In perfumery
A versatile base and heart note adding dry woody backbone, fixative power and structure to chypres, fougeres and masculine woods. It blends with vetiver, sandalwood, rose and citrus and underpins countless wood accords; crystalline cedrol is isolated from it for cleaner woody touches.
Good to know
Eastern redcedar oil long repelled moths and insects, the reason cedar chests and closet liners are cut from it. Its abundance as a pencil-mill and sawmill byproduct makes it one of perfumery's most affordable and sustainable woody materials, distilled in large industrial volumes.
Incense
Sacred smoke curling from resin and embers
What it is
In perfumery, incense usually means olibanum, the oleo-gum-resin of Boswellia trees from Oman, Somalia and Ethiopia. The bark is slashed, weeps a milky exudate that hardens into amber tears, and these are steam-distilled to an essential oil or solvent-extracted to an absolute; blends often add labdanum and styrax.
How it smells
Cool, dry and resinous, with a sharp citrus-pine lift over smoky, peppery warmth. There is a clean church-air quality: balsamic, slightly soapy, faintly green. It opens bright and turpentine-fresh, then settles into a meditative, ashen-sweet woodiness that lingers close to the skin.
In perfumery
A heart-to-base material prized for its contemplative, smoky-resinous character. It cools florals, sharpens woods and lends ritual gravity to oriental and chypre accords. It defines the great church-incense scents and the cold, mineral incense of many a meditative niche composition.
Good to know
Frankincense was once worth its weight in gold, carried along ancient Arabian caravan routes to temples across the Mediterranean and beyond. Wild Boswellia stands are now threatened by over-tapping, grazing and climate stress, prompting growing interest in sustainable harvesting and tapping quotas.
Mint
A cold green rush that clears the head
What it is
Mint oils are steam-distilled from the leaves and flowering tops of Mentha herbs, chiefly peppermint (Mentha piperita) and spearmint (Mentha spicata), cultivated in the United States, India and Europe. The fresh or wilted herb is distilled, then peppermint oil is often partially dementholised to crystallise out excess menthol.
How it smells
Peppermint is piercing, cool and almost icy from its high menthol content, with a sharp camphor-medicinal edge. Spearmint is softer, sweeter and rounder, herbal and faintly fruity from carvone, without the cold bite. Both read green and watery before drying to a clean herbal hum.
In perfumery
A volatile top note used for freshness, coolness and a crisp herbal lift, mint flickers through fougeres, colognes and aromatic-fresh masculines. It pairs with lavender, basil, citrus and chocolate, and drives bracing minty openings in many sport-fresh blends.
Good to know
Menthol triggers the skin's cold-sensing TRPM8 receptors, so mint reads cold even when it is not, the same trick used in toothpaste and chewing gum. Most commercial menthol is now synthesised at industrial scale, notably by Takasago, rather than distilled from the plant.
Damask Rose
The empress of roses, distilled at dawn
What it is
Damask rose is Rosa damascena, a hardy hybrid shrub cultivated mainly in Bulgaria's Rose Valley, Turkey's Isparta region and Iran. Petals are hand-picked before sunrise, then either steam-distilled into rose otto or solvent-extracted into rose absolute, each capturing a different facet of the bloom.
How it smells
Deep, honeyed and unmistakably rosy, with a green, dewy freshness up top and a spicy, almost peppery warmth beneath. The otto leans clean and waxy with a clove-like edge; the absolute is darker, jammier and more fruity. The drydown holds a soft, lingering floral sweetness.
In perfumery
A central heart note prized for body and roundness. It blends with oud, patchouli, geranium, saffron and fruity notes, anchoring oriental and chypre builds. Dark, jammy rose compositions showcase its richness, while countless rose soliflores lean on damascones for their lift.
Good to know
Roughly three to four tonnes of petals yield a single kilogram of rose otto, placing it among the costliest naturals. The damascones and damascenones, isolated from rose in the 1970s, became landmark aroma molecules that read as rosy at vanishingly small concentrations.
Guaiac Wood
Smoldering rosewood from the arid Gran Chaco
What it is
Guaiac wood oil comes from Bulnesia sarmientoi, a slow-growing hardwood of the Gran Chaco across Paraguay, Argentina and Bolivia. Chipped heartwood and sawdust are steam-distilled into a pale amber, waxy oil that solidifies at room temperature and melts close to skin warmth.
How it smells
Warm, smoky and balsamic, like a smoldering ember rather than open flame. A soft, sweet woodiness carries a distinct tea-rose facet, with powdery, peppery and faintly tar-like nuances. It dries down rounded and quietly creamy, blurring the line between wood and gentle incense.
In perfumery
A base note valued as much for fixative power as for scent, extending and grounding a blend. It rounds rough woods and smoky leathers, pairing with rose, vetiver and tobacco. Its hushed smokiness threads through many modern niche woody and oud-style compositions.
Good to know
Bulnesia sarmientoi has been on CITES Appendix II since 2010, so logs, extracts and oil need permits as overharvesting threatens the species. Sold as Argentine lignum vitae, it is a substitute for true lignum vitae, the unrelated Guaiacum genus listed by CITES decades earlier.
Vanilla
The warm sweet heart of comfort itself
What it is
Vanilla comes from the cured seed pods of Vanilla planifolia, a climbing orchid native to Mexico now grown mainly in Madagascar, Réunion and Tahiti. Green pods are picked unripe, then blanched, sweated in the sun and slow-dried over months until they darken and develop their aroma and vanillin.
How it smells
Sweet, warm and creamy, with a balsamic depth recalling custard, caramel and dried fruit, a faint smoky tobacco-like edge sitting underneath. It opens soft and gourmand, then dries into a powdery resinous warmth that clings close to skin and reads richer than synthetic vanillin alone.
In perfumery
A base note prized for richness and lasting warmth, vanilla rounds sharp edges and anchors oriental and gourmand compositions. It pairs naturally with tonka, amber, sandalwood and spice. Many of the most enduring oriental and tobacco fragrances build their core around it.
Good to know
Vanilla ranks among the costliest spices because each orchid flower opens for one day and must be hand-pollinated, a technique devised in 1841 by Edmond Albius, a twelve-year-old enslaved boy on Réunion. Most commercial vanilla flavor now relies on synthetic vanillin.
Vetiver
Cool damp earth pulled from tangled roots
What it is
Vetiver is a tall tropical bunchgrass, Chrysopogon zizanioides, native to India and now grown mainly in Haiti, Java, and Réunion. The prized part is its dense network of fibrous underground roots, which are dug up, washed, dried, and steam-distilled into a thick amber-green essential oil.
How it smells
Cool, damp earth and freshly cut grass over a woody, rooty base. Haitian oil reads smooth, smoky, and faintly hazelnut-sweet; Java leans darker and more leathery. Beneath sit dry cedar, grapefruit-like bitterness, and a persistent green minerality that lingers for hours as it dries down.
In perfumery
A base note valued for tenacity, grounding earthiness, and natural fixative power. It anchors chypres and fougères, pairing with citrus, leather, and tobacco. Many vetiver soliflores are built around it, while its smokier, ashier side is showcased beside cypress and cedar.
Good to know
Haiti supplies roughly half the world's vetiver oil, most of it grown by smallholder farmers. The same deep roots that perfume a bottle are planted on hillsides worldwide as living barriers, gripping soil against erosion and stabilizing slopes where little else will hold.
Benzoin
Warm vanilla balsam wept from a tapped tree
What it is
Benzoin is a balsamic resin from Styrax trees of Southeast Asia. Siam benzoin comes from Styrax tonkinensis (Laos, Vietnam), Sumatra benzoin from Styrax benzoin (Indonesia). Incisions in the bark make the tree exude a gum that hardens over months into reddish tears, processed into resinoid and absolute.
How it smells
Sweet, warm and balsamic with a pronounced vanilla character and powdery, ambery, faintly cinnamic facets. Siam is rounder and more vanillic; Sumatra is smokier with a cinnamon-styrax edge. It opens soft and creamy, then dries into a cozy, resinous, almost caramelized sweetness.
In perfumery
A warm base note and gentle fixative lending sweetness, body and a vanillic glow to amber accords. It blends with labdanum, vanilla, tonka and incense, smoothing orientals and gourmands. Benzoin is a defining warmth in golden-age oriental classics and countless amber compositions.
Good to know
Benzoin gave its name to benzoic acid and, through it, to the chemical term benzene. The word itself traces to the Arabic luban jawi, "frankincense of Java." The resin never flows on its own; every tear is the tree healing an incision deliberately cut into its bark.
Incense Resinoid
The raw resin, not the distilled oil
What it is
Incense resinoid is olibanum, the gum resin of Boswellia trees, extracted with solvent rather than steam-distilled. Scoring the bark makes the tree weep a sap that hardens into tears; washing those tears with a hydrocarbon solvent and stripping it off leaves a thick, dark, semi-solid concentrate.
How it smells
Closer to the burning resin than to the distilled oil. The bright lemon-and-pine lift of frankincense oil is largely absent; what remains is dark, sweet and balsamic, dusty and slightly waxy, with the warm smoke of a censer and a faint bitter-green edge.
In perfumery
A base-note fixative rather than a top-note lift. Its heavy, low-volatility fraction holds a composition together and slows the escape of lighter materials, which is why perfumers reach for it over the oil when they want incense that stays. It sits well with benzoin, labdanum, myrrh and vanilla.
Good to know
One tree, two materials. Steam carries only the volatile fraction over, leaving the heavy acids and waxes behind in the still; solvent takes everything soluble, heavy fraction included. That is the whole difference between the oil and the resinoid, and it is why the same tears can smell like two things.
Ambrette
Plant musk pressed from a mallow seed
What it is
Ambrette is the seed of Abelmoschus moschatus, a hibiscus-like mallow plant native to India and grown across tropical Africa, Asia and South America. The small, musky-smelling seeds are steam-distilled or CO2-extracted to yield an oil rich in ambrettolide, a macrocyclic musk lactone.
How it smells
Soft, warm and genuinely musky in a way no synthetic quite matches: powdery and skin-like, with a sweet, slightly nutty amber facet and a fruity pear-and-iris floralcy. It feels velvety and human, smoother and rounder than synthetic musks, blooming slowly into a clean, intimate warmth.
In perfumery
A base note and exalting fixative, the finest plant-derived musk available to perfumers. It lifts and rounds blends, adding skin-like sensuality to florals, iris and gourmands. Classic aldehydic florals and modern musk compositions use it to give natural muskiness without animal sources.
Good to know
Ambrette became vital after nitro-musks were restricted and animal musk fell from use, offering a rare botanical alternative whose ambrettolide is chemically akin to muscone. Yields are tiny, making it one of the costliest naturals and a quiet luxury hidden in many fine perfumes.
Amber
A warm resinous glow built, not harvested
What it is
Amber is not one ingredient but a perfumer's accord, most often blending labdanum (a sticky resin from the Mediterranean rockrose shrub Cistus ladanifer), benzoin and vanilla, sometimes with tonka or Peru balsam. Despite the name, it has no link to fossilized tree amber, which stays odorless on skin.
How it smells
Warm, soft and balsamic, a powdery sweetness sitting over dry resin. It opens honeyed and faintly animalic from labdanum, then settles into rounded golden warmth recalling beeswax, tobacco and worn leather, threaded with a quiet smoky, incense-like undertone that lingers close to the skin.
In perfumery
A base note prized for warmth, depth and long persistence, anchoring oriental and amber compositions. It pairs naturally with vanilla, patchouli, sandalwood and spices. The sweet vanilla-amber template is a perfumery classic, while drier, resin-forward and herbal readings show its other face.
Good to know
The word once meant ambergris, the waxy intestinal secretion of sperm whales, fueling centuries of confusion among three unrelated things: fossil tree amber, whale ambergris and the resin accord. Modern amber bases are wholly plant and synthetic, leaning on molecules like Ambroxan rather than any animal source.
Fragrance Character
Pine, mint and Virginia cedar open cold and resinous, incense already threaded through them. Damask rose and guaiac warm the middle without turning floral, the wood smoky and dry. Then it settles: vanilla, benzoin and amber over vetiver and ambrette, sweet but powdery rather than rich, incense still holding the whole thing together.
Longevity
how long it stays on skin
This gauge reads the expected wear time, how many hours the fragrance keeps speaking on skin before it fades. A marker near the low end means a few fleeting hours, while a marker pushed to the far end promises a scent still present from morning into night.
Sillage
the size of its scent trail
This reads how far the fragrance reaches beyond you and the trail it leaves behind. Low sits soft against the skin, an intimate whisper noticed only up close; high climbs through moderate and strong toward enormous, filling a room and lingering in the air after you have left it.
Experimental
For the bold and curious
Unconventional, boundary-pushing scents for someone who wants to provoke a reaction and stand apart. Suited to artistic, challenging compositions: inky tar, rubber, fermented fruit, metallic or animalic facets that defy easy liking. On this wheel a glowing coin means it rewards the adventurous nose, a dim one means it plays things safe.
Office
Polished but never overpowering
Close-quarters professional settings where a scent should be noticed only by those near you. Suited to restrained, clean compositions with modest projection: tidy citrus, soft musk, pale woods that read competent and considerate. On this wheel a glowing coin means it works in shared workspaces, a dim one means it carries too far.
Evening
After dark, turned up
Dinners, drinks, and nights out when a fragrance can deepen and project with confidence. Suited to richer, warmer compositions: ambers, resins, smoky woods, or plush florals that bloom under low light. On this wheel a glowing coin means the scent comes alive after sundown, a dim one means it stays better suited to daytime.
Romantic
Close enough to be felt
Intimate moments and date nights meant to draw someone nearer. Suited to warm, sensual compositions that hum against skin: creamy florals, vanilla, soft musk, a touch of spice or amber that invites closeness. On this wheel a glowing coin means it sets an alluring mood, a dim one means it leans more practical than seductive.
Formal
Refined for the occasion that matters
Weddings, ceremonies, galas, and dressed-up affairs that call for composure and elegance. Suited to polished, structured scents with quiet authority: smooth woods, refined florals, soft leather, nothing loud or playful. On this wheel a glowing coin means it carries the right grx0lp1n7w, a dim one means it feels too casual for the room.
Casual
Easy comfort for unhurried days
Everyday wear with no agenda: errands, coffee, friends, a slow weekend. Suited to soft, approachable scents that feel clean and natural, like fresh citrus, light woods, or a gentle skin warmth. On this wheel a glowing coin means the fragrance fits these laid-back moments, a dim one means it asks for more.
Day to Night
where its mood naturally falls
This slider reads the hour the fragrance was made for. A marker to the left leans luminous and bright, easy in daylight and open air; slide it right and the character turns deeper and warmer, the kind of presence that belongs to evening and candlelit rooms.
Winter
Warmth that carries through cold air
Cold air mutes and slows a fragrance, so winter rewards the dense and the warm: resins, smoke, vanilla, leather, and ambered spice that radiate heat against the chill. The bar shows how strongly this particular scent holds up and glows in cold weather.
Spring
Fresh blooms in mild, rising warmth
Mild, humid air lifts lighter compositions beautifully, so spring favors dewy florals, green stems, soft powder, and transparent citrus that feel alive rather than heavy. The bar shows how well this particular scent matches that fresh, gently warming season.
Summer
Bright and airy in real heat
Heat amplifies and projects scent hard, so summer calls for cool, crisp, breathable things: sharp citrus, salty marine air, aromatic herbs, and watery freshness that refresh instead of cloy. The bar shows how comfortably this particular scent wears in real warmth.
Fall
Spiced warmth for cooling days
As temperatures drop, richer materials read clearly without smothering, so autumn suits dry woods, warm spice, tobacco, amber, and golden fruit that feel cozy and contemplative. The bar shows how naturally this particular scent settles into crisp, cooling days.
Best Worn
Daylight suits it best, through autumn and winter and into cool spring, on someone who wants gravity without volume. It reaches moderately, close enough for an office or a long walk under bare trees, composed enough for something formal after. It holds eight to ten hours without changing much, which is what makes it versatile across a day.
Choose options
The Vibe
The Nose
Filippo Sorcinelli
Founder and perfumer
Italian organist and sacred-vestment maker whose LAVS atelier has dressed Popes Benedict XVI, Francis and Leo XIV. He created the UNUM line and has said its composing nose prefers to stay anonymous. The line includes UNUM LAVS, Opus 1144, Rosa Nigra and Ennui Noir.
The Maison
Filippo Sorcinelli
Sacristy incense and cold cathedral stone, turned into extrait.
Filippo Sorcinelli builds fragrance the way a cathedral organist builds sound: slow, resinous and unafraid of the dark. As the nose behind UNUM he works in incense and smoke, in the hush of stone interiors and the weight of vestments, so a composition feels less like a scent you spray and more like a room you step into.
- Origin
- Mondolfo, Italy
- Founded
- 2014
- Known for
- Liturgical incense, UNUM
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