L'Air du Désert Marocain
Tauer (2005)

Let me say upfront that I am not a pot smoker. It makes me jittery, dry-mouthed, and convinced I've peed myself. Why am I telling you this? Because L'Air du Desert Marocain is the perfect fantasy pot smell. It's dry and rich and herbaceous, chewy like fruit leather, sweet the way sage is sweet, and warm and comforting as a well-worn vintage sweatshirt. Effortlessly cool, perfectly unisex, and as close as I'll come to ever enjoying pot. Luca Turin gave this a 5-star review, and as usual, he's right on the money.

The top (head) of this scent is definitely unique and a bit complicated - coming across as plasticky, medicinal, with some permanent marker - I would never have envisioned such an opening salvo and as such it's intensity wouldn't lend itself to wearing in public as you would choke out the sensitive. Where LAdM shines and is surprisingly bottle worthy is the majestic and absolutely perfect long lasting dry down. The rock rose hangs on to a beautiful amber and it is easily going to hang on well into the next day especially if you spritz in on clothes. It is astoundingly beautiful and plays nice with other scents should you layer on. I cannot fathom this as a blind buy, and needs to be experienced multiple times to truly embrace. It is however on my potential buys list for the coming year. Thumbs up.

Probably the only fragrance that actually would make me think less of a person if I smelled it on them. Another one that I experimented with a lot when it was fashionable, but could not find any context or environment where it actually worked or where it was appealing. All these years later I can only assume it was the exoticism of the packaging that made this a home run for tauer. I picked this up after a holiday in Morocco myself. I would love to be proven wrong. On me this always just resolved as barbecue potato chips. The juice itself resembles a sort of aged pyro fluid in the one decant I recently opened after several years to sniff again. Still no connection. So curious what people who love this pick up, that I’m not getting. There’s no note or accord I can pick out, it feels like a jumbled mess, a random facet highlighted at the top of each wearing and then a thick coating of bbq chip dust for hours and hours. Only curiosity made me refrain from scrubbing it every time, until I just stopped trying.

This scent from Tauer Fragrances is perhaps the most universally appealing of their offerings. If you enjoy amber scents, I believe it's worth a blind purchase. Everyone should experience it at least once in their lifetime. There are already plenty of reviews out there, so I'll keep mine brief.

However, I want to note that this fragrance has been reformulated. Despite Tauer Fragrances claiming that it hasn't changed, I have noticed a difference in its longevity with the newer batches. While the scent itself hasn't changed, the longevity has decreased. It used to last for over a day, and now it only lasts for a day. Despite being an incredible scent, I ended up letting it go to make space for other fragrances.

For all the praise I've seen for Andy Tauer I'm really disappointed with L'Air du Désert Marocain. First scent I try from Tauer btw.

It's very alcoholic in the opening but not in a boozy way, it's alcoholic in a very appalling, synthetic way like you've just taken the cap off of a highlighter or permanent marker, I kid you not. By now I gather that it's actually the boat load of cumin that's in here. In other words this is not well balanced at all. It's way too cumin heavy. This is like replacing all the juniper in Bond No.9 - Cooper Square with solely cumin.

Having read and heard a lot of good things about our programmer-turned-perfumer friend and seeing the interesting note pyramid I really thought he would have come up with something that can compete with a good Creed or so but that's not the case. I can hardly make out any other notes except petitgrain and ambroxan. So I also don't get any ambergris in this nor would it have saved it.

Alchymia. Perfumare. Magnum Opus.

Love for the true art of perfumery, and respect towards other lovers and connoisseurs of the art make it natural to seek and try compositions, causing such turbulence as "L'Air du Désert Marocain".

My first attempt with this perfume was unsuccessful. I wanted to understand why people are excited about it. Naturally, I wanted to feel what Andy Tauer describes as “Lying on the bed, watching the moon rising over the sandy hills of the Saharan desert, he dreamt the fragrance of a Moroccan night.”. My second attempt with the perfume was unsuccessful. And so were all the rest. Again, I am faced with the subjectivity in the perception and imagination of perfumes and all things ether.

Once we have agreed that this perfume is special, let's dive little deeper into it and try and see what happens when I try to communicate with its essence.

There are many things wrong with this composition. Initially, the opening is strong, complex and unique, and makes a mark deeper than the subjective perception. So far so good. However, this quickly starts to qualify as a loud, metallic, dirty, surficial and nauseating scent. Not the qualities I look for in a perfume. Even less so, when I contemplate the Moon in a desert in Marocco, inhaling the mystical Air that has distilled the essence of the conception of Moon, Night and Desert. Turning this air into a liquid would yield the desired perfume.

Air is lightness.
Moon is innocence.
Night is silence.
Desert is austerity and infinity.
Marocco is the alchemy of cultures European and Arabic.
Alchemy is depth and continuous transformation.

I find none of these qualities in "L'Air du Désert Marocain”.

The qualities ascribed to the perfume by Andy Tauer are “powerful, sensual and pure”. I agree that purity and an elegant metaphysical sensuality should/could hold a place in such a perfume. I don't see what being powerful has to do with it though.

As mentioned, however, I appreciate the uniqueness of "L'Air du Désert Marocain". It triggers me as scientific phenomenon, an experiment in perfumery, which deserves attention and recognition in its own right. There should be no room for arrogant neglect here. That is why, I cannot give it a negative rating. As for the experiences I look for in perfume, "L'Air du Désert Marocain" passes by me big time.

Tauer, L'Air du Désert Marocain:
Composition: 6/10
Complexity: 7/10
Development: 5/10
Naturality: 5/10