Naga

A python in the pandanus vines.

The vines stand near an ancient Hindu temple, where the incense has been burning for centuries. A tribute to the serpent gods of the old myths, and the first collaboration between JINX and Rajesh Balkrishnan. Leathery and woody, with a slight touch of green, and a startling foray into dark, incensy leather.

Oud from Nagaland sits under the pandanus, violet leaf and spices, with Mysore santal, a leather accord and Tibetan deer musk beside it.

JINX is an artisan house working out of a refurbished restaurant in Canandaigua, in the Finger Lakes region of central New York State. Arthur Clayton Emrick runs it, mostly self-taught, with a love of chemistry forged through beer and wine making and the culinary arts. The inspiration is Michigan, an extremely rural part of it, and the wild flowers and deep woods of a childhood there. The work is oud-centric and animalic, built on high-quality natural materials used in quantity.

Many of the JINX fragrances are entirely natural and many are not. Synthetic materials, where they are used, are named rather than left out. US houses are not bound by IFRA, and JINX complies with it anyway wherever synthetics appear. Natural animal musks appear in several of the releases. Materials are named specifically. A sandalwood by its year, an oud by where it came from.