For the past year, I’ve been committed to entering my fragrance era, constantly testing new scents and bolstering both my fragrance wardrobe and knowledge of the science of scent creation. While I’ve gotten more experimental with my fragrance preferences as of late, there are certain smokier, muskier scents that I’ve had trouble getting behind, one of which is cannabis.
Cannabis fragrances are nothing new, but these fragrances are much more nuanced and elevated than ever before. In fact, the elevation has changed my mind about cannabis scents in candles and perfumes. Recently, I popped into the Malin + Goetz flagship store in New York and took a whiff of its cannabis candle, and I was shocked. For years, I’d sworn off the scent profile, but just one sniff of this new formula made me a convert. So, I tapped the experts at Malin + Goetz to walk me through just what is going on in the world of cannabis fragrances today.
How is cannabis sourced for fragrance?
One of the biggest questions I had was how exactly cannabis turns from an ingestible flower into a scent. Can you even turn cannabis into fragrance legally? According to the Malin + Goetz fragrance experts, it’s more about capturing the essence of the cannabis plant instead of incorporating actual cannabis into their products, and they would know—Malin + Goetz launched their Cannabis eau de parfum in 2010, making them one of the pioneers in the space. “While we don’t incorporate actual cannabis due to regulatory reasons, we capture the plant’s scent to create transcendent moments of grounding stillness,” the brand explains.
“Our cannabis eau de parfum ($98) is an herbaceous, verdant and wild expression of this apothecary-rooted ingredient,” the brand continues. “Instead of using actual cannabis plants, our cannabis scents are formulated with globally sourced ingredients like black pepper—extracted using supercritical methods from black pepper berries in Sri Lanka, this ingredient reveals fresh, peppery facets with a light citrus note and a backdrop of fine woods—Patchouli leaves from Indonesia which are initially dried to release their rich, woody fragrance, then molecularly distilled to enhance their complexity, and orange oil which is upcycled from juice producers and cold-pressed from the peel, delivering a vibrant, zesty freshness.”
What fragrance family are cannabis fragrances part of?
In my mind, cannabis is such a singular scent that it can be hard to place it amongst the fragrance families we know so well. But, as Malin + Goetz explains, the layered profile of cannabis fragrances makes each more palatable and agreeable, specifically for those who like a woody scent. The brand classifies its cannabis fragrance under the woody scent family, as do many other variations of cannabis scents.
What pairs best with cannabis fragrance?
In a similar vein, my lack of familiarity with the complexities of cannabis fragrances left me confused as to how to layer or pair the scent. Nowadays, mixing different scents from your fragrance wardrobe to create a curated concoction is all the rage. So, what mixes best with cannabis scents? According to the experts at Malin + Goetz, “We love pairing cannabis with scents that offer a striking contrast, like our strawberry eau de parfum ($98). It delivers a delicate, fresh and comforting balance, creating a vibrant and unexpected twist.”
4 Cannabis Fragrances to Try
Now that you have the gist of how cannabis fragrances work and why these might be the sleeper hit signature scent you’ve been looking for, here are some of the most popular variations to try now.
