Lily of the Valley, gardenia, musk, pink pepper, and smoke. These are the fragrance ingredients I commonly lean toward in some variation or another. While the result is always different, the ingredients in my go-to scents are remarkably traditional despite their varying olfactive families and note combinations. So imagine my surprise when I spritzed House of BŌ’s Oro Verde eau de parfum and was instantly captivated by the subtle scent of… weed.
While cannabis, the plant, has been around for longer than humans have been, our relationship with it has shifted throughout the years. This rings especially true in the United States, where we’ve witnessed waves of laws and movements—and even weed’s recent reclassification—ripple throughout the country for decades. Some love it; some hate it. Some are incarcerated for it; some can grow it at home. The divide is real.
Now, marijuana is taking the fragrance industry’s limelight, and it can’t help but feel like an act of defiance. Even though 24 states currently allow for the possession and consumption of marijuana, the plant remains controversial to many. However, it’s recently been featured in more than a handful of fine fragrances, nodding toward a culture shift that predicts a more kush-friendly and creative future.
Dries Van Noten, Byredo, and Comme des Garçons are among the brands that have launched eau de parfums, ranging from the nostalgic and earthy to the juicy and adventurous. Beyond traditional perfume, candles from luxury brands such as Loewe and The Maker speak to consumers’ changing attitudes towards marijuana.
The recent surge in popularity since then shouldn’t come as a surprise. After all, people have always been drawn to the counterculture. Carlos Huber, an independent fragrance developer and founder of Arquiste, says it's natural for humans to want to push the envelope to evolve. In fact, he says it’s important that we do: “It stretches where culture, creation, and even retail goes."
It’s important to note that these scents are far removed from any memories of what college dorm rooms smelled like. Today’s fragrances vary on a spectrum, from a freshly lit joint to a whiff caught through a breeze. In short, they can be as potent or as subtle as the user wants them to be, and many of them are strikingly chic—it’s all about nailing the right chemistry.
Perfumer Adriana Medina says the secret to creating an elevated cannabis blend is to disguise the accord with other notes that complement it. “It needs to be massaged in a way that is more blended,” she explains. Of course, what we’re drawn to is subjective, so what may smell “good” to you may repel others, and vice versa.
“It’s important to note that these scents are far removed from any memories of what college dorm rooms smelled like.”
Cannabis by itself is dry, but when blended with other ingredients, it can smell well-rounded and even juicy. Boy Smells’ Italian Kush delivers a balancing act of juicy citrus and hemp for a scent reminiscent of a cheeky smoke with a crush on the Amalfi Coast. There’s something almost mouth-watering about the experience. Byredo’s Open Sky feels equally fresh, its juice anchoring a bright pomelo with earthy notes of vetiver, cannabis, and palo santo for a combination that feels so mysterious and alluring, it’s nearly magnetic. BORNTOSTANDOUT’s Mary Jane incorporates tropical notes like passionfruit, mint, and grapefruit into the mix for a tangy hemp scent. And House of BŌ’s Oro Verde smells like an oceanside getaway lost in a daydream, with the perfect melange of contrasting green watermelon, cannabis, and sand-grown vetiver—it’s an adventure in a bottle.
For those who want a more straightforward grass, there are equal options. Niche Scottish fragrance brand Jorum Studio takes users on an olfactive journey with its Gorseland extrait de parfum, which blends pineapple weed, gorsewood, and kush and gives off an almost spicy scent reminiscent of anise. Dries van Noten’s Voodoo Chile nestles cannabis at the center of its top notes and grounds it with rosemary, patchouli, and cedarwood for a grounded and dense effect designed to emulate Jimi Hendrix’s track by the same name. For Swedish brand 19-69 — whose entire brand is inspired by iconic moments throughout counterculture history — blends cannabis, sage, bitter grapefruit, and moss in its Chronic eau de parfum, in part as an homage to Dr. Dre’s "The Chronic." Comme des Garçons’ Ganja leans on the spicy side with cumin, black pepper, and guaiac wood swirling around the hemp-heart note.
Cannabis accords may be trending now, but it’s not the first time they’ve appeared in the fragrance space. In 2006, Fresh’s Cannabis Santal hit the market for the first time (it’s being relaunched in the US this August but is available for purchase through its European site), while Malin + Goetz’s Cannabis eau de parfum launched shortly after in 2010. Byredo tested its luck when it launched Open Sky in 2021 as a limited-edition scent, but it quickly integrated the fragrance into the permanent collection following its sweeping popularity among consumers.
There’s an undeniable attention-grabbing element to cannabis-scented perfumes that feels like a gold-mine opportunity for perfumers. Gossamer’s co-founder Verena von Pfetten points out that whether you love it or not, the smell of weed is recognizable. “Even if you're not a consumer, you know what that scent is,” she says. And since it is still controversial, the fragrance becomes a conversation starter and leaves an unforgettable trail.
From an industry perspective, capitalizing on the above may be good for business. Apart from its olfactive identifiability, there’s an inevitable allure about a controversial ingredient. Huber points to patchouli as a parallel. “It became associated with counterculture through nineteenth-century courtesans and prostitutes who coveted patchouli because it was associated with luxury goods imported from India,” he says. “Eventually, the Industrial Revolution caught on, and it became more affordable and made its way to this group of people.”
In much the same way, cannabis can be perceived as a bit mischievous and naughty, which is key to its allure. “It's something that sticks out," he continues, "but at the same time, it's incredibly rich, interesting, and different because it doesn’t fit in"—at least, in the mainstream.
The surge in popularity is parallel to society’s shifting perspective of cannabis and the people who consume it. “The glamorization of cannabis very much goes hand-in-hand with the conversation around de-stigmatization, and there's a good and a bad side to that,” von Pfetten begins. On the one hand, she says, this shift suggests that previous iterations of cannabis and ideas of it were not luxurious, which is problematic mainly because of the way cannabis has been policed and politicized. On the other, there's high-end and low-end everything: clothing, groceries, electronics. “The good part of de-stigmatization is that the more places we feel comfortable talking about [cannabis], engaging with it, or seeing it, hopefully, the more comfortable everybody can become with it,” she says. “As long as that is just one aspect of the conversation and not the entirety of the conversation.”
The scent is also becoming more common in the world of home fragrances. Loewe’s Scent of Marihuana candle smells earthy, grounded, and smokey in a way that feels more like an upscale ceremonious experience than a dense and humid one. The New Savant’s “The Dropout” candle balances hemp leaves with rhubarb, vanilla, leather, and golden saffron and is designed to honor co-founder Ingrid Nilsen’s distaste for school yet insatiable hunger for learning. The Maker’s Spiritus candle takes users on a symphonic journey with cannabis and frankincense collaboration that dances with notes of vanilla bean as the flame flickers.
What’s great about this category of scents is how versatile and transportive they can be. House of BŌ’s founder, Bernardo Möller, says Oro Verde was made with a curious and daring spirit in mind. “It’s for anybody, but particularly for someone who is kind of tired of the monotony of the everyday and wants to feel more adventurous,” he says, though he adds that anybody can wear it. “My mom loves it, and she would never be aligned with anything cannabis-related.”
