CUCURRUCUCÚ

Eau de Parfum

Named after one of the great huapangos, Cucurrucucú features the material perfumer Carter Weeks Maddox believes to be the most alive of them all — copal negro.

Ignored by Europeans due to its sacred use in the scent traditions of various indigenous cultures that have occupied Central American lands since time immemorial, this copal is not plentiful enough to be used in industrial perfumery — nor should it be. It shouldn’t be lied about, either, but perfumers have lied about it. Since Steffen Arctander wrote the book Perfume & Flavor Materials of Natural Origin in 1960, wherein he reported copal produced no essential oil, those in the vanguard industry have parrotted his claim. He was mistaken and so are they.

Carter grew up in land just north of where copal negro grows — and for as long as he's squinted at the lie vanguard perfumery tells about copal, he's always seen through it. Copal absolutely produces an oil. He knows it because he encountered it while growing up.

When he found an artisan distiller with copal oil made from the resin of branches that feel from a tree in 2018 in Guatemala, he pounced.

In Cucurrucucú, copal negro breathes warm life and heart into cade tar, moss, cedar, muskrat and orris. Strong and stable, it’s the olfactive equivalent of a bear hug, lending fortification to lighter papyrus and pine, smoked hinoki wood, and a sooty ink accord of angelica and saffron. Topping off the perfume is a smoky mezcal accord kissed with the cooling anisic nip of wormwood.

Composition:

• Absinthe, Angelica, Saffron, Mezcal, Papyrus
• Black Copal Resin, Iris, Hinoki Wood, Ink
• Cade, Cedar Wood, Moss, Muskrat, Pine

Perfumer: Carter Weeks Maddox, 2022

inci list: Alcohol denat., fragrance (parfum), may contain any of the following: amyl cinnamal, amyl cinnamyl alcohol, anise alcohol, benzyl alcohol, benzyl benzoate, benzyl cinnamate, benzyl salicylate, cinnamal, cinnamyl alcohol, citral, citronellol, coumarin, eugenol, farnesol, geraniol, hexyl cinnamate, hydroxycitronellal, isoeugenol, limonene, linalool, hydroxyisohexyl 3-cyclohexene carboxaldehyde, methyl-2 octynoate, alpha-isomethyl ionone, evernia prunastri (oakmoss) extract, evernia furfuracea (treemoss) extract