Behique by Renier Perfumes

It’s a patchouli and herb bomb, smelling like grass after rain: earthy and green. I didn’t detect the marijuana note. As it dries, it vaguely recalls Puig’s Agua Brava, but with a different quality. Behique smells old-school and retro, elegant, like someone with plenty of money and an intellectual profile. Ideal with a tweed jacket and leather elbow patches in autumn or winter. You can tell it uses high-quality natural ingredients. Tried at Cruz & Valencia, Galería Lastarria, Santiago.

The opening is strange, but more digestible than Cacique. It smells smoky and earthy, like burning green grass; then it calms down and moves to a cannabis phase with smoky wood, slightly mentholated and bitter, evoking an ashtray with several butts, multiplied by ten. I don’t feel tobacco, but rather the earthy-medical patchouli and black pepper. Rum? Perhaps. After half an hour, the aggression subsides, giving way to an aromatic phase that is masculine, with elegant, dry tobacco. At ten hours, nothing smoky or cannabis-like remains; it’s a lovely sandalwood with basil and anise, notes that say they are in the heart. Overall, Behique isn’t to my taste, but it’s a complete olfactory experience, just not something I’d wear. Unisex masculine, notable trail, lasts a long time, and has excellent sillage. Pity having to wait so long for what I liked most, the dry-down, which appeared at nine hours. By the way, the first hours reminded me of a damp cave with an earthen floor, like Zoologist’s Bat.

Behique’s scent is the most artistic in the brand’s range. If I put it in a metaphor, it smells of wet earth and herbs with a dark tone, flambéed with rum or another distillate. It’s a dark, deep perfume with presence, but with a hidden side, slightly sweet and mysterious. From the Taino collection, it’s the most complex and difficult to digest. At first, it smelled of freshly heated depilatory wax, but today I understand its composition better; it’s a complete experience to know it. As it develops, patchouli, tobacco, and vetiver appear clearly, but the sensation of earth, liquor, and that dense, opaque green dominate from start to finish. I see it as much more masculine, with brutal performance, original, for cold and temperate climates, special occasions, day and night. If you’re looking for character, resolution, and a challenging edge, this is a ‘must try’. Personally, I value its many layers and high quality, but it’s a bit mature for me yet. Note: 7.5/10. Sampled at Cruz & Valencia, Chile.

It reminds me a little of Taormina’s Cedro. They share basil, cedar, black pepper, and vetiver; one has labdanum and the other amber. It has quite a mature dry-down that doesn’t suit me much either. Quite dry with the pepper, vetiver, cedar, tobacco flower, and basil, although it has a very salty counterpoint from the anise (in my opinion, it could use a bit more of that). This dryness can remind you of an empty humidor, with the tobacco scent still impregnated. It also has a little of Black Afgano’s DNA, although personally, it doesn’t smell of marijuana to me. The performance is very good, but honestly, I can’t support these prices.

Trying it again left me with a small disappointment with the brand, not because the perfume itself is bad or has low-quality ingredients, but due to the high expectations created. It’s not true that it’s one of the most potent or has greater projection as some say; I didn’t notice it. Behique smells good, it’s spiced green with a very notable and spicy tobacco at the start. As it dries, it becomes warmer and resinous with woods that take body. However, the ensemble seems more like a daily wear than for special or night occasions. The performance is good: it lasts eight hours on skin, more on clothes, and although it’s an extrait de parfum, it doesn’t project especially high nor does it feel oily. I see it as unisex, although the tobacco inclines it towards masculine. It’s a good option for winter days or spring/summer nights. In short, it smells great, but I don’t know if it’s worth paying over €200 when there are similar options for less. Now that I know Renier’s extrait range (Behique De Lirius Habana 500), I feel like trying the Rain line, which are eaux de parfum and cost half as much. Perhaps I’ll find something there that seduces me. Scent: 8 Longevity: 8 Projection: 8 Value for money: 4 Versatility: 7 Originality: 7 Overall: 8.