Kühn Scent Profiles
Kühn Products Scent Profiles
Welcome to the page where I attempt to describe each one of our popular scents.
I get asked all the time, "What scent would you recommend?". That's very difficult, we all have different likes and dislikes. Allow me to give you some guidance as to where to start, hopefully this will help find your own recommendation.
Slightly sweeter, fruitier scents include:
- Black Sea
- Cedar & Cinnamon
- Apple & Bourbon
- Cedar & Amber
- Cedar & Leather
- Cherry Pipe
- Mahogany
- Mountain Forest
- White Sand
Somewhere in between light & sweet and deep & rich:
- Birchwood
- Misty Mountain
- Mountain Whiskey
- Smoke
- Hickory
- Utah Summer
- Spiced Berry
If you're looking for something "lightly scented", perhaps someone doesn't like strongly scented beard oils or balms. If that's the case, I would recommend either Birchwood or Hickory. These are two of the lightest scents I make. Of course, you can always go UNSCENTED.
If you're still reading this and want to learn about each scent, I've listed the scents below with my best attempt at describing each scent profile. All of the following scents are available in beard oil, beard balm, and beard butter.
In alphabetical order:
Apple & Bourbon
Here when you think apple, think apple cider. It's not sharp and sweet like that of apple juice, instead it's deeper, richer, thicker apple like you'd expect from apple cider. It's still sweet, just not as sharp. The usual sharp, high pitched sweet from the apple is turned down by the bourbon. In order to balance these two contrasting scents, something else needs to be added to give it a full balance. To do that, we added the slightest bit of clove and cinnamon. There's not enough of either of those to notice, they're just there for balance. This scent is popular year round, but we have to bring in extra every year when Autumn comes.
Birchwood
You're looking at kühn's first born. Well, ok, not exactly our first born. It is however, the first scent we officially released. Birchwood is very popular, especially with women. There is something there that seems to draw them in. Obviously men like it too, but this one gets the most positive reviews from women. They love the way it smells on a man. It's no wonder really; it's light, it's slightly sweet, but not too much. It's manly, but not too much. It's soft, but not too much. This is one of our most complex scents. With notes of cypress, lime, sea salt, oud, leather, amber, moss, birch, & sandalwood.
Whenever I'm asked to recommend a scent, this is always on the list.
Black Sea
Plums have always been one of my favorite fruits. The purple can look so cool and there's nothing better than a perfect plum. This was the inspiration behind Black Sea. We wanted a scent designed around plum. So to start comes a hint of bergamot, followed by the sweet and mellow scent of a ripe plum, then balanced with a beautifully rich and tame musk. The plum shines through, the musk is a perfect balance.
Cedar & Amber
This is very much what it sounds like. Imagine a big log of cedarwood smoldering on a fire. Still fresh enough that it doesnt smell burnt, but definitely smokey. Now take that smokey cedarwood and add just a touch of sweetness to it. The littlest bit of amber and a hint of vanilla. The sweeter notes really takes the edge off the strength that cedar can bring to a scent. Cedar can be very overpowering, we've tamed it perfectly. It's the go to for any cedarwood fan.
Cedar & Cinnamon
Yes, this is also how it sounds, it's cedar and cinnamon and definitely smells like cedar and cinnamon. However, it is a little more complex than that. See, I'm not actually a big fan of cedarwood, cedar by itself gets old very quick. My goal in creating scents is to take a scent I'm not a fan of, and create something I am a fan of. In this case I took two scents I don't really like, and made something I do like. How? By adding a few other scents to balance it all out. Cedar and cinnamon can be rather sweet and sharp, I mute that by adding a tiny bit of patchouli and a tiny bit of vetiver, enough to take the edge off, but not enough that you'd pick them out individually. I also add a hint of sandalwood and musk for added base notes. If you don't like cedar or cinnamon at all, this probably isn't the scent for you. However, even if you only like one of those two scents, I think you should give it a try.
Cedar & Leather
This is not a subtle scent. If you like leather, I think you would like this. It's definitely woodsy, with cedar musk, leather, and tonka bean to even it out.
Cherry Pipe
Warm, pleasant, and sweet with notes of warm tobacco and cherry. There's not much else to it really. It's very popular.
Hickory
Imagine a leather coat wrapped around a bunch of freshly cut hickory wood. Now imagine that leather coat has a small mandarin orange peel in one pocket, and a tiny bit of musk and tobacco in the other. Now put that leather coat on and breath in deep. This is what our hickory scent smells like.
Mahogany
Picture this.
You're sitting in a mahogany floored library surrounded by mahogany bookshelves filled with very old books. You catch a hint of musk but can't determine if it's coming from the wood or books or something else. It's not so strong that it smells dirty or dusty. It hangs rather loosely in the air, like someone was smoking a pipe or cigar maybe 20 minutes ago. You also catch the faint scent of something sweet. Apple perhaps?
You do a double take. You were certain the wooden floors and shelves were mahogany. So where did that cedarwood come from, or is it oak? Or maybe it's both, but there's definitely more wood than just mahogany. Ah, there's the sweetness you were picking up. An open bottle of bourbon not 10 feet away. Someone lined the glass of bourbon with apple slices. Apple slices? Is that a thing?
All of that is the mahogany experience. Wearer be warned, this is a rich scent, there's nothing real subtle about it.
Misty Mountain
Utah Summer and Smoke are two of our most popular scents. Think of Misty Mountain as a blend of these two. The cranberry and grapefruit top notes of Utah Summer with Smoke base notes of cardamom, musk, sandalwood, and vetiver. It's one of our newest scents and already one of our most popular.
Mountain Forest
This is how it sounds. It's what you would expect an early morning walk through a densely wooded mountain forest. That earthy smell you'll pick up if it's slightly damp a long with a hint of pine, sage, and basil. This is the scent I recommend when anyone says they're looking for something "woodsy" or "something that smells like the mountains" or "I'm looking for something piney" or "I spend a lot of time in the mountains and I want something that captures that".
So just like a spending time in a mountain forest never gets old, this never gets old either.
Mountain Whiskey
You'll catch a some bergamot, clove, soft musk, hint of leather, and patchouli. At the very end you catch the most subtle of orange peel, it's barely there, but just enough to give it a touch of sweetness. It's the perfect blend of sweet and rich. There is a reason why this is our most popular scent.
Smoke
When you think of smoke, don't think of a burning house type smoke, or the putrid smell of burning rubber, or that of a cigarette. When you think of kühn "smoke", think of the sweet smelling smoke of cherry wood or hickory. This has a lighter, sweeter scent profile like that of Utah Summer. You'll catch grapefruit in there too like Utah Summer, but with the addition of cardamom, birch, sandalwood, and vetiver.
Spiced Berry
It's not super sweet and it's not really musky. I think it strikes the perfect balance of both. That being said, it's definitely sweeter than musky. I know, super confusing. The notes are of apple, berry, citrus, balsam fir, cinnamon, clove, cedarwood, and musk.
Utah Summer
Summer in Utah is hot and dry. I wanted to make a scent that reflected that; something HOT, something FIRE! So here it is, the essence of summer in Utah, reflected in this manly scent. You'll catch a spicy blend of grapefruit and redwood with a hint of cranberry. Followed up with a deep amber that comes out more woodsy than it does sweet. This is on the lighter side of our scents. It's sweeter, which was the point.
That's what summer is to supposed to be.
White Sand