Birch Tar

Birch tar is one of perfumery's oldest leather-building blocks, produced by dry-distilling the bark of the silver birch tree at very high temperatures. The resulting tar smells phenolic, smoky, and burnt, with the kind of campfire-meets-Russian-leather facet that no synthetic can fully replicate. Perfumers use it sparingly because of its strength: a single drop in a formula gives a composition its leather backbone for hours. EU regulation has restricted its concentration since 2003, which is why modern leather chypres often substitute synthetic phenolic accords; the best leather perfumes still find ways to include birch tar within limits. Matiere Premiere Falcon Leather and Argos Pallas Athene both rely on it.