RUŌOD Lab

Level 4 · Accord Construction

Leather and Smoke: Study Guide

Read our leather accord guide, then read published leather structures and test a smoky material at trace level, learning why it needs the lightest touch.

Intermediate 20 min study By the RUŌOD Lab team Updated

In short

A leather accord is a composed effect, often built from smoky, phenolic, animalic and sweet materials. It is not extracted from leather. The reference guide sets out the structure. This study guide reads published examples and practices the discipline these materials demand: the lightest touch you can measure.

What you will learn

  • Identify the usual building blocks of a leather effect
  • Dose a smoky or tarry material at trace level

Before this lesson: Amber Accord Workshop

What to look for as you read

  • The difference between smoky leather and soft suede.
  • Which materials give the effect at a trace, and which give the body.
  • Where tar materials have purity and regulatory considerations.

Practical exercise: Add a trace of smoke

About 30 minutes · You will have: a low-dose ladder of one smoky material in your amber or woody accord, and a reading of one leather structure

  1. Read Black Saddle and Suede Halo in the library. Note the share of the smoky or quinoline lines.
  2. If you own a smoky material, make a 0.1% stock, and check its SDS first.
  3. Ladder it into your amber or woody accord at three very low doses, and compare with the plain accord.
  4. Note the dose where the accord gains depth, and where you first smell burnt rubber.

You have done this well if you can name both doses, or, if you only read the formulas, can state what share of each formula its smoky lines represent.

Knowledge check

1. Is a leather accord an extract of leather?
Show the answer

No, it is a composed effect, often with smoky, phenolic or animalic materials. Perfumery leather is composed. It does not come from the hide.

2. Why dose birch tar or similar materials very low?
Show the answer

They are very strong, and quickly smell of burnt rubber or tar. A trace may give smoke, and more than that takes over. Some tar materials also carry their own safety and purity considerations.

3. Why consider purity with tar materials?
Show the answer

Some crude tar products can contain undesirable constituents, so documents matter. Check supplier documents and the current rules before buying materials such as cade or birch tar.

Further reading and materials

Written and reviewed by the RUŌOD Lab team. This is general education, not legal, regulatory, medical or safety advice. Example dilutions and exercises are for learning, are not validated products, and have not been safety-assessed. Completing a lesson confers no qualification. How we check these lessons.