Imaginary Authors — A Whiff of Wafflecone
Essence
A Whiff of Wafflecone is Josh Meyer’s photorealistic gourmand for Portland indie house Imaginary Authors, and one of the brand’s most famous and best-selling scents. This entry documents the current 2023/2024 reformulated edition, which began life in 2020 as a limited Salt & Straw ice cream shop collaboration before demand pushed Meyer to rework the formula and fold it into the permanent line in fall 2023. The brief was charmingly literal from the start: capture the smell of fresh-baked waffle cones as you step into a scoop shop, wrapped in the house’s usual fictional-novel conceit - here a tale of a magical, time-bending ice cream shoppe.
Scent Profile
The 2023 reformulation is a sweet, spicy, creamy gourmand built on caramel, vanilla, and a notably amped-up cinnamon, filled out with sandalwood, almond-syrup orgeat, heavy cream, and an abstract “scoop shop” accord. The opening is intensely sweet - caramel and vanilla read to many wearers as maple syrup over fresh waffles - before Saigon cinnamon delivers a real spicy kick.
The defining change from the original formula is that cinnamon: the brand has said explicitly that adjusting the cinnamon accord made the scent “more delicious, more elegant, more wearable.” Wearers bear this out, with many finding the current version reads noticeably heavier on cinnamon, evoking a churro or chai latte as much as an ice cream cone. The drydown settles into a creamy, lactonic, slightly woody base from heavy cream, orgeat’s marzipan-almond facet, and sandalwood - closer to stroopwafel and caramel sauce than a scorched waffle iron.
This is not a straightforward creamy vanilla. Recurring descriptors include maple syrup, salted caramel, caramel-dipped stroopwafel, pancakes, and toasted sugar, with a minority reporting a boozy or rum-raisin opening and a spice-forward, faintly smoky dry down.
Performance
Performance is the single most consistent theme in every account of this fragrance: it runs enormous. Projection and longevity are repeatedly described in “beast mode” terms, with longevity commonly clustering around 8 to 10-plus hours and several wearers noting it grows stronger as the bottle ages a few months. The flip side is that it can turn overwhelming and cloying in close quarters, so one to two sprays is the near-universal recommendation rather than a full application.
Wearing Context
This is a cool-weather, casual comfort scent through and through. Its spicy-sweet, cinnamon-forward profile pushes it firmly toward fall and winter, though its ice-cream-shop concept gives it some summer-nostalgia appeal too. Think bedtime comfort wear, weekend errands, or compliment-bait at casual gatherings rather than anything formal or office-appropriate - its projection alone argues against a cubicle. It reads as genuinely unisex, tilting slightly masculine on some skin thanks to the woody-spicy base, and works best as a novelty-leaning gourmand worn for its own sake rather than as an everyday signature.
Comparisons & DNA
Within Imaginary Authors, Wafflecone is the house’s first primarily-gourmand release and its most commercial; wearers who favor the brand’s more conceptual, abstract work often find it too literal by comparison. Outside the house, Bond No. 9 New Haarlem’s maple-syrup sweetness and Aquolina Pink Sugar’s cotton-candy register are the most common reference points, though Wafflecone reads spicier and woodier than most straightforward sugar-forward gourmands.
The single most important comparison is internal: the discontinued 2020 original versus this 2023 reformulation. The 2020 version is remembered as rawer, smokier, and burnt, with amyris giving it a moldy-church or smoke-machine edge for some wearers; the 2023 edition dialed that back for a creamier, more cinnamon-driven, more broadly wearable gourmand. Purists still prize the original’s intensity, while most newer wearers consider the update a clear improvement.
Reception
Reception is polarized but net-positive on popularity - this is Imaginary Authors’ most famous release - while remaining critically divisive. The core divide is expectation management: buyers expecting a creamy vanilla ice cream cone are often disappointed to get maple syrup, caramel, and assertive cinnamon instead, and complaints of being “too sweet” or reading like a candle are common. Aggregate reaction to the current edition sits in the middle of the pack for exactly that reason.
It nonetheless retains a devoted following who describe it as warm, inviting, and cocooning, and it reliably draws compliments in casual settings. The recurring bottom line: this is technically well-made and a genuine performance monster, but its literal, syrup-and-cinnamon character doesn’t always match the cozy-vanilla fantasy its name suggests.
Versions & Reformulation
Two distinct releases share a closely related name. The 2020 original, sold under a separate catalog name, was a Salt & Straw exclusive built on syrup, caramel, ice cream, whipped cream, vanilla, cinnamon, and amyris - rawer, smokier, and now discontinued. This 2023/2024 reformulation, folded into the permanent line, reframes the notes around vanilla, salted caramel, Saigon cinnamon, heavy cream, sandalwood, orgeat, and a “scoop shop” accord, with cinnamon boosted and the smoky, burnt facets reduced. The brand has been unusually transparent about the change, publishing its own account of the reasoning behind it.
Acquisition Notes
This 2023/2024 version is in permanent production and widely available directly from Imaginary Authors and authorized niche retailers, typically in 50 ml and 14 ml sizes. Given how strong and polarizing it is, a sample or travel size before committing to a full bottle is the standard advice. The discontinued 2020 original, if you specifically want the smokier profile, mostly surfaces through remaining or secondary-market stock rather than official channels; confirm which edition you’re buying, since label design differs between the two.
Notable Facts & Lore
- Salt & Straw co-founder Tyler Malek discovered Imaginary Authors at a Los Angeles fragrance boutique without realizing the brand was based in his own hometown of Portland, Oregon - the coincidence that sparked the collaboration.
- The project later spawned an edible spin-off: in July 2022, on National Ice Cream Day, three “Culinary Perfumes” were released to be sprayed directly onto Salt & Straw ice cream using food-grade ingredients.
- Like all Imaginary Authors scents, Wafflecone is framed as the scent of a fictional novel, here about a time-bending ice cream shoppe.
- The brand openly published its perfumer’s and creative director’s reasoning for the 2023 reformulation, an unusually candid move in an industry that typically reformulates quietly.
- The fragrance’s sheer strength has become a running joke among wearers, complete with “spray at your own risk” warnings.