Flint is listed as a heart note in Hermes Terre d'Hermes Cologne, and it is not a metaphor, orange and grapefruit leading the top in this Pure Perfume concentration bright and bitter, citrus with real sharpness rather than sweetness. Pepper, pelargonium and flint then compose the heart, that mineral accord delivering something genuinely stony and cold, closer to struck rock than to any plant. Vetiver, cedar, patchouli and benzoin finish it dry, earthy and resinous.
The whole composition is built as a vertical from sky to soil, and the flint is the hinge in the middle, which is why the fragrance has the conceptual coherence it has in the first place. Terre Dhermes Cologne, a citrus woody Eau de Toilette, is built for warm weather travel and outdoor plans.