In 2015 Le Labo released Thé Noir 29, a scent from perfumer Frank Voelkl, the same perfumer behind the house's best-known sandalwood. One fragrance writer put it plainly: "This 2015 release is one powerful brew." The label itself calls it "an ode to the noble leaf and the craft that surrounds it." I like that it starts with a tea leaf and not a flower.

Le Labo has been a New York name since 2006, when Fabrice Penot and Eddie Roschi, who met working at Armani, opened their first lab in Nolita. Each bottle is hand-blended in the shop at purchase and given a customized label. That is part of the charm, and also part of why people go looking for something they can just pick up and spray. This Le Labo The Noir 29 dupe edit is simply that: bottles from other labels that share the notes the brand lists, bergamot, fig and bay leaf up top, cedarwood, vetiver and musk underneath. In the same family, never the same bottle.

Fig comes first. Picture a damp October walk in a cedar-green coat, a cup going cold in your hand. For that I would reach for Father Figure from Phlur, which pairs fig with jasmine dew and sandalwood, or Philosykos from Diptyque, which builds the whole tree: green leaves, milky fig and white wood. Fig Infusion from Essential Parfums is the closest to the brief, since it lays black tea under the fig. Woodphoria from Boy Smells keeps fig leaf next to sandalwood, and Moroccan Fig from Malin+Goetz leans earthy, with amber and resin.

My test: spray one on skin, not paper, and give it thirty minutes, as perfumers advise. A good alternative should still have a green fig, not a candy one, at the end of that half hour.

Tea is the hard note to find in a bottle, because it can slide into either grass or sweetness. The Le Labo version leans on a black tea extraction that the brand describes as dry, leafy and hay-like, so I look for tea that stays on the dry side.

Molecule 01+ Black Tea from Escentric Molecules is the most direct: a unisex mix of Iso E Super and black tea, spare and woody. Somewhere but nowhere from Lore steeps black tea in the heart with cedarwood and cardamom, which is the closest to the cedar and tea pairing of the original. Both would sit well under a camel coat on a cold morning.

Then there is the softer side. Earl Grey & Cucumber from Jo Malone London is a cologne, so it is lighter and fades sooner, and Bvlgari's Eau Parfumee Thé Vert and Thé Blanc are green and white tea in frosted bottles, bright rather than smoky. Freedom Musk Matcha from Kayali and The Vanille from Nette go creamy with matcha, and White Tea from Elizabeth Arden stays airy.

What I would skip: the creamy matcha ones if you want the dark, tobacco-leaning feeling of black tea. They are lovely, just a different mood.

Fitting-room test: smell the dry down at the wrist an hour later, not the first spritz. If the tea is gone and only vanilla is left, keep looking.

Vetiver is a grass root, and in a good bottle it smells earthy, a little smoky, a little like cut stems. Cedar and vetiver are what Le Labo lists beneath the fig and bay leaf, so a look-alike should have some woody backbone rather than just a nice opening.

For the cleanest earth I would go to Vetiver from Malin+Goetz, which warms the grass with celery seed, amber and guaiacwood. Vetyverio from Diptyque uses vetiver in overdose, smoky and subtly floral, and Mon Vetiver from Essential Parfums is Haitian vetiver with a lime and juniper accord. Chantecaille's Vetyver is dry and spare, with juniper, pepper and nutmeg. Bois de Balincourt from Maison Louis Marie leans cedarwood and sandalwood with a vetiver base.

Two cross over to the fig side. London 1983 from Henry Rose pairs black pepper fig with vetiver bourbon, which is the nearest thing here to the fig and wood handshake. Sultan Vetiver from Nishane is an extrait, deeper and more formal, for evenings.

What I would skip: Ombre Leather from Tom Ford, if you want the airy tea feeling. It is black leather with patchouli and vetiver, and a good one, but it is heavier and darker than anything tea.

Practical note: vetiver changes the most between the first minute and the second hour, so test it on skin and walk around before you decide.

A mist is the easy way to wear a scent family without committing to a full bottle of perfume. Perfume Society points out that hair "doesn't heat up as much as skin, and will absorb the smell more deeply," so a mist on the ends can carry a fig and wood note all day. Patch test first, as they say.

Bohemian Fig from Josie Maran is the one I would start with: woodsy, smoky fig with vetiver, vanilla orchid and bergamot. Sandstone from Glossier has fig leaf, clary sage and lavandin, earthy and dry. For the wood side, Santal & Vetiver from Salt & Stone brings sandalwood, vetiver and amber, and Saffron & Cedar adds saffron and cedarwood.

Matcha Milk from Phlur gives black tea and matcha a milky edge, and Cashmere Woods from Touchland is small enough for a coat pocket. Cashmere Skin from Phlur is a skin-musk base that would sit under almost anything, and skin scents like it are what Cosmopolitan likens to the white t-shirt of perfume.

What I would skip: Madurai Jasmine from Fable & Mane if you want tea and wood. It is a lovely jasmine, just a different direction.

Layering tip: spray the heavier woody mist on first, the lighter one on top, and keep the skin moisturized, since dry skin lets a scent fade fast.

Oils sit close to the skin and stay put, which suits a scent built on cedar and vetiver. There is less sparkle on top, so what you smell is mostly the wood.

Cedar Supreme from Cyklar is the closest to the brief: crisp cedarwood and bergamot with tonka bean, in a 15 ml roll-on. Sacred Santal from the same label goes warmer, with cashmere wood and vanilla. Bois de Balincourt in oil from Maison Louis Marie is sandalwood and cedarwood over a vetiver base, and Bousval has bergamot, white ginger and cedar noir, with an oakmoss edge I like on a gray day.

Byredo's Bal d'Afrique rollerball puts bergamot and violet over vetiver and Moroccan cedarwood, and Mojave Ghost sets ambrette and magnolia over cedarwood, softer and more skin-like.

What I would skip: the vanilla oils, Dulce from By Rosie Jane and Madagascar Vanilla from Nest New York, unless you want a sweet finish. They are warm and comforting, and a long way from tea and tobacco leaf.

Test: roll it on the inside of the wrist, give it a few minutes, then check the cedar after twenty.

I would begin with the fig, since it is the note people recognize first. Father Figure or Fig Infusion would be my first spritz. Then I would pick one dry vetiver for the base, Vetiver from Malin+Goetz or Vetyverio, and one cedar roll-on for the pulse points.

Layer, do not replace: a fig mist over a cedar oil gets nearer the mood of the original than any single bottle, and it lets you set the dryness yourself.

Thé Noir 29 was a cup of black tea turned into a coat on a cold day. Anything you choose should be a good cup of its own.