King Tut

I have King Tut and Roja Enigma. King Tut opens with a similar cola vibe, but it is cleaner and simpler. Engima has a more pungent initial hit that has more depth, but also a hint of what feels like a dirty tobacco. King Tut relaxes down into a more skin scent that does radiate a bit more if I move around, but otherwise is closer if in a cooler environment. The King Tut batch I have is a few years old and leaves an oily layer on my skin for about 20 minutes. The Roja Enigma dries down fairly fast, but I was also spraying from a 10ml travel sprayer.... so about 1/2 - 3/4 as much. I find that the King Tut play doh vibe is there when it starts drying down, but not terribly obnoxious, and would probably be more wearable in heat than the Roja Enigma. King Tut is more work ready in small amounts, and is probably pretty good for a dress up event. I would not wear Enigma to the office if I used full sprays. Towards the end a lot of the cola vibe is gone from the King Tut, it's a slow exit, lasting for about 7-9 hours on me. The Roja Enigma get a bit more tobacco present, and I'm not sure I like it up close, but occasionally I get a whiff from arms length that is fairly interesting and pleasant. I don't really care much for the King Tut when it's deep into the dry down, but I don't hate it either... just meh. The Roja seems to hang on till I have to take a shower, and afterwards it taunts me with a vague skin scent echo. Overall I would say the King Tut is a more unisex feel, but for a few hours is a nice calm cola scent. On a woman I would consider this a bit sexy... but that damn playdoh vibe when smelling it up close could annoy some. The Roja Enigma is more masculine and at the same time feels more polished... BUT if I smelled it up close on a woman I would wonder if she was smoking or handling cigars with the boys.... not really sure what I was getting into.

This is a nice fragrance in it's own right IMO. Having not put my nose on the inspiration for this fragrance (Roja Creation E) I do get a nice cola vibe similar to YSL M7 Oud Absolu. From this scent I get Lemon, Cognac, Patchouli, Tobacco and Vanilla. A winner of a scent. Great longevity (8 hours) and projection (4 hours). Worthy of a full bottle, especially if you like Creation E but not the price. Enjoy!

i prefer dua fragrance midnight with the mobster than this.

Circling back to King Tut, after letting it age for a while... My verdict? A resounding MEH. In short, three months of sitting did nothing to improve my opinion of King Tut. Same linearity, same odd almond/cinnamon play-doh dry down. Not much else, unfortunately. If anything, I suspect that main accord has somewhat overwhelmed the other notes I'd picked up on previously. Longevity is still moderate at best. This one is really quiet, shy and short-lived by AF standards. No idea whether it resembles what they set out to clone here, but if it's Enigma, either this clone isn't especially close or everyone is vastly overrating the Roja Dove. Which hey, I can understand, as he (Roja Dove, aka Roger Bird) is a bit of a construct in his own right. It's not that King Tut is terrible -- it's actually fairly nice in its own way -- but honestly, it's also kind of boring to me. It leaves you wishing there were more to it, like a brighter top note or something a bit more balsamic to carry it forward more. Something... more. IMO, not one of Hany's better efforts to date. And he's had plenty of great ones. I just don't think this is one of them.

Nice cola opening that lasts about as long as the citrus top notes -- which is to say a scant few minutes. After that, I get a combination of notes that together present as almost doughy and stone-like in a strange way. Looking at the notes list, I believe what I'm really smelling is the heliotrope combining with vanilla and tobacco into something that evokes tonka and almonds -- a doughy, kind of marzipan/play-doh-ish accord. Likewise, I am imagining that some combination of sandalwood, cognac and ??? evoke a sense of exploring ancient Egyptian temples -- spiced beeswax, cold stone and frankincense, far off in the background of this mysterious scent. I like it. Just not sure yet whether I will love it... but I have high hopes. I am really hesitant to judge this until I've owned it at least a month or two. Alexandria has a tendency of shipping out really "young" batches, which almost unanimously benefit from some air and shelf time to open it up and really reveal what they have to offer. So... back to the shelf. Looking forward to getting to know King Tut better after it opens up.