Tobacco Reserve

Yee haw, I am going deep into the Aramis collection lately. I wanted to make the cowboy comparison but it's already done! But no, this is straight up what a rugged outlaw cowboy would smell like. It is treading into the ''very daring'' territory. It's wearable but still a fun confidence check for sure, if you're into that you gonna love it! I haven't encountered an earthy/green ''sweet'' tabacco scent like this before. And don't think sugar sweet, tabacco leaf is something more reminiscent of the wrap of a cigar. Not only does it give shape to the filler but the wrap adds significant flavor. So it's sweet purely in tobacco definition. But that's not all there is to it. The note break down doesn't mention Iris but the main accord table does. It is right there with the opening but don't think like ''powdery'' it's more like the petal texture, it gives that warm clary sage and black currant some dimension. Actually this opening is so cool. Under appreciated technical parfumery there and it also lasts a bit before the tabacco shows up. All of it has just the right amount of aldehyde airiness, which is a much welcomed addition, preventing it from choking you. Lots of earthiness and a subtle nutmeg aromatic. It hit me later, but this is a grown up mugler pure havana that isn't super sweet or plasticy smelling. This is a real tabacco with a heavy oakmoss. At times that tabacco can turn bit musty because of the heavy oakmoss but the perfumer behind it most likely recognized that as well and added some vanillin/tonka in the base to round up all the edges without subduing it too much. It's actually so good, the longer it sits you're getting a really beautiful round earthy warm amber'd sweet tobacco with the exact amount of fine tuned edges to make this a super comfortable wear for many hours. Like I love the smell and taste of cigars but the smell that lingers on later can be so repulsive, this is all the nice parts combined. In the very late dry down it's a full tonka. The only thing that would've made it gone full cowboy would be some leather or even castorium. That'd be so fucking sick! It's a shame that this one is fully discontinued. I am gonna enjoy wearing the sample I got while it lasts tho! Wearing it turned me into a tobacco spewing, gun slinging, bounty hunting, horse back riding, word slurring, outlaw from a Clint Eastwood movie!

You ever find yourself wanting something but not knowing what you're exactly looking for? Me....I love tobacco scents and have been on the hunt to find my perfect tobacco fragrance. I'm not sure if I love the sweeter tobacco scents or the more pungent smack you in the face scents. I have a short list of tobacco fragrances I put my nose on but only due to starting this tobacco journey a short while ago. I own/sampled PDM Herod, Spicebomb, Xerjoff Naxos, Versace Dreamer, TF Tobacco Oud, and TF Tobacco Vanille. Today I'm at Marshall's browsing the clearance racks and do a double-take at their men's fragrance end-cap. Not gonna lie...didn't know Marshall's carried men's fragrances. If you're a fan of colognes from 1996-2005...Marshall's has you covered. Here I was walking down memory lane and getting a good laugh at how hard it was to buy all these colognes if you didn't live close to a department store. Something caught my eye....."Tobacco Reserve". Hmmmm....I've heard of Aramis before but not Tobacco Reserve. For $25.00 it was a no-brainer. If I didn't like it, I would have been out $25....I've lost more than that in less time at the casino. Sprayed both arms and hopped in the car. The only other times I've smelled a fragrance that's stopped me in my tracks was when I smelled Aventus and Oud Wood for the first time....and now Tobacco Reserve. And honestly, I didn't smell tobacco right away. It was more of a vetiver and spice....but it was enough to catch my undivided attention. The smell brought me back to a time when I was a kid. I don't know if it was something my dad or grandpa wore.....but it smelled familiar and amazing. By the time I got home the tobacco started to come out along with the fougere (must be the oak moss). It's so clean and defined with no rough edges. Very classy. I catch myself thinking about my daughters when they grow up and what smell would remind them of me. I have a very small list and this one would be on it, in the blink of an eye.

Undermarketed beauty! I saw this sitting behind the Macy's fragrance counter with all the re-buy scents. No tester. So naturally I assumed this was an old classic that they don't bother sending testers out for any more. So I had three surprises in store for me when I asked if there was a tester hidden away for the two wrapped boxes. 1. The saleswoman surprised me by opening up one of them and saying "we can't sell it if nobody can smell it." 2. It was Glorious (yes, with a capital G). This surprised me because for the most part I've not been a good fit with Aramis scents, which to my mind was why I might not have heard of a niche flanker from years gone by. 3. I pulled it up and saw it was a 2018 release. That floored me - it looks like a classic late 80's, early 90's Aramis for men flanker, and it appears to have been treated like one. I don't think I came across even a whisper about this, unless I was on vacation when it might have made the "new release" rounds around here. It has a great medium-bodied, slightly sweet tobacco on the opening (like pipe tobacco) and very evident sage, and the light, uplifting spiciness of the nutmeg. The moderate sweetness from the currant and tonka is in the realm of contemporary scents quite understated, but bear in mind if you only go for drier blends you're probably not going to like this so definitely try before you buy. If you're into tobacco and like a little sweetness, I'd say you're in safer territory to dive in and grab it. I've only just put it on so I may update this as it develops, but I was so excited I had to get this out of me - great, great cool/cold weather scent. I am floored I had to discover it this way.

So many great reviews for this one, very well described. My personal adventure for this one is I waited too long and paid a bit much, roughly $80.00 for 100ml, and I just bought a back up. This is nice, like surprisingly nice, and it does have a strange combination of notes that if you are familiar with the original Aramis than this being a flanker is not a surprise, YET it does not smell enough like the original to be dated in any way. Sweet powdery, dry vanilla tobacco, not as strong and sweet as the Now famous Tom Ford version, but clearly a tobacco oriented gem that suits anyone of sophistication today. I almost feel like The House of Aramis took a look at today’s fragrance, boldly discussed subject 534 in a board room or lab, renamed it Tobacco Reserve, threw it in the face of today’s fragrance consumers, and then just as quickly abandoned it. It’s as if to say, “F you guys, we still have some tricks up our sleeves, show some damn respect!” I have many Aramis classics in my collection, they are dated, but mostly pretty artistic and unique to others from the time period. I don’t know what direction the house wants to take, but if this is a recent example of what they can do, I look forward to the next surprise, and perhaps I won’t end up spending way more than I should by waiting too long...That said, it’s still worth the cost of admission in my eyes. Longevity is respectable, silage is softer than expected, spring and fall day or night for the mature crowd. Note: 110ml Now I feel I got a great deal. ;)

Aramis Tobacco Reserve is a late-2018 release that’s gotten a lot of buzz, particularly since it’s landed on the secondary market. The scent is a very agreeable tobacco scent, seemingly marketed toward and a bit more traditionally designed with men in mind. It’s only mildly both sweet and spicy with tobacco in the center, a very interesting and balanced combination. What’s more curious is that it manages to be sweet with neither the familiar tobacco partners of vanilla nor honey, but rather, a blend of blackcurrant, nutmeg, and tonka, and the mix is sharpened/spiced up not only by nutmeg but also clary sage and iris on a bed of oakmoss. Overall it’s a really neat formula that produces a versatile, sophisticated tobacco experience that is easily accessible to those that are put off by either overly-sweet tobacco fragrances or fragrances that simply have too much or too realistic tobacco. Its performance leaves something to be desired, in my opinion, but modest performance has its advantages, too: the fragrance can be applied more liberally and in varying weather and social circumstances. The retail pricing of Tobacco Reserve is $78 for 110ml, with discount sometimes available at the department store at which it is sold, but it became reasonably quickly available in US discount stores like Marshalls for only $25, at which the fragrance is really a steal, in my opinion. Most importantly, the smell of Tobacco Reserve itself is really great and I’m a big fan. 8 out of 10