Smoking Hot

Today we're continuing our By Kilian journey with Smoking Hot. Now unlike yesterday's fragrance Gold Knight, this is one I've seen mentioned of a couple of times. From what I've heard, Smoking Hot is supposed to smell like Apple Shisha. If there's any truth to that, this fragrance may end up being one of my favorite fragrances. Let's get into it and see if it's true; Scent: The opening is smoky, fruity, and spicy. The primary notes I get are tobacco, apple, smoke, and cinnamon. The strongest of the notes are the tobacco and apple. The tobacco starts off the fragrance with a big hit of warm smokiness. It has the inherent tobacco sweetness to it, and comes across very natural. Right underneath the tobacco lies the apple note; sweet and fruity, albeit a little synthetic. Up next is the smoke and cinnamon. The smoke hits you right behind the tobacco for a rush of extra smokiness. The smoke, coupled with the tobacco, makes for a photo-realistic portrayal of pipe or hookah tobacco. Lastly, the cinnamon resides in the background for a subtle but persistent warm spiciness. The combination of the apple, tobacco, and smoke makes this opening extremely reminiscent of the aroma of apple shisha; and I'm a huge fan of it. The dry down is sweet, smoky, and spicy. The primary notes I get are tobacco, cinnamon, smoke, and bourbon vanilla. The strongest of the notes are the tobacco and bourbon vanilla. The tobacco is still the focus in the dry down with the same warmth and smokiness, nothing has changed in that regard. The bourbon vanilla, however, has emerged in the dry down to back up the tobacco with the familiar, creamy sweetness coupled with just a touch of booziness that only bourbon vanilla can offer. This is followed by the smoke and cinnamon. The smoke still supports the tobacco with added smokiness to give the dry down that same hookah tobacco accord, but just a tad more gentle than it was in the opening. Lastly, the cinnamon still lingers in the background with the same warm spiciness from the opening. The apple note is still present in the dry down, but it has stepped to the side to let the base notes have more room to breathe. Performance: Initial projection within the first hour is very strong and can easily fill a room. Sillage matches that with an intense and heavy scent trail. After about 4 hours the projection and sillage were essentially the same. At around the 7 hour mark the projection was still at least 6 feet and the scent trail was still easily noticeable. The fragrance lasted at least 12 hours before becoming a skin scent. When to wear: Smoking Hot is a fall/winter fragrance best suited for evening wear. This is definitely what I would consider a special occasion fragrance and not something I would wear casually. Anniversaries, date nights, weddings; those are the types of settings where this fragrance is going to shine brightest. I would not wear it to the office, however, due to the strength and powerful smokiness. Blind buy: If smoky tobacco fragrances are your jam, Smoking Hot is a safe blind buy for you. Think Narcotic Delight or Back to Black, but with apple as the premier fruit note instead of cherry or raspberry, respectively. Final verdict: Every once in a while my hopes and preconceived notions are realized; Smoking Hot is one of those times. It was described as apple shisha, and that's exactly what it smells like. If you've been following my reviews, I'm sure you know by now that smoky tobacco fragrances with hits of fruit are one of my favorite scent profiles, and Smoking Hot fits that bill perfectly. As usual with the house, performance for this fragrance is powerful with dominating projection and scent trails for around 6-7 hours and lasting over 12 before fading away. Being a special occasion fragrance, versatility is not the name of the game with this fragrance. Likewise with mass-appeal, the striking smokiness of the fragrance will not be for everyone. However, people like me who enjoy that will love it. To wrap this up, I'm sure I don't have to spell it out at this point but Smoking Hot was a home run for me. Enrapturing scent profile with high-powered performance, this has everything I need. It wasn't quite enough to dethrone Narcotic Delight or Angel's Share, but it did knock Stronger With You Tobacco off my top 5. I will absolutely be getting a bottle of this for my collection. Scent: 10/10 Longevity: 9/10 Sillage: 10/10

I thought I reviewed this a while ago but apparently not☠️, anywhoos, this is a mass appealing and well made fragrance By Kilian, and I'd say it's just shy of being in my top favourite Kilian fragrances, I'd probably put it in 7th or 8th place off the top of my head. It Opens up with a blast of apple and smoke, it really does remind me of apple flavoured Shisha smoke but not in a bad way. As it dries down I do start to get more tobacco off my skin but it's still very much behind the apple-smoke accord, it doesn't lean heavy into the leaf or Ashy tobacco either, a good non offensive middle ground. And finally behind Tobacco, I do get slight hints of cinnamon, Vanilla, and something I can't quite place (probably the listed Licorice), wrapping around to create a very pleasant scent profile. This fragrance does carry a weird refreshing airyness with it, which I wouldn't expect looking at the notes or upon first sniff, but it's a welcome surprise to be sure. The apple does smell a little synethic but in a good way, like in ABOTR also by Kilian, but the apple here is more mellow, less sweet overall. As a whole I'd say the words "playful yet mature" sum this fragrance up pretty well. In terms of longevity I get surprisingly around 8 hours on my skin, with faint wafts every now ans then up to 10 hours, for projection it projects lightly strong on my skin for the first 30mins-1hour, but then becomes a nice medium projecting scent for the rest of the wearing. This is undoubtedly a cold weather fragrance, but I do believe it's casual and fresh enough to be worn in spring as well, I'd also say that despite leaning masculine imo, a woman could easily wear this. All in all its a nice fragrance than I expected it to be, definitely turnt more heads than I anticipated during my wearings, that being said this isn't blind buy safe at all even if you like the notes, I'm wuitw adamant against blind buying in general, but I'd say even moreso for a scent like this you should definitely sample if you can. Despite being in the lower half of my top 10 Kilian fragrances, I still love it and enjoy wearing it quite a lot, definitely worth a try. Final Verdict is 8.6/10

I do not mean to offend anyone, but people comparing this scent to Angel's Share do not have well-developed enough olfactory senses to be purchasing $300 fragrances. The two are not alike. Not even remotely. The only vague similarity between them is the cinnamon note, and while spiced cinnamon is front and center in "Angel's Share" (and quite persistent throughout the life of that scent), cinnamon is but a distant supporting note in "Smokin' Hot." Where "Angel's Share" is powerfully woodsy with oak as the #1 note, "Smokin' Hot" is strong apple and a rather feminine vanilla upon initial spray, with only a vague hint at smoked tobacco looming far in the distance. As a man, I found the frontloaded sweetness and distinct absence of tobacco rather disappointing at first. Particularly given its name; I expected strong tobacco. The smokey herb amalgamates immediately with the apple and the vanillic sweetness in an unnatural and somewhat unpleasant fashion. The wonderful news for men is that "Smokin' Hot" is a remarkably transformative fragrance. Yes, it's intensely feminine -- but only at first. After an hour or so, the feminine fruity-vanilla fades far into the background. The fragrance metamorphosizes at this point into something I consider truly beautiful. The deep, rich, smokey tobacco shines through at this stage, while the fruit and vanilla become the supporting cast members they were destined to be. At this stage the fragrance becomes unmistakably, unapologetically masculine. It remains that way for the rest of its duration. More good news: the scent has great lasting power. Expect it to be solidly detectable for 8-12 hours. Smokin' Hot: Initial spray: 6/10, extremely feminine After an hour: 10/10, extremely masculine A remarkable fragrance. As a tobacco lover I cannot recommend this bottle highly enough. However, I acknowledge it isn't for everybody, and its thick, pervasive, and unique nature may prove unsuitable for some skin types and workplace environments. Also, the price point absolutely sucks, but if you love tobacco and gourmands, $50 for a travel sized bottle is more than worth it.

There is not much to say about this amazing fragrance, which smells like the perfect apple and vanilla shisha. Imagine opening the door of an underground hookah bar—this is exactly what Smoking Hot smells like! One thing I know for sure is that there is something about the smell of shisha/hookah that drives the ladies insane, in particular, the Ladies from Europe, more specifically, from Romania because that is where I am from; and, I can tell you for a fact that whenever I wear this on a night out in downtown I get an insane amount of attention and compliments from younger ladies in particular! I would say it's a pretty linear fragrance. The dry down is about the same as the opening with a slightly noticeable note of licorice and sage + a small touch of bourbon vanilla that gives this fragrance a decent creaminess to finish it off! Performance, longevity, and sillage are pretty good! I get around 8 hours on my skin and this thing projects pretty well, especially in colder weather! 2 to 3 Sprays should do it, you don't need much because otherwise, you might make someone hate hookahs forever, this stuff is pretty strong, believe me! If I were to compare this with another fragrance it would be Dior Tobacolor, both share the same similarities of smokiness and tobacco! Smoking Hot has apple and cinnamon notes, whereas Tobacolor has the Honey and Plum notes! I think this is a must-have fragrance especially if you are someone who appreciates the smell of hookah/shisha. The reason I give this an 8/10 is simply because I used to spend a lot of time in the shisha/hookah bars when I was in High School, so I am no stranger to this type of smell! All in all, this is a fantastic fragrance, every time I wear it, I get this strange but also comforting nostalgic feeling which brings back moments/memories that I really enjoyed as a teenager!

I love it! Such a cool concept. To me, the opening smells like mulled wine (apple, smoke and cinnamon). After a while, a little bit of tobacco is added to the mix representing the middle part of the pyramid. I don't smell vanilla at all in this perfume, in any way. The dry-down is an extremely sweet/strong smell of liquorice and the remaining smell of smoke and apple- a few of my friends suggested that it smells like a room you walked in after someone had smoked an apple hookah. Not to be mistaken for an apple vape smell. I think the apple and smoke scent are very distinguishable/clearly separated from one another. The smoke is SMOKEY and the apple is sweet, but not meshed together in a sweet sickly cloud- if that makes any sense. :) The perfume itself reminds me of the witch from Snow White, giving out a poisoned apple. Reminiscent of caramelised apples and Show White's red lipstick, I loved wearing this on cold nights out in a long black dress and a glossy red lip. A dark perfume that spikes curiosity. The sweet-yet-smoky vibe makes this very sultry and interest peaking. I can imagine this being somebody's signature fragrance but I can also completely understand why some people wouldn't enjoy this. I think it's unique, unisex, and can be pulled off in a really cool manner! P.S. The longevity and projection are absolutely amazing. I catch distinctive whiffs of it all day without having to stick my nose into my wrist- even more so from my clothes. I absolutely adore this fragrance.