Tabac Blond Parfum

I too wonder why there aren't many reviews for this iconic parfum. I think it's the photo associated with it. I've never seen this presentation; it must be new in the last couple of years. And any parfum made in France in the last couple of years is suspect. As in, what have they done to it? So if the longevity is still 7-8 hours long, and it smells like the stuff in the urns, is this bottle what is packaged as Caron Tabac Blond parfum? Or is the bottle they're using at the few Caron urns stores even have anymore when you don't bring them your old bottle to be refilled? The bottle in the picture looks huge, in either case. I have both the edp and the parfum. Actually I have four of the parfums; two are in screw tight mini bottles, each of which came in a set of 4 Caron parfum mini-bottles and a 1-oz bottle, sold in grey boxes probably from around 1980, and bottled at the factory. My other two bottles I called "urn bottles," yesterday but let me clarify. Maybe around 2005 or so, Caron actually sold mini urn bottles for huge amounts of money; my two bottles are not those. Mine contain juice that came from Caron's iconic urns in the stores, and the customer could buy it in a variety of sizes, which were hand poured by sales people. They were 1/4 oz, 1/2 oz, 1 oz. and I suppose even larger. I bought mostly 1/4 oz bottles and didn't tell anyone I'd done it usually. They were $80 in an era when a really good bottle of edt cost around $45. As most of us here know, you don't tell people in the real world what you've been known to pay for perfume. I've been wearing Tabac Blond since probably around 1975. And around the late 1990's I got really afraid they were going to stop making it. Caron used to be sold in nearly every department store, including those in cities of less than 100,000, and now they're barely sold anywhere in the US, so I had a right to be concerned. And as I've always said, buying 3 or 4 bottles of a fragrance that might disappear at any moment isn't hoarding, it's just being smart. Tabac Blond is still one of my favorite perfumes, and although I've become obsessed with ouds in the last 5 years or so and don't wear it as much, it's still wonderful. I put it on tonight for the first time in months, and it's like it's saying, "I've been waiting for you....I knew you'd come back." It's that wonderful. Oops, I just scanned down the photos for this perfume and realized the photo Fragrantica used is from the Baccarat limited edition for $1200. No wonder it didn't look familiar. (Ha Ha). Fragrantica needs to illustrate it with a presentation we all recognize, either the original one or one with a photo of the bottles Caron used in the 1970-1999 era when pouring perfumes from its urns.

The Essence of Ancient Egypt, for the pre-war formulation: My love for Mousse de Saxe escapes the confines of language. It is, to my mind, the most perfect, the most many-sided, the most intricate perfume base ever created. There is no rival to it. It is like a flawless gem cut into countless facets, dazzling in its brilliance and yet almost impossible to set. And Ernest Daltroff alone possessed the craftsman’s hand capable of mounting it without diminishing its light. Under his guidance, every facet of Mousse de Saxe revealed itself in turn. In Nuit de Noël, an excess of rose and ylang-ylang magnifies its floral radiance and its cold, crystalline fire, until it becomes something grand and ceremonial, rich with splendor. In Narcisse Noir, musk and sandalwood catch and reflect another face entirely: the animal warmth beneath the polish, the softness hidden within the shadow. There it is sensual, languorous, almost dangerously alluring. But here, in Tabac Blond, iris, vetiver, patchouli, and linden blossom draw forth its driest and most herbaceous aspect. An overdose of carnation and clove strikes the spark. The perfume ignites the instant it leaves the bottle’s mouth, hot with spice, fierce and untamed. Yet this flame, so bold and imperious in its first declaration, is almost immediately enfolded and cooled by a dry leather tinged with the scent of machine oil. Iris and vanilla smooth its sharper edges and temper its severity. It softens, becoming gentler, broader. One thinks of golden dunes beneath the evening sun, where the last wind passes over the sand and, beneath all that vastness, there remains warmth and a kind of quiet generosity. This perfume is profoundly classical. Dry, golden, and burnished by time. It is, surely, the jewel in Caron’s crown. And to me, more than any other fragrance, it captures something of the very essence of ancient Egyptian civilization. However, the current formulation has been pared down until little remains but carnation, linden blossom, amber, and vanilla. The leather is gone. Mousse de Saxe is gone. Most importantly, the soul of the original has vanished with them. What remains smells almost like the diluted trace of the vintage drydown stretched into an entire perfume. It is easier to wear, certainly. But it is also immeasurably dull.

A fortnight ago I chanced upon a 1920-s vintage bottle of Tabac Blond, along with ditto vintage bottles of Arpege and Ma Griffe in a vintage/curiosities and antiques shop I'd not been to before, all of them nearly full and at peppercorn prices. Needless to say, they now reside with me. Caron themselves have confirmed the bottle is of an early 1920s vintage, so I am obviously more than delighted with my find. Having allowed the bottle this time to settle into its new environs, I'm wearing this gem today, a brief review of it follows, with apologies for the slight hyperbole - but trust me, truly is this good. Tabac Blond is incredible and perfect. Heady, strong, absolutely wonderfully lush and beyond anything else that I own. I honestly hadn't dared to hope for this. Despite its age (and, let's face it - a 100-year-old perfume has the right to be a little fatigued of an evening), Tabac Blond performs like the divinity she is, with no time for lesser mortals or those who dare to cross her path. The smoothest leather, the spiciest carnation and vetiver with every additional note discernible still. I can only imagine how shocking wearing this would have been when it was launched, how powerful it would have made the wearer feel. Richly emotional; warm, sultry, sharp and lovely - *this* is perfume. Heavenly.

Current extrait version: The tenacity and longevity is over 24hrs with a healthy spray. The powdery vanillic drydown is a comfortable wear. Its still Tabac Blond, a bit more modernized, brighter and calibrated to a more modern nose. The big drama and richness is toned down. The aldehyde opening is a bit rough than the past to get through, but its not something thats a deal breaker. It blooms marvelously by the ocean or sea. Something about the damp salty air really brings it out to the forefront. Finding this in USA is a bit tricky but you can contact the flagship store in France and get a bottle.

The 2021 reformulation is excellent, the carnation/iris combo is splendid, and the base notes less "fatty" than in some previous versions, less vanilla, less caricaturally Caron, more dry and deliciously (but more lightly) powdery. At the end the "caronade" is very subtle here, a bit like it can be found in Le 3e Homme. On fabrics, it is a creamy carnation that lasts for days. Leather masterpiece from a bygone era of class and elegance, even in gender transgression.