Tabac Noir

Oh this is beautiful. I usually dislike animalics and tobacco forward scents. I love this one. It seems to lack all bitterness. It is like the finest, smoothest, most wonderful tobacco accord. The sweetness is low, there is no cloying sugar, only a subtle bit of silken smooth fabulous honey accord that smells deliciously like the actual orange blossom clover honey in my kitchen. Then swirls in a magnificent natural fresh, chewy, clean-green herbaceous Indonesian patchouli that I love (not the other dusty musty graveyard dirt kind of patchouli). A sensual, discreet, light handed, softly brushed leather cradles everything here in perfect balance, never smothering the tobacco, no sour cheap notes smelled in this leather accord. The honey remains a very delicate touch of sweet throughout drydown but never becomes cloying or sugary. Patchouli never sinks to rot, always stays freshly herbaceous and buoyantly ....even cheerfully, flirtaciously, and sensually green. But the tobacco accord itself just really shines here on my skin as none has before. I get all positives from this blend to my nose on my skin. Yes, a man could actually wear this, but I feel quite exaltedly feminine when enveloped within the tendrils of this dizzyingly hypnotic scent. But then, it would be beautiful on anyone. It is sensual, mesmerizing, soft, velvety, low key, and utterly hypnotic. I cannot stop sniffing my arm, closing my eyes, and smiling and exhaling in bliss. For me, on my skin, it is that good. I love the house of Caron.

Well, I'm kinda getting mixed feelings about this one here. I don't know is it me or its the smell of honey that is confusing me. I'm not yet able to give my opinion about it. lets wait and see. initial grade 6/10

Tabac Blond it is not, but it's a worthy fragrance from Caron. Or it would be, if I hadn't lived through the last 65+ years of smelling Caron's heady offerings, at least pre-2010. Tabac Noir really is noir, it comes on all dark and broody like I love, but with a lot more tobacco than you get with many fragrances purporting to be tobacco. And it's sort of a negative; not pipe tobacco even, more like a 3-pack a day nicotine habit with unfiltered Camels. Or the very cheap roll-your-own tobacco you used to buy in a can, and maybe some people still do. Not so hip these days. But the name warns you, so it shouldn't be a surprise. The patchouli is great but it doesn't quite cover the tobacco. Ditto the honey; it needs a bit more honey. The harshness dies down after maybe 30 minutes and you find you're wearing a good dark tobacco-ey scent with some patchouli and cedar. What it really needs is longevity; it's at the 3 hr. end of the longevity scale, not the 6 hour. So if I have negative feelings about too much tobacco, why would I want it to go on longer? Well because Caron really tried with this one, and I bet I'll like it better on a colder day. It wants a 30 degree coldsnap and maybe a windstorm, not 70 degree sunshine in July. But really because I blind bought it because I'd wanted it ever since it came out. No one is selling decants and I know why; it's a hassle to get it in the US and once you do you want to keep it for yourself. No, it does not measure up to Tabac Blond, or Nuit de Noir, Or Et Noir, most of Caron's oldtime florals like Fleurs de Rocaille and French Cancan, or even the much newer Delice de Roses. But it doesn't begin to reach the depths of Secret Oud either, Caron's hurry-up-to-get-with-the-oud-trend disaster on an epic scale. Tabac Noir isn't a miss, and worth trying out, if you can find a perfume counter that has it. Soooooo not a blind buy. Note: The bottle I got is the original bottle from 2019, in the style Caron started using around 1995 with the raised bubbles/dots on the glass bottle. It's not the new bottle that's round and looks like a small spice jar you'd have in your kitchen and stack with the other spice jars.

dark sexy leather scent with some florals