Midnight Toker 2025

We are setting aside the meditative serenity of Dirty Hinoki for one final, highly anticipated journey with Heretic Parfums’ Midnight Toker. Based on the notes alone, I feel like I may have saved the absolute best for last. This fragrance signals a deep, sensual dive into the late-night ritual of tobacco smoking, suggesting a composition built on rich, dark resins and the comforting warmth of pipe smoke. We anticipate a blend dominated by intense leathery, smoky, and resinous components that promise a sophisticated and enveloping experience, leaning into the darker side of tobacco fragrance. The central question for Midnight Toker is whether this bold use of natural extracts can deliver a truly masterful, complex tobacco fragrance that lives up to my anticipation, or if the "smoking" element proves too literal or raw to achieve that high bar of sophistication. Let's ignite the senses and begin. Opening: The opening is an immediate rush of smoky, sweet, and spicy notes. The primary accords I perceive are tobacco, cloves, vanilla, and cypriol, with the tobacco and cloves being the standout elements. The tobacco hits my nose first with an intensely realistic portrayal of cigarettes. It presents as that sweet and slightly bitter type of smoke accord, although not completely overwhelming or off-putting like actual cigarette smoke. The cloves arrive in equal measure, offering a ferociously warm and spicy character to a photorealistic degree, which helps offset the initial intensity of the tobacco. Next up are the vanilla and cypriol. The vanilla, situated well underneath the tobacco and cloves, mixes in a familiar, subtle, and creamy sweetness, helping to add richness and build character beyond the heavy tobacco and warm spice. Lastly, the cypriol manifests in the background as a supporting earthy smokiness, blending with the tobacco to complete that initial "burning cigarette" accord. Dry Down: The dry down remains smoky, sweet, and spicy, but with a significant quality shift. The primary notes I get are tobacco, vanilla, clove, and labdanum, with the tobacco and vanilla now being the most prominent. The tobacco is still the star, but it has beautifully morphed from the semi-acrid cigarette accord of the opening to a rich, warm, and smoky pipe tobacco accord. Joining it in the spotlight is the vanilla, which has grown in strength to provide a denser and heavier sweet and creamy accord. This is followed by the cloves and labdanum. The cloves have moved to a supporting role but are still instantly recognizable with the same tenacious warm spiciness, just dialed back a bit to let the tobacco and vanilla breathe. Lastly, the labdanum lays down a beautiful base of resinous and golden amber tones. I also detect some birch tar for added smokiness and just a bit of orris root for a hint of earthy powderiness. The dry down reminds me quite a bit of Emporio Armani’s Stronger With You Tobacco. Performance: The initial projection within the first hour is very strong and reaches out past six feet. Sillage matches that intensity with a dense and heavy scent trail. After about 3–4 hours, the projection was still strong, about 5–6 feet, and the scent trail was a bit lighter but still easily noticeable. At the 8–9 hour mark, the projection had died down considerably and was only perceptible within arm's reach. Likewise, the scent trail was only faintly noticeable at this point. The fragrance eventually became a skin scent around hour 10. However, it's worth noting that this performance is levels above anything else I tried from the house. When to Wear: Midnight Toker is a definitive fall/winter fragrance best suited for evening wear, as its name would suggest. It is a thick and heavy tobacco fragrance, making it a knockout for special occasions and a suitable pick for formal settings. However, its rich and opulent nature means I wouldn't wear it casually or to the office. Blind Buy: Even though the main notes in the dry down are tobacco and vanilla, don't go into it thinking it will smell like Tom Ford's Tobacco Vanille, because it doesn't resemble that at all. However, if you like heavy, sweet, and spicy tobacco fragrances in the style of things like Stronger With You Tobacco, this is a pretty safe blind buy. It stays close to the tried and true sweet and spicy tobacco DNA. Final Verdict: I had hoped I saved the best for last, and indeed I did. Midnight Toker was, far and away, the best fragrance I tried from Heretic Parfums. Admittedly, it started out a bit jarring with that photorealistic cigarette accord, but that challenging phase only lasted for about 10–15 minutes. After that, and into the dry down, it became a beautiful, warm, rich pipe tobacco fragrance accented perfectly with vanilla, spices, and golden ambery tones. Crucially, the performance was also levels above anything else I tried from the house, lasting about 10 hours before fading away into a skin scent. This is a masterfully blended, sophisticated tobacco fragrance. The only thing keeping me from purchasing this fragrance is the fact that I already have several within this same sweet and spicy tobacco scent profile in my collection. If I didn't, this would be an easy, instant buy for me. If you like tobacco fragrances, this is an absolute must-try due to its incredible depth and superior performance within the house of Heretic Parfums. Scent: 10/10 Longevity: 7/10 Sillage: 8/10 Versatility: Average Mass Appeal: Average Gender: Masculine Value: Fair

A rather unusual fragrance I keep mindlessly calling Midnight Rider when asked what I am wearing. After some thought, this perfume could be more effectively positioned under the name Midnight Rider, as the latter more accurately reflects the fragrance’s thematic depth, emotional tenor, and narrative structure. The term Midnight Toker suggests a playful, countercultural association rooted in late night indulgence. While this framing is approachable, it understates the seriousness and momentum embedded in the composition. By contrast, Midnight Rider conveys movement, intention, and consequence. The name implies a solitary journey undertaken under cover of darkness, which in my humble opinion, is an image that aligns more closely with Heretic’s established identity of ritualized rebellion and deliberate transgression. The perfume’s dark herbal and resinous elements evoke an atmosphere that is tense and watchful rather than comforting. Djarum clove cigarette [very popular in the 1970s] smoke laden nuances and dry, persistent base notes reinforce a mood of endurance and inevitability. In this context, the fragrance reads less as an expression of recreational intoxication and more as an exploration of altered states as a means of persistence and survival. This is definitely an introspective perfume for me as a tool for inward reflection rather than outward projection. Its primary function is not to attract attention or signal status [although it clearly does both], but to create a private psychological or emotional. If you're on the fence to blind buy, as I was at one time, my suggestion is to buckle up, buckaroo, go for it, and enjoy the trip.

The new 2025 version of Midnight Toker by Heretic Parfum is a wonderful, smokey, spicy, and slightly sweet fragrance that takes it's name from lyrics in the Steve Miller Band's song The Joker, and is the second fragrance by Heretic with this name. The 2020 version is more of a patchouli fragrance with cannabis, where the new version is based on the above mentioned smoky/slightly sweet notes with blond tobacco instead of cannabis. My initial attraction to this perfume was based on the clove smoke note as I love clove notes and wanted to see how it was used in this perfume. I'm not a smoker or a "toker," and never have been, but I love good tobacco notes in perfume, as well as clove as perviously mentioned, and wanted to see how Douglas Little used both the clove and the vanilla in this one. I can say that I am definitely appreciating his blending. The notes work well together, and create a nice scent bubble that is quite enjoyable to my nose. If I could ramp up the clove just a bit and ramp down the vanilla just ever so slightly, that would be my one very slight change to the profile, but I am not complaining, as this perfume is hightly enjoyable straight from the bottle. I plan to layer it with Demeter Clove soon to see how that affects the overall clove note, but don't anticipate any changes otherwise as the Demeter is basically a clove soliflore. I highly recommend this one, and I'm enjoying it quite a bit. Will be wearing this one a lot this fall and winter...two thumbs way up!

Smells like a lovely smoky vanilla to me. I don’t get cigarette smoke at all, but cloves/warm spices! It reminds me of the wind after a bonfire where you were roasting marshmallows on a fall night. I think my nose is evolving, because I always anticipate that I won’t like scents with a profile like this but Midnight Toker is my favorite from the Season of the Witch discovery set. Perfect cozy witchy fall scent with some edge🍂🕯️🖤 EDIT: now that I’m smelling it apart from the others in my sample set and have worn it today (which probably made me a little nose blend) I definitely get more of a smoky scent, especially the opening! For some reason I rushed to review without wearing it or taking my time (for shame). I’m still just as much of a fan tho!

This scent reminds me of a Goth club that I like to go to; more specifically the smoke machines inside. Midnight Toker is just sooo sensual and incredibly intoxicating in my opinion! It's smoky and feels like a dark, dimly lit room with a femme fatale or a casanova sitting in the middle (with a cigarette in their hand). It starts out spicy with the clove and cypriol, but the vanilla just just elevates everything so perfectly... Other than that, the notes I detect the most (I believe) is the birch tar and the tobacco. An absolutely gorgeous scent that I will buy a full bottle of, will definitely become my signature scent for the colder months, or for a thrilling night out...

I love this fragrance! At first it was very smoky! I honestly thought I hated it, but put it on anyway to give it a fair go. After wearing it for a short time it turned from cigarettes to a beautiful warm sweet caramelise apricot. I couldn’t stop smelling myself! I bought the full size and now I love it even in the smoky opening! I will say I can only do one spray on my neck and one for my wrists otherwise it chokes me out! It’s strong and definitely better suited to winter! Some people have told me I smell amazing. Although when I first sprayed it, the opening made my friend throw up and she was one of the people who said I smelled good! Very polarising! But I adore it!

Yes, the initial spray screams cigarette smoke. As someone who grew up in an ashtray, that’s not necessarily a negative thing, but it is strong even to my nose. After that shock fades away, something similarly “dirty” alongside other fragrances I really love, but this smells fruity to me at the edges, it must be the apricot note (but I can’t remember eating an apricot in my life so the scent generally alludes me as to what it 100% is). I personally could see someone wearing it during the day, but it is definitely more geared toward a night out.

This is the strongest Heretic scent I smelled. It opens quite with a smoky tobacco, even made me cough. There is the sweetness from vanilla coming through as soon as the smoke settles. The spice from cloves is also coming through the smoke. I don't smell labdanum much, but it's probably supporting tobacco in the background. The charred quality of birch tar reminds me of No 23 by Fishersund but this tar is much milder than the one in No 23. Overall, a very pleasant warm and smoky scent, but it is powerful and not a blind buy.

I didn’t think I liked this; it’s a total smoke bomb to a fresh nose. It smelled like someone was blowing cigarette smoke directly in my face, and I personally like the smell of cigarettes, but it was a lot. However, it really grew on me, and transformed into something so comforting and sexy and addictive. It's reminiscent of a warm hug from a lover who recently smoked a clove cigarette. I love smelling this on my clothes, I could wrap myself in it and take the best nap of my life. <3

I layered her with Warm Bulb and it's a delightful combo. But Midnight Toker is strong all on her own. It clings to my hair in a good way. It's smoky but not harsh, creamy. It's spiced. It smells like a cigar lounge. It smells like a lover's skin after a quick smoke break outside. There are a lot of fragrances like this, and I wouldn't say it stands out, but it does it incredibly well. It's a true unisex. If you want a sexy, dreamy, smoky fragrance, yes, go with this one.

There are two ways I could describe this scent. At first it smells like you just walked into a goth nightclub where everybody is smoking a cigarette on a cold night. But the longer you have it on that clove and vanilla starts to shine through, starting to make it smell like a cottage witch in the fall. If you are a goth you will probably like it, it's very dark and moody in a way that I've never smelled in a perfume before. Safe to say it's my new favorite perfume.

I adore this scent, it can be a little too strong and smoky for some but it works really really well with my skin chemistry. It lasts a super long time for me, both on my skin and on clothes. I catch whiffs of myself during the day while wearing this and have a 'damn I smell good' moment. I like to pair this with commodity book, it gives a sort of warm fireplace on a study vibe. I think this is a great pick for an androgenous seductive scent.

On me the vanilla and smoke blend together in a very pretty way, not overtly feminine but more delicate than a very masculine smoky scent. I don't get much in the way of cloves or warm spices For me it possibly overlaps with Eau Duelle by dyptique but that on me is a cool, dry vanilla smoke but the apricot note takes it in a fresher and brighter direction that makes it a bit more suitable for spring and summer wear than many other reviews.

I love this scent so much. I got it in a custom sample set because I wanted to try Nosferatu and I'm so glad I did. It's already on my S-tier. It seems to be the longest lasting and has the most projection out of all the Heretic scents I sampled. I love it so much that I recently ordered the body wash and the 15 ml. Wearing it makes me feel like a sexy vampire. 😁 I look forward to the day when I'll be able to invest in a full bottle.

My first ever full bottle high-end perfume. Insane. I love it so much. I leave a mysterious scent trail wherever I go. "The whole house smells like you". I dislike smoking but I adore tobacco scents. This way I get my fill, without ruining my health. I smell like a rich, seductive lady who smokes a pack a day but wears the most expensive clothes and fragrances, in a GOOD WAY. Very good wear and gets better over time.

This is such a fun fragrance. I was surprised by the slight sweetness that comes out after the initial tobacco mellows. Smells almost exactly like a sweeter version of the Irish pipe my dad sometimes smokes, or like a warm hug from a good-looking man who has smoked a cigarette half an hour ago.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS SCENT so sexy the tobacco very strong but the vanilla also very prevalent giving it a sweetness which I love I would eat this shit if I could Definitely a winter and fall scent and probably better worn at night a good wear for both men and women

Sex. This scent smells like sex. Sex by candlelight, on a cold rainy night. Sex after drinking mezcalitas and sharing a joint with your lover. Sex that humidifies the room and fogs up the window. Sex you can still smell in the morning.

I am not a lover of smoky scents, but this one is amazing! The initial spray is a little too smoky for me but it dries down to a warm and sensual spice pretty quickly and I love that scent! Lasts pretty long.

this smell feels like a rugged man sharing a bottle of whiskey with a cheap stripper in the mid to late 80s. the perfect mix of sweet darkness with the spice and tobacco smell of man-musk.

I feel like everyone saying this smells like straight up cigs has never smoked because this is so sweet to me i almost dont like it. I love the tobacco and birch its so spicy and yummy.

This smells absolutely incredible to me. It’s vanilla and smoky and smells like I’m in a cocktail dress in a jazz bar drinking an old fashioned that someone had sent to me

put this on before the pregame, got complimented on it at the club, still smelled it on my clothes when i woke up with a headache the next morning. bold, sexy as fuck.

i like this scent, but i've come to the conclusion that it is very much a colder weather fragrance. i noticed when i first applied it, the scent of smoke was the strongest, at least for me. i did not like it. although, that might be because i don't tend to wear smoky fragrances. i wouldn't really say this is something i would wear daily and especially not at work, but that was my fault for trying to spice things up. heh. i work in a place with a lot of chemical, metal smells, and it does NOT mix well with that. in fact, it made me feel nauseous at one point, especially with the weather being hot and humid right now (summer in the south). anywho! after a few hours, the smoke and tobacco smell sorta faded? all that was left was vanilla and clove, and now, 12 hours after my application, all that remains is a faint clove smell. i think it's a sort of nostalgic scent to me. i think this would smell really beautiful on someone else. maybe this is weird, but i think of a mom who used to be the hot goth chick in the 80s/90s? i could even see this being really nice on a man. although i'm still able to smell clove after my 12 hour shift, i would say it lasted about 5-6 hours before the other notes started to fade. maybe i will try again when the colder weather comes :)

Received a sample of 4 Heretic perfumes and while Midnight Toker is my favourite, there's a few unfortunate letdowns for me. The first inhale is phenomenal--like walking face first through a cloud of clove cigarette smoke outside some bar trying not to spill your rum and coke. There's a slight booziness on that first inhale despite there being no notes of alcohol--I think it's the pepper and vanilla mingling with the smokiness, tempering it into something other than ashtray smell. It's strong in the best way. If this perfume remained with this exact scent, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. It's powerful and intriguing. It evokes such strong imagery that I'm enthralled by it. Unfortunately the smokiness and cloves didn't last nearly as long as I'd hoped. The scent faded quickly into a sweet vanilla scent that allowed the tobacco to take a backseat. While this smell is far more rounded and approachable for most people, especially for longer wear, I was really disappointed that the cloves didn't stick around. I'm easily overwhelmed by vanilla and so far, whenever I encounter tobacco in a fragrance, it's usually combined with vanilla. as much as I adore the scent of this perfume in the bottle, I don't think I would wear it on myself.

I like this. A nice balance between a smokey and sweet scent. However, my skin seems to eat up the scent quite quickly and the longevity/sillage of this fragrance is not as great on me compared to the others who have reviewed it below. I can also picture this not working too particularly well with my particular body chemistry in the summer months. Something about the clove and the vanilla combo that makes the latter quite heavy or idk animalic that I know in the past these sorts of vanilla scents have turned quite rancid smelling on me in the heat. Thankfully I only got a sample. I also got a sample of Poltergeist, another smokey fragrance from Heretic, and that one has much better performance on me. I'd probably just layer a sweet fragrance with that to try and get the same vibe as Midnight Toker since Poltergeist is essentially just pure smoke to me. But with better longevity and projection. Would still highly recommend if the longevity and sillage is not an issue with you though!

I like this scent a lot but it's not going to be for everyone. It's very smoky on the first spray. The tobacco and birch tar are really bold. They do settle in to allow the sweet spicey clove and some of the earthier notes to come through. The vanilla and clove do start to come through the longer i wear it. I'm obsessed with this. It really does remind me of standing outside a goth club sharing a clove way back when. But it's one of those fragrances I would probably only wear on certain occasions because the smokiness is so strong. If the sillage were more intimate I wouldnt worry about it so much but I'm hesitant to buy a full size of this even though I personally really enjoy it.

I sprayed this on paper once and hated it. I was disappointed it smelled like straight up cigarettes to me. I decided to try it again on my skin. While it still has that tobacco opening i now find the scent warm and comforting. More like being by tocacco plants or a cigar than a cigarette. It dries down sweet, resinous and a lighter scent i keep getting whiffs of and think "yum!" The vanilla balances the tobacco and it smells delicious. Fun to layer with too! This is somewhere between a "like" and "love" for me. It is strong and not for everyone but worth a try if you're interested.

Finally, an interesting one! I’m a sucker for smoke, and this one goes on like a smoked old fashioned and settles in to a s’more made with a marshmallow that caught over the campfire. I’ll take both, please and thank you.

It grew on me over time but smelling it on myself turns into a headache after a while. Light use infrequently is enjoyable. I can’t overspray. The clove and tobacco really get into my sinuses and stick for the night.

I couldn't detect it at all when I sampled it on test strip, but when I spray on my skin the jasmine really comes out. Cannot wait for the fall so I can wear this every day

Okay so. This scent for me was very polarizing. The opening was quite harsh and I almost gag from how strong it is when I spray it. It's harsh. It's bad. BUT. The dry down is much better. I found that after about 2 hours it dries down to a nice smoky vanilla. The 2 hours before that though it is a harsh tobacco scent like someone is splashing acrid cigarette water on you. Then right after it turns into this weird almost smoked ham scent? It smells like someone is cooking honeyed smoked ham on my skin for awhile. Then after that it turns into less of a ham scent and more of that sweet vanilla and smoke scent I was expecting. But it smells funky for awhile. I almost never sprayed it again after the first one until I figured I should give it a chance. I won't be wearing this unless I have ample time before I need to be somewhere. Pairs well with other vanilla scents I layered it with. Do not blind buy this unless you are okay with the possibility of it just smelling like either cigarette water or smoked ham on you.

This is almost identical to Indigo Smoke by Arquiste (I'm shocked). I think it's apricot, clove and tobacco that kind of mix into the same apricot smoky black tea. So if you like one, you'd like the other, but you don't need them both as they are the same... I find Midnight Toker to be a little more subtle and less smoky so it would be much easier to wear. But damn that apricot note is one of the most prominent ones for me in both which kind of takes away from the smoky woody category that I imagined them both to be and making them more dry fruit forward

I will start off that I already do not like tobacco or leather scents (I am a rare case of someone HATING the scent of "new car smell"). HOWEVER, this is one that I could tolerate! It does not do well with my skin chemistry at all. But it wasn't gross from the bottle. My sister loves leathery and tobacco notes in her perfumes, and I have a feeling it will smell great on her! Oh well. Hoping to find a leather/tobacco perfume that won't give me a massive headache!

Strong and perfect for people who love leathery, tobacco scents. I am not one of those, but I could see this growing on me. After testing it, I layered it with a vanilla scent to try and balance out how strong the tobacco note was- it didn't really work, but over the next few hours, I'd catch a whiff of tobacco and found myself liking it more and more. 3/5

Dazed and Confused? So am I. Testing blind (twice) the first time this opened with a floral element; feminine, pretty, and thought maybe gardenias or peony, with a more sweet and innocent slightly powdery feeling. It came off quite innocent and playful, short of flirty. The second trip around, I got more of a fresh green vegetable element, but still rather innocent and real square. It got a bit warmer and drier as the day went on, but there was no there, there's ,man. You know what I mean? So, looking at the name and notes now, I must be tripping. Yeah, I guess there might be tobacco, but this is fairly mild - scratch that, very mild! What I mostly pick up is that blend of Jasmine and apricot morphing into floral elements, while the Orris root (powdery) and Cypriol (green woodsy) give a sense of a greener, warmer hue. But it's all very light and gentle. The sense of leather, tobacco, and clove is barely there, man! Like, given all this I'm a little bummed, like knowing which house this comes from and that , you know? Like, this is a real trip, man! Like, even though I didn't know which scent I was testing I was expecting a way bigger hit, given their brand concept and marketing scheme. This isn't anything like my last experience sharing a fatty with some witches! No way, man! I would expect a bigger, fatty Doobie! It just doesn't quite fit. Hey man, let me tell you that this started out real mellow and gentle, you know? But by mid-day, it’s super faint and intimate, and a generic little floral buzz. Honestly, it smells like I just cleaned the pad and the fumes are still trippin' around the room. Or like what I smell like if I crash at my groovy French grandmother’s place, you know? But even she wouldn't wear somethin' so bashful. For how much bread they're chargin' for a hit of this stuff, it's over hyped, man!

I've got a brand new nose and this is the first sample that was ever sprayed on me. my bf bought it for himself and i wanted to try - we might have over-sprayed or sprayed a little too close to my skin. I appreciated (but I'm not sure that I liked, if that makes sense?) the punchy smoky opening, definitely a cigarette smoke as opposed to a cannabis smoke, but it didn't really read clove cigarette to me (at least not like the Djarum Blacks I used to smoke), much more ashy and acrid with something a little fruity around the edges. Like getting in an older coworker's car and she smokes in there - you know her, the spunky older lady who has been around the block, racy and sarcastic but loves you and has your back but takes her damn time on her smoke breaks. I think this was the tobacco and the birch tar jumping out immediately? However, 10-15 minutes in the sweet creep became overwhelming, and by 30-45 minutes I had a headache and needed to scrub it off - it smelled mostly like old ash with a sweet fruity/floral room spray to cover it up. It lingered for a long time after scrubbing. I'm not sure if it was the apricot or the jasmine or just how it sat on my skin, but I did not like it.

I’m sooo sad. I thought I’d love this. The opening just smells like straight cigarettes. I was hoping it would dry down into a nice, smoky vanilla, but instead it just started smelling like barbecue.

i, personally, hate this, but i will say if i walked into a bbq restaurant that smelled like midnight toker i’d be ready for the pork loin of my life

F*ck me sideways. This is perhaps the most vile perfume I have ever smelled. Truly. It’s a a distillation of stale, month old water from a dirty ashtray. Cloves?! Apricot?! Tobacco?! I don’t know how anyone can get past the acrid ash. I have given it an hour to calm down, but it remains just as offensive as it began. If I smelled this on someone on a first date, there would absolutely not be a second. But, hey, if you want to smell like a chain smoker who does a whore’s bath of ashtray water, this is for you. *barf*

I think GossamerMatrix might be onto something. Maybe those of us who didn’t destroy our olfactory receptors by purposefully inhaling smoke have a very different experience with this perfume. Though I don’t think it smells like cigarettes; I think it smells like a wet ashtray.

On my skin, the top and middle notes smell strangely like soggy lettuce from a kebab. Uugh.

This is the only fragrance with Tabacco and smokiness that doesn’t make me feel sick. It’s actually kind of a photorealistic smoke smell. The subtle sweetness in it just takes it to another level. Such a unique take on popular notes. Love the way it smells sprayed over the bathtub, mixed with essential oils and also mixed with Beekeeper.

If you like smoky scents, this is like a dreamy, spicy, ritual smoke rather than a bonfire, and definitely not an ashtray, IMO. The vanilla and jasmine create an almost butteriness that mellows out the usual harshness of the more leathery notes, and the apricoty skin notes make it feel fresh and modern. I think it's gorgeous!

The negative reviews are from people with very inexperienced noses. This is great and weird and sexy.