1903

A burst of fresh, clean mountain air transforms into intriguing spices, tobacco and leather. Like putting on a crisp white shirt and walking into your oak-panelled library that's filled with rare books and green plants. According to J. Peterman, 1903 is a fragrance re-discovered by chance: "I was browsing in a Paris antique shop one winter afternoon when a fitted leather train case caught my eye. It contained a bottle encased in yew-wood with a handwritten date: 1903. Inside the bottle there was still the faint aroma of a gentleman’s cologne. Custom-made for a rich traveler a century ago. Curiosity was eating at me. I bought the case and sent the bottle to a laboratory for analysis. They broke down the residue by gas chromatography. Identified its fingerprint through spectrophotometry. "The report said: an old woody fougère. Clean citrus notes, bergamot, green notes. The middle notes: clary sage, cardamom. The dry-down: leather notes, smoky labdanum, elemi, tabac, frankincense." There's also a subtle animalic quality up-close. One wit described it as the essence of soaping up and washing down a prized horse, saddle and all. (Although I would say this applies more to the shaving cream of the same name.) Fit for a modern gentleman who appreciates classic style. Versatile enough for all but the most formal occassions: business, casual, dating. Wearability: every season. A first class fragrance that's surprisingly affordable.

1903 has been my uncle's signature scent for at least a decade. The first time I smelled it on him I knew I had to have it - he noted my interest and "forgot" his bottle when he left for home. Good memories...1903 has had a spot in my wardrobe ever since. The description on the website is definitely Seinfeld-worthy...but the scent is seriously good. It opens with a citrus blast that almost gives it a classic barbershop feel before it moves through a nice woody middle to settle into a spicy leather drydown that is truly the star of this one. Decent (4-6 hours) longevity and good projection and sillage - 1903 always garners multiple compliments. This would be a huge seller with wider distribution but as it stands it's a nice secret to be in on.

Vintage version. A good friend gifted me this beauty. After I shaved, I splashed this on. To my nose, this smells like a minty amber woody uplifting classic aftershave. Very refreshing. I've smelled a similar fragrance at my local perfumery, but can't put my finger on it.

Is it really the replacement for Dunhill Edition? The opening is a very sweet but surprisingly organic wood with sharp spices. It has some of the soapiness of DE, but because the spices aren't as smooth, the soap connection is weaker. The leafy, live character of the wood reminds me of that aspect of Burberry London, even though they aren't too similar beyond that. Later on, it starts to resemble potpourri a bit more as the spices mellow out and lose astringence. Perhaps some of this is also from an apple cider note, as if taken from Michael Kors? For the most part, I'm intrigued by how this brew splits the difference between the stronger, dryer 80s wood scents and the exotic but very sweet spice scents that I find so fascinating (Eau Lente, Maharadjah, Tea for Two?). Still, the base has a cold, waxy, concrete grayness (violet, I suspect, as in Narciso Rodriguez) that makes it all a bit impenetrable and stubborn, and slightly dated. Overall, definitely worth a try, though I'm not using it to replace my Dunhill Edition.

The name commonality of the J. Peterman brand with the beloved Seinfeld character notwithstanding, 1903 is a very agreeable men’s cologne, somewhere in the middle, intensity-wise, between a very citrus-heavy freshie (i.e. Dior Sauvage, 4711) and a heavier fougere or spicy offering (i.e. MDCI Invasion Barbare, Chanel Pour Monsieur, Antaeus). It’s a pleasant blend of citruses, tobacco, clary sage, cardamom, leather, and olibanum. For me, the clary sage is the main standout, its semi-dirty / semi-green quality working well with the tobacco to create an outdoorsy vibe to accompany the standard citrus cleanliness. It’s a nice offering, overall, and gives a different “cologne” vibe from others that I’ve tried. Its pricing is reasonable, too, per the house site: $62 for the 100ml vintage cologne (splash) and $45 for 100ml spray cologne . I believe these are the same but the former comes with the pictured wooden container around the bottle. Good value and a neat item that I’d not previously heard of. 7 out of 10