Hercules

I recently got into fragrances again and started with some Givenchy Gentleman Flankers.I got 8 cheapies last week to have a more modern and unisex fragrance vocabulary that suits both my wife and myself. I will comment on the fragrance without comparison to anything. It doesn't remind me of anything I own or have come across so definitely new perfumery of today. Safe Blind buy because someone will take it off your hands if you don't like it. This is the best thing you can get for 20$. You have to be really difficult or just not in tune with this one to find fault IMO. I got this last Thursday and I usually shoot a few sprays in the box and huff and wave the box around to get an idea. I immediately liked this although very much like now , I can't get my nose on it really well. AS I write this I have trouble discerning anything but a cherry fruitiness (similar to a baby food jar of cherry our fruity something...one review said Jammy, I agree cherry Jam). I also find a spiciness like vanilla pipe tobacco ash more than fresh leaf(very slight ). I would say a powdery layer that doesn't take up much space in the balace. It's a yummy type thing. Playful and never gets too serious. I'm not sure this can be buisness meeting oriented . This is a get together fragrance that will intrigue those who smell it. Non offensive, fruity vanillic without ever getting to the pumpkin spice quality of Tobacco Vanille and to me bears no real remote resemblance . This is it's own class of scent. Very unisex . The fruitiness is forward on this one for me. Not warm weather oriented but definitely colder day proximity fragrance. You wanna kiss friends hello socially wearing this. I think this is crowd safe and theater safe. So far it hasn't cloyed for an overspray 2 hours ago. I about 10 sprays. wrists inner elbow chest neck and behind shoulders. I had tested on a forearm and went back for a second spray as I can't seem to smell this one. It seems to creep up on you as it develops. You get whiffs of it as you move. I'm pretty sure I'm nose blind to this one. I can smell it but can't analyse it. I also believe it needs to sit and mature a while to bloom. I've recently acquired a few perfumes and much to my surprise have come to embrace that maturing theory...although time frame is to be determined. My Fabulo Intenso smelled like an ashtray on first and second use but those notes have toned down so I believe starting a new bottle either leaves room for evaporation of excess alchohol that preserves the product until it's used...or some sort of thing. There's definitely something in maturing perfume and it developing somewhat. I will revisit this review if anything really changes over time.

I went in with ZERO expectations. I had a horrible first experience with Alhambra but they've really improved. This is one of the best clones you can get for under $50. Originally I bought a bottle of this just to qualify for free shipping. I knew Herod was very popular but I didn't expect it to be the best of my 5 purchases. This opens with a sweet cherry cough syrup and warm spices. there's a faint bit of smokiness in the background of the fragrance from the incense and it adds complexity to the fragrance. Then the tobacco and vanilla appear to give it some smooth, creaminess to it. the cherry cough syrup isn't like nyquil, but it's hard to unsee the cough syrup remark the tobacco isn't a smoked kind, this is NOT a forest fire type middle eastern fragrance Think of a night time, more masculine take on Guerlain Ideal L'Homme Ideal EDP. I find this very similar to Blonde Amber by Clive Christian or Black Musk for her by Jovan. This is a very easy to wear Age wise, anyone. This fragrance is best suited for colder weather, date night, perhaps formal events, I can see women sneaking a few sprays too. When I was trying all the fragrances from that order I did this shocked me. I had a bad first experience with Parfums De Marley with Layton as I don't understand how it is so overhyped, this 1010 perfect masterpiece of a fragrance without bribe money involved. However this blew me away.. I remember when I opened the box and I passed my brother this to try, within less than a minute he said how much was it. I told him $20, he ran to his room and paid me for it on the spot. His girlfriend at the time went nuts for it. Long story short this became a Christmas and birthday gift for a lot of people one year. this does not smell cheap. People would happily pay 4 or more times the asking price for this if their favorite designer brand(s) made it without batting an eye. If there's anything synthetic in this. Who cares. 99% of people we walk by won't know. I wish people would stop making a mountain out of a molehill. It's a $20 fragrance! Should any of us be surprised? It's about as big of a shock as Darth Vader being Luke Skywalker's father or what happened to the Titanic. I've heard the longevity is so good on this that there is no reason to buy Parfums De Marley Herod any more. This was from a few Youtubers that I actually trust their opinions, that aren't shills like this one or that one without naming names. We do go noseblind to it but just because we do that doesn't mean others can't smell us. From the first wear I did 5 sprays and got about 6 hours.

This thing is blowing me away. I got it as a cheap Herod dupe after hearing about it enough times, and at $20 this is just bonkers. First of all, I had planned to let it macerate before even attempting to compare it to Herod, but I sprayed it out of curiosity once it arrived this morning. It immediately smelled like Herod right out of the box. There's a quick alcohol blast I get on first spray that I don't get from Herod, but after that few seconds, I actually prefer the opening of Hercules. Herod has a cherry tobacco note that smells like Chloraseptic throat spray to me (that I don't love) that burns off fairly quickly, but it isn't present in Hercules at all. Instead, that bit of a cherryish note comes out smoothly as it enters the mid. The mid is near identical, except that I get more of the individual notes shining in Hercules. In the drydown I get a bit more cedar and more of that good, bright, Encre Noir style vetiver that occasionally peeks out of Herod in the right weather. It's just there with Hercules. Hercules also lasted through a shower, which Herod never has. Immediately after that shower, I sprayed Hercules on one arm and Herod on the other, and after about an hour the Herod is faint and the Hercules is going strong. I also asked my husband to blind smell each arm and tell me what smelled better and he chose Hercules. I wouldn't say I'm a snob about fragrances at all. I love a cheap cologne. However, I'm generally of the opinion that sometimes you're just gonna have to pay more for a certain level of performance. This, though. This is insane. This twenty dollar bottle is smoking the performance of the $380 one. If this is Hercules without maceration, then it's gonna go crazy in six months. This is a buy, a buy, a BUY. For the price, unbelievable, and it's performing every bit as well as Herod if not better. I'm completely stoked on this. UPDATE: Just shy of two months later and this thing has only gotten better. I bought a backup bottle and am letting it age while I use up this one, which I definitely will. This has become my signature scent. I wear it nearly every day. It definitely performs better than Herod, and at the price, it's a no-brainer. Also, anyone thinking this will smell like Red Tobacco/Mystery Tobacco: no. It won't. Other than that all have a tobacco note.

Had to do my initial "review" of this on Fragram a year ago, glad to see it finally on the database! :) In short, this is even better than Herod in my (perhaps controversial?) opinion. Not even taking into account that this is a fraction of the cost, I've done a few side by side comparisons spraying one on each forearm & I feel that this not only performs better off my skin, but is also more appealing with some added sweetness to the tobacco that is lacking in Herod. If you look at the perfume pyramid on this site, these two run almost parallel, with the more expensive PdM having some extra base notes, but to my untrained & highly opinionated nose this is like the best essences of Herod with a slight kick of the sweetness of Carlisle (my favourite PdM so far). It's like the slightly less intense, much less synthetic smelling version of Mancera Red Tobacco, with that elusive fresh rolling or pipe cherry tobacco, straight from the bag, still slightly moist, waiting to be lit. This is tobacco vanilla perfection! Hercules stands shoulder to shoulder with CDNIM as a niche killer for perfumery non-snobs. That you get an almost "niche quality" juice at a budget discount price is a no brainer. This bottle holds its own sitting right next to my Xerjoffs, & certainly over many other designer frags out there. Don't be a snob. Nobody carries their bottles out in public anyway. Wear this with the same enthusiasm when answering people's compliments about your outfit with "I got this at an op shop!".

This one is a banger. I mean for the price you can't ask much but this delivered. The smell is very unique and you will only be paying a small % of what PDM costs. It has a tobacco, cedar oud, vetiver and Vanilla smell. It smells fresh and Rich, a bit powdery. Definitely has that PDM DNA. It is a unique scent I don't know anyone near me that wears something like this. It gets compliments from the ladies, it isn't loud or feels the room but fit a nice misterious men. Good for any occasion, although I would like to wear it.more at night. Definitely office safe. Projection is very good 6-7h. Sillage is small, you won't be screaming for attention and it a subtle pleasant scent. Maybe with some 4-5 spray you would get more attention. Overall: 7.8/10 For the price it's amazing Update It has that wet dark tobacco that is slightly sweet, although I have been wearing this, it just doesn't really fit me. This has a mature 40/50+ vibe, it smells good when you wear 1 or 2 times after it just reminds me of a closed house, when you go on vacations and come back for the first time and you need to open the windows. It has that dark, stale air kind of background. Probably because of the wood and incense. I can enjoy it but I don't see me wearing this anymore. Again good for maybe 40+ year old, in a suit or special occasions where you don't want to stand out much, like going to a wedding or working in a formal environment. Just wanted to share the downsides to this too, so you guys know I don't glaze.

Just got this in, and think it's a great scent. I don't own PDM Herod, nor have I smelt before... However, I heard about it and wanted to give it a shot. For the price, it has a great scent profile. I don't smell any "cheapie" vibes, as I do with other dupes. The only drawback is the longevity - it seems to last an hour max. I sprayed it on my arm and a strip last night. On my skin, it seemed to fade quickly - but it was still fairly strong on the strip this morning. I'll let this sit for a few weeks and try again to see if the performance improves. For those wondering about notes - I smell Tobacco, Vanilla, Cinnamon, and Vetiver the most. This is a very pleasant, complex, rich smell. Very masculine and soothing. If my home office smelled like this, I would sit in that room all day. The scent is 9/10. I wish I could smell the pepper, but I can't. If you gravitate towards those scents, this is an incredible value. Would I wear this as a regular cologne? Probably not - because I would have to reapply it throughout the day. If the performance improves with sitting, then yes, I would wear it. This doesn't smell cheap.

Very nice dupe of PDM Herod. The opening feels less sharp than Herod. It settles into a musky wood fragrance. The Iso E and Cedar are VERY prominent. The cedar ia strong initially but it does settle down within 10 minutes. A far woodier fragrance than Herod. Herod leans more into that cherry tobacco and vanilla vibe, Hercules is more woody musk with tobacco being a little less prominent. Ups the wood by about 30% and lowers the red tobacco DNA by about 25%. Id say its about 80-85% Herod. Far less smooth and balanced than Herod. Its woody and earthier scent makes the tobacco a bit drier and earthy compared to the smooth pipe tobacco note of Herod. Hercules is rough around the edges. I feel the sillage and longevity is only slightly more than the original, but not by much. It will definitely scratch the Herod itch and prolong your bottle or until you save up for a full bottle of Herod. I plan to always keep a bottle of Herod, its an absolute cold weather masterpiece. However, Hercules will definitely allow me to use Herod for more special occasions. Excellent price point, worth the buy,

A comforting, linear sweet tobacco to have on my shelf along with the other dozen or so tobacco cheapies that I have as they all have similarities but I like the slight differences. It does smell similar to the OG on initial opening and then it disappears like a vapour cloud. The performance is terrible. It's a skin scent on me in less than an hour and it does not project at all unless you decant and spray the entire 5-7ml within 3 hours. It's what you would expect from something that costs less than the $20 that I paid for it. I would rather wear Autobiography Supreme Gold or maybe Reyhan Insurrection Wild II for slightly different but with more strength and with far better performance for a similar price. I could mention others but they are more different in terms of scent profile and cost. It's just not bad, and as a lot of other tobacco fragrances can be strong straight after the initial spray, it may be ideal to only use whilst in an intimate moment...and if you're lucky enough for the moment to last longer than a half hour, then you can re-spray.

I've already reviewed this twice, but here I am again. Stupid good cheapy. I've owned a couple bottles of this over the years and I keep trading them off and then wishing I hadn't. This is one of the best winter and date night frags a guy can get for $20 out the door (under $20 if you negotiate properly.) Even from a fresh bottle, 99% of people wouldn't know you're not wearing Herod. It's insanely close even though it definitely misses a lot of the subtle nuances, the larger ones seem to get completely nailed. It smells way too good and way to smooth for the price. Longevity and protection are average, you get around 6 hours with good projection in the first hour. Overspray! Overspray! Overspray! I would blast on 8 sprays and not think twice, now you get 8 hours and great projection for an hour and a half to 2 hours. It's cheap, so spray away! If I had to start and fill out a Fragrance collection from scratch with only $100 and needed to buy 4 different frags, this would be in high contention for the special occasion fragrance.

The price to qualify ratio of this fragrance is insane! After sampling Herod in 2023, I bought a bottle of Radical Brown Armaf and it was good but not great, it scratched the itch to an extent, but left me wanting. There was an unpleasant note underneath that just hit my nose wrong. Hercules is a different story. This is unbelievably close to Herod, not quite as complex or long lasting, but after maceration this has good longevity and is unbelievably smooth and beautiful. Opens with a smooth soft cherry tobacco with subtle cinnamon nuance, there are nice woody and vanilla notes underneath. The scent is a little linear but that's okay because the notes are blended so well. I can't believe I only paid around $23 for this and Herod is close to $200 even from discounters. I am actually blown away by how good Hercules is. Amazing date night fragrance. Fall and Winter bring the best out of this, night time wear, unisex leaning masculine. This is an easy 9/10 for me.

I wore this last in Dec of 2024 . Some 8 to9 months further on this is just delicious. I can smell it really well now because on the first few wears I couldn't make out the notes but liked it. This matures and needs to. I've learned how true this process is. It just seems to blend better and smooth out the notes. Also applies to my beloved Givenchy Gentleman bottles...live with your scents before passing on them. I love this stuff. It's a comforting creamy Cherry Tobacco. It's insanely nice to wear now. It's just sweet enough and still has that Tart cherry babyfood note mixed with a vanilla tobacco fog. I'm also getting an occasional smokiness that pops up here and there now. Never get's sickening sweet in my opinion. This is proof a clone of less expense can be worthy of praise. Remember, people can't smell the designer or the price on you. Proud to be a yummy smelling Cheapskate !!

It's a warm, slightly sweet and spicy scent, making it particularly good for fall and winter, though it could also work for spring and summer evenings. The performance on my skin is great, with a longevity of up to 9 hours and a moderate sillage, making it very versatile, in my opinion. My nose primarily detects a beautiful blend of tobacco and cherry, very similar to its inspiration. The opening is sharp and synthetic for a brief moment, but it soon begins to smell more familiar, albeit a little less sweet, until I can barely tell the difference between them in the dry down. I love the look of bottle as well, with its shape being also very nice for holding in your hand or packing for travel. My only complaint here is that the sticker in the center is not centered at all taking away from a good bottle design as a whole. All in all, it's a fantastic interpretation of PDM's Herod.

This one is so good! Initially it's a blast of cinnamon, subtle black pepper and slight fruitiness (which is most likely comming from that sticky tobacco), reminiscent for me to deep rich plum and cherry. Opulent, warm, slightly deep yet subtle tobacco with smooth balsams in the middle and such elegant and sweet yet not gourmand vanilla. If we had to compare it to the OG, this obviously lacks that depth and complexion but for 20$ it's not that serious. This is definitelly unisex fragrance that leans a little masculine due to that woody tobacco profile. Longevity is not that good tho, I get around 3-4 hours on skin and approx 4 hours on clothes with a pretty intimate projection but i feel like it eventually starts to get better, I've had my bottle for a month now and performance got a little better. But again, for that price, it's still definitelly worth it!

complete blind buy based on notes, and i’ve never smelt Herod. very smooth tobacco and vanilla. not getting much cinnamon right now, but definitely smoky with black pepper, especially in the dry down. got it a week ago, and it’s not a beastly performer, even from the first spray. but i love the scent so much, it’s a keeper. i’m happy to let it sit to see if maturing helps with projection, or if this will just be a lovely one that needs to be oversprayed. i had low expectations for this, but im happy to say im pleasantly surprised. nothing screechy or unpleasant to my nose, it’s very smooth. 8/10 for me, only because of performance. for context, i’m a woman who enjoys all different types of fragrances, and this leans on the masculine side, nearly unisex if you like the notes listed. i personally think anyone could wear it if it’s their cup of tea.

Insanely sexy, sweet tobacco and vanilla. I really like Incense as well, but I can't really pick it out; the other more prominent smells might overshadow it. However, this has to be one of the best price-to-performance fragrances on the market. In my mind's eye, I feel like this (and Herod, for that matter) is what Don Draper from Mad Men might use as his signature scent. People who say this become a skin scent must be going completely nose-blind (getting anosmia) because this is a long-lasting fragrance with decent projection, depending on how much and where you spray (e.g. clothes/hair vs skin). This definitely leans masculine, and unlike most other PdM (style) fragrances, this is best suited for more mature men. I don't think it would appeal to most young men in their teens or early twenties due to the tobacco notes.

The more I speak about this beauty the less I believe I said.This is probably my signature scent since last year!!!Right off the bat sweet cherry pipe tobacco vibes with a sweet vanilla with dry yet smooth woody undertones with an unannounced tonka warmth. Tho the cinnamon and pepper as mentioned above don’t come out as much there’s a smooth and inoffensive hit of the smoother scent profiles of the two which just adds to the slightly herbal but still very mass appealing scent dna of this fragrance. All I need is 6 sprays to last 7-9+ hours with some nuances of this fragrance still coming out MUCH LATER. Projection is also pretty good. Longevity:9/10 Projection:7/10 Scent Profile:100/10 Mass appeal rate:7/10 Price:10/10 overall Performance:7.9/10 Would I buy this again asap? HELLYEAAHHH

I'm not mad at this. It lacks the "Cherry Infusion" of the Tobacco note in PDM's Herod, but the overall note of Tobacco Leaf here in Hercules is surprisingly good. Its leafy green & insanely earthy. Like a moist woody potting soil. In the air Hercules smells just like Herod. But when you smell it up close they smell only about 80% similar. To new owners of Hercules: This fragrance, like all cheap Middle Eastern house fragrances, needs time to both Maturate & Macerate. So spray it 10 times & put it away. When you return to it in a couple of months the scent will be much richer & closer to Herod & its performance will be much stronger. My application for Hercules is 15 sprays, & 4 sprays of PDM Herod.

ok, I got this because I like maison margiela's jazz club. I love that scent, but its so expensive. This is similar, and in ways its better, and in ways its worse. It has that tobacco note for sure, but its not as sweet and for me when I smell them side by side, hercules almost has a synthetic, play doh ish smell to it. My nose is not refined at all and I have no idea what many of these notes smell like on their own, so that could just be me smelling one of those notes and not liking it. That being said, the longevity is good on this, but even better on clothes. To me this smells better on clothes then it does on my skin. I would rate this a 8/10. :)

I have this for a few months now First of all, this is a great all-year-round, night time fragrance... It behaves very well in the heat! The main thing that I pick up from both this and Harod is ISO-E-Super (that's why some people may think that both this and Harod do not last - you go nose blind to it very quick if you spray your chest or your neck).. And , sure, you have that vanilla and slight tobacco feel , you have some green touches around the edges and a touch of smokiness... Tonka is another player here (not mentioned) Performance is great for me - lasts 12+h and projects nicely for up to 4-5h... Hope this helps! Cheers!

Oddly I'm wearing this an exact month after my initial review... I can confirm this scent evolves by letting it mature. Still overspraying it and almost immediate noseblind to it. I guess it works with my body chemistry really well. I definitely get amber vanilla cherry pipe tobacco whiffs wearing this. The cherry note is tart which balances the sweetness in the ambery vanilla well. I have TF Tobacco Vanille . This cheap clone just smells more delicious. I agree with the reviewer that says this is one of the best tobacco scents. It's comforting for some reason. Makes me want to see how good the perfume it mimics smells.....