Apple Tabac

I've been following Pineward since the early days. The dram samples and handwritten labels. I can say with confidence, I'm Pineward's biggest fan, and my bottle of Apple Tabac holds a special place in my heart, for reasons I don't feel right stating publicly. I can't believe I haven't posted my Fragrantica reviews of Pineward, as I've tried nearly all of them. So let us begin. The juice is burnish scarlet red-mahogany. Thick like an Extrait. Just removing the atomizer cap fills the air with the potent autumnal brew. You've never smelled an apple note like this. Nick is a wizard. He has a way of taking natural handmade absolutes and material extracts, and bolstering their natural aromatic properties with other materials. Apple Tabac is created around the most photorealistic concentrated red apple accord. Ripe, perhaps slightly overripe - you've wandered into an apple orchard - it's mid-october, and you're surrounded by the red, orange, and yellow glow of peak autumn foliage. Some apples - all red - remain on the trees, perfect for picking. The rest have falled to the dried golden ground, where a few have begun to slightly ferment. The aroma surrounds you. It smells like October. Along the paths of this apple orchard are oak casks - inside, a long forgotten recipe is maturing. Pressed apple cider, rum, a pinch of mulling spice, and a few sprigs from the nearby balsam fir forest. You pry open the cask head, and the heady, indulgent elixir wafting up and filling the air. You pour a stein. Take a seat on a nearby cask, and reach into your overcoat to fetch the pouch of rich golden burley tobacco. That dry, leathery raisin-like aroma. Stuff the bowl, sit back, and take it all in. The apple trees, the autumnal colours against the dark backdrop of the forest, the rich warming glogg of spiced cider and rum, and the ponderous draw of the burley leaf. You're at peace. This is October. This is Apple Tabac. Not that it even matters, with how gorgeous this is, but performance is utterly ridiculous. It won't leave the skin until you shower and scrub. It will project like a missile for a couple of hours, before enveloping you in a small,scent bubble for several more, before settling as a skin scent until the end of time. The apple note here is as realistic as they come, and you will not find an equal to this. The way it's build makes it inherently autumnal-smelling. It's "fall in a bottle", perhaps equally as much as the likes of Slumberhouse Sova, Parfums de Marly Oajan, or Killian Angels' Share. It has the pureness of something like Sova, but the specificity of something like one of the others. None of them smell even remotely similar. If you've tried Christmas Wine or Glühwein, this shares the same underlying dried dark fruit accord found in those. I can wax poetic all day long about this stuff. It's a Pineward, so of course it's going to evoke very vivid and specific imagery. It really is the idea of October - boiled down and bottled in the form of an apple orchard. If that appeals to you, you're forever missing out on something extraordinary until you sample this. It's the most bold and brazen bottle of the lineup, and there's nothing subtle about it, but it's truly the best of its kind.

Apple, tobacco, and fir? Shut up and take my money. The second I opened my sample I knew this was full bottle worthy. I love apple scents but have a hard time finding ones that aren't green-apple/fresh/shampooey. I like those too, don't get me wrong, but they can come off a little juvenile and/or wearable only in the spring and summer. This apple scent steers dark, more mature, and suits cold weather better. To me, there isn't much change between the opening and dry down. Authentic, ripe red apple up front, tobacco (fresh pipe tobacco, not ashy cigarette tobacco) in the middle, and fir balsam in the background. There are some other fruits in there too, and some rum, which I can't smell as distinctly as the other notes, but gives it a cider-like feel at times. As some have said, it can smell candle-y, though I didn't pick up on that until I applied it with a sprayer. It's autumnal, even a little festive, but not in pumpkin-spice way. I've smelled every scent from Pineward and this is one of the "safer" offerings, and one of the few that leans just a touch femme of center. Some of the other Pineward scents I've tried on my skin have a curry-like note in the base (Bindebole, Boreal), but thankfully this one does not. My other favorites include Murkwood, Christmas Wine, and Brokilan. This is an extrait concentration, so it's potent and lasts forever, especially on clothing. Because the juice is dark brown, I avoid spraying it directly on clothes, but even after washing I can still smell it on the cuffs of my sweaters. It ain't cheap, but given the longevity and that it comes from an indie house (Nick is responsive to questions and very nice, btw), I think its more than worth it if you find a scent you love. I got the 17ml which is perfect for me budget-wise and usage-wise.

Before you read: I'm beginning my perfume journey, and my nose is really weak compared to everyone else, so take this with a grain of salt. It starts off strong with a juicy red apple, on my skin it's really sweet and apply, it's heavy on fruit. There's a faint semblance of tobacco, but not enough for me to pin it down as such. Despite this, I want to purchase a 37ml bottle for the fall and winter! I'm not sure if it's my skin chemistry, or my nose only picking up on mostly sweet things, but I found it important enough to take note on myself. My friends and parents compared it to a bath and body fall candle, I agree. It's very very cozy, almost like going to your friends house during a blizzard. Then they open the door and you get hit with warm apple because of achristmas party. Anyways, thanks for reading, happy sampling!

Apple Tabac lasts a long time on my skin and is very enjoyable. This indeed has a strong "Fresh Red Apple" note. As a kid I worked in the orchards with apples many summers and I can say that this apple note is indeed that of a fresh red apple as opposed to a Golden Delicious or a Granny Smith apple type note. This is counter balanced by a tobacco leaf like note. This tobacco leaf note smells of the dried tobacco leaf variety to me but perhaps thats because of the blending. It gives the apple note a bed of warmth to lay on along with a slight zing from some fir balasam and butteriness from the rum note. This is a beautiful fragrance and I have been enjoying it very much.

This opens with fresh and sweet apples. They smell like fiji apples or pink lady apples, as they have a mild tart sweetness to them. This scent is weirdly extremely fresh despite the name and notes. As the scent develops you get those dried fruits and the rum resin. They’re boozy fruits, sweet and warm. The tobacco here adds a warm smokiness but its not at the forefront. This scent is mostly fruity. These are warm stewed fruits drenched in rum and covered by a thin smoky cloud of tobacco. I loved this one depsite not a ton of tobacco like I hoped.