Polo

You think you could handle the life of a German barbarian in the late fourth and early fifth centuries? Poor you, at constant war with Rome while your muddy village made of dirt, sticks and timber is being overrun and infiltrated by successions of Germanic Goths, Saxons, Franks and Vandals fleeing from the feared Huns who swept through Europe from the Russian steppes on the back of sturdy and well bred horses shredding to pieces village after village before enslaving the women and chopping the heads off the men? Could you really swing a battle axe with one hand? Could you really defend your family from onslaught after endless onslaught of pending chaos and death? Answer? Not if you can't pull off wearing this masculine beast of a fragrance. Never mind the country club image here folks, Polo, because this isn't gentlemanly games on the Chelsea commons of West London circa 1910. This fragrance is brutal, earthy, dark and danky pine woods like the ones that used to cover all of Northern Europe before the 12th century. Those woods are wet and mossy from the constant fall rain and drizzle, capturing the misty cool morning and the decaying leaves on the ground. This is leafy and dry tobacco rolled up with a bunch of Asian spices just off the ship from Portuguese and Dutch traders back from Malaysia and Indonesia. The top is like a trip to the apothecary of old, full of medicinal shots of herb and rootsy, earthy concoctions often smoked and ingested but with an aura of mystery still surrounding them in regards to their actual medicinal functionality. This is rough and old-fashioned the first hour before calming into a fantastic blend of dry tobacco and wet woods that was wholly unique at the time and finally gave an American designer credibility in an industry dominated by The French, Spanish. Italians, Germans and Brits (via their introduction to fragrance manufacturing by the Portuguese) until Polo unleashed this dirty frontiersman like woody monster on the buying public. Do you like warm spice, earthy tobacco, muddy roots, green and damp decaying woods in the late evening just a few degrees above freezing? This is one of those fragrances that truly captures a bit of the old world Central Europe well before then global market gave rise to the chopping down of most of the forests and the Hanseatic League discarded many of the local dialects and unique myths and imposed global conformity on the Germanic peoples., This fragrance recalls the smoke of the hearth, the common forest just behind the manor, the smell of sweat and perspiration mixed with honor and pure masculinity after coming back from a day working in the fields pulling the oxen down row after row. This is one of the landmark releases in fragrance over the last 50 years, it took the Paco Rabanne and Halston blueprints and flirtations with mossy, green and spicy tones and blew the roof off this mother like George Clinton. If you are a real woodsman, a man who has no fear sleeping in a tent on Kodiak Island off the coast of Alaska surrounded by grizzly bears on all sides yet perfectly sane and not even disposed for a moment to worry about the possible negatives, this is your fragrance. Polo is one of the few that can truly handle the Paul Bunyan like giants of masculinity on earth without restraining that inner-beast inside. Longevity is still excellent at 8-14 hours depending on the time of the season and your bottle vintage, but lay low on the sprays, keep it to 2-3 at most, with 1-2 honestly best, as this one can be invasive if not kept a little tame on a leash and guarded from a younger generation who aren't used to clouds of tobacco smoke swirling around late night bars. Polo is a classic that may have lost a lot of popularity in the last twenty years with the new wave of fresh and clean fragrances, but is a friendly reminder of how talented Carlos Benaim has always been as an artist of scent.

It’s just a banger. All time classic. Majestic. Unapologetic. Masculine. Powerful. Assertive. Refreshing. The sillage other people get from this one is really magical, even today. It doesn’t smell dated. The old man country club smell is still here in the opening and when you dig your nose in. But to any unwitting bystanders, it is alluring, confident, and manly in the best of ways. It will be asked about and commented on by your colleagues— not to inform you that you smell like an old man (as Polo Green neophytes are wont to fear), but rather, to ask you what you’re wearing because they love it. They want to buy it for themselves, or for their partners. This stuff, especially in the sillage, is extraordinarily vibrant, attractive, and refreshing in a seemingly endless ocean of generic blue fragrances that absolutely no one can differentiate (and all smell like a little brother at best, or a high school-ex at worst, to every woman under 35) There’s nothing I can add that hasn’t already been said... ...other than to say that the sales lady at Nordstrom recoiled in horror when I inquired about buying a bottle of this storied juice... just after we both got done ranting about our mutual love for Royal Oud. She exclaimed: “You’re such a handsome young man. You don’t want to wear Polo. I was married to Polo Green for 18 years!” She went on to inform me how fragrances in the 80’s needed to be harsh in order to cut through and hide the smell of cigarettes in bars/on bar patrons. Next, she continued trying to talk me out of it and had me sample nearly every other scent in the store. I spent about an hour and a half there. Not because I intended to buy anything other than Polo that day, but because I’ll never pass up an opportunity to get my nose on a bunch of fragrances and chat about them with someone who is equally passionate about them. By the end of our sampling tour, spanning around the two separate parts of the store that housed fragrances, she requested to smell the classic Polo I had tested on my left wrist at the beginning of our journey... seemingly in a final effort to talk me out of it... she went on to tell me that it smelled “amazing” on my skin and marveled. This is all to say two things: First, everyone actually loves this beast, as long as you have enough chest hair to get past the opening. But people fear it unjustly before giving it a college try. And second, buyer beware... a mere whiff may awaken dormant PTSD in divorced women over the age of 45. Enjoy and wear with confidence. I’ll always keep a bottle around. All the rumors about this one are true (and legendary). You already know what you’re getting into. Finally, don’t let the speculation about reformulations trouble you. This stuff still performs at an absurdly high level, and it smells virtually identical, accord for accord, with the old stuff. It might have gotten a marginal potency nerf back in the day with the downfall of oak moss, but this is a completely meaningless complaint when you consider that the current formulation still performs far above whatever you think you might possibly need in any given situation. To 99% of people who have worn the old version, it smells very much the same and is immediately identifiable. In terms of projection, sillage, and longevity, nobody who actually wears this stuff will ever complain. It’s still wildly powerful and long lasting. Buy it, spend some time with it, and thank your father and your grandfathers for wearing it. Otherwise, you might not be here reading this review.

Here in the UK this seemed to have all but vanished from the shelves and indeed, even today, I can't find it on the Ralph Lauren website and it's been absent for a while so I had concerns that they had inexplicably opted to discontinue it (I know, that would make literally no sense). Yesterday however I walked into a branch of Boots and sat there was a gleaming brand new tester. I felt slightly odd in that I'd seen this many times in the past but for some reason, just didn't try it. So, it having been so scarcely available for so long, I leapt at the chance yesterday. I had a quick single spray to the wrist and left the shop while I let it sit for a while. Immediately I knew I had smelled this before but perhaps most romantically, it reminded me of that scene in Ratatouille where the food critic eats the dish that has been prepared and is instantly transported back in his bitter old mind to childhood. This scent transported me back straight away and I absolutely fell in love with it. I know this and Kouros are nothing alike but there is for me a similarity not in the scent itself, but in the effect of the scent. It harks back to a different time but my goodness, it does smell so good and took me back to the 80's. One thing I did pick up on immediately was that this was clearly the inspiration for a dupe which I had owned in the past from Marks & Spencer, called Woodspice. It seems so obvious, the M&S fragrance came in a green glass bottle with a gold cap and gold lettering on the bottle! Of course it was a rip off of Polo but I only realised it yesterday. So, if you have a relative, likely a Dad, Grandad or Uncle who has complained about Woodspice not being available any more, get them a bottle of the original it was based on! Polo is smoother and more genteel but the similarity is stark and, bottle aside, blatantly obvious from the scent. Woodspice was a cheaper knock off the OG, Polo. I can't say this reminds me of walking into a Pine forest. I've never set foot in such a place and I sometimes wonder how many people who say that of this fragrance, actually have. Pine absolutely is present and centre but the way this is augmented by the other notes is so carefully done. It makes me think, not of forests, but of warm, exotic summer nights where anything was possible. I'm more than happy to accept this will not smell as good as it once did - the sad truth of so many fallen giants (Kouros, Anteus, Lapidus to name a few) but I think this still has some character to it and is still, as it always has been, unapologetically, uncompromisingly and unashamedly Polo.

CONTEXT: Professional gentleman in his 60's with the mature, masculine, old-school tastes one would expect from a fellow my age. I've been collecting fragrances for a while now and have about 100 fragrances. My bottle of Polo green is vintage. It is THIS fragrance that I am reviewing, not the modern neutered version. These are just one man's not so humble opinions. Your mileage may vary. Oh, man, I love this fragrance! I was 19 when Polo Green came out in 1978. It was my sophomore year at uni and I adopted this gem of a fragrance as my daily wear, as did many of my peers. It was the Dior Sauvage Elixir of its day, but with big... cojones. If you've got some, and the confidence of a traditionally masculine gentleman that comes with them, this fragrance is perfect for you. What alarmingly effeminized, low-T, younger men eschew as "old fashioned" these days, I call mature, hyper-masculine, and sigma-male. Because of this worrisome cultural trend, Polo Green can actually be rather intimidating to beta men. It is frankly rather fun to walk into a roomful of people wearing PG or another ultra-masculine frag like Dior Fahrenheit (Vintage EDT) and watch the betas retreat before you, while at the same time attracting those men with a similar, commanding presence, and women who appreciate those attributes. Polarizing? Perhaps. But in an an effectively discriminating fashion. PG truly separates the men from the soy boyz. Remember: PUT IT ON only if you can PULL IT OFF. Sadly, the modern reformulations of many of these types of fragrances have suffered the dilution, regulation and androgenization common to the modern culture. Tragically, Polo green has acquiesced much to this unfortunate trend as have others like Drakkar Nior. Ohmygoodness, Ralph Lauren and Guy Laroche have totally emasculated these once regal and powerful kings of the fragrance beasts. They have castrated them, removed their claws and pulled their teeth. My ancient bottle of PG is alarmingly low and I will soon have to plumb the exorbitantly-priced depths of questionably "authentic" offerings on eBay to get more. Shite.

Hello fragrance fam, on today's reformulation guide were covering the pine and woods and masterpiece known as Polo EDT for men by Ralph Lauren. For a perfume released in 1978, yes there have been many small reformulations over time that have changed the original scent of Polo. I'm keeping things simple separating it into three main reformulations. The bottle style and shape has remained close to the same, so you mostly have to rely on your batch sticker to find what era your bottle was produced in. The most well regarded are Polos first two main reformulations by Warner and Cosmair. 1. Pre-1987: Any batch sticker that containers the word "Warner/Lauren" or "Warner/Cosmair". These are first edition batches of Polo. I would consider these versions slightly softer and easier to wear. 2. 1991-2006: Any batch sticker that contains the word "Cosmair" without "Warner". These are the most well known and loved versions of Polo. These versions come across as louder and more abrasive in smell with base notes like cedar and pine slightly amplified more than the warner versions. *Due to a transition when Ralph Lauren was changing manufacturers, 2000-2006 Cosmair and Luxury Products have a shared batch code timeline. I would still suggest to pursue the Cosmair versions. 3. Post-2000: Any batch produced by "Luxury Products". Generally the older your bottle, the closer to Polos original scent profile you'll have. You can check these modern batch codes via a batch code website. Be aware of approximate mass reformulations in 2010, 2016 and again in 2024. Hope this helps and enjoy the journey! * USA, visit our web store VintageDecants If you would like to sample this fragrance in it's vintage formulation, along with hundreds of other discontinued and rare fragrances to choose from.