T. Habanero

T. Habanero is my fourth try from the house of Rania J, and like the others I’ve tried so far, it’s great, a spicy tobacco accompanied by a mélange that’s highlighted by black pepper, mostly, to my nose, with an ensemble involving pink pepper, cardamom, oud, incense, myrrh, and leather. I’m not sure I get too much of any of these but I can sort of see them all being involved. It’s not overtly animalic but there is a dry varnishy aspect that hints at leather and oud. Similarly, it’s not sweet, but there’s a resinous side, sort of a resinous/woody dry down that seems in line. T. Habanero is pretty serious, like Lavande 44, and feels gentlemanly though conceivably unisex, albeit more suited for the colder weather than the more year-round-friendly Lavande 44. There are an abundance of sweeter tobacco-heavy fragrances, a number of which I love, so it’s nice to have something on the spicier side. It certainly reminds me of other spicy men’s fragrances, as well, but it’s not wholly classic, as it has a modern, artistic vibe to it, though it seems to walk the line between indulgent and restrained. Like the rest of the Rania J line, T. Habanero is priced at $149 for 50ml retail and is only sold officially in the US through Luckyscent, and it performs well, slightly better than Lavande 44, I initially sought out about half of the house’s seven fragrances to try, but they’ve all been quite outstanding, so I’ll probably look to try the other three (Cuir Andalou, Jasmin Kana, Music Moschus) as well. 8 out of 10

The dry down won me over on this one, just like ambre loup did. She is quite an amazing perfumia. The opening with this was like a love hate for me, the sweetness the darkness battling it out, but mixed with my skin scent after about 30 mins I get a wonderful wonderful aroma one just has to experience. I mean looking at the notes here I was expecting something a little different but I have to say I am quite impressed with this offering and Amber loup. I have full bottles of each. The longevity on these fragrance s are like extrait status, beast mode ! I did notice after I paid $150 for a bottle at twisted Lilly I could have got it $98 at first in fragrance, so look around. If you would like to sample these offerings just visit here website directly. I got all of them shipped in a week for like $25 bucks. The perfumer is really nice and will email you right back. She was also proud to notify me she only uses natural oud in her fragrances nothing synthetic. Beast longevity. Must try guys, must try!

This one is softer on skin than on paper. This opens similarly as Oud Assam (as others have already said), with Rania Jouaneh's signature orange-y oud, and then soften to become a powdery dry tobacco, supported by a noticeable myrrh note (here with its animalic/cola-ish facet) and a hint of honey. Performance is surprisingly a step lower than Oud Assam, and could be improved given the price point. Despite the lower-than-expected projection, it's a masterpiece imo, what TF Tobacco Oud remotely dreamt to be. It is indeed a quite bold formal fragrance, and even if leaning masculine, I find it easier to pull off by a woman than TF Tobacco Oud for example, because of the creamy sandalwood in the drydown. It targets for sure more mature crowds. Fantastic. My only regret: buying a 50ml bottle. I definitely should have gone for the 100ml one. Fall/Winter evenings, 35+

At first I was a bit divided about T. Habanero. I could not decide whether I experienced a yet unfinished experiment or a masterly crafted rugged tobacco scent. After wearing it a number of times I am now completely convinced that the latter interpretation is true for me. T. Habanero opens with a burst of a challenging oud variety spiced with pepper. Once the oud settles a bit T. Habanero evolves to the best spicy tobacco I have experienced. It's easy to recognize Rania Jouaneh's signature on this scent. In T.Habenero i find references to Oud Assam as well as Lavande 44. In the dry down T. Habanero turns resinous-woody but still with an oudy edge. To my nose T. Habanero is the masterpiece in Rania J's impressive and very artful collection.

Another worthless “this perfume reminds me of” on here This is an original creation. Very dark and dirty. You have to like the slight anamalic ouds though. This is one where the opening isn’t the easiest to jump on board with, but a magical dry down keeps you hooked. I prefer Ambre Loop from her line personally. I think that’s a better fragrance than my Amber Absolute from TF. This does have some sort of habenro vibe to it with the cardamom/pink pepper opening, but it’s mostly a tobacco/dirty oud/ leather dark type scent that plays out quite well if you like the darker fragrances . Very good use of high end raw materials from a very talented perfumer.