Tom Ford for Men Extreme

Ingenius, simply ingenius! In all my years of smelling fragrances, I had yet to come across a scent like this. Tom Ford For Men Extreme was a creation that I was well aware of its existence and often times saw for sale in retail stores and even online back in the day. For some reason, it never caught my attention to test out and neither did its older brother For Men, before I tested that one out afterwards in a sample. A quick note also is that this was absolutely 100% made in 100ml bottles. Apart from me seeing it with my own eyes back then, some others also have mentioned this. According to my research and feedback, it seems this fragrance was supposed to be a limited edition release and the 100ml bottles were firstly made and given as a gift from the brand to their most valuable clientel since it was among their first male fragrance releases. These versions also contained no batch codes. They were then sold for a limited time in selected Tom Ford boutiques and Sephora in the U.S. and France. As of now I tested almost every male offering from the signature line and none really did it for me, which made me think how overhyped TF as a brand really might be. Still, I came across a sealed bottle of the For Men Extreme for a reasonable price and decided why not. Seeing as how rare it is, it could always be sold off again. I received the bottle, opened it and tested it out in the air first as I always do. My goodness..wauw..the opening was true bliss! So strange to say this, though it was as if I instantly knew I needed something like this in my life and was waiting for its arrival without even having smelled it before. It's not easy to describe, but in the opening you get a blast of fruitiness combined with the smell of cold clean dirt that's surrounded by a mild spiciness. This would probably be mainly the truffle, plum and fig added with mainly the cinnamon, saffron and cardamom in a cozy style. I also get a very slight berry like type of a scent done in the most chique way possible. Might just be the combo of the above mentioned notes that gives that vibe off. It dries down very quickly from here and goes mainly to the caramel, vanilla, rum and a little bit left of the cinnamon. Now the downside of this fragrance is the performance unfortunately. I have read some mixed reviews about this. My experience is that it quickly causes nose fatigue. There is something in this that makes you not smell the top and mid anymore after a few minutes, but when not paying attention, the top and mid notes make themselves known again very elegantly. Even though with this in mind, think it's safe to say that it is a very discrete type of performer. In the benefit of the fragrance it does have to be mentioned that the atomizer releases a noticable low amount of juice. At minimum it is 1/2 spray of the average atomizer and honestly I would even wanna say 1/3. The trick would then be to apply 2 to 3 sprays on the same spot to get one full average spray so to say, this does seem to help with the performance. You can easily recognize 'that Tom Ford signature' backbone in this scent which reminded me of the likes of Noir Extreme. Albeit they are different scents with Noir Extreme being a almost full on gourmand. This I would say is more of a Westernized Oriental spicy fragrance. I don't know how Pierre Negrin and Claude Dir did it, but the notes they came up with created a magic potion that among the hundreds of scents I have smelled and own as of today, made this one to be among my top 10 of all time. Trust me that really is saying something here. As a collector, fragrance explorer or whatever you want to identify as, do not sleep on this treasure of a scent. Perhaps it can also make you feel filled with joy upon smelling it, as it did so here. Rating: 9.1/10

Tom Ford Extreme is one of the best TF fragrances of all time! Of All Time!!! The fact that this was released as a flanker to TF For Men, and not marketed as a standalone Private Blend is really a tragedy of poor marketing and brand placement. This fragrance deserved so much better. It is so much better than many PB entries, and deserves to be recognised as one of TF's best creations. Imagine if this was released as an Eau de Parfum in the PB, with the squarish bottles, and given the name "Truffle Incense" or "Plum Smoke" or some other two-note naming convention that was popular at the time. The people would have bought this in bulk and showered in it. Literally showered in it. TF Extreme starts with a blast of truffle, leathery and earthy accords, that are then elevated with a crisp lemon that cuts through the formulation like a ray of light shining through rich purple velvet curtains. There is a creamy woodiness in the background that grounds the fragrance and helps it transition into the heart. The heart develops about 30 minutes after application, and one can smell boozy, resinous and woody accords. The dry-down is really where this fragrance shines. The rich incense and smokiness that come out really radiate and give a sense of depth and mystery to this fragrance. It is undoubtedly manly and very masculine, I can't imagine a woman wanting to smell like this. I can see this being the partner to Plum Japonais. There are elements of the two fragrances that are similar, where PJ goes into a frutier and plummier direction, TF Extreme goes into incense and boozy accords. Longevity and projection are quite solid for an Eau de Toilette. I get 6-7 hours of longevity, and 1.5 hours of projection within arms length. Again, if this had been released as an Eau de Parfum, and they amped up the performance this would have been a cult classic. If Estee Lauder really wants to revive old school Tom Ford, they would bring this back and make into an expensive PB at Eau de Parfum concentration. I think it would be badass reincarnated as a more powerful "Tom Ford Plum Smoke". If it ever happens, I want royalties! 10/10 Snifftacular!

You know, sometimes I wonder what it is that makes people enjoy fragrances like Tom Ford for Men Extreme. I'm particularly perplexed as to why an uninitiated nose would even gravitate towards such a scent. It's clearly not an easygoing or smooth fragrance that was made to capture the appeal of the average consumer. Yet, I am amazed at how much lies beneath the dark and rough surface because us bloodhounds can see, or rather smell those things more clearly, and thus we are able to appreciate a fragrance as a whole as opposed to just its parts. With that being said, this is one of those fragrances that you just can't be 100% sure about. This is a deep-layered fragrance with many nuances that are arguably impossible to describe thanks to its complicated note pyramid. Though at its core, it presents itself as the scent of earth; a humble composition of organic material rich in nutrients keeping Earth alive (see what I did there?). But at the end of the day, is the earthy accord used here as simple as one thinks it is? Absolutely not, as it's also a fairly complex set of notes that I can't quite decipher very well, save for maybe patchouli and some spices reminiscent of the warmth of the Christmas season. What I do know is that Tom Ford for Men Extreme was expertly crafted as a very wearable fragrance that is both representative of the modern gentleman and the Tom Ford brand image itself. I cannot think of many other fragrances in the line that are as true to the brand as this one right here. Perhaps the reason for its unfortunate demise was that it just wasn't very well understood by consumers, including fragrance enthusiasts, due to its abstract nature. I've always had an up-and-down experience with it, and part of that was my questioning of what the hell it was supposed to smell like and why it wasn't performing as robustly as it would suggest. I'm happy I overcame that mentality by biting the bullet to own a bottle, because this does so much for me without being much, if that makes sense. Trust your nose, and you just won't regret it.

Tom Ford Extreme completely blew me away! This fragrance is certainly a treat to any Tom Ford connoisseur! The initial sniff of the sprayer resembles a Black Orchid vibe, but also something unique and nothing I've smelt ever. Upon initial spray (I'm going off of a partial primed spray, not a full one) it's something I almost cannot put into words. It's spicy, leathery, slightly boozy and woody for sure! Kind of antique esque! I can definitely detect the caramel note (not super sweet smelling) and it smells so good! This is masculine at it's finest! I finally understand other users' comments about this and the Private Blend. It smells like it should of belonged in that group and go by a different name. I can see why most places like Sephora make this an online exclusive. It's very special scent, and sought after those who are daring enough to take the plunge into a true Tom Ford fragrance. If your finding that your collection is mostly Tom Ford, fellas you owe it to yourself to add this gem to your collection! Skip the original, the extreme is a whole other beast, and a better one at that! Longevity will be determined at a later time. I'll be rocking this one as my work scent of the day tomorrow, to see how this one does. Tom Ford Extreme is pricy, but "Extreme"-ly worth it! 12/10 One of the best Tom Ford's of all time! Edit: 2/2/19 -- Longevity is about average unfortunately. Although, even when I stop smelling it, others still can, so that kind of plays a factor in a positive way. As many other reviewers claim, you'd assume for the notes in this fragrance, they would last a long time. A beautiful scent, that unfortunately lacks longevity. You'd almost have to go 3-4 sprays and at least 1-2 on clothes to make this project.

This is absolutely not what I expected. I know that reviews already portrayed this as a niche fragrance, but I thought it would be more mass appealing for a signature fragrance (brandname + for men + extreme) So the scent starts with juicy lemons and figs, very sweet, almost like black orchid kind of sweet, but then a few seconds later the smoke (truffles?) kicks in. It's the kind of smoke when you go hiking with your friends wearing flannel shirt and boots, and you fry bacon and chicken on the fire you made out of random wood found in the forest. But it has a gorgeous juicy fig in the background all the way. Very well blended fragrance, it changes, evolves, one minute it's weird the next minute it's heavenly. If you sniff it in deep, you can still smell the lemon and the cedarwood in the back. Well the cedarwood smells a little more like pine, because my nose can't separate it from the smoke. There is a tiny bit of piney-barbershop thing lingering in the back, and this is what becomes the drydown on your skin. Scent feel: you are a kind of man who would wear boots with his suit, dresses up in flannel shirt for a hike. Fresh out of the barber shop, you go out with friends, you are the one who knows how to make fire, and smart enough to have a discussion about either philosophy, quantum physics but you enjoy simple pleasures of life like just enjoying the woods and looking at the stars. You know what you want, and you don't mind if not everyone loves you. You're dangerous, but humble and friendly. Modern / old skool: mixture of the two Mass appealing: 3/10 Art (Genius factor): 9/10 Projection: 5/10 (which is good, this shouldn't project too much) Performance: 7/10 Weather: Cold Personal score: 8/10