Tsar

For the uninitiated, Van Cleef & Arpels is a French jewellery company of the highest level, created in the late 1800s. Its master jewellers have designed pieces for royalty. Just think of the wedding set of the beautiful Princess Grace of Monaco, and still today, we find their precious jewels in luxury boutiques around the world. And Tsar is a masterpiece, an emerald in the world of perfumery. But what does Tzar mean? According to Wikipedia, Tzar also spelt czar, or csar is a title used to designate the Eastern and Southern Slavic monarchs. In the latter capacity, he lends his name to a system of government, the tsarist autocracy or tsarism. The term derives from the Latin word Caesar, which must have meant “emperor” in the medieval European sense of the term: a sovereign with the same rank as the Roman emperor, who held it for the approval of another emperor or a supreme official clergyman (the pope or the ecumenical patriarch), but was usually considered by Western Europeans to be equivalent to “king”. Tsar cologne is turning 30 something, precisely it was launched in 1989. I was 25, and the scent sounded a bit too mature for my age, too much to bear. I knew it was good, so damn good, heralded as a strong and unmistakable identity, but I did not dare and passed it. So, this fragrance slipped under my radar until five years ago. Now I am ready for it. Is it a Pour Homme EAU DE TOILETTE flanker? No, it is not. It is more elegant, metrosexual, less rude and manly. Let’s immerse ourselves in the perfume. First, the cologne loses some of the classic fougère and focuses more on the aromatic and green aspects. As soon as the juice touches my skin, I get an explosion of aromatic and green accords. Be careful, because the sprayer is generous and releases a massive amount of juice with a single splash. The top features many greens, moist and herbaceous notes. It reminds me of a digestive liqueur made from hundreds of herbs. Bitter mugwort and herbaceous lavender are very noticeable and masterfully blend with pungent rosemary and lemon coriander. Dried lavender, almost hay-like, becomes prominent after a few minutes, so calming and relaxing. Citrus and flowers don’t stand out too much, but they are there to tame the otherwise overly aromatic edges. In the initial stage, I can get a fresh and delicate atmosphere. The first squirt will knock you down, but wait and let it grow. Let the boisterous opening settle down and soon exude a spicy floral accord. Again, it’s not a dominant floral heart and the flowers are very subtle. Instead, the bouquet of creamy white and red flowers amalgamates with some spices and resins. Cinnamon is most noticeable here, with balsamic juniper berries and resinous pine needles. I feel a hint of powdery iris root, I imagine perfumed talcum powder clouds, not as dominant or with a lipstick vibe as in modern colognes like Dior Homme Original (2011) EAU DE TOILETTE and Valentino Uomo (2014) EAU DE TOILETTE. The intermediate phase is strongly balsamic, scented with woody scents. In this resinous realm, it is practically difficult to pick the rose or lily as a stand-alone note. And then comes the drydown, with a mossy, leathery base. In the final stage, the scent becomes a little soapy and clean, but excellently. Soapy, but far from the traditional barbershop. There is amber wood stained with musky oak. And the great birch note that smells the most in this context for what it is rather than as a leather substitute. In this recent version, sandalwood and patchouli are subdued. Tsar doesn’t smell as complex or sophisticated as the myriad notes listed above would suggest. I’m not afraid to use the words retro and old school here, because this cologne belongs to that genre. A good daytime fragrance that also wears well in the evening. It is more appropriate for the cold months of late autumn and early spring. While I think it smells like the eighties, it’s still a compliment attractor. A couple of people I work with, a man and a woman, said to me “What good perfume are you wearing, what is it?”

I have contacted Van Cleef & Arpels via email to request for them to reconsider bringing back the Tsar that so many of us love.. The person that answered me was very nice but it seems like it is definite NO from them, they are only focusing on the one line of perfumes that all seems to be UNISEX fragrances. Masculine male only fragrances appears to be a thing of the past from this company. Probably all mostly sweet or floral feminine type fragrances, no thank you. Here is the response: Thank you for your email and for remaining loyal to the Tsar fragrance for all these years. We regret to inform you that it has indeed been recently discontinued and our remaining stocks have now been exhausted. This decision was made so as to focus all our efforts on developing our “Collection Extraordinaire.” This High Perfumery range reinterprets the noblest ingredients in perfumery and we are working in close collaboration with renowned perfumers to create the highest-quality fragrances for it. UPDATE: 23 May 2020. I was able to secure a sealed 100 ml from a guy in my city from a 2012 batch for a measly equivalent of $14! He obviously had no idea of the ridiculous discontinued hyped up prices they are going for nowadays. I still cannot believe my luck. Not quite as strong as the dark opaque bottles from the 90s but still more than satisfying in smell and performance. UPDATE: 8 JULY 2020. I have sourced two unused vintage 100 ml bottles from the original formulation (1989 - 1995 Sanofi period). I am actually surprised how close the smell is to the Interparfums formulation (2008 - 2018) which was the last one before it got discontinued. The vintage is however a bit deeper in smell and longevity seems to be better mostly due to the higher concentration of oakmoss, In the parcel the seller also included a sample of the middle formulation as pictured above in the clear bottle. That definitely is bad compared to the others and I am glad I never bought it, so I would suggest it is avoided. It is clearly much weaker than the others and the smell not nearly as complex. I did pay quite a premium to obtain the vintage spray bottles (the splash 125 ml seems to be cheaper) and and to be honest not quite sure at this stage if it is worth paying that much more, I will report back once I have used it for while. If the last formulation can be obtained for a reasonable price, I suggest getting that rather but if roughly the same price, vintage is definitely the better option. Then again the prices on eBay for the newer product is about 10 times more than what it was in the shops about two years ago, crazy!

Let me tell you a story, dear fragheads. Some 5 years ago I was stationed in Japan. Back in a day, I was only starting to scratch the surface of olfactory world, knowing not too much about brands or names. I just knew what I enjoy to smell (like) and based on that I used to search for perfumes. Actually, couple of years before going to Japan I got a chance to smell Van Cleef and Arpels other creation, Ambre Imperial, and this house remained in my head as a synonym for a niche perfumery. So, getting back to the story. As you might know, Japan is a place which is not famous for being a fragrance heaven. Yes, there are Japanese designer brands for foreign markets but the Japanese themselves... Well, they don't use perfume. Basically, none of it (very much related to the concept of purity and cleanness). I believe it was Fragrantica where I got to know about classic juice named "Tsar" from a familiar brand and just for the sake of curiosity I entered this name in a search box of Rakuten shop. Boy, was I surprised when "Tsar' popped up in the results! And you know what, it cost me a fraction of a price, from some discounter online shop. Absolute madness! For a while, it was my main juice and I came back to Europe with half of a bottle remaining. When I noticed that Tsar is not that easy to get here, the precious drops were put aside for the special occasions only. Can't say how happy I am to own a dark bottle version! That's my short story, folks. No need to elaborate on the scent - it's just perfect. Manly, green, dark, serious, and manly again. And, of course, that is really a scent of old glorious times when unisex frags were still not a thing. Not that I don't like them - I do - but having a truly manly fragrance in the stash is, I believe, a luxury nowadays.

Few discontinued men's fragrances are spoken of more highly than Van Cleef & Arpel's Tsar: I had started hearing of this almost as soon as I became interested in scent because so many perfumers and members of the fragrance community speak and write of it so reverentially. (It has apparently been an enormous inspiration for Manuel Cross of Rogue Perfumery, for example.) I see why after finally getting my hands on a small sample bottle. This is the pine-dominant fougére done absolutely to perfection: there are other, even earlier examples of the genre, but this is about as good as it gets. The density of notes in this is remarkable, but they all contribute to the same overall idea. Aptly named, this suggests a splendid dacha in a Russian forest (or to my own frame of reference, like a luxury resort in the Pacific Northwest). Pine is mixed with green notes, juniper, and aromatic herbs, with the big birch note smelling more in this context like what it truly is than as a substitute for leather. There's a beautiful lurking quiet soapiness that doesn't overwhelm but just gives the sense of cleanliness. And there's a ton of oakmoss in the drydown. Although this evokes masculinity, it's not at all aggressive; although mature, it could be easily worn by a younger person who wanted to project confidence and freshness. The fact that this was discontinued is pretty heartbreaking. I understand both why bottles of this go for such high prices on the Internet and why clones have been created that evoke this even still today. If this had been my signature fragrance back in the day (as it very well could have been), I would have been loath to see this go away.

This fragrance turns heads. I own two bottles of the good stuff—one from before 2000 (in the classic green, malachite-like bottle) and another in very dark green glass, likely from the mid-2000s. Price-wise, I paid close to what the latest version of Tsar retails for today. Yes, it’s still available, but you’ll have to travel to Paris, France, and then take a train—quite literally. And honestly? The trip might just be worth it. Tsar smells green, mossy—refined rather than dank, with a powdery hint of moss that adds elegance. Imagine a deep, dark green forest with a soft mist of moss in the air. I haven’t smelled anything quite like it, and I absolutely love it. Longevity is solid, but it becomes exponential when sprayed on wool. I’ve spritzed it on my Aran wool sweaters, and the scent lingers for weeks. It also garners attention. More than once, people have caught a whiff and tried to figure out what they were smelling. Either it’s the fragrance, or I’ve suddenly transformed into a ridiculously handsome man overnight. I suspect the latter is less likely. If you get the chance to own a bottle, don’t hesitate. Prices on eBay are absurd, and no one should pay what some sellers are asking. I’ve had better luck on other platforms—decent deals pop up from time to time. But with Tsar, patience pays off. Dua's Emperor Elixir is a very good clone of this, if you can't afford a bottle. It's over 95% Tsar on the dry down and I'd argue it's stronger than Tsar. I have two bottles of EE to keep me from spraying too much of the original. Original will be reserved for dates, important life events, etc.