To My Father

We start in the late summer. Sun beating down over a blue lake for a day of canoeing at the family cabin. The whiskey served out on the deck is neat and garnished with a thick orange peel, slightly over ripe and bursting with oily zest. Swaying pines filter sunlight from above through fresh and bright needles. Then autumn sweeps in. A well warn and cherished leather coat is pulled from a heavy wooden wardrobe while a fire is lit downstairs. Something spicy warms the cabin now. Drying citrus and pine boughs maybe. The air is still so alive with the woods. Finally, the coziest winter settles in over our cabin and the fireplace is draped with garlands of that same pithy orange, now brittle and darkened, heating and blending beautifully with more pine branches brought in from the snow scape outside. Old leather, sappy and warm woods, boozy citrus openings drying to spicy cozy heaven. To My Father has it all. The story telling is immaculate. The transition of seasons this embodies is unlike anything else I've tried. Not only a work of art but a remarkably wearable one. I cannot wait to get my hands on more once I empty this sample bottle.

I purchased this recently in high summer and all I'm wishing for right now is a bitter cold morning, with clear skies and fallen leaves, throw on some jeans a pair lumber boots and a thick cable sweater and you're right there... Opens with a beautiful boozy warm orange, you know that orange peel you light to extract the oil to make the best Olde Fashioned, that! After about 15 minutes it transforms into a honeyed pipe tobacco which is just devine, the orange has gone now but a sweetness stays like a faint candied peel you get in Christmas cake. It doesn't remind me of my father but it does remind me of the warmth and glow of Autumns past. This hugs you and doesn't let go.. Amazing 😍

To My Father is in my opinion linear and smells like birdfeed. Or is it horsefeed? It's very nostalgic, but doesn't smell old. Smells like a memory. It's really nice, and exceedingly long-lasting. I'm talking over 12 hours without losing potency. It's a scent that I don't want to smell like, because it's not perfumey or cologney, but when I spray it on my hand, I enjoy getting hit in the nose with it all day AND night. Puts me in a happy mood. Again, the longevity is comically persistent. No fragrance should last that long with just one tiny spray. It's crazy!

Absolutely love this. I agree with the reviewer who says this has a lot in common with Chicago High and also for me Smoke Show. I find the HEAVY booziness of CH a bit sickly and I love SS but find it a bit one-note. To My Father is the perfect mid point between the two for me. I don't get much leather but plenty of smoke and the whisky note is soft. There's also a sweetness in the mix, like caramel or burnt toffee. Get me a bottle STAT

Picture an elderly on a leather rocking chair in a log cabin in the wilderness with a whiskey glass and a pipe on the side table. That’s what To My Father smells like to me. The whiskey was too light and too swift to depart. The green scent was wonderful. The tobacco leather wood combo was great. All in all this is a great olfactory scene for me.

It smells like a type of incense panchavati and nice boozy 8.5-10

this smells exactly like marrons glaces

Keep seeing WST on the 2022 releases, shoutout to you, good sir. Regarding "To my Father", the only thing that disappointed me was the fact that I get a lot of similarities/spillover from "Chicago High". I left Chicago High, thinking it was an elite performing tobacco-champagne fragrance. "To my Father" has no tobacco note, yet the base in the drydowns clearly has overlap. The brand does say that this has a "gentle honey note" which is also in Chicago High. So I do think this comparison is well-founded. Scent wise, this is a solid 8/10. When I first put it on, I actually got a warm spicy plum with whiskey. And it has a slightly sweeter edge to it as well, certainly with the way it floats around. But once that top fades and you're in-doors (meaning the scent isn't getting any heat), you see the base and middle more. I'm still genuinely left thinking that the base has tobacco, but assuming for a moment that it doesn't, the base would be dry woody with whiskey. A more wearable take of something like Kutay from Unique'e. I don't get any smokiness, I don't notice the orange. Agreeing with WST, this is a well-blended masculine scent that has rougher and smoother sides balancing each other out. Fall-winter only, performance is good-to-great (longevity is 10-12; sillage is moderate-to-strong for 4-6 hours), value wise it's a bit much - before Vilhelm raised their prices to €250, this would've been good value at ~€210.

I agree with the reviewer that says there's some crossover with this and Chicago High. I tried this today and I can see why some may find it challenging. There's a sour acidic note from the whiskey that I actually get in real life from drinking scotch. It's from the peat and alcohol aged in oak casks. This is why I prefer to drink bourbon over scotch (but I still enjoy scotch on occasion) and why someone may not like it, especially if they hate scotch. But I'll say this, they captured an element of realism. Anyway in summary, it's not bad but I don't think it's one of the best boozy frags. If you're a scotch drinker, you may love this one! 🥃 Scent 7/10 Performance 7.2/10

First blast of woody boozy smoke, pleasantly medicinal and darkly green, with a sweet fruity punch on top. This is a man's going out on the town scent. Leather comes into play during the drydown, still with that sweet boozy smoke. Nice! Masculine and best mild nights.

If your beloved grandfather is no longer around, do not buy this perfume. It’s a well-worn sweater that absorbed the smells of infused vodka, smoke, wood shavings from his workshop, some tea and citrus. It’s heartbreaking that he is back for a few hours only.

This is whisky but not in a boozy, sleazy way, but rather it’s dried fruits that have been soaked in your dad’s scotch before being added to the richest Christmas pudding.

It's not smokey, but it's a very approachable smoke for the ones that aren't generally into that. Very elegant and mature.

Warm, familiar. Wears well as a second skin. Musk, old paper, slight citrus to water the mouth.

This is everything I'd hoped Enigma from Roja was going to be. It's boozy, whiskey, and nice.

"Whiskey" is not specific enough to be used as a sole descriptor for drink or fragrance; despite enjoying bourbon as both, the dirty, mossy, earthiness of peat in scotch has never appealed to me - and that's exactly what this is. Artistic credit due, this is the closest thing to actual scotch I've ever smelled. Beneath and around it are notes of honeyed tobacco, which both grow and sweeten as the scotch slowly dissipates in the drydown, revealing a quiet, clean leather. Very linear to my nose. Think fresh cherry looseleaf packed into a well-used pipe by a generic "middle class but still classy" father archetype of a bygone era, four or five glasses into his daily post-work routine. This fragrance had a story to tell and executed it. Well-made, but not sure who for; I imagine anyone who loves scotch enough to enjoy this already smells like it.

Comes on strong at first. On first application, I thought I had spilled an ashtray. The cigarette/cigar/whisky was so poweeful. And, to me, not pleasant. If you want to make a very male statement, go ahead, but otherwise.... Wear it until it dry downs. Then it's a whole different scent. The tobacco ashtry tones down and it becomes much more soft woody oak-y leather over a slightly sweet base. Given more time and it becomes even more cherry tobacco smelling. Altogether, something I could wear but it doesn't thrill me given the open. Perhaps I'd liken the vibe of to the sweetness of bourbon, particularly when compared to scotch. As though bourbon new make barrels give it an oaky-sweetness. It's not synthetic and like most Vilhelm scents, well done. In the end, it was pleasant but not a scent for me.

I bought this blind. I really recommend you try before you buy. This is whisky on initial blast, then straight up pipe tobacco. It is so realistic. And super potent. Beware. I appreciate it for what it is. But I personally don't like it ( yet I don't hate it). I just don't see myself using this juice. Selling it on ebay as I write this. 2/5 Do I regret my purchase? Yes

My boyfriend described this flavor as if he was cuddling with a drunken priest. To me, it smells like bee honeycomb. It smells very much like wax and whiskey and later goes into honey. The smell is repulsive at first but then you get used to it.

Perfect for the creepy old man in your life who is nostalgic for the smell of cheap (very cheap) hair oil, ca. 1955. Whiskey/leather/citrus notes are not particularly complex, and are overwhelmed here by a distinctly unpleasant tinge of melted plastic or crayons. Sure, I get incense, too, but I really don't want to wear incense.