To get a feel for the natural material, Andy Tauer’s Sundowner puts decadent tobacco absolute front and centre. Complex as it is, Tauer weds this to patchouli and cocoa notes to emphasise earthiness and dusty warmth in the base, which becomes the ground for a play of cinnamon, rose, orange, and bergamot – sunshine notes evoking the long and low light of the evening sun, shooting across the length of the horizon. Imagine sitting on the terrace on Elephantine Island in the middle of the river Nile near Aswan. Sundowner is a cozy warmth. Or du Sérail (Naomi Goodsir) is a sweetened tobacco fragrance, an evocative fantasy of the hookah pipe (or the narguileh!). It is a puff of fruit-laden smoke, through notes of tropical fruits and honey, a dripping nectar winding through plumes of gold and shadow. The tobacco is dense and sugared, rubbed with dried leaves and resin, yet softened by sunlight warmth. It smells like leisure gilded in amber light, a reverie stretched out on silk cushions, where time curls and vanishes in a haze.
There is no chance of misplacing the fantasy of smoking rooms and cigar humidors attached to tobacco leaf and smoke. The brazen Jasmin et Cigarette by Etat Libre d’Orange shocks with the initial forwardness of its name – only to reveal a gorgeous harmonisation between pure white jasmine flower and the ashy trails of tobacco, coating the flower in a background puff of smoke, emphasising its pristine purity. Jasmin et Cigarette reminds us that tobacco too is a floral note, and its fruity nuances are picked up with apricot, tying the two notes together. Tabac Vert operates on a pretence of spiciness without the wateriness, drawing its strength from spicy florals and the driest wood and tobacco notes. It is at once restrained yet ornamental, its skeleton a chypre made up of cedarwood and vetiver. It insists upon an enduring and uncompromisable freshness through and through, which is sharp and unapologetically herbal. This is thanks to carnation - a floral note which is unmistakably warm yet delicate, with prominent pepper and clove nuances. This naturally pairs with tobacco materials, with all of its green, floral, crinkly-dry and vegetal complexities, resting on an ambery and coumarinic base.
Decadence takes two forms in the world of tobacco. In Tabac Tabou (Parfum d’Empire), the material is of extraordinary quality - robust, unctuous, and a little dangerous. It preserves all of its natural qualities, which might be seen as a little taboo, hence its name. Hypnotic waves of floral-woody-balsamic smoke radiate, finding their complement in the scent of potent narcissus flower, as well as sun-warmed notes of honey, hay, immortelle, and dried grasses. A faithful tobacco, perfectly sized, cut, and assembled. If, on the other hand, decadent looks like a dizzying assortment of ingredients - Royal Tobacco (Amouage) lives up to its name, and is absolutely loaded with an aniseed note, redolent of flavoured smoking tobaccos. This initial waft gives way to Amouage’s emblematic blend of incense materials, oud, and resins - but not before it cascades through florals, herbs, lavender, woods, and amber. Sumptuous and a real statement.
