Curzon (1882)
by Geo F Trumper

I love this! Usually I don't like mossy scents but this one is amazing. A combination of traditional cologne and chypre compositions. Classy, dry, oakmoss, lemon, and feels natural. I'd compare this with Paco Rabanne pour Homme. Good stuff.

A very 'classic' cologne that is the epitome of the Trumpers line but for me, this smells a little dated. To be fair, it is over 100 years old and I would wear this if bought some but I think Trumpers make some equally distinguished colognes that have a better balance and come across more timeless. (eg Wellington).

Another Trumper dry chypre (like their Eucris and Astor). This begins with amber, drys down to sandalwood, then oakmoss and pine. It's not as harsh as Eucris and slightly sweeter than Astor. I'm not crazy about chypres. I find them the most unpleasant of categories in scentland, but this one is at least endurable.

It's muggy and cloudy outside and that is not a good setting for a dry chypre such as Curzon. So I might just have to eat my words after retrying this on a cold autumn day. For what it's worth: no sweetness to talk of here for me, in fact, the citrus and lavender top is disappointingly muted and the florals also never really make a convincing appearance on stage. Everything is happening behind a musty curtain of arid herbacity dominated by what seems to me to be clove, flanked by mossy notes. Too conventional by contemporary standards, but then it dates from 1882, so one should concede it probably became so conventional by being consistently plagiarized. What's worse is that it never achieves a proper balance on my skin, which makes it mediocre for me, though I appreciate it's objective quality.

Trumper is reticent about revealing the fragrance pyramid of its scents. As others have noted, the company blurb simply says, “slightly spicy overtones add to a light chypre note.” A generic chypre formula would be: TOP (bergamot, lemon), MID (rose, jasmine), BASE (moss and patchouli, often with labdanum and clary sage). So we expect a citrus opening, a floral middle and a grassy-herbal base, and that is basically what we get. Curzon has a lemon-lime opening: there are pretty good citrus notes here, realistic and persistent for citrus. The floral middle is quite ‘pretty’, and gives this a somewhat feminine personality. Then the mossy base emerges, with good quality moss and herbal sage notes. These elements return the scent to the masculine realm. As stated, this is a light chypre. The dry-down is grassy, mossy, attractive.

Pungent lavender top with some leather and moss in the background, liked it better on the first trial but find myself not caring for it as much at this time of review. Lavender-leather accord gives it a almost tar-like quality which I still enjoy, although different from my initial impression which was more of a lavender-citrus chypre, still nice by any standards. Lasts very well and highly masculine; may be too heavy for some.