Dunhill Edition (1984)
by Alfred Dunhill

This scent is dominated in the beginning by a very clove-like carnation note, which is great if you like it and too bad if you don't. It's what comes after that makes the scent a winner. The aromatic aspects dwindle as the fougère accord of bergamot, moss, and tonka bean begins to emerge, supported by a lovely floral bouquet with cyclamen, jasmine, and lily of the valley. This is given depth and roundness by a very wine-like clary sage note. As it approaches its base notes, an ambery-woody accord takes over, with subtle accents of fig wood and pine. This is more or less a formal scent, but it can work well for office wear or more casual social occasions, especially sporty or a little more dress-up ones.

I got my splash bottle of this blind but cheap, right before it started getting harder to find. I think this may be the best straightforward spicy soap smell I've ever encountered. It smells a little old-fashioned to me but in an extremely respectable, non-outdated way. There's enough soapiness about it to make it clean but not slimy-residue-on-your-skin soapy. It's a really nice office scent but it's not as utterly banal as a lot of other "safe" ones...a sort of compromise between subdued office and richly formal. It makes me feel like a guy who's serious and smart at work, and wants to allude to a traditional professionalism without giving up the ability to loosen up a little and be candid with coworkers. It's really too bad that it was discontinued...others in its family are still fairly good but borderline too sweet (I'm looking at you, Bois du Portugal!). Hopefully 1 oz will last me a while. Zirh Ikon is the best substitute I've found, albeit weak, but still cheap enough to just spray heavily. The Poor Man's BdP, Pierre Cardin, is stronger and less sweet...another good cheap sub.

It was 1988, I went into a Dunhill of London store (we had one back then in Montreal) after learning in a Fleming novel that James Bond wore Dunhill.
I tried the original Dunhill for men (1934) and found it way too overpowering - not bad, just too much for little moi. I remember thinking 'no so self-respecting spy could ever have the drop on anyone wearing this!' But then discretion was never really part of Bond’s many attributes, was it?
Then the salesman - the image of British elegance for a price- offered me a more recent Dunhill Edition (1984) to try.
There was a lemon opening to be replaced by spicy sweet cinnamon and clove that lingers on a back drop of luxurious woody aroma. As a youth I had cedar shelves in my room and it is one of those smells that stay with you. Needless to say I fell in love with the scent!
Now this is more what I had in mind for a gentleman's scent; understated elegance, discretion being the better part of valour! No knock-over-the-furniture-here-I-come-aura; no intrusive or offensive claim-this-space-for-queen-and-country-sillage but when people get close they don't back away, not in my twenty years experience with it! More than once I was asked what I was wearing.
I bought the 100 ml bottle right there and then for the princely sum of 150$. Quite an investment for my student budget back then, but then I thought I was buying class in a bottle!
A few years later, mercifully, the price was about halfway down for the same-sized bottle.
It's a very pleasant smell that still mixes well with my skin's chemistry. My wife couldn’t get enough of it, sometimes I muse we never would have made it to the altar otherwise!
My signature scent for the last 20 years – Sadly now discontinued - Wished P&G ‘d reconsider.
C'est la vie!
5/5 stars

This was gifted to me, and within a few seconds it takes from looking at the bottle and smelling the perfume I had almost decided to pass it onto someone else as a present. Till I smelt it. Its simply great! Almost smells like Pears Soap (it’s a glycerine soap in india). The perfect time to wear it is during the day from February to April.

The presence of some very edgy ingredients creates a stimulating, yet remarkably smooth formal fragrance. At no stage does it simply rest on its laurels, this wants your attention, but does it in such a subtle way. There is little in the opening to suggest that anything of great significance will emerge, but this is simply Edition doing a sound check before a truly wonderful performance. Everything about this is done without fuss, but with some wonderful intricate work going on here.

Didn't like this at all. Lotsa cloves and cinnamon.....not much interesting in here at all...just a bit boring and middle-of-the-road...sorta smells like a spicy candle.......next!