Reviews of Rocabar (1998)
by Hermès

Spray it on and for the first five minutes, Rocabar smells like the most elegant, complex and sophisticated men's fragrance ever made. It's sweet and very woody, very reminiscent of Tsar. In fact, I used to wear Rocabar quite often about 10 years ago solely because I loved the top notes. However, after those first five incredible minutes, Rocabar falls apart, and its "heart" turns sour, cheap and kind of nasty. This lasts for a good hour or two, but it then settles back down to a sweet, somewhat powdery drydown, which is not terrible, but is pretty dull and uncreative. It seems like Hermes put all their cash into the top notes, hoping people will spray it on in a store and buy it on impulse. I really expect better from Hermes. (Edited from March 2009 review)

A rather anonymous scent from Hermes -- it's almost as if it has been run through with sugary water. It's a pleasant enough cool, coniferous (pine, cedar) aroma, but lacks any kind of depth or half-decent sillage and is basically bland. A big surprise from Hermes who can usually be relied upon to be at least interesting with their creations, i.e Equipage (valiant but flawed) and Bel-Ami (valiant and not flawed).

Kaern

Rocabar has such potential, such lovely ingredients. In my opinion it fails. Where are the cedar needles? Where is the austere and haunting cypress? Where is the complex, interesting wood? Since the wood notes are named (“Atlas Cedar,” “Virginia Cedar”), I expect something more than a basic wood vibe! I find Rocabar to be a simple, sweet-powdery scent and little else. And there is something here I don’t like, probably a heavy-handed dose of cinnamon or vanilla. The dry-down has some lovely balsam elements but by then the damage has been done. Still too sweet for me. I like Equipage by Hermes very much, but I can’t endorse this one.

OUCH! To preface, most of my favorites are Hermes (I also like Dior and Chanel in general). This, however, is just too potent and unfocussed. Most Hermes scents are unexpected because of their originality and successful because they cleverly fulfill a mission. But this is just raucous! In grade school a group of friends visited a department store. One, to annoy us, "tested" all of the colognes at once ... Rocabar revives that memory.