Reviews of Clubman (1880)
by Truefitt & Hill

If this is from 1880, i'm a monkey's uncle... Very modern, very light and fresh in a powdery oceanic way and on the whole it's very wearable for a younger demographic.
I'm not normally a fan of mint, but I like the opening to this. It's clean and refreshing, but it seems a little... "cloudy." It's very hard to explain, but with fresh scents like this, I like to imagine being able to "look through" them. I love a cologne with clarity - I imagine a pool of water in my mind (probably the leafy notes and the alcoholic hit I feel that most of them have). Clubman is plasticy powdery from the very opening and I feel this makes the naturally clear nature of a good "refreshing" fragrance slightly obscured. I also feel it makes it quite feminine. Probably too feminine for my tastes, especially when coupled with the (otherwise very nice) floral heart.
I think this is why I prefer T&H's Freshman to Clubman - the powder sticks around in this for too long and instead of a watery floral wood, which i'd like, I get a powdery floral with some very vague and muted wood.

Slightly disappointing, but still a comfortable and well made frag. I just do not care for it's blending or choice of florals and the everlasting sweet powder. Longevity was very good on me, despite the lightness - over 8 hours. It's doesn't project amazingly, but you would certainly smell like a smartly groomed guy, which I suppose is the point! Decent, but not earth shattering.

A minty mix of Polo Sport and Paco Rabanne XS.
Employs the minty fresh topnotes of both, the aquatic efferevescence of Polo Sport, and the cool base of XS.
Just slightly too powdery on the drydown for me.

Clubman is like a weak Polo Sport or CK Be cologne with a lot of mint. I don't get aquatic here, I get fresh or sporty type however. I am not a lover of overpowering mint in colognes, smelling like spearmint gum is just not my thing.

Thumbs down for lack of originality, and excessive use of mint to try to cover up that lack of originality.

Bright, clean, and sweet, "Clubman" for me rings a faint bell of Dana's "Canoe," my very first fragrance, and one that was suited to a teen boys first scent. This is not an offensive fragrance, and it is not T&H's worst offering, but it is distinctly youthful and sporty. And no, I don't mean for the young at heart, too. A fine young man's sporty scent . . . but not for the over-25 set.

A sweet marine/salty accord that is aromatic and a little cooling like mint. Not great but not terrible. Very average and modern.

T&H have created three "oceanics" out of their seven scents and this is the only one that I like. It begins with a minty, clean scent (which disappears after half an hour), then resolves to a cedar scent (almost identical to Caswell's Gifts of the Sea bubble bath scent). Why one would think mint and cedar are oceanic is beyond my comprehension, but be that as it may, this is a nice clean and fresh scent, the strongest and longest lasting of the T&H trio, and the only one worth purchasing. (To my nose, this, Freshman and 1805 are identical with tiny differences. I reject 1805 as it disappears quite quickly and I reject Freshman due to its candy sweet drydown).

I don’t care for Clubman. I agree with zztopp and others. The synthetic/oceanic note here is not pleasant, and I find that it muddles the other elements. There is a pleasant citrus opening. The mint is not as strong as in Freshman. The woody musk is probably the nicest element, but that doggone ‘plasticky’ element ruins this. I’m not sure what this is supposed to be: it is not fresh enough in a nice way to be a fresh scent, not woody or spice enough to be that sort of scent, in the end it is nothing much at all. T&H has some great scents (Grafton in particular, also Trafalgar) but this is not one of them.

The notes list sounded like it was right up my alley. And initially it was. Unfortunately it just doesn't hold up well. The citrus is extremely fleeting. The mint is a little too powerful. The floral notes are too weak. The oceanic note is too synthetic, like zztop mentioned. And finally the woody base is overtaken by the kind of soapy-synthetic musk I don't like. Clubman is a great concept that was executed in a weak and cheap-smelling way. If I were to compare it to any other juice, it would be Erolfa, but by no means is it anywhere near Erolfa in quality, blend complexity and tenacity/sillage.

Official description: "A fresh aromatic characterized by citrus, mint and a crisp oceanic accord enhanced by fresh florals, woods and musk"

Really? An oceanic accord in the 1880s? To the best of my knowledge, the molecule responsible for oceanic accord ("calone") was discovered by Pfizer in 1966, and since the late 80s has been used in a zillion teen-ho frags. My guess is that the "oceanic" accord in Clubman is probably accomplished using geranium (it smells a bit similar to Amouage Arcus)

One would think that a citrus fragrance released in the late 1800s (from a respected british barbershop) would smell clean, simple and distinguished. Not so. Clubman starts off smelling pleasant, if quite unexciting. The subdued citrus and mint notes create a relaxed feel, before your nose rudely assaulted by an extremely common and synthetic ("plasticky") smelling "noise" in the perfume. Yes, this is the same cheap clumsily incorporated "oceanic" note which can be found in many drugstore fragrances (unless its geranium). Thats the extent of evolution in Clubman; its like A-to-Z from citrus+mint to "chemical juice". There are far too many superior aquatic and marine fragrances - a little known fragrance by the name of Acqua Di Gio is one of them.

A marvelous minty/citrus blend with amazing lasting power. It reminds me of Polo Sport without the seaweed/oceanic component. It doesn't smell trendy or Aqua di Gio-ish like Truefitt's 1805, but it doesn't seem dated either. Clubman is top-shelf, classic stuff. Highly recommended!

A sweet citrus with good staying power. I prefer Freshman, but this is worth a try.