Cumming (2004)
by Alan Cumming

Strange opening accord – quite suspect as far as I’m concerned: a little dirty and little more belch, but interesting enough to make me want to keep smelling to find out what’s over the horizon. I think it’s the rubber note in the near recesses that holds most of the mystery / intrigue / nausea. It isn’t long—five or ten minutes – that the accord rearranges itself to become quite…pretty, or, as odysseusm, says… “precious.” Yes, it is “precious.” The list of notes is misleading. There are whisky and rubber and pine and cigar notes there, but they seem to last less time than it takes to type them and I’m a 94 wpm typist. It is a pretty heart accord, though, and the dominant note is heather, according to odysseusm, and I am certainly going to take his word for it – I have never smelled it that I know of. The dry down is too much of a skin scent for me to identify notes – it has a definite component of rubber (burnt) in there that gives a rather incensy background; other than that it is a rather neutral accord to my nose. Cumming ends up being a pleasant fragrance with an interesting but short lived top, a nice but rather neutral middle with transient fly bys of various cool sounding notes, and a short lasting, neutral drydown that closes in on and hugs the skin surface for an unacceptably short embrace. Hmmm… I kind of wanted to like this one.

The top notes are very interesting, as I got barely anything. The top smells like... steamed pool water laced with cinnamon, approximating the smell of slightly damp dirt. The scent is seemingly natural as it does occur in nature but it's almost scentless. It's like the first streaks of steam from a freshly cleaned sauna. This isn't "clean" or "fresh" to me. It feels "cleaned" and "freshened" as if something was done to it to make it clean. I can't explain it but it is truly a unique scent and experience. I'd give it a thumbs up for originality but I do not enjoy the fragrance and I find the scent fleeting.

I wasn't to pleased with this the top notes, just horrible the worst I ever smelled but after a few minutes it settles down to a pleasant scent soft and close to the skin but the longevity is terrible last only a couple of hrs on my skin and that’s rare fragrances last forever on me

Maybe too unique and different to my taste. The top notes are just terrible and I found to hard to wait the base notes come. Besides, the longevity is so poor...

dude, i was looking for something different,& thats just what i got.what this does best is show the complexity of colognes & their makeup, because how can something so horrible turn into something that's bearable in under 25min.

“Base notes of leather, peat fire, highland mud, burnt rubber and white truffle ground the scent with rugged sensuality, while the core notes of cigar, heather, Douglas fir and rubber contribute to its sharpness. The fragrance is completed with spicy top notes of bergamot, black pepper, Scotch pine and whiskey.” (from Cumming website)
I’ve included the product blurb in order to probe the issue of hype versus reality. At the outset, I can say I kind of like this scent; however it is very different from what the ingredients or the promotions suggest. This is not a rugged romp in the moors, nor is it an industrial noveau scent à la Comme des Garçons. It is a soft, coy, almost pretty scent and... depending on one’s perspective, a bit precious. I tried Cumming because I am interested in anything containing pine. That, plus all these oddball elements, intrigued me. The opening is not “spicy.” It is unusual, I struggle to categorize it but would call it toasty-nutty-gourmand. At times it is a bit like marzipan (sweet almond paste). The core is not “sharp.” Tiny, tiny micro-bits of pine might be there, to freshen the scent. Also there’s a very mild whiff of a distant cigar. At times there is a briny, creamy aspect. The dominant element in the middle is heather, a light floral scent. Finally the base does not have “rugged sensuality.” It sits very close to the skin, and is subtle and low-key. It lasts a couple of hours. I don’t think this would offend anyone, and it might smell quite nice on women. Really guys, there is nothing macho here so don’t expect otherwise.