Reviews of Cumming (2004)
by Alan Cumming

I experienced an episode of instantaneous recognition when I first smelled Cumming: take Olivia Giacobetti’s Dzing!, pare away the vanilla candy to isolate the pungent barnyard and riding boots accord, and you’ve got Cumming. Or something very like it, at any rate. Where Dzing! uses sugary vanilla, Cumming employs smoke, tobacco, and dry aromatics to set off its intensely animalic leather. The resulting scent is more than a little raunchy, but never crude. References to cigars and whisky in descriptions of this scent are accurate, but the unabashedly animalic accent keeps Cumming far from the stuffy men’s club territory occupied by Vintage Tabarome and Baladin.

While Cumming is by no means weak, it does wear close to the skin, so I doubt those beyond arm’s reach will detect it easily. Lasting power is adequate, if unexceptional, with a mossy wood and leather drydown setting in after four to six hours. Lovers of animalic leather scents like Montale’s Oud Cuir d’Arabie or Eau d’Hermès ought to give Cumming a try. It’s just as bold and distinctive, but less loud, and hence easier to wear. Very good stuff.

OK, I just tried this again today. I tried it years ago. And really, I shouldn't be reviewing something that I just tried today, as I don't feel like I "know" it, but here's my quick impression:

First sniff: phenolic, burnt wood note. It reminds me of the leather fragrance I bought from The Good Scents Company. It also reminds me of a Bois 1920 scent which has the same phenolic character. The burnt-ness reads as leather. Wasn't crazy about that.

As it dried down, to me it seemed almost completely a leather scent--it got softer, a little oily maybe, kinda chemical and then inky. I loved it; I wanted it; but I'd just gotten Bel Ami a few months ago and Yatagan a few days ago. I couldn't buy another scent. Besides, it seemed like something good for layering, but maybe not as a dazzling main scent.

But the more I smelled that inky, chemical leather, the more I kept thinking, "I could make this." And if I could find some kind of castoreum or an extreme, extreme dilution of something grotesque like skatole, I could make it even "dirtier." I thought, "I could use that leather scent from tGSC and the oil called Baseball Glove by Christopher Brosius, which smells like chemical leather (and when I blended it with something--I think a caramel note--it smelled like just-washed hair)."

So of course when I read the notes here, and that it was a collaboration with Christopher Brosius, I wasn't surprised. And to be honest, when I think CB I think bullshit. Go to his store in Brooklyn and look at his "absolutes," which are all crystal clear and have the same viscosity. I think it's misleading to call something an absolute when it appears to be something ordered from a chemical company and diluted in something ending in "glycol." Also, what exactly is "white truffle"?? Isn't the smell of truffles androstenone and androstedienone?? It's a chemical found in human male sweat (2/3 of people can smell it and rate it with terms like "urinous, sweaty, chemical, woody"; 1/3 of people, who have a slightly different genetic makeup, rate it as pleasant and vanillic). It's also a pig pheromone, and it's used in stuff called "Boar Spray." I saw a can of this spray at a presentation by the New York Academy of Sciences.

At any rate, I like it as a leather. I wish the top note wasn't so burnt, and I wish there was just more to it.

And I wish "fragrance marketing" would go away.

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.

This is without a doubt the most interesting scent I have ever come across. Simply put, it is extraordinary! I agree with some others, the opening is a bit much, but when it starts to really work its magic is about an hour later and much longer than that even!! IT was amazing to me the number of positive comments I got on it!! People most definitely knew it was not your “run of the mill” stuff. Another thing that was really obvious, it truly does react with body heat. Just when I thought it was pretty much gone, my body heat went up (jogging after work) and it started emanating again, but even more! It never really left, it was sort of dormant. AMAZING, nothing else even comes close to it (that I have come across yet)!

One thing is for sure, it lives up to everything that is said about it. Believe the hype! A new classic. Great job, Alan and thank you, Christopher, for “Cumming” up with this masterpiece. Highly recommended!

Yes it is very unique and very weird in a good way. Normally, it would be a tossup in whether to splurge for a bottle, but below average longevity makes it easier for me not to buy.

I do wish other houses would be as daring in creating an unorthodox one like Cumming. I love the mud/dirt note, just wished it lasted a bit over 4 hours. A hesitant thumbs up.

Like the man whose name is on the bottle, this frag is execptionally weird.

It starts out extremely strong and harsh, so much so that it was a little off-putting at first. As the fragrance dries down it morphs eloquently into a cacophony of odd, yet delightfully pleasing notes.

Definite "try before buy" fragrance. If you do try it, don't judge it from the first spray or even on the card. Spray onto your skin and let the notes blossom.

This smells like NOTHING I've ever smelled before. Which makes me like this even more. After this I'm definitely checking out some of Christopher Brosius' fragrances.

My one qualm is with it's longevity. The longevity is somewhat above average, but perhaps it's not as long as I'd like (~24 range). I wish this was an EDP instead of EDT.

Alas this an exceptional frag, Top 5 worthy, and may be one of the few fragrances that I add a spare bottle to my collection.

The leather accord was the first note to stand out when I tried this scent. At the same time I experienced the bergamot and peat moss scents. I expected this scent to be more harsh but it is much more refined. While it is somewhat masculine, a lady could also wear it to invoke the imagery of a beautiful home and manor in Scotland (or even anywhere in the UK). I appreciate the unusual combination of scents and this lady is not afraid to wear it proudly!

A beautiful tour de force of a fragrance. First of all Cumming is cunning because in the opening there is a kind of tension analogous to something in the odor of semen! The same contrasts of sweet, salty, antisceptic and dirty found in our precious "essence" as Sterling Hayden called it in Dr. Strangelove.

Discovering this and marvelling at it, I nevertheless thought at first, could I possibly wear this stuff? And the answer is, "yes you can!" Ironically, it evolves from something so avant garde into something quite nostalgic, very very masculine. A locker room smell of powders to combat athlete's foot. In fact I verified this by happening upon almost the exact same scent on the foot of a man who told me he used an "old school foot powder called Dr. somethingorother's". In this way, it reminds me a bit of Obsession, which always had a locker room accord in it, but a different one than what we find here.

Alarming, uncanny, then beautiful, sweet, clean, sexy and jocular. And though it's water based, the longevity is quite good.

Bravo Alan Cumming and CB!!

This one just may be a new quirky masterpiece. It is a most dignified melange of dirt, peat moss, mushrooms and old leather. It may be thought of as the cutting edge answer to old scents like Creed TABAROME.
I do not get any of the "naughty" elements sometimes ascribed to this frag; instead, I get an English rugby team in June of 1917... leather, earth and tobacco.

I tried this one a few days ago along with some others. This one was really interesting. A very different and very masculine scent. I might take this one up later and try it as an experiment. It is both smokey and has an aroma of dirt. I dont know if it is very wearable. That is the only downside to it. But since it is very different I will give it a thumbs up anyway.
benb

Wwow, just wow! It was such a long time since I smelled something truly original. This has Christopher Brosius' signature written all over it, that is, it's closer to obscure gothic perfume oils with ingedients like grave loam and brimstone than other niche perfumes. The thing is, when Brosius makes them they're not dense and dark and heavy like those oils. It has the same watery or airy quality as his own line which makes it more refined and wearable. But I do smell Highland mud very clearly, and that's not something you find in any old niche perfume. Mud, a touch of bitter vetiver, some scotch... After a while it develops a sweetness too.
This is definitely not the strong, macho cigar and whiskey scent the notes and tounge-in-cheek marketing hints at. It does suit the bottle design though. It's light and airy like a walk on the moor in clear weather, the mud clinging to your boots and the faint smell of smoke and whiskey from the gentleman's club clinging to your woolen sweater. Need I say I love it?

The initial application is harshly alcoholic, and I was prepared to dislike this fragrance. In under a minute, however, this morphed to the scent of small, oval, rice-filled pastries that have always been a favourite of mine since I was a child in Florence.

This note persisted, eventually evolving to a more general high-end café or bake shop accord, with a bit less sweetness. Tobacco and peat become evident, but interstingly, not on actually sniffing the skin, but as notes that emerge after. A faint, not unpleasing evocation of roast-beef--or something charred yet pleasant--is also drifting about in the background.

Within half an hour, though, nothing but a very faint, pleasant, food-y presence remains.

This is my first review so be kind....I love this scent. It is eccentric and counter-intuitive in many ways. First off, how can I persuade you that a mix of old ashtray and spinach overtones can be worthy?

But they are and they mix together with pleasing longevity to give one the sense that one is in the an elegant old library, immersed in the leather of old books as a single-malt scotch decants and the cook is wilting spinach in the kitchen.


I tried a sample last year and was so enamoured that I purchased a full bottle. It's got panache and style and perhaps is derivative of Cumming's Scottish background. His father was a forester at a country estate and this fragrance is very manorial home, very gentleman's club, very Proustian for me.

I got a bottle of it, mainly as a joke. But after giving it a try, I find I really enjoy it. Don't judge it sniffing from the bottle or when you first apply it, it is initially somewhat harsh and takes a few minutes to settle down. It has a very earthy, masculine scent which makes me think of and evening out with the boys at a cigar club.

THIS IS THE ONLY FRAGRANCE I'VE EVER TRIED...THAT ACTUALLY SMELLED LIKE BODY ODOR!!! I HAVE NO IDEA WHICH OF THE INGREDIENTS GIVE IT THIS DUBIOUS DISTINCTION (THE HIGHLAND MUD? OR THE CIGAR?)... IT DOESN'T MATTER...JUST STAY FAR FAR AWAY FROM THIS OVERPRICED, RANCID SCENT. JOSHAUGUSTT

I was extremely skeptical of this fragrance when I first heard of it -- it has so many listed notes that I'm not exactly wild about: whiskey, peat, cigar, etc. But, a decant found its way into my possession so I have it a try and I'm so glad I did. The first initial blast at first try was, well...awful. Peat, dirt...somewhat sour. But after no more than ten minutes this turned into one of the most sublime fragrances! If you can imagine warmth and sophistication with just a note of 'nasty' (or a wink of mischieviousness), this is it. The whiskey takes the cigar note to mellow and is blended on the drydown to an accord I can only describe as "yum!" Definitly worth a try...just hold your nose for a minute!