Tobacco Mucho (2006)
by Stéphanie de Saint-Aignan

Except for the first time I tested this, I have not gotten a tobacco note. The first time, it opened up with a quiet tobacco that lasted only five or ten minutes; then it went to a wood accord with the gaïac wood predominating over vetiver. Every test after that has brought an opening that featured a strong, bitter smoky note much like birch tar. The birch tar smokiness now continues to dominate the whole fragrance to my nose and the pleasant aoud / vetiver accord that I smelled the first time I tested it has never shown up again. So my judgment is that there is way too much tar for me in this fragrance, even though the tar does not project strongly. If you can get along with birch tar, this might be a good fragrance… me… no.

1st February, 2010.

ORIGINAL REVIEW:

I was very much looking forward to experiencing Stéphanie de Saint-Aignan's take on tobacco after having been so impressed with her Embruns d'Ambre. Like the latter, Tobacco Mucho 1) is a light and linear affair and 2) apparently contains no tobacco.

Honestly, this fragrance irritated me not because it is poorly made (it isn't, I suppose, but what do I know?) or because it stinks (it certainly doesn't) or because it's overpriced (though it is), but instead because it's at best uninspired and at worst dishonest. Doesn't the name imply that there's "a lot" of tobacco in this? I mean, it's named "Tobacco Mucho," not "Tobacco Poco" or "Tobacco Nada."

Did I mention that I cannot detect any tobacco in this?

Anyway, as I allowed the fragrance to process on my skin, I realized that I had experienced a very similar accord in another much more hyped fragrance: Escentric 01. Seriously, replace the lime note in Escentric 01 with lemon and voilà, you have Tobacco Mucho. This should be renamed Limón y Cedro Mucho or, better yet, simply Limón y Cedro, because there's not a lot of anything in this.

EDIT:

Well, I must not have been paying close enough attention the first time I wore this. There is tobacco in this...it's just the kind of tobacco note I'm not used to: a very clean and light American Spirit in a pouch kind of tobacco (almost tea-like). The tobacco still doesn't last beyond thirty minutes, though, and what you're left with are wood notes with lemon. Even though I regret originally being so bullheadedly dismissive, I don't really care for this. Tobacco Poco, it is.

29th October, 2009. (Last Edited: 31st October, 2009.)

I liked it. It s surprisingly good. The top note is tobacco which is not to dry and intense with lemon. I remember how i felt when i first tried bulgarian rose of creed. It is lemon with rose. Putting two common cologne scents together is like putting sausage between bread slices. Yes an old trick but very impressive if you are the first to do it. This one is also delicious. In half an hour mixed with some woods all notes dissolve in each other and becomes a very inspiring scent. It revives a rainy autumn day in front of wardroom of the city library. Scent of wet coats and umbrellas and the wood boards and dusty bookshelves. Really nice.

10th September, 2008.

This perfume is bottled nostalgia . There are so many layers of very different scents, that it is difficult to know what images or moments in life this will conjure up. Musty tobacco, cracking leather books bindings, are just a couple that entwine with citrus and old wood (a cedar closet perhaps). Surely, everyone will react differently to this one, but I never get tired of it and I love it.

6th July, 2008.