1903 by J Peterman

I couldn't agree more with Docwinters assessment. I'm in my mid-forties and over the last three decades have owned a lot of scents, and 1903, more than any other, has elicited inquiries, turned heads and even gotten whispered commentary from passing women, such as, "Damn, that smells good!" It's clean and masculine in an entirely unpretentious way. The middle and base notes meld into a warm, mellow drydown that evoke a sense of contentment, like the reassuring feeling of sliding into a large, perfectly worn, leather chair. Just amazing stuff! I only hope J. Peterman can keep his house in order so this wonderful scent is around for years to come! One of my top three and highly recommended! UPDATE Aug 2012: I recently ordered the spray version of this (white bottle versus the glass-and-wood wrapped splash) and was extremely disappointed. Either they've reformulated this, oh God forbid, or the more expensive splash version is a much better product. At the moment I can't recommend the spray version. Just too light and toned down.

I was so excited to try this given all of the reviews praising it. It also seemed like every time I searched fragrances by note on here 1903 popped up in the list. I decided to take the stab and blind buy a bottle from the J. Peterman website. Oh man did I not like this one at all. As I awkwardly applied the cologne from the "classic" style bottle I was suddenly whisked back to high school gym class as this smells EXACTLY like the 'regular' version of Mennen Speed Stick to me. I didn't get much but an extremely soapy/spice/green from this one the entire time it was on my skin. Every time I went back to my arm to take another whiff I was really wanting those leather and tabac notes to be there, but alas they never showed up. I will say that the staying power is excellent, but that unfortunately is not enough to get me to keep the bottle. If more classic style/barbershop fragrances are your thing you probably will enjoy this burly man-juice quite a bit.

I will just get to the point. This is a very smoky, rich and leathery cologne with true staying power. It's rare, which is what I love about it even more. Gets compliments every time. A real winner cologne. In my top 3.

Here's another appreciative review of this retro marvel. The opening notes have crisp citrus and dusky green aspects which remind me very much of Truefitt & Hill's Grafton. A fair bit of peppery spice keeps a warm touch to balance the cool notes. These cool ones may be from the frankincense, certainly they have a coniferous, mountain-air quality. Gradually the old-school notes of leather, moss, smoke and tobacco appear. These are restrained, classy, and very very similar to Gucci Nobile. This is a well-made scent in a warm, masculine style.

Top notes: Clean citrus, bergamot, green notes Heart notes: Clary sage, cardamom Basenotes: Leather, smoky labdanum, elemi, tabac, frankincense 1903 strikes an amazing balance between clean green freshness and rugged outdoor adventure. It opens with green mountaintop air and this freshness carries through while spice, smoke, deep tobacco, leather and frankincense join in harmoniously. Fitting that J. Peterman is based in Lexington, Kentucky, because this scent personifies a well-to-do, self-made gentleman visiting the stables to wish his horse well before the derby. Set aside the 1903 name and fanciful story J. Peterman conjures up about the scent and you'll find a well-made, very modern woody fougere with a healthy respect for classic barbershop fragrances. If 1903 were a person, it would be Clark Gable.

Is it really the replacement for Dunhill Edition? The opening is a very sweet but surprisingly organic wood with sharp spices. It has some of the soapiness of DE, but because the spices aren't as smooth, the soap connection is weaker. The leafy, live character of the wood reminds me of that aspect of Burberry London, even though they aren't too similar beyond that. Later on, it starts to resemble potpourri a bit more as the spices mellow out and lose astringence. Perhaps some of this is also from an apple cider note, as if taken from Michael Kors? For the most part, I'm intrigued by how this brew splits the difference between the stronger, dryer 80s wood scents and the exotic but very sweet spice scents that I find so fascinating (Eau Lente, Maharadjah, Tea for Two?). Still, the base has a cold, waxy, concrete grayness (violet, I suspect, as in Narciso Rodriguez) that makes it all a bit impenetrable and stubborn, and slightly dated. Overall, definitely worth a try, though I'm not using it to replace my Dunhill Edition.

I honestly swore this wasn't much more than a clean and peppery musk. If the pyramid is to be believed, there's a light green and citrus on top that I guess contributes to the clean feel, but I don't see any pepper, or musk for that matter. To be fair, during today's wearing I was having a harder time smelling the musk, and the whole composition felt more herbal and tobacco-y. It's a well blended enigma that may take a dozen or so wearings to fully understand. Unfortunately, my decant is almost out and it didn't really speak to me enough for me to get more. In conclusion, 1903 is a fine office scent that keeps close to the skin and dissipates rather quickly. It stays in it's lane and doesn't speed, but it always gets where it's going.

A great scent for the gentleman. Slightly powdery but smokey. Fantastic drydown of very masculine bases: tobacco, woods, leather. With the notes listed above, the elemi comes across reminiscent of Oscar for Men (2000), very strong yet lightly minty woods. Great all around cologne.

Hands down my favorite scent...and my secret weapon. About 10 years ago my uncle was wearing 1903 and I couldn't get over the smell. Leathery, woody, mossy...these are common phrases when describing a fragrance but this is anything but common. It was one of the most intriguing and exquisite scents I had encountered. He was very mysterious and didn't tell me what he was wearing but when I saw him next he gifted me a bottle and its been a must-have ever since. This is hands-down the one that I get the most compliments/questions about - since its only available on the J. Peterman website, its still relatively unknown and most definitely unique. I don't really see alot of resemblance to VCA PH (another favorite) as one of the reviews mentioned below. Really have yet to find anything quite like it.

A great scent which gets me a lot of compliments. A little goes a long way, and has great longevity. I almost don't want anybody to know about it, like it's my little secret. However, too many people ask me what it is, and I'd rather it be popular so it stays in production.