Cigar by Rémy Latour, 1996

I was surprised to come across Cigar at a domestic airport kiosk and, of course, bought it cheap on the spot.

While Santa Maria Novella's Acqua di Cuba is one of the most authentic tobacco frags i know, and while it smells like cigars in their presentation box, Remy Latour's Cigar smells like cigar smoke in a club filled with cigar-smoking BaseNoters, lovely smells and all.

Cigar goes on with a slightly screechy blast of aromachemicals (its not expensive, so what could i expect?) but immediately calms down and begins to exhibit what it was meant to showcase: a very nice cigar accord, garnished with mild floral notes as well as detectable sandalwood plus substantial, cigar-box cedar. To me, this is a beautiful masculine and evocative scent. Cigar smells like a cigar box which has contained well cured unrapped cigars for quite a while. I smell mainly cigars and cedarwood. A short walk in the blazing heat (a usual part of my tests) works olfactory wonders! It tells me what it will be like walking through a cigar rolling shop with nice-smelling workers, the florals blooming beautifully, sweetening the experience.

Cigar is one very long lasting (12+ hours) scent, with moderate yet substantial sillage. People will not choke near a Cigar wearer but, believe me, (mostly positive) questions will be asked.

Thumbs way up!

I see a lot of negative reviews for this one, and I don't understand why. Cigar is a unique scent. It can be intimidating when you first put it on, but that quickly mellows out into well.. a cigar like scent. Spicy to kind of sweet in about a minute.

Cigar is one of those fragrances that you have to wear on your skin or clothing before judging, because it changes significantly. It smells completely different in the bottle compared to on your skin. Most of the spicy aroma gets lost once it touches a surface, and it actually smells delicious.

I can't even think of anything to compare this one too.. A little bit like the Dreamer but far less synthetic. Perhaps Cuba Red, but much less spicy. Cuba Red attempts to capture the "cigar" and fails almost miserably, while Cigar actually does capture it, both in smell and feel. Many reviews say this smells cheap and synthetic, I'm definitely gonna disagree with that. Cheap, really? When I smell cigars, I think anything but cheap, I think elegance, I think champagne, mansions and velor robes -- Back on topic though. Smelling it and wearing it are two different things. This is a great stand out fragrance. In fact.. it was such a good seller that Remy Latour (a non massive production fragrance company or niche) decided to make a flanker called Cigar Commander which I have yet to try. Now I'm no expert.. but typically when a cologne makes a follow up.. it's because the previous one was a big seller.

Cigar is long lasting, with a nice dry down that redeems itself from what some of you find to be "cheap and synthetic" in the bottle. Try this one on your skin before buying it, it actually smells like its name "Cigar"

All in all I give this one a B-