Havana Reserva by Aramis, 1996

Somehow knowing this vintage juice contains some weird toxin makes me like it even more. Smells like fallen leaves, a flannel shirt, and an unsmoked cigar. Wife doesn't love it, doesn't hate it, so I save this for those fall days when I want to feel like Paul Bunyan.

A spicier and immediately cleaner discontinued version of the original Havana. It's wrong talking about a toned down version of the original, the situation is diverse, Reserva starts speedy with a spicy blast nearly sidesteping the raucous citrus, camphoraceus starting of Havana in order to dive as soon as possible in a sort of very spicy heart and then in a drier base. It tames the harsh initial blast of the original and ends as a musky, incensed Havana with a more prominent presence of spices. The spices turn the scent sharper than the original cause the resins and the woods are less developed and toned down in a way the dry down is perceived as stronger and drier. Still a great one.

Opening with the highly refined tone of the original scent, HAVANA RESERVA remains true to it's heritage as it develops, but suffers from the same sweaty/gourmand dry down as the original.

Incredible - it takes a traditional set of notes, makes it completely unique, and gives it a fabulous development. You'll be discovering new notes for hours as each pops out and shows itself.

Imagine: crushing finest cigars between ur palm, lightly..now bring your palm close to your nose and thats the intensity Havana Reserva has in it's opening. mix this with a steely note of metal over a floral and boozy accords; masterfully blended with spicy notes of pepper and cumin(+tons more) over a base of woody notes, patch and incense....pure bliss...

With Reserva I get a more concentrated version of Havana. The notes that end up being most dominant in the opening to me are the spice notesthey come on very strong. This stronger blast of spices pushes the opening a bit over the line for me. Where I found Havana wonderfully aggressive and edgy, Havana Reserva has gone too far. It takes over a half hour for the spices to settle down to an enjoyable level for me, and when it does, what I get is pretty much the same great accords that I got from Havana, except that spices predominate a bit more to my nose. With the spices dominating, I lose some of the woods and animal notes that I enjoyed so much in Havana. No, Havana Reserva is a very good scent and certainly deserves a thumbs up, but I prefer the original Havana. (Edit of 17 September 2006 review.)

Very hard to tell from the original, save in its greater longevity and sillage. The tobacco notes aren't quite so harsh, either.

Still, don't spend the moolah unless you just really want a discontinued original. For all intents and purposes, you're going to get the same thing minus a little "rumminess" with the equally sexy Montana Parfum d'Homme. (And for a helluva lot less.)

Thumbs up? Yes, absolutely -- but do take my advice above so long as Aramis keeps Havana and Havana Reserva among its discontinued fragrances.

Smoke and musky earthyness on me. Like both frags but this one is stronger.

I agree with Panda Poacher, Havana Reserva is a concentrated edition of Havana and the differences are miinimal. I will add that this is a good thing because Reserva projects more sillage (so go easy on the trigger boys and girls) and better still, it lasts hours longer.
I've no idea why but the chemists among us might be able to enlighten us as to why concentrated versions are hard to do well.
Chanel PM vs Chanel PM Concentree is one example that frequently comes up. To take a far more radical one, there's Eau Sauvage Extreme ( Yuck! ) which smells nothing like the original ES.
Fortunately, Havana Reserva is one of the happy exceptions.

Just thought I could put my short, informative note on this one : This is extremely similar to the original, so if you know that one then you know exactly how this one smells. Would be very hard to tell any differences, for many.