Poivre by Caron, 1954

I bought this in extrait form in Paris and it struck me as the most masculine of the urn perfumes. Upon wearing it repeatedly, however, the clove overtook the floral aspect and it seemed that the fragrance was ill-blended. I persisted, believing that Caron intended for this fragrance to "unfold" rather than be the dentist office oil of clove it was. I was never able to smell beyond the perhaps floral sweetened clove to pick up the namesake peppercorn. Inspired by the idea of the scent, and somewhat of a dabbler novice perfumer, I was able to create my own version of what I thought this fragrance should have been. Carnation absolute, tincture of star anise and white peppercorn, pimento essential oil, essential oil of black peppercorn, tons of jasmine grandiflorum absolute, exaltolide musk, true mysore sandalwood supported by sandalore, and then a careful hand at adding the aromachemical eugenol, which Caron tripped with. I found that eugenol was less medicinal, muddy, and sweeter than pure clove bud essential oil. I love the perfume I created. Caron's inspiration does count for something.

Bay Rhum - it's been around for centuries - a mixture of clove and bay that men have used for aftershave splash since barbershop days. This is all it is - and it would be the most expensive bay rhum you ever bought if you succumb to Caron's pricing. Try the very inexpensive versions Caswell Massey offers - the effect will be the same and your pocket book will thank you.

Cloves! Clove gum, clove cigarettes (though there's no smoke in this scent), and yes - red hots as other reviewers have said. And the peppery floral note of carnation, too. Poivre opens with a spicy, peppery bang - a big red-gold wallop of scent, very vintage and lush in character.

For all its brass and trumpets at the start, Poivre's dry down is very mellow, warm and familiar. Soothing, even. Makes me think of cinnamon sticks (and again, cloves) in a kitchen spice cabinet.

It strikes me as quite unisex, and I think a man could wear it easily.

Neutral rating simply because it's not something I think I would reach to wear again. But if you are looking for cloves, pepper and spice in a fragrance - this fits the bill.

Hanunani - thanks to you for sending me a decant to try!

Oh well, I got a sample of this with my Tabac Blond. Upon application I get slight shifts from clove and pepper to only clove, later clove and a hint of incense, but mainly clove as the main star. It is certainly nicely done and I can compare it with the essential oil of clove (bud), which I have at home, which is on the other hand CHEAP to buy.
Coincidently, one day after sampling this, we were invited to a bbq in the middle of the wood and in order to repel mosquitos I made a solution half clove oil and half almond oil (clove oil alone is too aggressive on the skin). It worked very efficiently, but also smelled very similar. Is this how you want to smell when wearing perfume? I also think it smells VEEEERY outdated.

I have to admit one thing for this perfume!!!It's a clover-spiced dynamite!!!Long-Long lasting scent with deep warm aroma!The most unique and unusual woody spiced perfume i have ever tried!It deserves to be in the top five list of Oriental woodies of all time!!!
*I sampled this scent thanks to MiMi Gardenia *

Poivre parfum is a strong, brave and a bracing scent. Totally unisex. On application, there's the strong blast of black peper and clove - it glorious. Not at all off putting. This is a hero or heroine's scent. The scent of the brave. As with most Caron's I know - you need just a touch of parfum on your skin for it to bloom .This is warm and spicey scent of all goodness ,it gets a little sweeter as it approaches the drydown. Quite linear on me, avante garde, unique,so different,non conformist. I love it.
Again, Haunani is my angel and now my heroine - as she wears Poivre and gifted me a precious sample.

True story; I was in the kitchen making a dish of rice pudding from scratch for kicks. The recipe called for ground cloves. I got the spice jar of ground clove off from our designated "spice" cabinet and smelled it. Clovey, naturally, and strong. Something about raw clove is kind of off putting to me, not my favorite. I tapped a little bit in, the last tap was strong and I ended up putting a good dose of clove into the pudding. Not too much of a problem though, stirred it, put it in the oven. Both my mom and brother said when it was baking that it smelled good whatever it was I was making.

To be exact, Poivre on my wrist smells like that rice pudding , or more direct the ground clove pre baking with perhaps an underlying actual floral other than supposed carnation, it mellows out sweeter and does and into, as someone suggests something like a bandage or maybe some sort of cosmetic, something you'd smell in the drugstore or on a girl sometimes. Perhaps this is the Caron base? This is otherwise all about cloves.

So carnation, eh? That must be the black pepper thing I got. Carnations do smell kind of peppery, come to think of it. My husband detected cinnamon. I don't know where or why or how I would ever wear this one, but I appreciate that the right person could rock it. And, as it turns out, it lasted, like, an hour on me.

Open with a blast of clove, and an underwhelming hint of pepper. For the first 5 or ten minutes I have the unpleasant sensation that my body has been puntured with cloves like some kind of gigantic holiday decoration gone wrong. The only evidence of pepper, or any other scent, is the tickle in my nose.

The clove mellows with time, sharing the stage with cardomon and vanilla (?), and vaguest shadow of pepper. An elegant and indulgent potpourri, which is not exactly to my liking, but it is hard to ignore the quality of the composition.

On my skin, the potpourri fades rather quickly into the caron base, which itself fades even faster. After 20 minutes, I can't tell it was ever there.

I really hated Coup de fouet when I tried it several months ago, and now that I try Poivre extrait I'm not sure if it's that much better or if my taste has just developed. I think Poivre is smoother, richer, more well blended, less sharp and thin. It's basically the same scent though, very dry and spicy in a little musty, old fashioned way. The description says pepper, which I usually like, but I'd say it's clove and cinnamon, which are too dry for me and turn sour and sharp on my skin.
I wouldn't blame anyone for liking Poivre, I can see how it's a quality fragrance. It has the unmistakable Caron base - coldly metallic and warmly rich at the same time, with a distinct vintage vibe to it. Poivre is well blended and luxurious with honey, carnation, roses and lots of spice, and it might be lovely on someone with a skin chemistry that softens it just a little. Or it might seem lovely to someone who's a fan of carnation and clove in a scent. I'm not, and on my skin the spices turn unpleasantly dusty and bitter.