Are there similarities of SMN Acqua di Cuba and Creed Vintage Tabarome?

Originally Posted by robyogi

You made me pull out the samples and A/B them. They are both old world manly. I think they also share some notes, especially a wet tobacco note, but overall Vintage Tabarome is muskier, darker, and sort of musty, with an almost stale smoke note. There is a place here in Pittsburgh called the Duquesne Club, where these people with old money, and the folks who want to get close to them, pay absurd fees to be members. (They also go through this crazy process of having their picture hung on the wall when they apply; any member who doesn't want that person to belong - based on looks alone - can put an X on the picture.) VT reminds me of that club. There is this smell of old smoke and leather, with a whiff of traditional men's cologne in there too, something almost "pretty." VT is more complex than AdC to my nose.

AdC is brighter and with a sour note. I'd say it's simpler, leather and tobacco, and here the tobacco is fresher, not smoked, it's sharper, almost a fermenting type of sharpness. I'd say there's more tobacco flower in this one, sort of like the note in i Profumi di Firenze's Tobacco.

To sum it up, they're very different, with a few shared notes and an overall similar quality or character. Personally I like AdC better, as the dry down works better on me. Tabarome gets very musty, and sometimes nastily sour, on me. The topnotes are amazing. I just wish it worked better on my skin as it dries.