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Difference between vintage and current Chergui ?

post #1 of 14
7/9/12 at 12:40am
Thread Starter 
I was chatting with a friend who just bought Chergui and I have heard many times that the vintage is far superior. However I have not been able to find the vintage and dont think much of the current formulation. Anyone have both ?
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post #2 of 14
7/9/12 at 5:31am
Didn't even realize there was a vintage of this scent. Interesting.
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post #3 of 14
7/10/12 at 5:17am
I actually prefer the current formulation but I've never been a fan of this fragrance (despite loving many Lutens).
My impression is that it's currently less sweet and more tobacco/spice/wood prominent. It also feels "thinner".

If you're a fan of very sweet scents then it's probably worth hunting down an earlier formulation otherwise I'd say don't bother.
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post #4 of 14
7/10/12 at 5:25am
I actually find the vintage less sweet, more subtle and with less honey but more hay and tobacco. I had to sell my new bottle away and reclaim my old one from my sister.

What I call vintage is the green liquid.
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post #5 of 14
7/10/12 at 3:04pm
I received a sample from Barney's early in 2011. Then my brother bought a bottle of the current stuff. My sample smells sweeter and richer than his current bottle, which smells drier. I can understand someone preferring one over the other for different reasons.

Did they sell the vintage stuff (green I guess?) in the familiar rectangular bottles?
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post #6 of 14
7/10/12 at 9:16pm
I was under the impression the green stuff was reformulated (it was originally brown, then reformulated (and green), then changed back to brown but still reformulated). Are we now suggesting there has been another reformulation? My newest bottle of Chergui smells identical to my 2009 bottle.
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post #7 of 14
7/11/12 at 1:11am
I'm pretty clueless when it comes to Chergui formulations. I'm not sure the little decanted sample I have is vintage, even though it is sweeter and richer. Perhaps the Barney's tester in 2011 was really old with vintage juice. It's also possible my decant has current juice that's evaporated slightly, thus making it more concentrated.

I hope someone more informed can chime in regarding the various formulations and colors. Flouris, your impression sounds about right.
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post #8 of 14
7/11/12 at 3:44am
Mine is brown and pre 2010. Its is sweet, powdery tobacco leaf.
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post #9 of 14
7/13/12 at 5:29am
Quote:
Originally Posted by donna255 View Post

Mine is brown and pre 2010. Its is sweet, powdery tobacco leaf.

That's what I'm thinking of when we talk "vintage".
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post #10 of 14
7/13/12 at 7:12am
Me too- my bottle was from 2009 and the liquid was brown . I loved that sweet hay note- very addictive . Do you find it remarkably different from the older brown version ?
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post #11 of 14
10/16/12 at 9:09pm
When was this reformulated? I haven't bought a bottle in a while and didn't realize this had happened.
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post #12 of 14
10/16/12 at 9:39pm
i recently posted a thread about acquiring a belljar of chergui (that we found out was from 2004). when we say "current" and "vintage" chergui it's important to note there are actually 3 separate cherguis. take it from someone who has pretty much bathed in the stuff for the last 3.5 years. original chergui actually has the noticeable hay warmed by honey. reformulated (when the juice was purposely turned green, and then back to brown - shiseido pillar label) is a respectable reformulation and absolutely worth tracking down. new chergui, with SL logo label and ruby color juice is garbage. sold my bottle on eBay. thin, frail, empty, a sad attempt. i think if you're new to chergui you may enjoy the new one since you wont know what you're missing, but if you've smelled the earlier versions it's real hard to make nice with the current formulation. i have a feeling a lot of lutens have undergone reformulations lately. its well known arabie has undergone one recently as well.
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post #13 of 14
10/17/12 at 8:38am
I have never had the opportunity to wear vintage Chergui, only the current formulation, and truthfully, without knowing what the vintage was like, I find the current one to be a very satisfying perfume.
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post #14 of 14
10/17/12 at 10:00am
I was one of the unlucky ones who had tried the 2008 vintage but didn't buy a bottle then. By the time I came to purchase it in Mar 2010 it had been reformulated to something thinner, less sweet version. What made the original great is no longer there. Remembering how mesmerizing the vintage was there was only one thing I could do: return the bottle.
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