I don't think Lot numbers mean anything on Creed

[denec]

I just thought I share this experience.

About 3 weeks ago I bought Silver Mountain Water 1 oz from Bergdof Goodman, it smelled fine and if I had not known to look at the serial number I would never had cared, but anyway the serial number was A3508G01. I was a bit pisst off saying I just spent $133 with tax, and I got juice from 2001

I am like WTF...why would they be selling Juice from 2001? makes no sense.

anyway I returned it. also I did some googling and googled that same serial number and found this same thread

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthr...t=67890&page=2

Seems other bottles were turning up from SAKS with that number as well.

So I said to myself if I am going to spend full retail to get a bottle from 2001 I may as well take my chances and go online which I was nervous enough.


Anyway I purchased from fragrance.net and got a 2.5 oz and came to $110.00 with tax and it arrived today and what do you know same exact serial # A3508G01

But I said let me try it, it smelled great. That is all that matters.

So you know what who knows if that number really means anything, maybe the middle number 08 is really when the year it is made or maybe not all that matters is it smells great


So i think lesson learn is to stop worrying about what year they are made and worry more if they smell good.

[SirSlarty]

People are so damn picky about their Creeds. I say that if it smells good then you got a winner.

[denec]

People are so damn picky about their Creeds. I say that if it smells good then you got a winner.

Yep the one thing I am glad is i went through this though, i am now going to order all my creeds through fragrance.net or other online retailers that are authentic

for the price I paid no way I am going to pay full retail

[finsfan]

Good post!! I just ordered 4 ounce sizes of MI and GIT from fragrancenet. And like the other posted said, as long as it smells good and has decent staying power, then I am satisfied.

[Scentronic]

Your statement is supportive to the point that different sources can provide juice/product from the same batch...However, that doesn't have any relationship to the point that batches can vary by year, and that spoilage and change can occur over time. A 2009 Green Irish Tweed will not smell the same as a 2004. I can promise you that. Now, you could just as well go to Neiman Marcus and get a 2004 bottle, seeing that they'll (un)knowingly sell you "old" product. I don't know about you, but I want my bottles to last as long as possible, so I'm going to get my stuff from Neimans, AND/OR make sure that the serial number dates are current, regardless of the source. That being said, I'll take a 3 year old Bois du Portugal without question. But GIT, SMW, and MI - I want brand new.

[irish]

I have never really believed that Lot# deal. Maybe if I knew where that theory came from, I would be more willing to accept the idea. I used to belong to a forum of watch enthusiast, and according to them and their serial number theories, I have a seiko watch that was made in 2011. Or 1911.

I know, I am that awesome

[denec]

Your statement is supportive to the point that different sources can provide juice/product from the same batch...However, that doesn't have any relationship to the point that batches can vary by year, and that spoilage and change can occur over time. A 2009 Green Irish Tweed will not smell the same as a 2004. I can promise you that. Now, you could just as well go to Neiman Marcus and get a 2004 bottle, seeing that they'll (un)knowingly sell you "old" product. I don't know about you, but I want my bottles to last as long as possible, so I'm going to get my stuff from Neimans, AND/OR make sure that the serial number dates are current, regardless of the source. That being said, I'll take a 3 year old Bois du Portugal without question. But GIT, SMW, and MI - I want brand new.

Well that is the thing, Bergdorf and Saks are selling the same exact SMW batch with same exact lot numbers as fragrance.net, when i went back to Bergdorf i checked the rest of their stock and all were the same lot number

[bfree]

Denec, I think you may be on to something. I don't know about the lot numbers meaning something else, but I think that the 01 and 02 juice smells just fine. Maybe we will never know, but I don't put much stock in lot numbers.

[irish]

Well that is the thing, Bergdorf and Saks are selling the same exact SMW batch with same exact lot numbers as fragrance.net, when i went back to Bergdorf i checked the rest of their stock and all were the same lot number

I bought a Bottle of Erolfa from scentmonkey a while ago. According to these Lot# thoeries, it was just 1 year old. Last year, at a dep. store (saks? NM? I do not remember), I saw a (supposedly) 3 year old bottle.

[bfree]

Do I think that older bottles are floating around out there? YES


Do I think that the juice in the older bottles has turned "bad". NO

[Stereotomy]

As if Creed only has one batch per year per ingredient for all its scents, putting it exactly in the mix at 1st of January each year!!! C'mon people!

[DULLAH]

^Yes. One particular run might be "the batch".

1st, lot numbers do mean something.
2nd, it means much more than a question of "freshness"

The year, indicated by the last 2 digits, may be of prime importance for Millesime Imperial, or another citrus heavy scent, but not as much for others, especially synthetic ones like Silver Mountain Water or Original Santal/Vetiver. I suspect an 01 silver mountain water should smell fine. And back to the lot numbers, the other digits prior to the last two, indicate a particular batch. I assume this comes in useful for someone trying to exactly match a previous bottle, or match a backup bottle, after being dissatisfied with another batch run.

[steve_123]

My GIT has LOT A3208E01.
Is the information valid that the 2 last digits is the year?
I also have an original sample with 01 and they both smell pretty darn good. Except the fast vaporizing rate.
Did they made so much bottles that are still sold? Though the Tabarome is 08.

Couldn't it be something like week 35 of '08?

I just thought I share this experience.
About 3 weeks ago I bought Silver Mountain Water 1 oz from Bergdof Goodman, it smelled fine and if I had not known to look at the serial number I would never had cared, but anyway the serial number was A3508G01.

[knightowl]

How many of you out there are wearing old-stock Creed and not even know it???

[JaimeB]

See my blog entry here. In it, Olivier Creed explains the lot numbers... the horse's mouth.

[irish]

See my blog entry here. In it, Olivier Creed explains the lot numbers... the horse's mouth.

Thanks for the link JaimeB. I have read something similar on their website (or on an Email I received, I do not remember). Hoewever, they never said explicitly how to interpret the lot numbers.
Do bottles or boxes have an actual date other than the Lot number?

[finsfan]

Ok, I understand that from Jaime's blog. But some guys can say that the older vintage lasts longer than the newer. I guess that it all is relative. I have had bottles that took 3 or 4 years to use up and they did not suffer lack of any intensity or longevity in wearing. I do agree that perhaps there is something to the statement in Jaime's blog that natural ingredients from one year smell different from another, in that one rose could be slightly off than another, I dont know what really explains it, but I think the collective experience here is that there are different 'batches' of Creed that cause the same person to perceive that one year's is stronger or weaker, fresher even, than another year's. We don't seem to say that about a lot of other niche colognes, other than lately some have noticed that the coloring in Chergui is different, but it is said to smell the same.

[denec]

See my blog entry here. In it, Olivier Creed explains the lot numbers... the horse's mouth.

Thanks for the link so what i understand is my bottle used ingredients from the same batch that I bought and returned from Bergdorf and those ingredients were from 2001?


What I do know is I sprayed it around 10:30 am and it is still going strong and smells great and I am happy with my purchase

[JaimeB]

Thanks for the link so what i understand is my bottle used ingredients from the same batch that I bought and returned from Bergdorf and those ingredients were from 2001?


What I do know is I sprayed it around 10:30 am and it is still going strong and smells great and I am happy with my purchase

There's no way to tell with most fragrances how long they've been on the shelf in a warehouse or a store. The truth is that most of these are made to last a long time, especially in spray bottles, which are pretty much sealed against evaporation. It takes a long time for a scent to "go off." I've bought bottles of scents that were discontinued years ago and the juice smelled the same as it did while they were still making it.

The difference in botanicals is a big deal in perfumery. The weather patterns, the sudden appearance of plant pests, market forces affecting cost, and many other factors are all very significant both to scent designers and to accountants. The noses want to keep the juice smelling consistent, and the accountants want to keep it profitable. Now you have the EU getting into the act with legislation to protect the environment, people suffering from allergies, endangered species, and (some people say) the synthetic fragrance industry.

Creed still uses naturals a lot, and so they have a concern to justify the variation in batch quality from year to year to consumers who think their juice smells different from the last bottle they bought... and so it does, because one year's crops are not identical to another's.

But I hear that Creed is being less consistent with the "millésime" system, and that there are now packages appearing without lot numbers on the box, and it's anybody's guess what that could mean. Maybe it just caused too much confusion among consumers, or the numbering system was too arcane for anybody outside the firm to understand. I'm not absolutely certain whether the last two numbers necessarily refer to the year that natural ingredients were harvested, or extracted, or included in the batch of finished scent.

One thing is certain, Creed certainly knows how to keep people talking about them. Nothing smells as good to them as free publicity...

[scentsitivity]

But I hear that Creed is being less consistent with the "millésime" system, and that there are now packages appearing without lot numbers on the box, and it's anybody's guess what that could mean. Maybe it just caused too much confusion among consumers, or the numbering system was too arcane for anybody outside the firm to understand. I'm not absolutely certain whether the last two numbers necessarily refer to the year that natural ingredients were harvested, or extracted, or included in the batch of finished scent.

One thing is certain, Creed certainly knows how to keep people talking about them. Nothing smells as good to them as free publicity...

One way Creed could reduce confusion is by educating the consumer as to how to read their labels and how the consumer can use/benefit from the information.

[denec]

There's no way to tell with most fragrances how long they've been on the shelf in a warehouse or a store. The truth is that most of these are made to last a long time, especially in spray bottles, which are pretty much sealed against evaporation. It takes a long time for a scent to "go off." I've bought bottles of scents that were discontinued years ago and the juice smelled the same as it did while they were still making it.

The difference in botanicals is a big deal in perfumery. The weather patterns, the sudden appearance of plant pests, market forces affecting cost, and many other factors are all very significant both to scent designers and to accountants. The noses want to keep the juice smelling consistent, and the accountants want to keep it profitable. Now you have the EU getting into the act with legislation to protect the environment, people suffering from allergies, endangered species, and (some people say) the synthetic fragrance industry.

Creed still uses naturals a lot, and so they have a concern to justify the variation in batch quality from year to year to consumers who think their juice smells different from the last bottle they bought... and so it does, because one year's crops are not identical to another's.

But I hear that Creed is being less consistent with the "millésime" system, and that there are now packages appearing without lot numbers on the box, and it's anybody's guess what that could mean. Maybe it just caused too much confusion among consumers, or the numbering system was too arcane for anybody outside the firm to understand. I'm not absolutely certain whether the last two numbers necessarily refer to the year that natural ingredients were harvested, or extracted, or included in the batch of finished scent.

One thing is certain, Creed certainly knows how to keep people talking about them. Nothing smells as good to them as free publicity...

Thanks Jamie, very informative

[dredmahawkus]

i have a bottle of MI serial number A3308F01

is this made in 2001? oh wait its the clear bottle not the gold bottle. there goes that theory. so the 08 in the middle must be the year.

[dredmahawkus]

ok now you people have me investigating.... so i go look at all my bottles.....my SMW is AF03U07.....now my MI had a 01 for the last 2 numbers now we know that cant be the year cuz they didnt have the clear bottles in 01 they just came out....now there is an 08 in the middle of my MI numbers but the middle of my SMW numbers are 03 and the 07 at the end could that be made in 03?well my 4 oz and 2.5 oz of himalaya numbers are AJ03U07 and AJ02S07.....well i think himalaya came out in 02 so i doubt this has been around since it first came out but it could be. i think i narrowed the U and the S on the back to U being 2.5 oz and S being 4 oz. but my clear bottle MI being an 08 with the 08 in the middle of serial nummber kinda killed that theory with my SMW and himalaya numbers.......you want to know something really messed up......my OV seriel number is A405A.....thats it no last 2 numbers i swear how weird is that!!!!!!

[irish]

my OV seriel number is A405A.....thats it no last 2 numbers i swear how weird is that!!!!!!

Three Cheers for timeless scents!

[thenmarcher]

Just like you said, lot numbers don't mean anything. You want peace of mind of getting the freshest? Buy at Neiman Marcus. End of story. If you don't care about getting the freshest, yet still smelling good, buy anywhere else.

TNMA

[DULLAH]

i have a bottle of MI serial number A3308F01

is this made in 2001? oh wait its the clear bottle not the gold bottle. there goes that theory. so the 08 in the middle must be the year.

Great news. Denec has a 2008 SMW !
The only clear glass bottle of MI I had was a tester, I think the lot # AKs02e07
we're now on top of the latest transition in lot numbers.
Thanks dredmahawkus.

[JaimeB]

i have a bottle of MI serial number A3308F01

is this made in 2001? oh wait its the clear bottle not the gold bottle. there goes that theory. so the 08 in the middle must be the year.

Remember, the year is the year of harvest or extraction of the main natural ingredient. The year of bottling isn't relevant, I think. So the bottle might have changed after 2001, but the citrus oil in the bottle might be from the 2001 harvest. The other main ingredient in MI, the "marine" note, has got to be synthetic, so no worries there.

[mtgprox05]

This entire thread is very comforting. So far all three of my Creeds have been paid for at retail from authorized retailers, and I really really don't want to do that anymore. The fact that denec, who seems to be as skeptical as I am, is as satisfied with his purchase as he is, it makes me feel better as well. Does anyone know if sites like fragrancenet and scentiments will allow returns of a Creed if I deem it to be in some way unsatisfactory (i.e, longevity or top notes poor compared to the official sample I have)?

[denec]

This entire thread is very comforting. So far all three of my Creeds have been paid for at retail from authorized retailers, and I really really don't want to do that anymore. The fact that denec, who seems to be as skeptical as I am, is as satisfied with his purchase as he is, it makes me feel better as well. Does anyone know if sites like fragrancenet and scentiments will allow returns of a Creed if I deem it to be in some way unsatisfactory (i.e, longevity or top notes poor compared to the official sample I have)?

supposedly fragrancenet will return for any reason i think up to 30 days

so far it seems I get about 8 hours with SMW

Today I did an intersting test I used netrogena body oil and then sprayed some SMW to see how much longer I might get SMW

I did that at 6:30 am, and it is now almost 2 PM, still going strong


One thing I do notice about SMW and it can be SMW and not my bottle, sillage is not very strong, but longevity is great

[ToughCool]

And thus my fear with Creed. If I buy a bottle one day I want to buy it and wear it, not study it, conduct archeological digs to figure out where the ingredients came from and then decide if that year was a good year. If you ask a very raw person like me, it is all part of the mystique to make people talk, like in this thread. the probably just make it up as they go

[finsfan]

Fragrancenet shipped my MI and GIT today and so I will add my lot numbers, which bottle they came in and how long I can detect it and my impressions and append onto this thread.

[evogel]

Just to add a small bit...
I have had most of the male and unisex Creed scents over the years and still have many of them.
Some 4oz, some 2.5oz and some 1oz factory bottles and several decants of varying sizes up to 2oz. .
Some have been purchased from authorized retailers/e-tailers. some from online discount sites, some obtained from BN friends, and some, (carefully) from E-Bay.
I have NEVER paid attention to a lot #, a serial #, born on date, etc. All are authentic, all smell fine and all EXCEPT one have lasted perfectly for as long as I have had them.

The one that "got away"..... MI and only the top notes. After 10-15 minutes, it still smells fine.
This is a 1oz factory bottle from an authorized e-tailer bought in 2004 and it just went off this year.
FWIW it was initially stored in it's box in a dark cabinet and then transferred to a refrigerator for the last 3 years.
Hopefully, this helps someone.

[finsfan]

Steve, in a post above, said "My GIT has LOT A3208E01." Mine is the same except it ends in 02. Gotten from Fragrancenet with no date embossed on back, 4 oz black bottle. Lot number is on the reverse side of the bottle, at the lip that is at the bottom of the reverse side, not the bottom of the bottle. Wife says it smells legit. I think so as well.

My 4 oz Imperial is in the clear bottle, same location of the lot number, and is A3308F01. Seems legit, and a metallic note as well, but wife says it is legit. Dreamahawkus wrote above that he had the same serial number. Now this packaging has 2004 embossed on back. I see a white sticker on the side of the box that has the ingredients and the lot number as well.

[DULLAH]

^Looks like we may not have cracked any code at all.
The plot thickens...

[denec]

Steve, in a post above, said "My GIT has LOT A3208E01." Mine is the same except it ends in 02. Gotten from Fragrancenet with no date embossed on back, 4 oz black bottle. Lot number is on the reverse side of the bottle, at the lip that is at the bottom of the reverse side, not the bottom of the bottle. Wife says it smells legit. I think so as well.

My 4 oz Imperial is in the clear bottle, same location of the lot number, and is A3308F01. Seems legit, and a metallic note as well, but wife says it is legit. Dreamahawkus wrote above that he had the same serial number. Now this packaging has 2004 embossed on back. I see a white sticker on the side of the box that has the ingredients and the lot number as well.

I still think the most important is does it smell good?

[Blaq_Mamba]

I have two Creeds with serial numbers ending in 01, and those are Bois Du Portugal and Millesime Imperial (clear bottle). Both smell excellent. In fact, my Bois Du Portugal is more intense than the official sample tube that I have from Neiman's.

By the way, I own six Creeds total and all but one of them came from Fragrancenet.com.
GIT, SMW, HIM, MI, BDP, AA

[DustB]

I still think the most important is does it smell good?

Will all readers examine this line and evaluate their purchases or would-be purchases from the house in light of it?

I post this now because this thread is already at the top of the forum and I won't thus be bumping it up all over again.

There are currently multiple threads about authenticity from this house, about member paranoia about their products of the house, and other issues devoid of thought about the quality of the smell of whatever products. That's too much.

Many long-standing extremely experienced members have posted to these threads offering their insights and help. Please examine the threads for this thoughtful reflection before posting further to the threads. Otherwise members's efforts to help is all in vain.

MOST IMPORTANT:

I still think the most important is does it smell good?

[mgrz]

The SA at the SAKS I frequent says that they DON'T reflect the year of manufacture...I had asked previously about this exact question! Apparently, he had had reps. from CREED visiting his store later that week, and had asked them my question pertaining to LOT #'s, to which they replied that '08 at the end of the LOT # DID NOT mean it was manufactured in 2008....(they didn't give him an answer to what it DID mean, but it definitely was NOT the year of manufacture). I think all us retail CREED buyers are just trying to justify paying $225 for a bottle, even though the reason we're paying it is to ensure that we're getting the real deal, and not some BS product...even though in the back of my mind I'm thinking: "would people REALLY go through the difficulty of uncrimping the top of the bottles just to empty them and put what in the bottles (?)?? That's a whole lot of unbelievably tedious work just to make a few bucks! Like I've read in previous "fake CREED posts: if you're in question of the validity of a source, just suck it up and buy retail! It's the ONLY guarantee you've got! I've bought a one oz. and a 4oz of SMW and the LOT # on both boxes have matched the imprint on the back of the respective bottles...so there!

[mgrz]

hey, that's cool by me!