Seeing as we get a truck load of posts from people that wish to smell like manly winners who loosen undergarments as they stroll by I thought I would take a moment to type a little something that would help those just starting to wade into the pineapple infested waters by answering a few of the most common questions:
Help! I can't smell my Aventus after an hour. Is it fake? A bad batch? Oh the humanity!
Anosmia is the culprit here. Modern Aventus uses a lot of musks, musks everywhere. In the top, middle and basenotes and these little molecules are what give it its performance boost and simultaneously make your nose turn off and render the smell invisible. Look at it this way, have you ever encountered someone on public transport, at work or a similar situation that simply reeks of sweat but they seem completely oblivious to it? If you, like me, are as blunt as a spoon and ask them if they can inhale their own odour they'd look at you surprised and tell you "No", firmly convinced they still smell like the Right Guard they applied at the start of the day before sweating enough to fill a small lake. Thats anosmia and part of the Aventus game.
In order to prevent or minimize it simply make sure that you don't spray your neck as it is too close to your nose and causes habituation to set in quickly. Try the back of your head, your hair, a few sprays to your chest/stomach and you should be good to go. A lot of newcomers tend to spray their hand and then go about smelling it every 10 miutes before proclaiming that its not projecting as they have to bury their nose in their arm which is not what is occurring at all. Test it by applying it to someone else whilst wearing none yourself and smell them at intervals during the day to see how others experience you.
Why do the batch variations occur? Creed on one hand deny such a thing and say each batch smells the same and on another trumpet their "millesime" technique which, like fine wine, means that each batch will have its own characteristics due to the ingredients that went into making it and is the reason why you hear wine buffs saying things like "Oh the 1829 Dom Perignon was so much more robust and full of fruity nuance than the 1828" and the reason why there are thousands of posts in the batch variations thread. Some say its done on purpose and is a marketing gimmick, others opine its due to poor quality control on the part of Creed. Whatever the reason it certainly keeps the fragrance interesting because each batch brings something new to the table as they all smell suitabilty Aventian just with different aspects emphasized.
A metaphor I once used was to say its like listening to your favourite song with different equalizer settings whilst sitting in different positions, relative to the speakers as this best describes the overall experience the batches present as the song is still easily identifiable, even with the tweaked variables.
Is my batch any good? Its lot number 00FU
There is no such thing as a "good" or "bad" batch as its ultimately very subjective. Some are brighter and emphasize the topnotes so you get a full on fruitbowl orgy with lashings of pineapple and others veer toward the dark side and the patchouli, moss and woods are sitting centre stage. Both batches still smell like Aventus to all onlookers and the differences are mainly perceptible to the wearer. There is a huge batch thread here that you can enter your lot number into and find information as every batch that comes along is taken apart and pored over by people who have spent a while garnering an unhealthy obsession over the composition of this fragrance. For reference the lot number is usually on a white sticker on the bottom of the box and will look like this: C4211Z01. The part you are interested in is the 2 numbers followed by a letter and a couple of numbers as they specify the year of production (2011 in this case), the production batch (Z) and the run (01). Simply enter 11Z01 into the "Search this thread" option and wallow in the nerdyness.
Whats the difference between the "vintage" and "modern" Aventus?
At the end of 2013 the IFRA regulations (the fragrantory equivalent of the boogeyman) kicked in and certain elements of Aventus were restricted, noticeably the ones that gave this scent its charred, smokey accord. This was actually the second reformulation of the scent as at the start of 2012 the same agency restricted the use of fixatives that were originally dumped into Aventus in immense quantities and gave it the huge performance that it was reputed for where one spray was so strong that your as yet unborn children could pick up its heady aroma. The modern scent and the vintage, whilst sharing a lot of elements in common as the ingredients and accords are still the same, are quite different in their feel as the older juice was a lot more complex and had a greater depth and as such kept your nose guessing and didn't induce fatigue so easily. The current formula has been much more linear with a much larger and more prominent pineapple note, which, ironically, is what people lusted after originally back in the vintage days as "ashy" batches just weren't desirable whereas now they can't get them thats all people want. The ash accord is very minimal, verging on non existent in the current juice but there are some batches that ramp up the wood, patchouli and oakmoss to create a dark effect that is reminiscent of the batches of yore.
In side by side tests on the same skin I get around 14 hours performance from two sprays of the vintage fragrance with booming projection for first five and palpably thick silage trails (the smell you leave behind as you walk through a room). The modern formula gives me around 8 hours of performance with 3 hours of large projection and a noticeable but not immense silage. Olfactory fatigue is induced really easily with the newer batches and if I wear it every day I usually stop smelling it after around 90 minutes, no matter how I apply due to the anosmia mentioned earlier even though everyone else can smell me just fine.
As mentioned, not all vintages are the same as aside from the batch variations and formula tweaks there were differences in composition that were noticeable if you were looking for them. To my nose the 10s were more charred and stale with it, 11s had great campfire/ashy vibe but 12s take the crown as they had the most complex smoke note that blended the fresh ashy vibe along with a lit cigarette style that gave the whole scent a great contrast in dirty/clean. 13s dropped the cigarette vibe immediately and started amping up the patchouli and moss in much larger amount which lead to the darker base as you could tell they'd started scaling back the ingredients that gave it that ash effect then before totalling dropping it around 13ZZ01 which was the birth of the modern clean basenotes.
Generally the vintage and new formulas smell similar in the sense that the accords and ingredients are the same only the ratios present are different and the restricted fixatives that were switched out for heavy musks cause a less prominent performance that is still quite strong and will get you noticed.
Does Aventus "change" over time?
Now this is a contested topic with some saying the first spray is the same as the last and others saying there is a day and night difference so your mileage may vary but in my experience I've noticed it again and again with batches taking a while to "open up". Most recently 17T01 developed a much deeper lower end 9 months later and became a lot thicker in the process even though that one already smelled awesome straight out of the flacon, where it birthed the blueprint of all batches that followed. Earlier examples like 17Q11 (which was almost all clear pineapple with virtually no base) developed mossy aspects tempered with woods which filled it out nicely a year later along with 15U11 staying the same in scent profile but becoming a lot fuller, deeper and resonant.
My personal theory behind this is due to the naturals that Creed use in the base (and this is what gives Aventus is allure and makes all clones so ho hum in comparison) aren't allowed to fully macerate/blend with the rest of the aroma chemicals as they are rushing it out of the door to meet demand because up until 2014 the batches were quite consistent (in terms of maceration at least) and this is a relatively new phenomenon that ties in with the upswing in popularity of the fragrance. The feedback on the forum also seems to indicate the same thing with new members complaining that "So and so batch is weak" only to come back again a few months later saying "Awesome batch, could still smell it the next day after I woke up surrounded by attractive, naked women" so it is what it is and yet another quirk that comes along with this scent due to Creeds manufacturing processes.
So and so on youtube says that "Something X" is an Aventus killer and it only costs $10, should I buy a bathtub full?
The pretenders to the throne have been around for eons and youtube certainly likes hyping them up and getting the old train thundering down the tracks. Its best that I use a metaphor to illustrate this example as it becomes much easier to see:
This is a Toyota MR2 that has been dressed up to look like a Ferrari 355:
It may fool some people from a distance, others may not even notice up close but the moment this rolls onto the scene:
It's a wrap as the differences are immediately evident to those that aren't even looking for them as you can tell where the imitator falls just short of the originals effortless elegance and performance. I mean just think how stupid you'd sound saying "but but but it looks just like a Ferrari and doesn't cost anywhere near as much and is much more reliable thanks to Japanese engineering vs the infamous Italian quality control" in this respect and you'll see how most clone champions sound to me when my experience and theirs of the latest flavour of the month pretender differs so starkly. Some people like the clones, to me they are a false economy as there is always something missing or "off" about them when contrasted to the real thing.
There are certain components of Aventus (called captives) that are responsible for its performance, composition and feel and these are not available to purchase on the open market therefore the clone makers must improvise their effect whilst guessing what goes into the scent in the first place. Some manage to create reasonable facsimiles of the basenotes, others take a stab at the opening and most just end up smelling like a vague resemblance of the original minus all that made it great in the first place. Generally you're better off saving your money as buying clones can become addictive and each month a new one is dumped on the market and trumpeted as the latest "must have" and thus creates a false economy, speaking of which:
Why is Aventus so expensive?
Because Creed created it for Napoleon and he demands his royalty payments in gold, sent daily via a time machine 
Its expensive because its a niche brand that is targeted at the nouveau riche and those with aspirational lifestyles hence why Creed increase the prices yearly. Current retail prices in the UK are £170 for 50ml which works out at £3.4 per ml but if you look around you can find it for less than a third of that:
Creed very kindly sell 500ml bottles (called flacons) of their fragrances that are purchased and then decanted (poured into smaller allocations) into atomizers and resold via the Splits Board of this very forum. This is a great way to track down specific batches and generally indulge yourself in this fragrance at a most reasonable rate.
And there we have it folks, I believe that should cover the most common questions.
Thanks for reading, enjoy your Aventus.
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