What a scent. Takes me back in time, to the smell of cognac infused tobacco leaf.
Brown Cuervo rum. Barrel flavor. Faint cocoa, like the one you get from tiramisu.
So reminiscent of nights out filled with liquor and tobacco, just indulging.
It's 5:30 pm, you spray this on. The wind outside whistles as the crisp fall air sends leaves dancing in the midst of the auburn evening sunset. You put on your favorite Ralph Lauren button up and polo sweater over it with a nice pair of shoes. You throw on a hat and some knit gloves and go out on a date from a fancy dinner to the little fair out in town...all of them are fair game. You catch a movie and take a nice stroll in the city and through the park under the stars and moonlight. Then, you find yourself next to her near the fireplace outside or in the house. Cozy and comfortable. Elegant yet free of care. Exciting yet calming. Versatile, not contradicting. That is what this fragrance is. Long lasting and strong. Honey, tobacco, milky vanilla
This is a great flanker to the original, and nice gourmand/oriental if you like that sort of thing.
I'm only calling this a gourmand in the sense of the cherry in this which has been discussed here at length ad infinitum. It starts off sickeningly sweet with a nice tobacco note that is nearly choked out by a heavy cherry note, not too unlike the initial cherry-like agarwood note in YSL's M7 (2002). After a bit, that heavy cherry notes starts to lighten up, and then you're left with -- as accurately described by others -- cherry pipe tobacco. If you've never gone into a tobacconist's shop and lifted the heavy glass lids of the jars that they keep loose pipe tobacco in and taken a big whiff, you're missing out. Pipe tobacco is a heavenly scent and cherry pipe tobacco is a longtime-favorite of pipe smokers. After about an hour, Pure Havane settles down to a smooth cherry tobacco over a creamy, vanilla base.
It's decent for what it is. Because it's so synthetic, it really seems to be something geared to the younger crowd. As a guy in my forties, this isn't something I can rock (unless I wanted to be that old creeper who goes to the bars and drunkenly dances by himself, hitting on all of the young ladies). I'm giving this a thumbs up, because it does a great -- although very synthetic -- job of mimicking cherry pipe tobacco, but unless you're able to pull the "youthful" thing off, take a pass on this.
24th June, 2019 (last edited: 26th June, 2019)
I used to own this a while ago. When I first bought it, I thought it was a great flanker to the original A*Men. I own the original A*Men, and Pure Malt. I was ready to give this one higher marks than Pure Malt after testing it a little bit. One day though, all of that changed. It went from one of the best designers I had to one of the strongest, most annoying, couldn't-wait-to-scrub-it-off-my-skin scents I owned.
Scent: It opens up with a huge blast of tobacco. It's not in the note breakdown on here, but I smelled cherry. Quite a bit. Looking back on all of the times I've worn it, almost positive it's the tobacco that was the culprit there. For some reason, and I noticed this like last year, me and tobacco fragrances (especially if they're "loud") typically have a hard time getting along. Tobacco Vanille by Tom Ford is pretty close to that mark, but the only thing that saved it for me was the Vanilla. In this one, there's nothing saving it. It was a disaster in every sense of the word. I tried giving the dry down a chance but that tobacco had ruined it for me. I wound up giving it to my cousin as a gift.
Rating: 3/10
Projection: This thing was strong on me. Too strong. It was on par with the original A*Men (10+ hours). I have had to scrub it off on multiple occasions so I could wear something else. As far as performance, this thing delivered in this category.
Rating: 10/10
Versatility: Winter and Fall scent definitely. If I wore this in the Summer, I'd get sick. I already know how that story ends and it's not good. It can be used on a night out with friends or a date. I have found, however, that most women I've went out with did not like Pure Havane. I went very light on sprays too because I know how it performs, but sadly, that didn't help. Most women that I've met and dated, prefer the fresh stuff (Acqua di Gio (original or flanker), Bleu de Chanel, Sauvage, etc.). I wouldn't say this is a good one to wear to class unless you sit in the back or something (even though that might not help because this thing projects). In my opinion, it's not a good work scent either. Most places are very particular about not offending people with perfumes so that disqualifies Pure Havane automatically.
Rating: 5/10
Overall Rating: 6/10. It's alright. It's different than your typical designer fragrance so it has some uniqueness to it. It performs and that's always a plus. You want your scents to last. Overall, Pure Havane is alright. I would recommend other tobacco scents over this one honestly.
The best from the A*Men collection. Period.
Edit, (more than 1 year later): One of the best designer fragrances ever created.
16th November, 2018 (last edited: 23rd December, 2019)