A*Men Pure Havane (2011)
by Thierry Mugler

Fragrance In Three Words: Boozy Cherry Tobacco.

I'm a massive fan of the original A*Men as well as Angel (woman). I had to try this flanker as I do enjoy boozy fragrances and baccy ones.

Starts off with what to me is cherry tobacco. It's not really a sweet candy cherry more like one which is blended in with the tobacco.

As it progresses the cherry fades and a boozy rum takes over. It doesn't smell like a bottle of rum to me it is more like rum cake.

The drydown for me was a really heavy vanilla and just a general sweetness.

Price in the UK is around £50 for a big bottle. Unfortunately it is much harder to get in the UK than the USA.

I think it is a banger. Really versatile. What puts me off is I think there are probably better tobacco fragrances out there albeit for more money. I'm also not sure how unique it is. That said I really enjoyed it especially the delicious opening.

Scores a nice 7.5 out of 10.

2ml decant from respected seller.

Note: Virtually the same review as the one I left for Pure Malt.

I have been on a bit of a Mugler kick recently since I picked up some sample bottles of A*Men, Pure Malt, Pure Havane and Pure Tonka (I know, late to the party). I wrote all of these fragrances off on the basis that I didn't like A*Men when I first smelled it.

I'll be the first to hold up my hands and say I was wrong.

Of the samples listed above I bought full bottles of Pure Malt and Pure Havane and to be quite honest, I struggle to choose between the two.

Pure Havane delivers from the very first spray. It opens with a giant blast of sweet(cherry and honey?) vanilla pipe tobacco that is warming and comforting. Like someone lit a pipe in the same room. It has the A*Men DNA in there but where Pure Malt goes oriental this stays a little woody and dry on me before the vanilla hits. I'm not massive into vanilla, as in Tobacco Vanille, I find it very cloying, however I find Pure Havane to be exceptionally wearable and it almost has a dry, leafy, resinous/balmy finish to it. For me, the longevity of Pure Havane is better than Pure Malt, but only just.

Similarly to Pure Malt, I cant wrap my head around the price point for this fragrance. Fragrances this good shouldn't be this cheap. In the space of a month I've bought a bottle and a backup and at the price, you could do worse than picking up a bottle of Pure Malt along with it as a partner fragrance.

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.