Just how 'Rare' are Creeds 'Vaulted' Fragrances ?

[hednic]

Hrmph,

No one can have my Selection Verte flacon nor my 4 bottles of Midnight in Paris. They are mine. Not for sale, ever.

You tell them!

 

[DoctorM81]

I recently acquired a bottle of this. It is indeed very nice...but Chevrefeuille is even more interesting.

I need to re-visit my bottle of this.

 

[N.CAL Fragrance Reviewer]

Doesn't Mudassir have a flacon for sale right now in the Marketplace (for a lot less)?

Nope just a 75ml tester.

Only ones I see are the partially filled flacons on ebay for $1150.

 

[davidcalgary29]

Nope just a 75ml tester.

Only ones I see are the partially filled flacons on ebay for $1150.

He says he still has one available.

 

[N.CAL Fragrance Reviewer]

He says he still has one available.

Perhaps ask his selling price and how old is the flacon?

 

[Varanis Ridari]

Not seeing the original thread until now, I'd have to say in 2023... pretty rare. But as mentioned above, time has made it so these days.

Even back in 2017 the only way to get most of these in the US was via eBay, because a lot of front-line retailers that bought directly from Creed over the years (when distribution was run by Rahme especially) could not return-to-vendor (RTV) unsold inventory, so a lot of them just dumped into liquidators when stuff wasn't sold at retail (including Rahme's boutique itself before she launched her own house), so they could at least recoup wholesale cost.

That's one of the reasons Creed is still plentiful in gray markets, as they still just refuse to take back inventory after a very short given period. It's not distribution control issues, as there is only ever one official distributor per market, it's that "all sales are (mostly) final" part of their wholesale model, meaning plenty of mom and pop stores get stuck with aging Creed inventory, leading to a bit of an Easter egg hunt for that unsold gray cap Orange Spice sitting in that old perfume store since 1995.

It's my opinion that the gray caps were axed in the first place to hide the embarrassing "made for X historical figure" marketing each one of them had, which became debunked when some of the families of those dignitaries spoke up and said "no that isn't true, stop using X's name". The incident with Cary Grant's family over Green Irish Tweed was the impetus for this.

It's a shame because a lot of them were more interesting and showed greater variety of style than the good (but mostly Bourdon-dominated) mainline stuff coming out in the 90's and 00's.

 

[hednic]

It's a shame because a lot of them were more interesting and showed greater variety of style

Agree with this statement.

 

[Diddy]

Not seeing the original thread until now, I'd have to say in 2023... pretty rare. But as mentioned above, time has made it so these days.

Even back in 2017 the only way to get most of these in the US was via eBay, because a lot of front-line retailers that bought directly from Creed over the years (when distribution was run by Rahme especially) could not return-to-vendor (RTV) unsold inventory, so a lot of them just dumped into liquidators when stuff wasn't sold at retail (including Rahme's boutique itself before she launched her own house), so they could at least recoup wholesale cost.

That's one of the reasons Creed is still plentiful in gray markets, as they still just refuse to take back inventory after a very short given period. It's not distribution control issues, as there is only ever one official distributor per market, it's that "all sales are (mostly) final" part of their wholesale model, meaning plenty of mom and pop stores get stuck with aging Creed inventory, leading to a bit of an Easter egg hunt for that unsold gray cap Orange Spice sitting in that old perfume store since 1995.

It's my opinion that the gray caps were axed in the first place to hide the embarrassing "made for X historical figure" marketing each one of them had, which became debunked when some of the families of those dignitaries spoke up and said "no that isn't true, stop using X's name". The incident with Cary Grant's family over Green Irish Tweed was the impetus for this.

It's a shame because a lot of them were more interesting and showed greater variety of style than the good (but mostly Bourdon-dominated) mainline stuff coming out in the 90's and 00's.

Didn’t Creed try to spin it, something to the effect of- no, no, we said made it for him, like in his honor, but we didn’t say he asked us to make it for him or give him any. You misunderstood our translation from French.

 

[Varanis Ridari]

Didn’t Creed try to spin it, something to the effect of- no, no, we said made it for him, like in his honor, but we didn’t say he asked us to make it for him or give him any. You misunderstood our translation from French.

The ones that -stayed- like Green Irish Tweed, Bois du Portugal, Fleurs de Bulgarie, Fleurissimo, and Neroli Sauvage? Yeah definitely they retconned those.

If you remember, they were all gray cap EdTs first before they were in the standard EdP presentation.

The ones that were axed (the majority) just ceased to exist or became flacon-only like Selection Verté until depleted, although Tabarôme was remade as Tabarome Millésime and surviving stock was called "vintage Tabarôme" as a result. I feel Vetiver 48 was transitioned to Original Vetiver the same way too.

Nowadays they cherry-pick and bring some back as super-limted flacons-only for the diehards, starting with Fleur de Thé Rose Bulgarie, then recently Angelique Encens, so who knows?

 

[Diddy]

The ones that -stayed- like Green Irish Tweed, Bois du Portugal, Fleurs de Bulgarie, Fleurissimo, and Neroli Sauvage? Yeah definitely they retconned those.

If you remember, they were all gray cap EdTs first before they were in the standard EdP presentation.

The ones that were axed (the majority) just ceased to exist or became flacon-only like Selection Verté until depleted, although Tabarôme was remade as Tabarome Millésime and surviving stock was called "vintage Tabarôme" as a result. I feel Vetiver 48 was transitioned to Original Vetiver the same way too.

Nowadays they cherry-pick and bring some back as super-limted flacons-only for the diehards, starting with Fleur de Thé Rose Bulgarie, then recently Angelique Encens, so who knows?

Yea, RIP to some of the most interesting ones. Vetiver 48 was likely modernized by removing the ginger and giving it a more soapy feel, ultimately to Original Vetiver. I’m one of the weirdos that sits in the camp of preferring Vetiver 48, as it’s not only more interesting to me but performs like a champ in my blistering Louisiana heat. Too expensive to replace last I checked. These days, with my bottle finished, I get a few ml from my brother @Mythrol from time to time periodically to satisfy my cravings.

Just yesterday I was looking at his Roja Vetiver and simultaneously thinking of ways to ‘procure’ his Vetiver 48 bottle. Perhaps just steal it? No use in being coy about it, right?

 

[StylinLA]

It's a shame because a lot of them were more interesting and showed greater variety of style than the good (but mostly Bourdon-dominated) mainline stuff coming out in the 90's and 00's.

Def agree here. I don't think they would sell well now, but many of them were very, very good and nicely done with top notch ingredients.

You're not alone Diddy- Vetiver '48 is awesome- duking it out with BdP as my favorite Creed. If my brother had a bottle, I wouldn't steal it per se...I'd just arrange to stop by and covertly apply it a fair amount as my SOTD.

Baie de Genievire was very gentlemanly and elegant as well. Under the radar even when it was available.

 

[Varanis Ridari]

Yea, RIP to some of the most interesting ones. Vetiver 48 was likely modernized by removing the ginger and giving it a more soapy feel, ultimately to Original Vetiver. I’m one of the weirdos that sits in the camp of preferring Vetiver 48, as it’s not only more interesting to me but performs like a champ in my blistering Louisiana heat. Too expensive to replace last I checked. These days, with my bottle finished, I get a few ml from my brother @Mythrol from time to time periodically to satisfy my cravings.

Just yesterday I was looking at his Roja Vetiver and simultaneously thinking of ways to ‘procure’ his Vetiver 48 bottle. Perhaps just steal it? No use in being coy about it, right?

Def agree here. I don't think they would sell well now, but many of them were very, very good and nicely done with top notch ingredients.

You're not alone Diddy- Vetiver '48 is awesome- duking it out with BdP as my favorite Creed. If my brother had a bottle, I wouldn't steal it per se...I'd just arrange to stop by and covertly apply it a fair amount as my SOTD.

Baie de Genievire was very gentlemanly and elegant as well. Under the radar even when it was available.

I feel like if you stole your brother's Vetiver 48, we'd have a Cain & Abel situation on our hands. R.I.P. Diddy

 

[Diddy]

Def agree here. I don't think they would sell well now, but many of them were very, very good and nicely done with top notch ingredients.

You're not alone Diddy- Vetiver '48 is awesome- duking it out with BdP as my favorite Creed. If my brother had a bottle, I wouldn't steal it per se...I'd just arrange to stop by and covertly apply it a fair amount as my SOTD.

Baie de Genievire was very gentlemanly and elegant as well. Under the radar even when it was available.

See, I’m distracting him with false lust of Roja Vetiver while I am really going for the Vetiver 48 🤣😂

 

[Diddy]

I feel like if you stole your brother's Vetiver 48, we'd have a Cain & Abel situation on our hands. R.I.P. Diddy

LMAO. Likely so. Although, I need to go back and look at his vetiver quest thread. He may not have ranked it too high.

 

[Mythrol]

This discussion has made me go back and look to make sure my Vetiver 48 is still in safe keeping. As my brother can attest to my very special stuff I keep tucked away where it's even hard for me to get.

As far as Vetiver 48 goes, It's a GOOD vetiver. Is it the best vetiver ever created and we're all lucky it graced us with it's presence? No. However, Assuming the marketing is correct and it is truly from 1948, I do think it's an important vetiver because it does something that a lot of modern vetivers have tried to emulate except it did it 75 years ago. Well ahead of it's time is an understatement. I was lucky enough to find it at a boutique fragrance store while on vacation years ago along with Santal Imperial and literally purchased their entire stock of both (not much 2 bottles of SI and 1 bottle of Vetiver 48). I knew at the time it was a once in a lifetime chance because even if these were rereleased, especially Santal Imperial, the scents would lose so much due to law changes that Creed would have to comply with. Vetiver 48 is probably possible to do something similar that would have the core of what it originally was but there's just no replacement I'm aware of for the Ambergris note in Santal Imperial. SI is the real one that makes me careful because while I think there's other vetivers out there that gets close enough to Vetiver 48 that I don't think it needs to be hunted after, Santal Imperial is thoroughly unique in the Sandalwood world and is the only thing that smells like that. I wish I had more bottles of it.

Based off of all my experience with vintage fragrances I'm of the strong opinion that Creed has the right idea (at least sometimes) by Vaulting fragrances instead of compromising their smell. I wish more fragrance houses would just accept that some things cannot be made with how current laws are instead of releasing weaken hollow husks of what the fragrance was supposed to be. I'm looking at you Timbuktu (as well as countless others).

 

[Diddy]

This discussion has made me go back and look to make sure my Vetiver 48 is still in safe keeping. As my brother can attest to my very special stuff I keep tucked away where it's even hard for me to get.

As far as Vetiver 48 goes, It's a GOOD vetiver. Is it the best vetiver ever created and we're all lucky it graced us with it's presence? No. However, Assuming the marketing is correct and it is truly from 1948, I do think it's an important vetiver because it does something that a lot of modern vetivers have tried to emulate except it did it 75 years ago. Well ahead of it's time is an understatement. I was lucky enough to find it at a boutique fragrance store while on vacation years ago along with Santal Imperial and literally purchased their entire stock of both (not much 2 bottles of SI and 1 bottle of Vetiver 48). I knew at the time it was a once in a lifetime chance because even if these were rereleased, especially Santal Imperial, the scents would lose so much due to law changes that Creed would have to comply with. Vetiver 48 is probably possible to do something similar that would have the core of what it originally was but there's just no replacement I'm aware of for the Ambergris note in Santal Imperial. SI is the real one that makes me careful because while I think there's other vetivers out there that gets close enough to Vetiver 48 that I don't think it needs to be hunted after, Santal Imperial is thoroughly unique in the Sandalwood world and is the only thing that smells like that. I wish I had more bottles of it.

Based off of all my experience with vintage fragrances I'm of the strong opinion that Creed has the right idea (at least sometimes) by Vaulting fragrances instead of compromising their smell. I wish more fragrance houses would just accept that some things cannot be made with how current laws are instead of releasing weaken hollow husks of what the fragrance was supposed to be. I'm looking at you Timbuktu (as well as countless others).

You take back everything you said about V48 right now! Don’t make me take the hour drive over there to Donnie Yen your behind! I’ll agree with the rest of your post tho.

 

[davidcalgary29]

Vetiver 48 is superior to Original Vetiver...except in longevity. It just fades away to skin scent three hours after application.

 

[StylinLA]

This discussion has made me go back and look to make sure my Vetiver 48 is still in safe keeping. As my brother can attest to my very special stuff I keep tucked away where it's even hard for me to get.

As far as Vetiver 48 goes, It's a GOOD vetiver. Is it the best vetiver ever created and we're all lucky it graced us with it's presence? No. However, Assuming the marketing is correct and it is truly from 1948, I do think it's an important vetiver because it does something that a lot of modern vetivers have tried to emulate except it did it 75 years ago. Well ahead of it's time is an understatement. I was lucky enough to find it at a boutique fragrance store while on vacation years ago along with Santal Imperial and literally purchased their entire stock of both (not much 2 bottles of SI and 1 bottle of Vetiver 48). I knew at the time it was a once in a lifetime chance because even if these were rereleased, especially Santal Imperial, the scents would lose so much due to law changes that Creed would have to comply with. Vetiver 48 is probably possible to do something similar that would have the core of what it originally was but there's just no replacement I'm aware of for the Ambergris note in Santal Imperial. SI is the real one that makes me careful because while I think there's other vetivers out there that gets close enough to Vetiver 48 that I don't think it needs to be hunted after, Santal Imperial is thoroughly unique in the Sandalwood world and is the only thing that smells like that. I wish I had more bottles of it.

Based off of all my experience with vintage fragrances I'm of the strong opinion that Creed has the right idea (at least sometimes) by Vaulting fragrances instead of compromising their smell. I wish more fragrance houses would just accept that some things cannot be made with how current laws are instead of releasing weaken hollow husks of what the fragrance was supposed to be. I'm looking at you Timbuktu (as well as countless others).

Uh-oh, looks like you're plenty attached to Vetiver '48. No sneaking any by Diddy.

I'm a huge fan of the scent. Given all I've learned and read about Creed, I don't believe it traces it roots back to 1948. Original Vetiver came out around 2004, but "1948" hung around until 2010 or 2011. No idea how and when that "1948" nickname got tagged onto the scent, but I don't every recall Creed using that moniker. I think the nickname came from frag folks like us online.

The ole Creed BS spin on that one was to imply it was worn by JFK. I don't know when it came out but betting on late 70s. Though it does has a very 60s clean cut babershoppy kind of vibe to it.

It's got some of the typical vetiver rooty, earthy aspect, but that ginger and cedar give it a different feel than most of vetivers I've tried. Kind of mineralic.

It lasts pretty well on me. Was a favorite work scent and made it most of the work day on me. Guarding my last 60ml or so carefully.

 

[Varanis Ridari]

Uh-oh, looks like you're plenty attached to Vetiver '48. No sneaking any by Diddy.

I'm a huge fan of the scent. Given all I've learned and read about Creed, I don't believe it traces it roots back to 1948. Original Vetiver came out around 2004, but "1948" hung around until 2010 or 2011. No idea how and when that "1948" nickname got tagged onto the scent, but I don't every recall Creed using that moniker. I think the nickname came from frag folks like us online.

The ole Creed BS spin on that one was to imply it was worn by JFK. I don't know when it came out but betting on late 70s. Though it does has a very 60s clean cut babershoppy kind of vibe to it.

It's got some of the typical vetiver rooty, earthy aspect, but that ginger and cedar give it a different feel than most of vetivers I've tried. Kind of mineralic.

It lasts pretty well on me. Was a favorite work scent and made it most of the work day on me. Guarding my last 60ml or so carefully.

Creed tried to steal Caswell-Massey's thunder, because it was documented that he wore Jockey Club from that house, which is a scent that if not from 1840 exactly, is at least from that century XD

 

[DoctorM81]

...Vetiver '48...Guarding my last 60ml or so carefully.

I'm down to <10ml of this one. Along with my bottle of RSL, I think I need to start letting up on the usage now...