Canoé 
Dana (1936)

I purchased Canoe based on its comparisons to Pinaud Clubman Aftershave. While I do appreciate the scent of Canoe, it goes in a slightly more powdery and vanillic direction. Though it is still strikingly similar and wearable, I want something that keeps the fresher more vibrant aspects of Clubman without trailing to a powdery vanillic scent. Penhaligon's Sartorial is definitely in the right direction, however, it comes off too upscale and formal "try hard" than Clubman, also I think it is discontinued. The classy old world vibe of Clubman with a casual and modern feel is what I am trying to find. Maybe a more casual version of Sartorial? If you have any suggestions please let me know. Cheers

It smells a lot like an EdT version of Pinaud Clubman- the ultimate American 'barbershop" scent. Almost every old school barbershop in USA had the Clubman aftershave and talc.

If you're a wetshaver type and like Clubman, you're crazy not to own Canoe. It really lengthens and extends that distinctive Clubman scent. You'll feel fresh from the barber all day long. And it's super inexpensive.

Being a mature guy, I can feel more comfortable wearing this than many.

First of all, an admission. Canoe is one of my favourites, both in the modern version, and the vintage which is richer, deeper and more complex; but both of them lack the fresh vitality of the reconstructed form held by the Osmothèque. It's like seeing a favourite oil painting after the restorers have stripped away the grime; the extra detail is exciting - and shocking in its clarity.

An aldehydic heliotrope fougère with pale tree fruits, Canoe also has a sweet powdery floral, and hard woody & metal-polish notes. Going by the Osmothèque sample, the original had a strong bergamot and citrus tang in the head, and a lick of civet in the base.

It has a hard feel, like a functional household smell: metal polish and waxed wood come to mind, notes which can be found in other thirties fougères such as Je Reviews and Blue Grass. In Canoe, the dour smelling metal polish, aldehyde and waxed woody notes are softened with powder, and sweetened with tree fruits, which makes them feel less functional. This 'housewife' accord, a sort of 'feminine in a pinafore' is quite different to the classic 'floral frock' we are used to.

But if Canoe really started life as a feminine then Dana had to rethink their marketing strategy as it started trending on the masculine market. This was possibly when the umlaut was dropped from the name and "can-o-way" became " canoo".

With its citrus and bergamot head, and lavender - geranium - coumarin body, Canoe has the architecture of a fougère. And this decorated with feminine themes: florals, powder, fruits. The contrasts that arise from this create an interesting - and for the era - adventurous feel of gender ambiguity. This is one of the strengths of Canoe, but it gave Dana some difficulty in knowing who to market their product to when men started to take it up and wear it.


The modern version smells quite different, neutered and less shapely, but it's still markedly old fashioned when compared to an Osmothèque re-creation. For whatever reason - maybe Canoe is too different to modern perfume, or too challenging perhaps, or simply because of a cheap formula - it tends to be overlooked these days.

There is one more point on formulation. Canoe's perfumer Jean Carles created three different versions of Shocking for Schiaparelli, so it's possible that more than one version of Canoe was drawn up. Who knows?


Old fashioned - it may be, and largely ignored these days, but Canoe is still historically significant. It draws on four important strands of perfumery: the aldehydic, the floral (in an unusual variant), the fougère and the fruity perfume.
And being ambiguously gendered, Canoe was an important precursor of modern mixed perfume.

Along with Fougère Royale and Azzaro pour Homme, Canoe is one of the milestones of the genre.

Rating : between *** and ***** depending on the formulation.

Smells remarkably similar now to the scent of the late 1970s and 80s. Starts out smelling like Brut, which is bad. During the drydown the offending patchouli-moss-cedar mixture goes away, and this fragrance becomes a lovely, dignified stroll down a lane lined by lavender, geraniums, and heliotrope in full bloom.