Capucci pour Homme
Roberto Capucci (1967)

Old School? Maybe. Truly a classic, masculine fragrance with ties to so many past scents. Capucci gets it right. This is wonderful. And very Italian.

"It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life
For me
And I'm feeling good"

I am wearing Capucci Pour Homme and feeling good. Pay no mind to the naysayers, it's okay to feel like a man. To be a man. To be kind and sensitive and to be a man are not mutually exclusive. Capucci Pour Homme is a kind and sensitive man, not a brute, not a big galoot, Olive Oyl need not cower, this man is a gentle man, a gentleman.

The glow of lemon, bergamot and basil is the flash of a smile and a tip of the hat. Aromatics, lavender, anise, some fresh flowers are the twinkle in the eye. Much like sensuality, we peel back layer by layer, the tie comes off, the cuff links clink, we try to avert our eyes from the tent in the trousers. Musk enhances the slightest nervous anticipation and perspiration, a glimmer of leather like piano keys playing a naughty chord, patchouli and oakmoss alludes to the man of nature, one who can chuck wood for a fire...and oh what a fire it will be.

Dated? Who's counting? For old men? Daddy teaches us well.

This old-school chypre opens with very bitter zesty lemon and some basil, but quickly dries down to a sour mix of leather, oakmoss and patchouli. The dry-down is far from pleasant, but if you overspray AF you will retain the top notes for hours and hours and avoid the dry-down entirely.

Warning: 12 sprays minimum, as explained above.

Masculinity Level: Yves Montand sweating bullets in The Wages Of Fear.

Stumbled across an older formulation - square letters on box/thin letters on bottle. Decanted into vial, sprayed a bit on paper then a bit more on myself before going to play tennis.

Juice is still sufficiently light in hue to suggest delicate storage, but it seems that any especially bright top notes which may have been initially been there have liberated themselves with the passage of time. What remains however is still quite remarkable.

The citrus persists, albeit in a resinous, stemmy manner. In the same way that petitgrain is the leaf that accompanies the orange blossom (neroli), the effect here is as if the oils of lemon/lime/bergamot have been extracted from prunings of leaves and stems of the citrus, rather than fruit or flower. A similar effect can be found in noticing the difference in aroma between tomato fruit vs leaf, or by recognizing the resinous tannic quality achieved in wines which utilize full cluster fermentation.
As the fragrance starts to dry and move, it is precisely this stemmy, resinous quality of the top notes that allows for such a relaxed transition into the anise, jasmine, roudnitska-esque fruit note, and then eventually the moss wood and leather, as many of the stages, while differing in olfactive effect, project a very similar character.
Consider myself reasonably acquainted with citrus chypres but have not spent much time in Italy until recently. Reading about some of them here, I have been curious as to what is meant by references to dusty, herbal, rustic, pastoral qualities, and while my sample size for the region is pretty small, I can begin see to see the stylistic common thread.
Many here have taken to drawing comparisons btw CPH and other bottles which have many similar characteristics. More illuminating perhaps to compare to something that is still in same wheelhouse but that has an entirely different gestalt. For example, you might ponder differences & similarities between Capucci Pour Homme and Eau de Patou.

It reminds me a smooth gangster type. remember Andy Garcia's character in Godfather part 3.let me tell you,it was brilliant, refined,divine.an 60's masterpiece. it is quite recognisable and gives the impression of being mature, refined and sophisticated.a manly green chypre.very similar in style to Vintage Eau Sauvage or Armani Eau PH. Capucci PH is a welcome addition to round out the much sweeter fragrances popular today. absolutely masculine.

The deep citrus opening dries down to a dark mossy aromatic skin scent which still makes an impression well after application.this opening is strong and somewhat off-putting, but it's just a matter of minutes that the basil,and anise notes start to kick in,thus giving balance to the starting phase, adding a bit sweetness.an unmistakable elegant masculine fragrance.a man can actually wear this instead of the other way around.if there is anyting "old school",it's only because anyone close enough to smell it is left with no doubt that they are in the presence of a gentleman.pure class in a bottle.

A lemony chypre; quite bare bones, dry, without any noticeable aromatics (herbal notes), with a base that's rather thin. While conventional and conservative, it's also sort of fusty and musty and not very appealing. Doesn't have the refinement of Eau Sauvage or Monsieur de Givenchy or Chanel pour Monsieur.


2.5/5

Note: Review is based on a vintage splash.