Tabac Rouge / Turkish Blend
Phaedon (2013)

This fragrance offers a cleaner rendition of the original Tobacco Vanille, with a similar honeyed tobacco aroma. While Tobacco Vanille leans towards a spicier profile, this fragrance feels more rounded and balanced. If you can find this at a lower price than Tobacco Vanille, it could serve as a decent replacement. However, if affordability is a priority, the fragrance "Amber Oud Tobacco" remains the best clone of Tobacco Vanille and comes at a significantly lower price.

Chergui, updated for the spiky woods generation.

The problem with Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille, undoubtedly one of the most significant tobacco fragrances in recent memory, is that its most interesting moment is its opening. For most of its lifespan, it is dominated by a monotonous, single-minded sweetness that overwhelms all the interesting accents.

Tabac Rouge is closely modeled on Tobacco Vanille to the point that each could be mistaken for the other, but for the attentive nose Tabac Rouge offers a richer experience. Phaedon has taken the basic conceit of Tobacco Vanille and improved it, loosening its structure enough to give individual notes room to be recognized and appreciated.

Tabac Rouge has no vanilla to speak of, instead finding its sweetness in a rich honey note accented by cinnamon. Tabac Rouge additionally adds a bit of "wetness" and aeration into the Tobacco Vanille structure--starting with the damp ginger note in the opening--and thus it wears lighter than the Tom Ford scent, which, particularly in earlier formulations, could be downright oppressive. Make no mistake, Tabac Rouge still infuses the air, but more in the aroma-carried-on-a-breeze way than in a dense-fog-of-scent way.

While the tobacco note in Tobacco Vanille emerges in the opening only to disappear into the background as the vanilla cascades in, here, it's much more discernible. The impression here is of damp, flavored hookah tobacco, rather than that of a pipe or cigar. That tobacco becomes more and more prominent in the drydown as the sweetness present in Tabac Rouge's honey note fades.

As hinted above, the wet ginger note in the opening of Tabac Rouge is a somewhat odd addition that does not immediately harmonize with the rest of the scent. That said, the ginger is more detectable on paper than on skin, and once it steps into the background of Tabac Rouge you get a sense for how it actually serves a beneficial role in supporting the rest of the scent.

Honestly, Tabac Rouge was not what I expected. Since I do have Dzhari, I was looking for a stronger more potent, darker opening. I expected a raw tobacco-ish dark fragrance, with smoke. Instead, I got a lite floral (although not in the note breakdown), cinnamon gingerly, soft fragrance, yet a tinge of smoke, cinnamon, and spice. Surrounded by spice and vanilla, this is a nice fragrance however, again not what I expected.

Many review suggested this is like Herod by Parfums de Marly and others have connected this to Tom Ford's Tobacco Vanille. For me, this reminded me of Musc Ravageur by Frederic Malle. I cannot offer any resemblance to TV, but I can see Herod's slight vanilla flavor, but mostly a touch of that spicy vanilla, cinnamon flavor with some floral elements within the combination that I detected in Musc Ravageur. However, Musc Ravageur had a stronger floral opening that I couldn't get past which caused me to dislike.

Tabac Rouge is a little different in that is offers a slight difference in the spicy cinnamon dept. This fragrance is not too floral, not to spicy, not to dark or tobacco-y. The dry down is a sweet, vanilla, creamy fragrance that I think will be a hit. One that is unisex and not too over the top in terms of overall composition.

Soft, sweet top notes, that crescendo into a spice bomb. Nearly booze-like. Tobacco and incense remind me of blended myrrh and opoponax. I think the benzoin is playing with me. Musk, adds some sensuality. Cinnamon lasts and lasts. This, is a fine, dark & warm oriental. Easy and uncomplicated.

Can't believe I didn't review this the first time I tried it. I find there's a real dearth of properly good tobacco scents, and this is up there in that category.

First of all, this to me is a blonde tobacco. It doesn't really recall pipe or cigar smoke, perhaps a lighter pipe tobacco before it is lit. And certainly not (ahem) plug or shag, or anything heavy. This is at the most civilised end.

It is pleasing that many of the stated notes are present and correct, particularly the honey and cinnamon. In addition there is a very slightly menthol-y, herbal edge in the early stages. But this is all about the tobacco itself, in addition to the benzoin that keeps things going (on my skin) for hours on end with good projection. Something this smooth doesn't really appeal to me in the long term - I'd prefer my tobacco scent to be a bit rougher around the edges, and 'darker' - but the quality is there.