The Odd Fellow's Bouquet
Atkinsons (2013)

You see a lot of commentators compare this to Tobacco Vanille, but that impression only lasts for a short while and otherwise this feels like a more classical, gentlemanly fragrance, almost a bit like one of the vanillic fougeres (with labdanum and heliotrope in place of the lavender). It's certainly more floral than most entries in the sweet tobacco genre.

It's really rather nice, offering a rich but smooth blend that never puts a foot out of place. Thankfully, it also doesn't skimp on the tobacco, as so many of these fragrances do.

I LOVE THIS.

Holy smokes, its a marvelous confluence of what I consider the most delicious notes in perfumery: heliotrope, benzoin, and tobacco. Seriously, this is delectable, nearly gourmand, but having a dry, spiced, resinous undercurrent that prevents the sweetness from ever getting cloying.

There is a clarity to the composition, it sings, and there is a certain glow to the very natural-smelling ingredients that puts it in another league. This clarity remains as the dry down stirs seductively, the heliotrope gets softer and doughier, the tobacco smokier and more aromatic, and the benzoin is joined by labdanum, anchoring it all.

Magical, and with a tenacity that requires only a few sprays.

Intriguing name, less interesting fragrance. Very sweet vanilla tobacco (+chocolate or something like that?) Maybe the faintest hint of florals. Not particularly subtle, sophisticated or refined. More cheap pip tobacco than gentlemen's club. A bit like the inside of Grandma's handbag - Golden Virginia + Dairy Milk + residual perfume.

2 hours later: settles down into something similar to TF tobacco vanille - maybe slightly sweeter and floral. Not a huge fan of either - I prefer spicier, boozier, or smokier alternatives that offer a bit more depth and complexity. These two can get a bit cloying after a while. After a long while OFB mellows out into something not bad but there are better alternatives - eau duelle and earnest hemmingway to name a couple.

The storied house of Atkinson, London 1799, has been reborn in Italy 2013. What followed was an intriguing catalogue of fragrances in impeccably styled bottles of rare distinction.

The Odd Fellow's Bouquet is a re-issue of a scent created to celebrate the return of Lawrence of Arabia. Atkinson conjures up the appropriate imagery: "Lawrence of Arabia ensconced in the splendour of a St. James gentleman's club, its weighty silence broken only by the occasional turning of a sheet of a newspaper, and the Oriental fragrance of Ottoman tobacco issuing from the depths of upholstered winged armchairs… This rarified ambience is conveyed with almondy heliotrope flowers and dark tobacco, heightened with ginger and fiery peppercorn and, finally, deepened with a rich ambery accord of benzoin and labdanum. A fragrance of immense leisure."

The history of the firm and the Lawrence of Arabia story may be the best thing about this fragrance. Although the notes may suggest Five O'Clock au Gingembre or Tobacco Vanille, The Odd Fellow's Bouquet is much closer to Tiffany for Men, Chanel Pour Monsieur Concentree minus the vanilla or a less distinguished cousin of Bois du Portugal.

This is a straight up woody oriental in the old school style. It could come across a bit dated and a bit feminine in the opening. Too much amber for my personal taste.

Very pleasant at the end, however, mostly stark woods with slight smoke and sweetness, like the aroma of a sauna.

I found this to be a very, very odd fragrance indeed. When I tried it the word "funky" came to mind, and the connotation was not meant to be positive. It is rare that I find the notes of a scent acting antagonistically toward each other, but that happens here. It's all a bit of a mess. I don't think I could see myself, or rather, bear to smell myself wearing this. It is too strange. But, I must say, I loved readingTwoWordReviews' take on Odd Fellow's Bouquet.

One final point: why is it that several other good to very good Atkinson's fragrances have mayfly longevity, but this skanky thing lingers on and on like a bad taste in the mouth? UGH!

Purple. Bacchanalian.

Jazz, pizzazz, and razzmatazz, this juice is like what grapes do when mom's away. It's big, it's bold, it's a party on your _____ (I can't speak for you, but wherever you put it, that's where the party (and passersby) will soon be). Speaking of party, picture a small gathering of, say, Dionysus, Jimi Hendrix, and your high school friend's really hot mom: it smells like that feels. As it happens my friends were total non-contributors in that department but the point remains.