Tobacco Rose was launched in the Summer of 2014 as part of the initial trio of fragrances from Papillon (the other two being Anubis and Angélique)
The company says:
A sensual blend of Bulgarian rose, geranium and Rose de Mai form an opulent backdrop of velvety rose notes set against a luxuriously rich and smoky base of French hay and earthy oakmoss.
Soft animalic touches of ambergris and beeswax have been suspended in a sumptuous blend of musks, creating an enigmatic, alluring and unmistakable perfume.
A stunningly different interpretation of the majestic rose
Tobacco Rose fragrance notes
- bulgarian rose, may rose, geranium, french hay, oakmoss, ambergris, beeswax, peru balsam, musks
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Latest Reviews of Tobacco Rose

Elizabeth Moores dangles the perfect masculine rose scent as the spray comes off the blocks. As others say not so much tobacco as mild tobacco leaf. Does not matter. This is my new signature freshie scent I think to myself. Forget Tom Ford for Men. This is the super cool niche artfully blended masculine rose. The one where people are left following your vapour trail hypnotised by its subtle dance of rose and tobacco and oakmoss. Stunning.
Then 10 minutes the entire pyramid collapses into just a slightly musky rose. I say 'just' thats not fair. Its ok. Unisex , for a lady in fact very nice indeed. But. But. Oh dear. Back to Tom Ford for Men and Creed Neroli Sauvage. Sshhhh don't tell them I was ready to dump them in the blink of a lustful eye....
Thumbs down. Whats on the label is not whats in the packet.

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My nose is immediately assaulted with a dry, bitter agar/oud note that turns me right off. The green rose fights to rise above it and eventually does, but when it gets there, it's not much to write home about.
The perfumer is said to have decided to create her own tobacco note, and not that of the dry tobacco we are used to, but the fresh, sappy note of green tobacco. We have to take her word for it as few of us has experienced tobacco in this incarnation.
It is for me not a successful blend of geranium, hay, oak moss and musk. The overall effect is more off-putting than attractive. The combination of Bulgarian Rose and May Rose is pleasant, but its setting is not.
Had the familiar cherry note of pipe tobacco been used (as expected from the name), it might have been a glorious combo. However, one cannot review what it isn't, only what it is.
My spouse had an entirely different reaction. He finds this to be a light, green, faded rose, gentle, soft, and small, a very personal scent, intended for a lady, perfectly decent to wear as a day scent, to lunch or cocktails. So, for him, a thumbs up.
Ultimately, for me, disappointing, and a thumbs down. You decide.


Even though starting out with promise, eventually Tobacco Rose is too much of a disappointment. It comes across as lacking in dimension, thin from the mid phase onwards, and surprisingly anaemic. The dry, dusty rose is reminiscent of Hammam Bouquet, but Tobacco Rose is not powdery. There is not a not of abstraction, but the rose and hay/tobacco accords could have been more well explored. The fragrance has a nice and subtle green-earthy element, but it's rather fleeting and not fully formed. Additionally, it is extremely muted on skin, and is hard to trace beyond five hours or so.
2.5/5

So what sort of rose should we expect from a fetching English perfumer nestled in the countryside? A blushing rose? A sundress and parasol number? Remember before you answer: this is the perfumer who would a year later give us Salome, the fire-breathing jasmine.
Bucking any expectation of gentility, Tobacco Rose lives large. The top notes come bounding out of the bottle and create an exaggerated flower. It is oversized but proportionate enough to avoid caricature. Tobacco Rose is a dypso amber-rose with a green streak though the center to keep it steady. The splash of acidity brings out the jammy balsamic heart and introduces the bit of tension that keeps the honeyed ambery base in line. Creating a floral perfume is a particular type of fiction and Tobacco Rose tells a great story.
The aromas of rose and fresh tobacco go hand in hand. The lemony aspects of rose match the sappy bitterness of tobacco and create a lush woody floral accord, as in Sophia Grojsman's Beautiful for Estée Lauder. * Liz Moores says she looked closely at various tobacco absolutes but opted to build her own accord. She uses hay, rose geranium and a touch of galbanum to recreates the live, sultry scent of fresh tobacco leaves. Tobacco matches the bright, leafy rose of the topnotes and folds smoothly into the waxy balsamic base.
Tobacco Rose isn't retro in the least, but neither is it 'modern' in the sleek, streamlined sense of the word. It is the successor to the big rose chypres of the 1980s, all of which have had their wingspans clipped and their confidence shaken by the IFRA. When I wear Tobacco Rose, I feel like I'm letting out a breath I've been holding since the the '80s rose chypres began their long goodbye. Moores seems too well-versed in perfume history not to have at least considered Tobacco Rose's relationship to these bad-assed chypres.
Moores hit the ground running in 2014 with a bold perspective on classical perfumery's Big Three Flowers. Anubis's gasoline-jasmine was ferocious and Angélique's melancholic iris was introspective. Tobacco Rose strikes a different tone--as bombastic as Anubis, but less threatening. It shares Angélique's lushness but forgoes the moodiness. It's the most approachable fragrance of the trio but doesn't settle for less. It aims for pleasure and hits its target dead-on.
* I'm from a small part of Connecticut called the Tobacco Valley. The summer air near the fields was filled the scent of tobacco growing under shade-cloth in the fields and curing in the barn. It was green and sappy but also woody and floral. It's a pervasive sweet scent with only a passing resemblance to dried smoking tobacco.
from scenthurdle.com)


After the first half of the development the character changes drastically. The rose fades, and a somewhat tart and fairly salty ambergris evolves to become dominant, supported by a dried-grass aroma with a mossy hint. The change of character is thorough and enduring. Towards the end a sweetish honeyed-musky impression forms the coda in this composition.
The performance is very good, with moderate sillage, good projection and an excellent longevity of fourteen hours on my skin
And interesting two-phase spring scent, with the main proviso being that most of the notes remain a bit dull and flat on my skin. Still, pleasant enough. 3/5

I believe it is the hay note which lends a compelling allure and strangeness to this fragrance; and there is real oakmoss here, too. Tobacco Rose is technically a soliflore, but its rose is joined by several well orchestrated notes that give it an intriguing character and presence. I find that it has excellent longevity, as well (8-plus hours on my skin).

It seems that others don't get tobacco here, whereas I get a huge, dense fug of it. The rose, when it's allowed to shine, is beautiful, but as I already own Une Rose I can experience something just as beautiful, without having to get through that hideous opening.

I find both a bit overwhelming. Rose Oud doesn't develop or change much over hours so Tobacco Rose may be more acceptable to anyone who wants something in the same vein with less persistence.

Now the rose is front and centre to this composition though facets of the smell have been changed with other notes that subtlety alter the smell. And this makes the scent very interesting especially if you love roses.
The hay and moss notes give the rose a subtle earthy dryness whilst the ambergris adds a slight salty sweetness. And I believe the beeswax just rounds out the sweetness of the overall smell.
So when you inhale this scent the rose almost smells mystical as you get a lush red rose which seems to be different from the usual rose scent that you are used to smelling.
It is a very well crafted rose scent as it makes you stop and think that this is different but you cannot put your finger on it without much thought.
For me as a man this rose fragrance though imo very good I just feel I could not pull this one off. And this is down to the rose been too lush and intense for my taste. I have the same problem with Lyric Man from Amouage.
For rose lovers this is a great mystical lush red rose with different facets that makes sampling this one a pleasure.