Collection Classique

Tabac Tabou 2015

Tabac Tabou by Parfum d'Empire
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7.9 / 10 183 Ratings
Tabac Tabou is a popular perfume by Parfum d'Empire for women and men and was released in 2015. The scent is spicy-floral. The longevity is above-average. It is still in production.
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Main accords

Spicy
Floral
Animal
Green
Woody

Fragrance Notes

HoneyHoney NarcissusNarcissus TobaccoTobacco ImmortelleImmortelle Sensual skin accordSensual skin accord Wild herbsWild herbs

Perfumer

Videos
Ratings
Scent
7.9183 Ratings
Longevity
8.2148 Ratings
Sillage
7.5152 Ratings
Bottle
7.6123 Ratings
Value for money
6.846 Ratings
Submitted by OPomone, last update on 17.04.2024.
Interesting Facts
The fragrance won the FIFI Award for Best Niche Fragrance in 2016. This scent is apparently produced in limited quantities each year because of the availability of its raw materials.
The fragrance is part of the "Collection Classique" collection.

Reviews

8 in-depth fragrance descriptions
10
Bottle
8
Sillage
9
Longevity
9
Scent
Anarlan

21 Reviews
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Anarlan
Anarlan
Top Review 22  
Spring in the horse stables
"For God's sake!"

With verve and under dramatic invocation of the saints and the Virgin Mary, the pot with the beautifully flowering "Bridal Crown", a small, white, stuffed narcissus variety, which I recently received as a small thank you, is transported one room further from the dining room by my (undoubtedly) better half.

Although I like the heavy, somehow greasy, somewhat rough aroma of the white flowers, the olfactory proximity to horse stables cannot be denied. I admit that in the dining room, the scent of the blossoms unfolds an - let's put it diplomatically - inappropriate effect, and I'm also not quite sure whether a bride would be suitably scented with a wreath of daffodil blossoms. It would probably depend on the tolerance of the subject to be married with regard to the scent of narcissus. So I admit that the pot may stink one room further on from now on.

In spring, which is unfortunately still very much in the background, you can see them almost everywhere, and it is usually not the large-flowered, unfilled, classic yellow daffodils (which I find a little boring) that give off the typical narcissus scent, but the smaller, pale yellow or white flowering daffodils, at first glance somewhat more inconspicuous than the classic representatives, but completely unmistakable as far as their scent is concerned, and which bear such beautiful species names as "poet daffodils".

The plant has obviously attracted a certain amount of literary attention since ancient times, and it is probably also due to its scent. Legend has it that it was the beautiful young man Narkissos who spurned the nymph Echo's violent courtship and was punished by the gods for falling tragically in love with his own reflection. The unfulfilled love for his own face, which he saw reflected in the surface of a body of water, literally starved the boy. On his grave, however, a charming flower with a narcotic (yes!) fragrance soon blossomed, lowering the little flower head: the first narcissus in the world was born, and its offspring has since split mankind into such specimens as myself and others (see above).

The fact that the fragrance doesn't come across as spring-like, white-flowery and delicate at all, but would be better suited to dry, hot, sun-drenched pastures, where the hay bales and horse droppings dry in the midday heat, may also have crossed the mind of Monsieur Corticchiato, the mastermind of Parfum d'Empire, when he created Tabac Tabou. Parfum d'Empire has a small but loyal following on Parfumo, and I can count myself among them without reservation. Corticchio's fragrances are not always easy, but strong in creating images. They often take you by the second or third olfactory nose, but they are mostly French perfume history and elegantly distinguished, yet at the same time they are stubborn enough to belong in a niche.

With Tabac Tabou, the narcissus with its powerful fragrance aspects is at the centre. Tobacco is, if at all, a transparent accessory, and at the heart of the fragrance it rather underlines the rough, heated fullness with which the narcissus is at the centre of the fragrance. I imagine that I perceive both the juicy aspects of the tobacco leaf and the scratchy roughness of tobacco smoke, but both aspects are more likely to envelop the flowering centre of the fragrance. Anyone expecting a classic tobacco scent is therefore likely to be disappointed. Nevertheless, Tabac Tabou is not a narcissus soliflor, as some other scent aspects are woven in to create the aforementioned image of a hot, dry savannah. The beginning is herbaceous and green, more to do with the drying plant sap and stems of the narcissus than with its floral ornamentation, with the sunny-warm voice of honey appearing right at the beginning. The golden, tart honey note remains with the fragrance until the end and is gently fired by the Italian strawflower (immortelle), but weakens slowly as the show progresses to make way for the real stars of the show: Daffodil blossoms in their physical, greasy, almost animalistic fullness reminiscent of horse stables, and sun-kissed, herbaceous, hay. The hay note is just when the honey note weakens after some time, most clearly perceptible and underlines the dry, brittle, sun-drenched, warm heart of the fragrance. The pyramid lists musk, which I - thinking of the slowly increasing scratchy dustiness of the fragrance - want to believe.

When classifying the scent, the combination green/hay would probably be most appropriate in the fougère direction, but in its dry-brittle-spicy nature it also reminded me of old Oriental chypre and I could imagine that perhaps a few scent memories of old treasures of this direction in Mr. Corticchiato's work had their influence in the creation of the scent.

Tabac Tabou is a demanding, dry, roughened, completely unspringing narcissistic scent, which I like to and literally rub against again and again, but which makes it rather difficult to wear due to its special characteristics and with regard to my sensitive environment. In hot, dusty summers it is probably great.

For those who are looking for a seasonal white flowering spring mood, "Bridal Crown" is a filled flowering narcissus variety ... let's leave it at that.
11 Comments
Intersport

62 Reviews
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Intersport
Intersport
Top Review 19  
The Real Chergui
20 years ago Chergui appeared, which would quickly become one of the most popular in the Lutens portfolio, a kind of Serge Konsens fragrance, which at the time was far less self-evident than perhaps later, a quite weighty protagonist of hay / honey / amber, often gladly categorized as a winter fragrance. Unlike quite a few Lutens from these years has never reached with Chergui as a perfume - but Chergui has by far the most beautiful narrative as a press text, a paraphrase of a desert wind, the Chergui or Sharqi, derived from the Arabic ' شَرْقِيٌّ ' / 'sharq' for eastern, coming from the east. Weather systems, air with direction, forces of nature. Best conditions for a perfume name, there is something in the air:

"A fire fanned by the wind, a desert in flames. As if bursting from the earth, Chergui, a desert wind, creates an effect that involves suction more than blowing, carrying plants, insects and twigs along in an inescapable ascent. Its full, persistent gusts crystallize shrubs, bushes and berries, which proceed to scorch, shrivel up and pay a final ransom in saps, resins and juices. Night falls on a still-smoldering memory, making way for the fragrant, ambery and candied aromas by the alchemist that is Chergui."

I know this wind. A few times a year it blows across the Atlantic, thermodynamics and martime humidity still filter it properly. In addition to a much drier air, the 'Leste', so the local name, brings the finest red sand and impressive reddish skies.

Lutens and text is such a thing. There were times when the press texts were still the best, especially with some of his later perfumes. Many quotes seem slightly alienating - yet it is still a persistent, idiosyncratic voice that is heard. Writing and perfume, Edmond Roudnitska realized early on is an added value for the perfumer. Roudnitska's reputation might not have been quite so stellar had he not always published diligently, even outside of purely professional platforms. Jean Claude Ellena learned exactly that from Roudnitska and surely admits it somewhere. Back to Lutens, to Chergui. I would love to have such a desert wind in a miracle lamp, but here the main focus is on dust-dry as well as rosy iris root powder, against which even the most beautiful hay honey construction cannot compete. The crystallized undergrowth, the powdered insects, the juices remain hidden under this floral-rooty blanket, only to be guessed at with imagination, everything as if blown away by the wind.

To start a commentary on Parfum d'Empire's Tabac Tabou with these comments on Serge Lutens also makes sense to me only because 14 years after Chergui, Corticchiato bottled this weather system, in a manner where the Lutens press text could have served as a reengineering blueprint. In the narrative, Parfum d'Empire speaks of indigenous cultures in the Americas, smoking rituals, and tobacco. I'm not driven westward by Tabac Tabou, but north as well as east: from the Moroccan coasts to the deepest high Atlas Mountains where Chergui picks up speed, and on to the rural foothills of the Alps, on warm spring days. I'm not kidding myself, this won't meet with any understanding in Paris, but Tabac Tabou is just that for me: a bike trip, empty country roads, villages, lush daffodils in the front gardens, steaming dung heaps, hay galore. Animal-free animalism - and, just as Lutens describes Chergui: the driest undergrowth, pulverized chitin, long-breathed heat. A mirage of impressions on immortelle dust.

Apart from the daffodils - Anarlan's commentary addresses this beautifully - Tabac Tabou is very tightly woven, so finely woven that the eponymous Tabac dissolves into shimmering heat and never becomes concrete, as does the helichrysium: present but highly integrated down to the details. Tabac Tabou was first conceived as a vintage Extrait de Parfum, the idea didn't last long and only the early vintages were still so labeled. Corticchiato has taken much of the fragrance further in Œillères, and perhaps outlined one or two ideas in the grandiose Fougère Bengale or even in the base of Désarmant. For those who find the ongoing island discourse of Collection Corse too discreet, this Narizzen Desert Wind could be what, the real Chergui. With foehnwindgen thanks to Costello.
9 Comments
Jubliant

70 Reviews
Jubliant
Jubliant
2  
Stinky man
It smells like a man who has been processing tobacco in the hot sun all day and come home to relax and drink whisky without taking a shower.

Th tobacco is extremely dirty on me with the boozy sweetness which must be the honey. This scent is maybe 8 hours and stays close to skin.

For some reason the tobacco processors wife invites some company over unexpectedly, aware of his stink (for he is a gentleman) he quickly sneaks off to the bathroom to powder his pits and returns to the guests as if nothing happened.

He makes sure to keep his distance so the guests do not pick up on his stink or the fact he is wearing his wifes powder.

Perhaps the greenness makes this stink giving it sour, sharp undertones.

Not a favorite, I do not want to meet this tobacco roller, but perhaps peek in his humidor.

On other fragrance websites this has gotten favorable reviews, I picture a abstract piece of art and everyone staring at it trying to sound intelligent and saying it is, "jolly good."

It did get some points for an interesting progression, especially as the sharp notes fade after 45 min.

4/10
1 Comment
7
Sillage
8
Longevity
7
Scent
Kurai

375 Reviews
Kurai
Kurai
3  
Gold challenge
Tabac Tabou can be quite the challenge as a wearable perfume. The narcissus is strong, particularly in the opening. There's a dry-spicy complexity from the immortelle and hay. The tobacco leaf is there, but in an a-typical manner and only in the background.

On the other hand, it is quite successful as a 'teleporter': The scent takes you to an imaginary field of yellow flowers and hay on a hot summer day. Dusty, dry bushes, dehydrated by a scorching golden sun.

This makes that I find Tabac Tabou not a functional perfume, but an olfactory experience. Fascinating, but also a bit exhausting to wear on skin all day. In such cases, a longevity of 8+ hours is just too much.
0 Comments
8
Bottle
10
Longevity
8.5
Scent
Brise

1 Review
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Brise
Brise
0  
A life for the noble foot
I'll gladly use it for the shoe closet. It looks leathery, with a hint of tobacco. In principle like high-quality shoe polish. That's exactly it. For years. Wearing it on the body is not recommended unless you love yourself as a leather fetish. Then it might make sense.
0 Comments
More reviews

Statements

5 short views on the fragrance
BoBoChampBoBoChamp 2 years ago
7
Sillage
9
Longevity
8
Scent
Initially pungent and animalic spicy-green, a dry and musky spicy-floral Mid season fragrance, on a soft and powdery musky-leathery base.
1 Comment
ItchynoseItchynose 5 years ago
4
Scent
Most notes don't seem to get along with each other. A weird, greenish and sweaty tobacco scent for lovers of blends on the complex side.
0 Comments
PierreparfumPierreparfum 5 months ago
10
Bottle
6
Sillage
6
Longevity
7.5
Scent
Opening has some hippies floral vibes and then smells old ashtray but it's weird I kinda like it.
0 Comments
OceanCliffsOceanCliffs 9 months ago
So many interesting notes listed, but I can't find them under whichever sweet/floral top note is screaming "old lady purse."
0 Comments
HolscentbarHolscentbar 10 months ago
7.5
Scent
Sweet spicy tobacco with florals aspect. Animal floor with smoky touch
0 Comments

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