MichVaillant

Jagler is a very decent traditional male fougere with reasonably good performance. It starts off somewhere between Krizia Uomo and Bogart One Man Show, combining piney and floral accords; (mostly jasmine, to my nose). The drydown is mostly vanilla folded into an old-school mossy base. It is quite affordable if you can find it; more available in Europe and Mid-East than other parts of the world.

Cabaret Homme is quite underrated, although it is hardly groundbreaking. It is somewhere between a textbook lavender/juniper/leather fougere a la Drakkar Noir and a coriander/sandalwood aromatic such as RL Safari or Cartier Pasha. Think of it as a much better Caesar’s Man, or a not-as-good Givenchy Xeryus, and you will get the picture.

Cabaret Homme possesses the baseline quality level you would expect from a Gres fragrance; so, I cannot see it disappoint anybody, even the seasoned aficionado, from a quality perspective. Disappointment, if it happens, would follow from a perceived lack of originality and “wow factor”. Obviously, the more you are familiar with the above listed fragrances, the more likely such a disappointment. For me the one thing that sets it apart from any of the others listed above is a “just right” amount of spiciness, which neither overwhelms, nor gets lost among other aspects/notes.

This would be a great buy at a reasonable price, but at the current (Summer 2017) prices, it is not a competitive buy; especially if you are buying blind.

This is quite similar to Stetson as far as I can tell. I am comparing very recent bottles of the two, probably 2014 or 2015. However, I like (tolerate?) Stetson better, because some bitter, quasi animalic accord that for me is the link between the two seems to work well in Stetson, and not work at all in Royal Copenhagen. Anyway, not too bad, but not at all essential, either. While there is Stetson, I would go with that. It might be worthwhile to track down a vintage to find out if (or rather, how much,) it was better back in the day.

I do not get much cinnamon from this, but something akin to a fresh tobacco accord. Of course, cinnamon is listed as a note and tobacco is not; so, take my words with a grain of salt.
As far as I can tell, people who like CK One Shock for Men might find this a good choice for fall and winter. It might be a little too sweet and dry for summer. I do not suggest that CK Shock and PE m smell alike, (or even close), but at least for me, they fill similar spots in the rotation. PE m is sweeter, and less tobacco-ey than Shock, and Shock seems to project and last somewhat better than PE m. At any rate, a pretty good choice at current prices (as of December 2015) for people who do not have anything against any of the listed notes.

A very "American" fragrance. I would group this with Stetson Original, Mary Kay Tamerisk, and perhaps even with Paul Sebastian Fine Cologne. They are not smell-alikes, necessarily, but they all evoke a quintessentially old-school American feeling, like a meeting among founding fathers, or a visit to a barbershop in the old west. 1776 would be the best of the bunch among those; it is quite good. I guess "creamy" is the most obviously common aspect of the fragrances I mentioned. Elsha 1776 distinguishes itself from the others by being a leather fragrance, but the leather in 1776 is not too potent or animalic. So, you are not taking any social risks by wearing 1776, other than possibly being perceived as wearing an "old guy's cologne," as some people tend to say. I am beyond such worries, since I do not subscribe to the "old guy", "old lady", "high school kid", etc. frames used for fragrances, and I am not young enough to care about being perceived as old. However, the best use of 1776 for me is at home, with a robe de chambre on, and a good (preferably history) book in hand.