Tobacco perfumes

Leaf, not smoke

The tobacco note is made from cured tobacco leaf, usually as an absolute, and from accords that recreate it. The smell is dry and sweet at once, with a hay or honey character, a hint of dried fruit and a gentle warmth. It is not the smell of a lit cigarette. When a perfume wants smoke, it adds it separately, as with Latakia, a smoke-cured tobacco found in our collection.

How tobacco behaves

Tobacco sits in the heart or base. It bridges sweet and woody materials and adds depth to vanilla, tonka bean, rum, honey and amber. With spices such as cinnamon and cardamom it turns warm and festive. With leather and wood it becomes drier and more rugged. Because it has a natural sweetness, it works well as a counterweight to citrus and fresh notes.

Perfumes with tobacco

• Argos Triumph of Bacchus opens on saffron, rum, white peach and green apple, moves through patchouli, jasmine, tonka bean and vetiver and ends on tobacco, amber, Mysore sandalwood, musk and vanilla. Argos files it as oriental, spicy, woody and gourmand.
• Lorenzo Pazzaglia Evil Angel lists tobacco in a long base with sandalwood, vanilla, Bourbon vanilla, cedarwood and myrrh, after a heart with rhum, cedar, coconut, cinnamon and whiskey. See Lorenzo Pazzaglia.
• Maison Crivelli Papyrus Moléculaire has no pyramid: Maison Crivelli lists tobacco absolute with coriander, papyrus, sandalwood, black pepper, tonka bean absolute and a leather accord, and calls it woody, powdery and spicy.
• Pernoire Otimo puts tobacco in the heart with praline, patchouli and tonka, below quince, cardamom and rum, above cedarwood, vanilla and osmanthus. Pernoire files it as spicy and sweet.
• Tiziana Terenzi Laudano Nero opens with Latakia tobacco beside absinthe, cognac, rosemary, myrtle and black amber, and ends on incense, agarwood and vetiver. Tiziana Terenzi calls it dry woods.
• Xerjoff XJ 1861 Naxos sets tobacco leaf with vanilla and tonka bean below a heart of jasmine sambac, honey, cinnamon and cashmere, after lemon, bergamot, lavender and incense from Oman. Xerjoff files it as aromatic and spicy.
• Roja Parfums Burlington 1819 lists tobacco among a very long base of ginger, cinnamon, cumin, saffron, patchouli, oakmoss, rum, cedarwood, benzoin, vanilla, labdanum, ambergris and musk, under a citrus and mint opening. Roja Parfums calls it citrus with a fresh amber accord.

How to choose a tobacco perfume

Pick the company you like it in. Tobacco with vanilla, honey and rum is round and sweet. With spices it is warm and festive. With leather, incense and woods it is dry and serious, and with citrus on top it stays fresh and wearable in milder weather. If sweetness is not your preference, look for pyramids where tobacco meets cedar, vetiver or patchouli rather than caramel.