Caron Tabac Blond

This is not a fragrance for those who prefer modern sweet perfume accords.
This is a review for vintage tabac blond extrait in the original flat glass flask with the oval glass stopper, carved with caron in script, which is a relatively recent purchase. (This bottle was also used in N'aimez moi, and later, during WWII, for Farnesiana. My other experience with Tabac blond was maybe ten years ago, when I went to the boutique, purchased a Caron glass travel atomiser bottle decorated with bunches of gold gilt grapes, and had it filled with the fountain tabac blond extrait. Although I treasured the glass atomizer which is now filled with another caron extrait, it is a totally a different fragrance when compared to the vintage original.

The vintage original is much darker, oily, rich, creamy, warm, carnation spicy and smokey. It is both daring and refined. It is not old fashioned in the sense that a modern niche perfume houses have fragrances today that approach this style, but such houses don't have access to the ingredients due to EU or IFRA regulations. Some reviews describe it as animalic, but it is nothing urinous, so no indoles as in vintage narcisse noire extrait or vintage Schiaparelli shocking. It's also not obviously musky like lutens MKK, khiels original musc or other current animalics. And it's not powdery either ( so very different from vintage guerlain LHB, lutens fumerie turque, or lutens fourreau noire, or Molinard habanita.

I remember a thread on a fragrance website, maybe base notes, where a poster asked if there were any modern fragrances, for example any in the lutens line up, that were similar to vintage Tabac Blonde. IMO, (and I have bottles of over ten lutens fragrances and many samples of others), there is no lutens, and no current perfume, that is similar to Tabac Blond's smooth, smokey, spicy, oily notes, due to the mousse de saxe combination of accords and other notes that are no longer available and cannot be reconstructed with today's ingredients, and also the inevitable aging and or oxidation that occurs with time. This fragrance is powerful but also intimate and close lying to the skin. It makes me think of vintage dead stock heavy silk charmeuse that slides over the body.

Yesterday's perfume cites perfume shrine for the notes of tabac blond: leather, carnation, linden, iris, vetiver, ylang ylang, cedar, patchouli, vanilla, ambergris, musk, civet. All of a sudden, as I read the fragrance notes, I am struck by the thought, yes, I think I understand why in comparison, the original miss dior was for young debutantes. . . When conceived it would have been brash and exuberant in comparison to Tabac Blonde's incredible deep magnetism.

Unisex fragrance that lasts on the skin. Originally intended to be marketed as a unique and different fragrance for men. However, Felice Wanpouille persuaded Ernest Daltroff that men weren't ready for this departure, and it would be better suited to women. In 1919, when Tabac Blond was first released, women had embraced cigarettes, and the timing was right. It is spicy with carnation, rich, but not cloying in the way that modern orientals are.

There is nothing like it. I have purchased several bottles of vintage tabac blond extrait, not atomizer. Although some are considerably darker in color, none have turned. I cannot say whether top notes have muted because I obviously don't know what vintage tabac blond at the time of its original 1919 release smelt like. I would say that it is a trade off in the sense that if you have darkened evaporated sealed dead stock TB, it has arguably become richer and more lush over time even if top notes have degraded. I would strongly recommend vintage over modern renditions of tabac blond because of EU restrictions.

This is a caron, like Poivre, that I rcommend vintage extrait only.

Totally speechless...

What an incredible masterpiece this is! Like gold or pearl necklaces, and dresses made from finest black velvet. This is a perfume which has to be not smelled but rather experienced!

Tabac Blond (I'm reviewing the Eau de Parfum here) was released in 1919 (same time as the legendary Mitsouko by Guerlain) as a perfume for women who smoked! It was a revolutionary concept, and also a revolutionary perfume in many ways because firstly, it was the first time that leather had been used in a woman's perfume and secondly, this was one of the very first tobacco fragrances! I think it's more revolutionary than Mitsouko though.

It's a hard one to explain but I'll try to. What you get is dry, soft tobacco, like the paper which lines a pack of cigarettes, rather than the cigarettes themselves. Spicy carnation dominates, along with a gorgeous leather-iris combination and a hint of animalic notes. Damp cedarwood and dry, dark vanilla mixed with creamy ylang-ylang complete the base.

This is unlike anything I've tried in a very long time. When I smell this I get two images, elegant balls and women dressed in black with white gloves and cigarette holders, marble floored ball rooms and the golden aura from crystal chandeliers. The other image I get is the women of the 1920's, androgynous women (this was reportedly a favourite of Marlene Dietrich). I don't get "flapper" or "loose woman" out of this. I get "rich woman who smokes"... and yes it's a lot like the smell of makeup and tobacco but at the same time is so deep and luxurious that it really deserves a few tries to really see the elegance in it. It really gives of an aura of gold and black and luxury.

I can't explain it all any better than that, really. If you ever get the chance, please try and experience this. A legendary perfume.

I love the backstory on the perfume. I wish I loved the perfume, but on me it smells like a bingo hall, or an old Eagles Club. Somewhere old women went to drink when you could still smoke indoors. I'm a musician. I have been for a long time. Long enough to remember a lot of fairly unpleasant places that smelled like this.

That is NOT the fault of the perfume. It's a problem with associations for me, I think. It opens with a pretty pungent blast of carnation and that top note hangs around. Settles down into a sharpish dry spice. Surprisingly masculine, actually.

I will try it again in a few days and perhaps will have a different impression.

Edit: I did try it again, with the same results, and relegated it to a little-visited jewelry box. Then my boyfriend found it and sniffed it, confirmed I didn't want it, and dumped it on his arm, and proceeded to smell gorgeous and sniff himself all night. He has declared it his signature, with my hearty approval. So there you are. Don't know why that (and my Tobacco Vanille) turned out so much better on him. Or why he has to have such expensive taste, the rascal. Upgraded it from 2 lippies to 3.

Leather? What leather? Sweet cloying amber and spices, poor lasting power, limited sillage. I think Tabu is better than this mess. If you want a classic leather it's hard to beat Cuir de Russie or Heeley's Cuir Pleine Fleur. Skip this, in fact, skip all the Caron's, butchered rubbish. This review is for the extrait, supposedly the preferred format for this. I'd hate to try the EdT.

"Ernest Daltroff created Tabac Blond to complement French women who, after World War I, picked up American women’s acceptance of smoking in public."



" It is a fragrance for women who smoke cigarettes, since a cigarette was, at that time, the perfect symbol of freedom and chic of a Parisian woman."



I think this says so much about this perfume. It's a challenge. Not a challenge in an agressive way. Not 'Look how different I can be!'....but more...'I did something a little dangerous, I did it very well, and frankly I don't care if you're looking.'



It is described as having notes of leather, carnation, lime blossom, iris, vetiver, ylang-ylang, cedar, patchouli, vanilla, ambergris, and musk but I gather that I had a slightly different experience wearing it.



The initial notes for me included the obvious leather and tabacco. I may be the only one who gets a distinct almond or dark cherry out of the mix. However, this quickly dissapates, leaving behind the leather and tabacco, and the beauty of the scent is revealed. Daltroff seems to have created something akin to church incense using a musk/ambergris/and yes, perhaps the cedar. The stage of the perfume is it's defining moment and it really is "beautiful" is every sense of the word. The hint of carnation adds a bit of pepperiness to balance those intense smokey notes. The only bothersome note was the gournand combo I got from the almond/cherry and vanilla notes...something akin to dark chocolate which was easily forgettable.



It's a lingering smell. The drydown leaves behind a pretty distinct mix of powdery vanillic musk that reminds of quite a bit of a sweetened black tea. And how fitting an end! It's isn't a perfect scent. And certainly not for everyone.



I was in the middle of a 3 hour drawing class and for obvious reasons,wearing a new perfume seems to heighten all my senses to the point of mild synesthesia. I noticed a girl sitting opposite from me on the other side of the room. She must have been Malaysian, Fillipino or Vietnamese with features like an Avatar character--big exotically shaped eyes, dark olive skin, long straight black hair, a thin face and a sad inquisitive expression that seemed very natural. What took me by surprise was the vividness of her emerald green chiffon blouse. It was the most surprising, difficult color but it suited her in every way (she was also wearing gold..which I think is also a great descriptor for this perfume). I don't think this girl knew the kind of impressions she made. Which is why she really isn't a Tabac Blond kind of person. The Tabac Blond woman is fully aware of who she is. She is not feminine, nor girly, but womanly.

(See all my reviews on my blog: Swigandtipple.blogspot.com)

Reviewing a sample of Tabac Blond EDP, which starts off with sharp, bitter green notes and dries down to dry, hippie-ish amber and woods. I don't find it beautiful or pleasant to wear. Maybe I should seek out the vintage version.

Notes: leather, carnation and linden; iris, vetiver, ylang ylang, and lime-tree leaf; cedar, patchouli, vanilla, amber, and musk.
 
Opens with a sweetish leather note. The sweet vanilla-like accord is more noticeable further away, closer to the skin one smells the leather note more distinctively. Although there is no tobacco in the fragrance, there is a faint trace of it in the head notes. I’d describe this fragrance as very classic and heavy. The heart notes are very powdery, with ylang ylang as a support close to the skin. The dry down is not worth speaking of. Lasts for more than 6 hours on my skin.

Tabac Blond is the first leather scent I've tried, and found the history behind it to be intriguing and romantic and wonderful (I love vintage fragrances). And for the first ten minutes, it was all I expected and more - a unique and sensual experience. However, after the intial top note, it dried down to something harsh and unpleasant. That lasted for about an hour, and then the final note was soft and warm and quickly faded into nothing. Maybe it's my skin chemistry, maybe it's the reformulation. Too bad, because I really wanted to love this.

(This review is for the parfum version) Tabac Blloooooond? Where are yooouuuu? This only stays on my skin for fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes of which are mild and powdery with only a slight hint of skank-smoke doing the Charleston in the background.

For all its repute as a leather par excellence, Tabac Blond is on me strictly carnation. Caron does carnation well, leaving it uncompromised by sugary facets. In Tabac Blond, the floral is treated in such a way that it approaches fermentation (yeastiness).



There is a distinct difference betwen the eau de parfum and the parfum. Parfum is where Tabac Blond's kerosene note fuels the composition. This note, as repugnantly enticing as can be, is missing in the EdP formulation. EdP is more Victorian in comparison, with a sweet/spicy carnation/clove being the most prominent aspect, although this might be said to be a "dark" carnation and not an overtly feminine one. Parfum plays down the floral with the blond tobacco note to the point that individual florals (iris? ylang-ylang?) are not ripe for the picking. Carnation dominates, and the deeper you go into the scent, the more the peculiar breadiness picks up; is it sourdough we smell here?



In order to get the full range of effect, I layer parfum over EdP. Used in this manner, the more industrial parfum obtains a layer of sweetness. Both formulations ride close to the skin and invite a closer inspection. Vanilic base notes are charmingly dirty.



The illusion of Tabac Blond is that it is somehow "butch" or implicitly, though its leather/tobacco, something to be confiscated by macho women. In light of modern niche perfumery, Tabac Blond seems as womanly as possible, and not very risque at all. It is historically fascinating, dating as it does from nearly the rose/violet "toilet water" era. There, it took a stand: One can imagine it in a lesbian boite in Jazz Age Paris, defining a moment as well as a sexual proclivity--and marvelously so!



Tabac Blond truly and originally defines the jolie laide in a scent, and should be referred to by modern noses looking to rough up their scents with oppositional elements. continued >>