Dueling Dupes - Red Tobacco vs. Red Tobacco Vanilla (re-up'd)

Hey frag fam! In honor of this week's challege about fragrance dupes, I'd like to share some reviews I did doing just that! I'll post them here to not get them mixed up in the official weekly challenge channel! Let me know what you think!

Starting our "Dueling Dupes" week, where copycating is the name of the game! Clones that copy not only the scent, but the presentation as well. These are the kids that kept asking you for the answers during test time at school!

Today's frag duo: Mancera Red Tobacco (RT)(Monarch Red Tobacco Vanilla - RTV). Question. Can a niche house develop a high quality niche scent and still maintain the affordability that it's known for? The answer is YES! with Mancera's Red Tobacco. What a gorgeous sweet tobacco scent. Test sprays just filled the room, I can't wait to try this one out!!

Research and test sprays both tell me to go light with this fragrance. Especially doubly so when doing a second fragrance. So, I go with 3 sprays each, original on the right arm and dupe on the left. Aaaannnddddddd, holy smokes!!! These are SO VERY CLOSE, it's practically impossible to tell the difference!! It's crazy good, warm sweet spicy tobacco!

On the opening, I get this blast of cinnamon, oud and incense. It's loud and strong, but sweet and inviting. Almost a warm Christmas-y vibe, sitting by a fire while it's snowing outside. Both fragrances do this extremely well. Very, very subtle nuisances exist that only could be picked up by the frag enthusiast. RT has a bit of a fruity spin on the opening that quickly dissipates. RTV doesn't have this. RTV is slightly sweeter as RT is a bit less.

In the mid, RT has a rich complex patchouli that adds a certain sweetness to the cinnamon as the leather base note continues to push. Woodsy notes add depth to this scent. RTV lacks this, as it's scent remains linear, with tobacco and vanilla. RT's transitioning between stages is smooth, as a top note fades, a middle or base note becomes more prominent. A rich, sultry, darker scent.

The dry down is where I believe RT really shines! The tobacco scent is balanced with sweet vanilla and anchored with amber and woods. Warm, spicy, sweet, it puts me into that frame of mind: sitting by the fireplace after a nice Old Fashion, relaxing into a old leather chair, eyelids getting heavy, half closed...

RTV is very close to RT, but the depth, richness, and complexity isn't there. So if you're looking for a copycat, RTV is great! But, if you want the added dimensions, spring for RT.

Red Tobacco is best for colder weather, e.g. Winter and only the colder parts of Fall and Spring. You could do day and night with this scent, but it leans toward night. Definitely masculine. Projection is loud, through and through. Longevity is the biggest difference between the two, RTV fades after four hours while RT is almost godly, 24+ hrs easy. And if it's on your clothes, fogettaboutit, it ain't going nowheres for a long time!! I wouldn't chance this in the office, more for after hours and date nights.

Mancera Red Tobacco 120ml: Retail 180 USD, My Cost 70 USD (Monarch Red Tobacco Vanilla 100ml: 15 USD)

Final Verdict: Mancera Red Tobacco is beast mode in every way! Such a great cold weather scent! RTV copies it very, very well and at its price point, is a great pickup to introduce you to this scent. Red Tobacco is powerful, so I would not at all recommend blind buying. However, this is a perfect scent for the wintertime and is inexpensive as far as niche goes. Only drawback is that, because of its power, its versatility is limited a bit, which is the only thing hampering an otherwise perfect score. Joe Average take, grab a decant to see if you like it first. Other than that, 9.5/10

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