Steppin' Out with Carolina Herrera Mystery Tobacco

4h (edited) • SOTD 🍊

NOTE: Instead of a Scent Of The Day, I am introducing a fragrance I wore for going out on a date, attending a party, or simply enjoying the evening.

As much as I love Chris Collins' boozy fragrances and Boadicea The Victorious' opulent scents, they lack a fragrance featuring one of my favorite notes -- tobacco. For my birthday, I decided to branch out from my CC/BTV collection and add a new fragrance from another house. So after conducting some research (including using ChatGPT and Android's Gemini) to find a fragrance that would enhance my existing collection and wearing some 2ml decant sample, I chose Carolina Herrera Mystery Tobacco.

Released in 2016, Mystery Tobacco is part of the Confidential Collection private line that is largely sold in Europe. Mystery Tobacco has a ginger, fruity opening that dries into a spiced pipe tobacco lifted by some drier tobacco leaf vibes. What really stands out is the pipe tobacco note that smells like it came out of a cigar -- exactly the feel I want in a tobacco-forward fragrance, so Mystery Tobacco delivered.

The combination of ginger, vetiver, tonak bean and osmanthus creates this woody, spicy and boozy scent. It's refined, a bit restrained (at least compared to Mancera's Red Tobacco) and very smooth. I think the patchouli note also lends to the appeal to me. I detect resinous, juicy, wet tobacco throughout the fragrance's wear, which is nice.

The bottle arrived just in time for my birthday. I can't wait to wear this one on my birthday and add it to my winter fragrance rotation. And yes, I will get a backup bottle (something I thought I would never say about any cologne, but the Confidential collection is essentially a niche line). It also looks like Carolina Herrera has discontinued it, based on the CH website listings.

NOTE: The notes breakdown chart is courtesy of Fragrantica. The images are courtesy of Carolina Herrera's website.

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