Steppin' Out with Carolina Herrera Mystery Tobacco

1d (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 ecosystem and add a new fragrance from another house. 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 samples, 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.

The combination of tobacco, ginger, vetiver, tonka 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.

The bottle arrived just in time for my birthday, so I'm excited to wear this one 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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