Today we set our attention to Creed's turn of the 21st century offering Tabarome. As the name indicates, this is a tobacco forward fragrance that has a nice fresh twist, not just from the citrusy opening of tangerine and bergamot but from the choice of the tobacco itself.
With the choices available over this type of fragrance, Olivier Creed has chosen fresh tobacco leaf over the more pungent dry leaves or the smoky bitterness of tobacco ashes. This choice is ultimately suited to the composition of Tabarome, which portrays itself as a calm, composed, refined, mature, confident and elegant classic gentlemanly wear. All of which alludes to the often told tale that an earlier iteration of this fragrance was the favourite of Churchill, which is unfortunately not true.
Tabarome is admittedly not one that would easily enamour young noses - for that, D&G's One line, particularly the EDP concentration would do a far better job. And for more mature noses looking for a more realistic tobacco, would do better with Aramis's Havana. But for more character and refinement which grows fonder on the wearer from more wearings, Tabarome is a perfect choice.
Sillage or trail is laughably bad but that's expected given that the composition of the fragrance is of a subdued and understated wear - by analogy you would not want Donald Trump to be playing James Bond.
From the personal perspective of an ex-smoker who has given up cold turkey for close to 18 years now, Tabarome does hit the spot when the tobacco yearning comes about now and then.
Backup bottle worthy for sure.
In the meantime, get your nose on a sample with a decannt here.