Silver smoke, Sonoma Scent Studio Tabac Aurea

In late 2012 I realized I might be a little growing fan of tobacco notes in perfumery. Once I found out that the note I always avoided excusing myself by saying no thanks, it’s not for me might be quite appealing I made a short list of tobacco based perfume to see if I will like them too. Tabac Aurea from Sonoma Scent Studio was one from my list. Now I finally could try it!

Tabac Aurea begins as a warm and embracing perfume that smells mainly of amber. It is very sensual and dreamy. Warm aura it has makes me feel cozy, comfortable and relaxed. For the first few minutes Tabac Aurea is a rather quiet and surprisingly transparent perfume but once it warms up on the skin it starts to do the magic. It takes you to the world of imaginary figures. Few minutes later when the fragrance evolution begins Tabac Aurea gains an amazin balmy quality provided by French labdanum. As for labdanum – it’s well-behaved and doesn’t dominate over other notes.

Giving it few more minutes you finally are allowed to smell the tobacco note and it’s magnificent. Pure, dry and a little bit smoky tobacco that smells like someone was preparing an old-fashioned wooden pipe to have a smoke. To me there’s something slightly metallic to it which makes me think of silver. Then silver makes me think of smoke clouds that float in the air with a lazy manner, swirling and changing shapes creating different, immaterial objects that slowly disappear into nothing. Laurie Ericson combined tobacco with cloves. This action gave some light spicy undertones that combine very well with smoky character of tobacco. She had a great idea to mix these two together.

Warm and spicy sensation that is really embracing gets a little bit more edgy after some time when leather chords appear. This note is subdued and polite. It’s definitely well-fitted into the entire fragrance concept. Then there’s some tonka bean and patchouli that give Tabac Aurea a continuous spicy vibe. After few hours when perfume reaches its far drydown it has a smell of something lightly sweet. Vanilla comes to my mind but there’s also a honey-like feeling. Now Tabac Aurea smells charming, it settled on the skin so well that it could stay there forever. This perfume is a perfect choice for cold weather and in my opinion it would smell awesome on a classy gent.

Sonoma Scent Studio Tabac Aurea sample card says:

Men and women are smitten with this addictive blend of amber, woods, pipe tobacco, leather, patchouli, spices and tonka bean.

This one sentence describes Tabac Aurea perfectly. It’s addictive and has an awesome rich, complex smell that is worth spending money on. It’s an extrait de parfum and a little goes a long way. Just one dab from a sample vial allowed me to enjoy the scent for more than 8 hours, though it stayed close to the skin for most of the time. Maybe spraying boosts the sillage. Even if it does I think that scents like Tabac Aurea are meant to have low sillage so that only chosen ones will have a permission to smell it on your skin. It’s an elite smell that is one of a kind.

Sonoma Scent Studio Tabac Aurea was developed in 2009 by perfumer Laurie Ericson, who is a brand mastermind. It features notes of cedar, sandalwood, tobacco, leather, vetiver, patchouli, clove, labdanum absolute, tonka bean, amber, vanilla, musk. Available are samples, 5 ml purse sprays as well as 17 ml ad 34 ml bottles.

note: photo made by me

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