AEDES DE VENUSTAS
CAFE TABAC

2023

PERFUMER
Bertrand Duchaufour

TOBACCO ABSOLUTE
PERU BALSAM
CARDAMOM
CLOVE
BERGAMOT
TAMARIND
TAR
DRIED DATE
DRIED FIG
CACAO ACCORD
BURNT SUGAR
MANGO
BEESWAX ABSOLUTE
APPLE
DAVANA
CLARY SAGE
VANILLA
OAKMOSS
LABDANUM ABSOLUTE
TONKA BEAN
CEDARWOOD
AMBERGRIS
CADE

‘Before Aedes de Venustas’s newest scent was realized in a bottle, it had a name: CAFE TABAC, inspired by the iconic 90s bar in the East Village. Upstairs at Cafe Tabac was where Kate met Johnny, Madonna picked up the phone, Leo picked up supermodels. It was a place where the truly glamorous could be truly off-duty, an unselfconscious, pre-cell phone era that feels so far away as to be longed for again. “It’s the deep mood of a place to be, creating its own legend,” says perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour. “The deep blue smoke of cigarettes, cigars, weed … whatever. We’re exploring other paradises: laughs, desires, and pleasures, again and again.” That spirit was also present when Duchaufour and Gerstner went to visit the Dominican Republic last year for another scented project. (…) “We went from a tropical forest to the coast together, but it wasn’t until we were standing in a cigar factory that I looked at Bertrand and said, ‘Can you put this in a bottle?’” The result is as dazzling, sexy, and complex as the trip: It opens with sparkling notes of expected (bergamot) and unexpected (apple, tamarind) fruits but the overall perfume is an homage to tobacco in many forms. Dry leaves, humid flowers, and a cigar lit by fire are represented thanks to herbal clary sage and davana, a tint of mango with dried fig and date, and a rough smokiness using tobacco absolute, tar, cade, and cedarwood. An amber accord of secretions and sugars from cistus and labdanum, ambergris, oakmoss, vanilla, cacao accord and Peru balm at the heart gives way to a darkly rich and resinous base. There is no saccharine here. Instead, distinctive burnt sugar and fresh clove and cardamom are infused with vapors that keep CAFE TABAC multilayered instead of perfectly round. It is blended at a twenty percent concentration made in the old school haute parfumerie style, including a month-long maceration in France. With CAFE TABAC, there is a mad sensuality that feels like the olfactive equivalent of a twist of orange atop a demitasse of espresso—rich with a touch of freshness and tang. To wear it is to maintain a state of heightened emotions that are sooner remembered than they are recorded.’ – Aedes de Venustas

Aedes de Venustas has one of the best collections in the industry (I should really get my hands on more samples to review them properly). Cafe Tabac is a bit of a departure from most of their line; as a heavier wear and new direction that their line-up had plenty of room for. And it’s pretty good.

This is heavy on the spices and tobacco for me. Initially I thought this was supposed to be a mix of coffee and tobacco and I could definitely see the coffee, but I don’t think there’s actually a coffee note specifically listed. There is a bitterness to it in the sweetness, cacao and tar. When smelled in store, I smelled a balanced mix, but on skin, the spiciness takes over quickly. From the opening, this is quite a hefty, sweet tobacco mix that for a moment reminds me of Les Indemodables Vanille Havane. Except, it’s not dirty; this is a serious, mature fragrance, but it’s pretty clean in its execution.

As time passes a dark, deep tobacco with a lot of spice remains at the forefront. It perhaps made me think most of Guerlain’s Tobacco Honey, minus most of the honey (there is beeswax in Cafe Tabac however). The usual suspects for a scent profile like this are there: cinnamon, dried fruits, labdanum, resins. Not harsh, but definitely dense and there is a hint of boozy moistness to it. I believe davana gives me that vibe and it’s been used more often by Duchaufour in some of his best works (his Les Bains Guerbois Eclectique & Les Bains Douches, Amouage Jubilation 40, Astrophil & Stella Into The Oud and others, that I’ve yet to try, all use davana).

Overall, this is a great addition for Aedes de Venustas.