BOADICEA THE VICTORIOUS
Tobacco Sapphire
2022
Cumin
Coriander
Saffron
Incense
Mandarin
Rose
Magnolia
Heliotrope
Hedione
Tobacco
Patchouli
Sandalwood
Vanilla
Benzoin
Guaiac Wood
Labdanum
Cedarwood
Musk
Ever since I’ve smelled Tobacco Sapphire in stores, it has been one of the Boadicea that I was most interested in. After proper sampling it, that still stands as it is one of my favorites from the brand, with one big caveat.
And surprisingly, that caveat is not the €835/100ml price tag, albeit that it doesn’t help its case. The reason I like Tobacco Sapphire so much, but that I couldn’t wholeheartedly recommend it regardless, is that it smells identical to Byredo Tobacco Mandarin to my nose. Not just similar, but at least close to identical. I had a bottle of Tobacco Mandarin and know it well, so there’s no doubt that I would’ve identified Tobacco Sapphire as that every time if I’d smelled it unknowingly. If I could think of a difference from memory perhaps Tobacco Sapphire is a tiny bit sharper in its spices and saffron-leather tinge (which is minimal to begin with).
Wet tobacco and barely-sour fruitiness, mixed with powdery facets and cumin as the stand-out and divisive component. The cumin isn’t sharp, the whole fragrance is rather spicy, but at the same time wet, fuzzy, resinous rather than dry as some other tobacco fragrances. If you don’t like cumin though, this fragrance won’t be up your alley. The whole composition is slightly acrid and dirty; you get a hint of this for example in Les Indemodables Vanille Havane as well, but as mentioned, if you’ve smelled Tobacco Mandarin, that’s what you’re getting here. It’s not all that dark as it has this golden, brighter glow to it and it’s hard to explain why I find it daring, but I do (hence I ended up selling my Byredo, because I couldn’t find enough occasions to wear it in comfortably).
Now Tobacco Mandarin is one of my favorites, if not favorite, Byredo, of high quality and a stand out release of the past couple of years. With the last price increase, that is now €300/50ml, so the price difference isn’t that huge and quality -and presentation wise the Boadicea is keeping up or better. That being said, I wouldn’t be able to justify a reason to upgrade over to Tobacco Sapphire if you already have Tobacco Mandarin or have the option to buy either of them.