TOM FORD
TOBACCO VANILLE

2007

PERFUMER
Olivier Gillotin

Tobacco
Spicy Notes

Vanilla
Cacao
Tonka Bean
Tobacco Blossom

Dried Fruits
Woody Notes

Tobacco Vanille needs no introduction. When I tried it for the first time (the bottle was my brother’s), I mainly stacked it up against Parfums de Marly Herod, which was the only tobacco in my collection at the time.

Tom Ford’s offering has a strong, more true to life bitter pipe tobacco opening and there’s quite a few added spices. The more I’ve smelled it, the more spiciness I got.

Compared to Herod, which I feel is a wetter tobacco and a more ‘blended into one’ experience, Tobacco Vanille is much more dry and tobacco forward initially, but completely overtaken by the vanilla later in the wear.

It’s very sweet in the drydown and I don’t get a tobacco throughout, despite it being stronger in the first hour. It’s a lot of spices and a lot of vanilla.

It’s a great scent, although the scent profile has been done a hundred times and I feel that there are better alternatives out there. Tobacco Vanille has never landed in my own collection, as I prefer Herod, but also Scents Of Wood Plum In Cognac, Roja Parfums Enigma Pour Homme and even Zaharoff Signature Tabac for example. Tobacco Vanille is a big and popular release and there’s nothing wrong with that, but it doesn’t hold a special place for me.