Herod, a Parfums de Marly creation by none other than Olivier Pescheux, nose behind Eros Flame, 
Valentino Noir Absolu Musc and 1 Million! (to name a few) was introduced in 2012 and became a legend of its own, being the first niche in many people’s collections, being a love at first smell for countless stories in Instagram, suffice to say, Herod’s imprint in the fragrance world is here to stay. Like many niche scents, they can be expensive to acquire and in the case of Herod, a common critique is that the longevity can be better. Montagne, the inspired expression house based in NY has come up with a contender that pursues that Herod DNA, aptly named Tobacco Noir.
Openning
Tobacco Noir opens, for me, with a very strong green tobacco note and vanilla, enveloped in a grassy note , the note pyramid does not include Vetiver but that’s where my mind goes and that’s how I would describe it. It’s very comforting albeit it’s darkness (this is not a fresh fragrance, hence the noir name). Cinnamon and Pepper are also there, but I would not describe Tobacco Noir as being heavy on those notes, the opening is actually very well rounded and no note completely dominates over the other.
Heart
This fragrance’s middle is very complex and the incense really comes through, providing a sort of “ash” background, but it comes and goes, it’s extremely rounded and no notes take over the composition at any moment., I continue to detect Vanilla and now Musk is entering the composition, it’s one of those fragrances that are not linear, that invite you to keep investigating them.
DryDown
Vanilla, Musk, Cedar…. it’s very rounded, soft but woody, sweet but musky. I would consider this a crowd pleaser and would never assume it’s a niche offering just by the drydown alone, I can see why it’s so famous though, it’s pleasing and although it can be a little complicated, the drydown being about those 3 major notes makes it so that it stays crowd pleasing. I really like this drydown, it’s very inviting and not offensive.
Comparisons
Unfortunately, I don’t have Herod to compare it to, however, I do own Arabian Horse (AH) from Alexandria Fragrances. On opening, Tobacco Noir (TN) is more tobacco whereas AH is more peppery, almost peppercorn, for me, this part is the less inviting aspect of AH if I’m honest, it’s again the obsession with one note being all-powerful and taking over. However, things get better, Tobacco Noir goes woody when Arabian Horse goes sweet (ambery), with Tobacco Noir I have to wait for the incense, with Arabian Horse is there and it’s way more ashy than Tobacco Noir. They are fairly different on the opening. A way of explaining it would be that Arabian Horse goes amber & pepper, whereas Tobacco Noir goes tobacco, vanilla & grassy. That grass note, although faint, is amazing.
Montagne goes peppery & cinnamon on the heart., at mid point, these 2 frags are completely different. Arabian Horse has a very strong note that completely takes over, I think its ISO E, it just wins with the pepper musk amber combination. It’s not bad, it’s just not complex.
On dry down they become way similar whereas AH is more amber with Tobacco Noir exposing cedar instead. No comparison for me, Tobacco Noir wins, for the wife, Arabian Horse wins because it’s denser, less skin scent.
Conclusion
Montagne’s openings for PdM Inspirations are amazing, they really found something that clicked on the formula and I for one am excited to experience it, long gone are the days of harsh openings that threw notes in all directions, after some time to macerate, the first sprays are amazing. If you like the Herod DNA, you can’t go wrong, however, notice that the performance is not beast mode, Tobacco Noir will invite you to sniff and experiment, to learn, not necessarily to sit and be slapped in the face by it’s projection. This is extremely well done.
Thanks for reading,
X.
Top notes: Pepper, cinnamon, tobacco leaf absolute.
Middle notes: Incense.
Base notes: Musk, vanilla.
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