Havana Vanille by L'Artisan Parfumeur

The Scoop Bertrand Duchaufour’s eagerly awaited take everyone’s favorite pod – L’Artisan Parfumeur’s fifth travel-inspired fragrance – is as far from a gourmand as he could possibly make it. Though Havana Vanille opens with a burning shot of smooth old rum laced with clove and crystallized fruit, it quickly melts into a gossamer veil of shimmering vanilla, so fresh it almost feels green. But Duchaufour’s masterstroke is grafting this sheer vanilla on to a soft tobacco accord conjured with three materials presenting a tobacco facet: tonka bean, immortelle and narcissus. This isn’t the sweet, heavy fragrance of vanilla-flavored pipe tobacco, but the leather-tinged, honey-hay smell of a Cuban humidor. The subtlest floral note weaves itself into the blend along with a hint of moist earth. As it sinks into its balsamic base, the vanilla takes on a sweeter tinge. This is a vanilla that’ll satisfy even the pickiest perfumistas, bursting with rich materials yet as ethereal as a wisp of smoke.

Havana Vanille Notes vanilla pod infused in old rum, clove, leather, crystallized dried fruit, a “ball of vanilla and powder”, narcissus, helichrysum, tonka bean, benzoin, tolu, musks, vanilla absolute