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You'd be forgiven for thinking that tobacco colognes smell like the sidewalk air outside a bar at 1 a.m. You'd just be wrong. The best tobacco colognes aren't smoky or acrid, and they won't suddenly turn you into a Marlboro Man (even if you've started subscribing to the yee-haw agenda side of menswear). Instead, the great tobacco-tinged fragrances are all warmth, sexiness, and bravado. They aren’t typically as heavy as leather colognes or spicy scents, even if most of them feel right for cooler months. often find those starring tobacco notes backed up sweetness, doing duets with honey or vanilla. But you'll see them playing nice with everything, from bright floral notes to crisp, woody, aromatic, and earthy notes, and even spicy ones, too.
No matter what other scents go into the mix, the best tobacco colognes also ooze comfort. If you’re gearing up for a cozy couple of months, then consider our ten favorite tobacco fragrances below.
Coqui Coqui approaches scents the way devoutly reverential chefs approach a dish, foregrounding only a few notes—or sometimes just one—with each of the brand's scents. As a result, Tabaco may be the most pure tobacco cologne out there—though I swear there's something more. The cologne is too clean and uplifting, rather than warm and comforting, like a tobacco usually is—even if it is hard to pick out the supporting cast. In truth, I love this scent so much that I keep Coqui Coqui's Tabaco room diffuser in my home so I can inhale it every day.
This is one of the best classic scents you can find, but L'Eau D'Issey isn't entirely tobacco-forward. Instead, the earthy note backs up crisper notes like lemon and bergamot, while vetiver gives some weight to an otherwise light, summery eau de toilette. It's a terrific exercise in contrasts, and the the rare tobacco scent that doesn't get weighted down by its main ingredient.
Tobacco scents don't have to be broody; Guerlain proves that all you gotta do is add a touch of honey. Maybe more than a touch: Tobacco Honey feels deliciously edible, particularly thanks to a dash of vanilla. And while all tobacco scents feel cozy by nature, this one is more "home for the holidays with the family" cozy than "spooning on the rug by an open fire" cozy. What it lacks in sexiness, it makes up for by being more wearable by day.
Tobacco tends to burn brightest in the colder months, but Ummo is the likeliest of this group to remain in your dresser rotation when the mercury starts to rise. It's a heady, sophisticated scent built from honey (like Guerlain's) matched with tobacco blossoms (rather than straight tobacco). Between being year-round ready and more off the beaten path than some of the bigger scent houses here, this Mexican-made gem has strong signature-scent potential.
The ingredient list for Chinese Tobacco is broodier than the line outside a My Chemical Romance show, with tobacco, resin, coal tar, ginger, incense, and oud all coming together in a beautiful moody blend. To keep things from going too dark, 19-69 balances the scent with a wave of vanilla and cedar. This scent is savory and satisfying until that final note, and the perfect fall-winter cologne for anyone who really likes an aquatic or effervescent summer scent.
Somehow, Tom Ford succeeds in every single fragrance family, so we're not surprised that he's created one of the best tobacco scents and one of the best vanilla scents with a single cologne. Tobacco Vanille balances the two notes in a way that brings a real presence, with a spicy cacao opening that sets the stage for the starring ingredients' sweetness.
"This is what the moon smells like," says MiN of this eathy-minerally tobacco tinge. The brand's not entirely guessing: according to the dozen astronauts who've stepped on lunar soil, the moon smells like gunpowder after a desert rain—a description that inspired this cologne. It's smoky, smoldering, mysterious. Kind of how we imagine Humphrey Bogart smelled. All of which is to say, Moon Dust is polarizing, and you probably already know if you'll love it (we do) or hate it.
Few fragrances last as long, and with as much nuance, as an Amouage scent—and Royal Tobacco is proof that the perfumerie's game remains strong. With a staggering 26 (!) notes in a single bottle, this nod to Cuban cigarmaking smells the way a beautiful knit wool sweater feels: warm, heavy, a piece made painstakingly and with old-world knowledge. (Credit goes to perfumer Cécile Zarokian, who shows why Amouage keeps coming back to her.) It's a masterpiece—and like that sweater, something you'll love and treasure for years.
Given the shape, you probably don't want to travel with Viktor&Rolf's now-iconic bottle in your luggage. But don't be afraid of what's inside. Tobacco, vetiver, and leather give Spicebomb a powerful, pronounced bark, while the trio of cinnamon, chili, and pink pepper give the scent its bite. The two-tiered cologne is sexual and wears surprisingly well as a unisex scent.
Hunter smells like the idea of a lumberjack—all tobacco, balsam resin, and bourbon vanilla. Unlike a lot of aggressively sensual tobacco scents, it won't send the wrong message at the workplace. Hell, wearing Hunter might have your colleagues stopping by your desk more, drawn in by the olfactory equivalent of a company-wide slack about free cookies in the conference room.
