Speakeasy was launched in 2012 by Frapin, the prestigious French cognac producer.

Speakeasy is the first perfume Marc-Antoine Corticchiato has made outside of his own Parfums d’Empire line. With Speakeasy, the inspiration is a play on the forbidden, the outlawed, and nowadays the forbidden pleasure is not alcohol, but tobacco.

Speakeasy is built around tobacco. So we have a manufacturer of alcohol, whose products were once banned, making a perfume around a product that is now, in some public places, banned. Neat, hey? And while I do enjoy a bit of irony with my frags it’s the way Speakeasy smells on my skin that made me buy a bottle.

It opens with rich, boozy rum. That’s right cognac producer Frapin becomes a rum-runner for Speakeasy and this rum was run up from Cuba cause there’s lime here too and a citrusy sweetness from tropical orange. Davana adds a note of dried fruit which gives it depth. Mint gives it an herbal coolness (I smell mojito) while geranium gives it a dirtiness that is irresistible. As it blooms, tobacco comes forward and dominates the heart of the fragrance making it rich, warm and just a little sweet. Immortelle heightens these facets of the tobacco with its deep sweet maple tobacco-like qualities. The base is dark, resinous and leathery from ciste absolute, labdanum and styrax, making the dry down an aninmalic dream come true. Tonka bean adds a rich vanilla/almond note while white musk smoothes it all out.

Speakeasy is warm, full and rich and made for cooler temperatures.

Notes: rum, davana, lime, orange, mint, geranium, tobacco, leather, ciste absolute, labdanum, styrax, liatrix absolute, immortelle, tonka bean white musk.