A*Men Pure Havane was created by perfumer Jacques Huclier in 2011 as a limited edition flanker of A*Men, the fragrance he created for Thierry Mugler in 1996. A*Men was so successful, it threw off at least a dozen flankers as well as inspiring another best-selling frag: Alien.

The flankers each take a note from the original formula and makes it the focus of the fragrance: A*Men Pure Coffee , A*Men Pure Malt , A*Men Pure Leather, A*Men Pure Havane, etc. – you get the idea.

I am partial to M. Huclier’s creations: A*Men Pure Coffee, A*Men Pure Shot and A*Men Pure Havane, with their shared notes of patchouli and chocolate, but now, as I hibernate in the in the dark days of winter, it’s A*Men Pure Havane I want to smell.

A*Men Pure Havane highlights tobacco on a base of patchouli and bitter chocolate. It opens with the complex smell of rich, warm, aromatic tobacco – the caramel, whiskey and floral aspects are all here and it lingers and lingers until a note of sweet golden honey illuminates it. A little vanilla deepens the sweetness which, surprisingly, only enhances it masculine mojo that comes from the patchouli/bitter chocolate base.

The drydown is potent (a little goes along way), perfectly sweet/bitter balanced and woody. Instead of ‘beautiful’ I want to call it ‘handsome’.

 It may have borrowed inspiration from A*Men, but A*Men Pure Havane is more than a flanker. This is a re-interpretation that stands on its own as a different fragrance.

A*Men to that!

Notes: tobacco, honey, vanilla, patchouli and bitter chocolate

Type: EdT

Perfumer: Jacques Huclier