Tobacco Vanille

Tobacco Vanille is one of Tom Ford's most-loved fragrances precisely because it doesn't play it safe: a heavy tobacco leaf opening gives way to tonka bean and vanilla spiced with cinnamon, clove and a touch of bitter almond, all sat on a base of vetiver, sandalwood and dry amber that keeps it from turning into dessert. Dupe Vanilla Tabac follows the same route, leading with tobacco and building a cacao-tonka-vanilla heart that captures the gist of the original's sweetness. What's missing is the spice - the original's cinnamon-clove backbone gives it warmth and complexity that this version doesn't attempt, so it comes across as a simpler, sweeter vanilla-tobacco rather than the layered original. The sandalwood base is pleasant but thin, and the whole thing fades well before Tobacco Vanille's famously long ten-plus-hour run.