Astor Geo. F. Trumper 1880 Cologne

Astor is the third oldest Cologne in the Trumper Collection and the fourth oldest Cologne from Geo still available today. F. Trumper (Wild Fern has a spray bottle and does not belong to the collection, but dates from the same period). To make the timeframe more tangible: Astor is as old as Cologne Cathedral. This was also completed in 1880, but the history of its 600-year construction phase is so horrible that I don't want to go into it further with such a beautiful fragrance.
If you look at Astor in the context of the Trumper Collection, you can say that this is the first time that a clear scent with partly playful elements appears. With the Curzon, which appeared later, this is even more pronounced, but Astor, in my opinion, strikes a much better balance between matter-of-factly reserved and surprisingly friendly greetings in between and also has fewer ingredients. But one by one,
Astor is a Splash-Cologne and should be used in the same way. I had two samples and filled one of them into a (of course meticulously cleaned) spray bottle, which turned out to be a mistake. I have no idea why, but from the spray bottle it smelled different, quite sharp and the course was somehow "broken".
When I took the sample directly from the tube and dripped it directly onto my wrist without rubbing, I immediately and almost alone said hello to the caraway. Immediately citric notes were added, the bitter orange is clearly perceptible, the lemon somewhat more reserved for me. The whole thing results in a wonderfully balanced, spicy citric top note that has completely surprised me and does it again and again.
In the further course the caraway remains present, as soon as the hesperid notes fade away, the jasmine steps into the picture and gives it a beautiful sweetness without making the composition sweet. Every now and then a little cloud of the finest Chinese jasmine tea bounces from the shirt cuff, which always makes me smile. The sandalwood now becomes increasingly perceptible and creates in the later course together with the restrained, but fixing ambergris a great warmth.
Astor manages with just a few ingredients and gives everyone enough space to be noticed. One can probably assume that these are also of largely natural origin and that the composition was not reformulated. This did not fit at all into Trumper's traditional philosophy. And that's what you smell. It's not like that anymore. This water is so old that it could also come from another star, which is why I always internally call it "astrum". In any case, I like it very much and it is already reserved for the next Cologne purchase.