I originally used a Statement for my 1st impression, but can't say all I want. So... review it is! With the promise of an update after the necessary "ageing months"
I finally opened my Qawa bottle a few days ago. I'm a big OG Khamrah fan. (I'm also very opposed to the idea Khamrah is a dupe for Angel's Share. It isn't. Wish people would stop saying that. I even think it was never meant to be - but for that you can read my review on the stuff.) My skin tends to pull the typically thought of as 'masculine' notes much more and thus a fragrance needs to be truly sweet to actually register as a bit or moderately sweet on my body. I think that's why Khamrah and I are such a match made in compliment-heaven. I don't smell like I've rolled in sugar, but I still smell edible enough to be interesting. Every time I wear it, I receive at least one compliment.
Due to my difficult skin chemistry I actually feared Qawa would be too coffee & spice forward on me. And after having bought and tried
Dahaab Saafi and Eternal Coffee by Paris Corner (both for sale) I now know that coffee forward fragrances are not for me. However, Qawa turned from a potential fear into a current disappointment.
While I do register some differences, they're minimal: Khamrah Qawa, upon 1st spray, is simply too much like its predecessor for me.
In Khamrah OG I get a cinnamon rich, tuberose turned coconut cream on luscious praline induced vanilla with a brandewyne-like boozy warmth in the opening that softens in the heart and completely disappears in the drydown. Depending on the climate I sometimes get a bit of that much discussed apple pie in the opening, but that happens so rarely it can be ignored.
Qawa? Almost identical in the first few seconds, but for a soft ginger note. When longer on my hand I notice a few more differences. The influence of the tuberose turned coconut becomes almost absent, and the same cinnamon is not so apparent in the drydown either. There is a booziness that seems more ginger infused instead of fruit based, but at the moment it's a barely-there thing. I know there must be extra spices in there because something prickles in my nose when I go close to my hand, but Qawa isn't giving up its secrets yet.
The sweetness is pretty much the same thick praline vanilla at first, but Qawa does lose about 25%. In the late drydown the vanilla takes a big step back in the flanker, resting more on that as of yet unidentifiable accord, whereas OG Khamrah remains being cinnamon-vanilla 'heavy'. Once matured, I think here lies the actual difference between the OG and Qawa: a strong ginger (+ other spices?) a lighter cinnamon, maybe a hint of coffee and certainly a much 'thinner', less sweet vanilla with a different type boozy opening under the influence of those spices. But we'll see if I'm right soon enough.
While the current minimal differences - I don't think they'll be picked up by most - are disappointing, I can't say anything bad about the performance. For a first spray the lasting power is bizarre. Bizarrely good. The OG lasts between 10-12hrs on my perfume eating skin in ideal circumstances, with its intensity diminishing after a few hours. Qawa might be beastmode. I could still smell this on my hand (1 single spray!) after 16 hours, and that one spray was pretty clear for a full workday as well. I can't wait to see what happens after this juice matures.
To be fair to baby Qawa when it comes to my "Meh" opinion: the bottle was just opened and it's a Lattafa - THE brand that has invented "consumer-maceration", or maturing I should say. This can't be anything other than an extensive "first impression review" - not a complete one used to base a buy on, though. Imho.
Like all my Middle Eastern fragrances Khamrah Qawa will get its time in the dark. When I'll open it again in a month or 3 I'll expect a differently smelling perfume, somewhere along the line of my description. I'll return to this review and let you know if it's truly a less sweet, but spicier, warmer variant, or that Khamrah lovers should stick to number 1, and haters should leave both well enough alone ;).
- The end (for now) -
[
You probably expected the word 'maceration' here, but as I no longer want to add to the mistaken belief consumers can actually let a fragrance macerate, I'll try to use the correct words from now on, which is either maturing or ageing. Maceration or to macerate is what happens during the production of a perfume. It's when they let the necessary amount of drops of essential oils, aroma chemicals and other ingredients sink into the base oil for as long as needed to get a strong effect. Think of making a soup or a broth where you use a bundle of herbs or bones and let them cook or sit for hours on end to get strong flavours. Thàt is maceration.
Say you're a perfumer and you've created a fragrance recipe for one 100ml bottle. You'll then first add all the right notes per pyramid part. Top, heart, base - every single one of these three parts macerates in its own bottle with a bit of base oil first, usually also being shaken daily and then put back into a dark cabinet. After the mixes are strong enough (ranging from 6 weeks to several months depending on notes) they all get poured into one bottle. Then the whole process starts anew for the necessary amount of weeks, until the perfumers alcohol gets poured in and we let that sit for a while as well.
Now, as we all know: time is money. As it so happens, the cheaper fragrances usually simply - that's the theory at least - get barely any maceration in that last bit of the journey, the final 2 steps. The demand for very popular fragrances is also quite high and in order to answer to that demand - Middle Eastern fragrance houses are basically niche houses and thus have a relatively small production line - maceration time gets shortened. As a result the perfume that arrives at your home isn't properly balanced yet, hasn't completely 'sunk in' the alcohol yet. Now, we can no longer macerate. But what we do is take a bit out, as a result leave oxygen IN and that creates its own kind of process: alcohol will dissipate and the oil of which the perfume was made gets a bigger 'presence'. It's how a fragrance can strengthen and mature when you "let it sit". Quite often the end result will be more balanced then as well. Don't ask me why, I'm not a chemist, nor a true perfumer. But now you know, in a nutshell, the how and why of maceration.
Also, I should make this into an article with sources and all that. Maybe later! ]
Top Notes 
Cardamom
Cinnamon
Ginger
Heart Notes 
Praliné
Candied fruits
White blossoms
Base Notes 
Tonka bean
Arabica coffee
Vanilla
Benzoin
Musk
Hamudi
Skrwail
Evannell
Kronkmusic
StinkSultan
Quevedin
Partycow
Kyotokko
Lorenzobr
Musclehoff
