Tabac Original (Eau de Cologne) by Mäurer & Wirtz

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Mäurer & Wirtz

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Tabac Original Mäurer & Wirtz 1959 Eau de Cologne

7.5 / 10 508 Ratings

A perfume by Mäurer & Wirtz for men, released in 1959. The scent is spicy-woody. It is still in production.
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Main accords

Spicy

Woody

Leathery

Fresh

Citrus

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Lemon

Neroli

Petitgrain

Bergamot

Pepper

Heart Notes

Oak wood absolute

Lavender

Chamomile

Geranium

Base Notes

Musk

Sandalwood

Carnation

Ambergris

Vetiver

Perfumer

Arturo Jordi-Pey

Videos

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Ratings

Scent

7.5508 Ratings

Longevity

6.9399 Ratings

Sillage

6.6380 Ratings

Bottle

6.7393 Ratings

Value for money

8.8182 Ratings

Submitted by DonVanVliet, last update on 09/10/2025.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

Tabac Original After Shave Lotion

Tabac Original Extrême

Tabac Original Eau Naturelle

Tabac Vert

Royal Brand Old Gold Eau de Toilette

Tabac Original Eau de Toilette

Reviews

19 in-depth fragrance descriptions

01/03/2013

LovingTheAlien
9 Reviews

LovingTheAlien

Top Review 7

A flower defined as its roots...

Tabac Original is a peculiar fragrance. It is, in essence, a cheap and cheerful aldehydic floral marketed to men, truly a rarity in the massive fragrance pool. It is perhaps for this reason that it has remained so popular through the years. Gentlemen with little regard for branding in general know that it is fresh and somehow different from everything else out there; perhaps their fathers used it. Its branding and distribution channels have taken it out of consideration for the majority of fragrance enthusiasts - it's just not discussed in the community with any particular consideration besides commentary on its absurdly low retail price.

Tabac Original opens with a lovely bouquet of aldehydes, citrus, and orange blossom. It's as cheerful and prim as any genuine 50s floral, and actually smells quite lovely. The heart of rose, jasmine, lavender, and a host of other "floral" synthetics is actually quite lovely. The first time I smelled it on paper I thought of L'Heure Bleue, its delicate balance of orange blossom, aldehydes, and obscure florals. While this is no Guerlain, it is still very nice. Woody nuances emerge, the floral bouquet becoming powdery and the whole of the composition stepping into the sweet vetiver musk territory of Arpege. The whole composition actually smells quite natural, and there is no doubt in my mind that this actually contains better ingredients than many designer fragrances do.

Unfortunately, there is a downside - the musk. There is so much damn musk (galaxolide?) in this that it overpowers everything else in the drydown. Perhaps it has zero longevity or projection without it, but it's gone to dryer sheets after a couple hours. When worn in moderation, this isn't really an issue, as these musks have come to be associated with the smell of clean people for the masses. It isn't even necessarily a downside for most people; it's just that I have grown up in a time and place that associates this smell with cheap fabric softener - something that I avoid completely these days in my (laughable) effort to smell "different." Again, for most people, this smells like clean sheets and sunshine - a perfect finish to an otherwise perfect fragrance. For me, though, I wish it would have ended differently instead of just smelling like I had washed my clothes in Tide.

Much like Tide, this scent does smell wonderful if just a bit too common.

11/01/2013

7.5
Longevity 7
Scent

Apicius
224 Reviews

Apicius

Helpful Review 7

A Strange Tradition

A list of recommendable cheap gent's colognes would not be complete without that little stinker!

Tabac Original is the German barber shop fragrance in itself. From the 1950's onwards it was standing on the shelf in every barber shop and perfumery here. It was the leading cologne – just the juice that any guy would grab without giving a second thought about sophisticated French perfumes and the like.

Tabac Original has a wide range from Eau de Toilette to shaving care products. Unfortunately, it seems that Mäurer & Wirtz today put different fragrances into the different products – a very strange form of reformulation.

The Eau de Toilette is a rather boring Kölnisch Wasser fragrance with a focus on neroli. It seems that the After Shave and the Pre Shave (which I own) still contain the highly aldehydic and aromatic fragrance from the past. However, I cannot guarantee what you will actually get when you buy it, so it is a bit of a risk.

The aldehydic, mossy and aromatic fragrance of the original has a very funny feature. If you wear it, you get anosmic to it quite soon. Besides that, it has a monstrous sillage. This can have devastating effects when grandpa – having dressed up in his finest suit for the family meeting on his 80th birthday – decides to drown himself in that precious juice!

The current ad slogan of Tabac Original reflects that rather ignorant attitude that its wearer shows towards his environment: "Either a man has character or not."

I would say Tabac Original is absolutely cool, but please think twice before you wear it.

08/22/2015

7.5
Bottle 5
Sillage 5
Longevity 8
Scent

GothicHeart
85 Reviews

GothicHeart

Helpful Review 5

A tale that wasn't right...

My older brother is the most inconsistent fragrance user I've ever met. Wearing a roaring powerhouse in the morning and a syrupy bubblegummy squealer in the evening is something he finds perfectly normal and no contradicting at all. Thus, I was rather surprised the other day by smelling something quite intriguing and unusual on him. Something I didn't recognise and didn't have a clue about what it might be.

So I asked him: "What's this strange juice you're wearing bro?"
He replied: "Are you kidding me? It's Tabac for chrissakes!"
I took me less than a second to tell him: "This ain't Tabac!"

If any of you remembers an old Jim Beam commercial where Kevin Sorbo (before messing with Greek mythology) stepped into a bar in the middle of nowhere and asked for a shot of the said bourbon, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.
What my brother was wearing was an exceptional masculine fragrance, but definitely not Tabac. It carried a very vibrant coriander note, which was peculiar to say the least since Tabac doesn't contain any. But since I dig coriander, I gave it two thumbs up and continued pestering him about having been cheated by bying a knockoff. However, the fact that the stuff was so good is one thing and pretending it was Tabac is another.

For some strange reason, the idea that Tabac might have been reformulated beyond recognition didn't cross my mind. So, in case it was some sort of misconception created by some strange happenstance, next morning I paid a visit to the family owned cosmetics shop where I usually delve for holy relics and asked if they had a Tabac sample. They did. But having just returned from a partial sweeping of their stockroom, they had also unearthed a 50ml splash bottle with "Made in West Germany" printed on its box. For people who dont't dig History or are simply too young to know what this means, it means the bottle predated 1990. Needless to say it landed in my bag in a heartbeat and, what's more, for a song. Paying a tribute to German perfumery, I kept happily whistling "Schwarzbraun ist die Haselnuss" all the way home.

Now, I parted ways with Tabac some time in the mid 90's, cause I (stupidly) thought it was time for me to move on and leave my coming of age scents behind. I've done the same thing with quite a few fragrances, and although we have become best buddies with most of them again, I'll never stop feel ashamed for that idiotic and traitorous decision of mine. All the more that some of them can't be found anymore for less than a fortnight's paycheck.

After a thorough wrist by wrist comparison, my initial take of the current Tabac version proved to be no wrong at all. It's a different fragrance. A very good one, but standing no chance to occupy a place in the front row of the shelf right under the "legendary" label where Tabac has been for so many years. The funny thing is that despite being a far cry from vintage Tabac, it's also a far cry from nearly everything else in the market today. An one of a kind reformulation of an one of a kind benchmark scent. And this deserves some credit, if nothing else. On the other hand (literally), vintage Tabac was exactly as I remembered it. Moving, comforting and spectacular. And I was more than happy for reintroducing ourselves anew.

I can't understand why Maurer & Wirtz had to launch a new version of Tabac in 2014 and make a fuss about it, since the version that was on the shelves till then had nothing to do with the one I remembered from the '80s. All the more that the newly launched version doesn't even feature a tobacco note if we're to believe its pyramid. I don't know about you, but if I ever bought a fragrance called "Rose" only to discover there's no damn rose in its composition, I'd certainly feel kinda ripped off.

Tabac was always a heroic scent to me. Something to be worn in the face of danger and turn its wearer invulnerable. Something like an assuaging smile, carrying the aura of a gallantry only found in tales anymore, since its defenders and champions are long gone from this world. Fortunately their scent is still lingering in hidden, dusty, scorned and unfashionable corners of our reality, reassuring us that our gone heroes will never ignore our distress calls and they will always be there in our time of need.

02/26/2021

Mozart1756
68 Reviews

Mozart1756

Helpful Review 5

Lavender aroma masculine shaving cream

Today at Rossmann my mother wanted to smell it. Then she gave me the tester strip at home so Im writing this comment. Tabac is very old cologne. 1959? Wow. Must be reformulated, huh? Of course I dunno older versions but I can say its pretty much better at the drydown. Im not fan of the opening. But drydown = lavender dominant, soft, shaving creamy, musky, aromatic, camomile smell. Kinda like it, I think this is better for papa's, our or someone's fatherss. Mature but also soft. Gives me shaving cream, shaving cologne vibe. Oak? I dont smell it, dont find it wood woody scent so much. More soft.

05/16/2020

8
Bottle 4
Sillage 5
Longevity 8.5
Scent

Elysium
890 Reviews

Elysium

Helpful Review 3

The Illusionist

In a world where nothing is as it appears, Tabac is only in name. Tabac Cologne was born in 1952, is a survivor fragrance to the '70s, '80s,' 90s, and 2K, and is still circulating these days, I think all people around the world well know it. Since I was a boy, for years, in Italy, I saw advertising for Tabac Original faded at tobacconists or pharmacies. Often the white bottles of Cologne were "cooked" in the sun in the shop windows. I thought Tabac Original was a kind of European Old Spice, and I went about my business - I didn't need to smell it, Old Spice was my uncle's characteristic scent, a thing that I cherished and despised at the same time. Albeit Tabac Original is treated untidy by shopkeepers, the fragrance deserves some respect.

By the very name Tabac, you would expect a woody, leathery tobacco blend. Instead, we encounter a remarkably floral and soapy fragrance. Tobacco is an illusion of fougère created primarily as an accord of tonka bean, musk, woody notes of sandalwood and vetiver, and herbal notes of chamomile and lavender. Reading those ingredients, the citruses, the blossoms, and the woods, I expected a gutsy fragrance, and the formula has no doubt changed since the Sixties, but what I got was a lean, flowery, clean and soapy cologne. Instead, the secret of this longevous fragrance lies in a harmonious triad of pungent and spicy accents, exotic precious woody notes, and floral bouquets.

The design of Tabac Original stands for tradition. Over the decades, it has been carefully updated several times, while the bold logo and the amphora-shaped, opaque glass bottle have remained unchanged. The amphora hides a juice that is striking floral-aldehydic. The top notes feature a lot of aldehydes and believe me when I say a lot, leafy bittersweet petitgrain, creamy neroli blossom, sharp citrus bergamot, and lemon, and spicy black pepper. The fragrance unveils on my skin with the overt soapy and waxy accord that reminds me of my youth when only solid soap bars were around, these notes are lively but not jarring or metal as many accords of citrus in today's men's fragrances. Miserably, this excellent barbershop's opening is concise, which is quite typical of an Eau the Cologne.

The masculine nature of the fragrant heart earns balance from the mix of rich floral lavender, camomille, and geranium, and other fougère notes of oakwood absolute. I did not expect such a floral motif, that dispenses the impression of a blossoming market at dew.

A unique base of carnation, sandalwood, vetiver, musk, and ambergris makes this colony particularly wearable. Hours after applying Tabac Original, I smell only slight hints of amber and sandalwood, moss light as air with a hint of vanilla. The dry-down weakens early to leave a soapy pink finish.

The delicate refinement of this fragrance makes it suitable for everyday use, and its floral properties excel in spring. Whether it's a stylish man in the office, across town or on the beach, this fragrance leaves a lasting impression. However, the projection and the sill are both relatively weak. The wearer's entourage to catch a breath of Tabac Original after application must be intimately close. After almost an hour, I can barely smell it under my shirt if I put my nose on it. So, it lasts on my skin for a few hours but remains close to the body.

Stay well; stay healthy.

-Elysium

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