This year, "1 Million Privé | Paco Rabanne" has popped up in my winter rotation. It’s not a new entry. I’ve had it for a few years, but it was never its turn. At each change of season, I choose around fifty perfumes from the almost 1500 pieces in my collection, and this time I raffled it off. My encounter with it was fortuitous during an event that introduced me to its counterpart dedicated to the female audience, "Lady Million Privé | Paco Rabanne". I remember that during a Christmas dinner, one of my nieces wore that perfume, and as soon as I smelled it, it knocked me over, and I immediately fell in love. I was already determined to buy it when the opportunity presented itself for this version labelled for men. Returning from the spell Privé had put on me, I bought it blindly. I’m not a fan of "1 Million (Eau de Toilette) | Paco Rabanne", but this flanker is something miraculous, totally distant from the original, and with that touch of shisha that makes it unique. To me, Privé is the best in the 1 Million group.
Wait a moment. I see shisha among the olfactive notes. What is shisha all about? Hookah tobacco, also known as water-pipe tobacco, maassel, shisha, narghile, or argileh, is a type of combustible tobacco that is smoked with a hookah (water-pipe) and often is shared and smoked in a social setting. Specifically, shisha tobacco is a moist blend of tobacco comprising tobacco, molasses, and glycerine. This blend is much wetter than the tobacco used for pipes or cigarettes. Shisha tobacco does not burn directly but is only heated and then vaporised. Water vapour mainly makes the fumes of this tobacco; only part of it comprises flavourings dissolved in the air. A sweet scent permeates the perimeter of the place around the water pipe, with a unique smell that comes from a flavour added to tobacco made for hookah smoking. Hookah is essentially tobacco but with an added flavour. It comes in various flavours: chocolate, mint, caramel, and any flavour you can think of. Hookah smoking is an age-old practice and most likely started in Persia, India, or the Middle East.
Privé is not as sweet as the OG "1 Million (Eau de Toilette) | Paco Rabanne", darker and more mature, and less exuberant; however, it has a more refined undertone to its composition. It is a lovely dark, masculine, sweet and warm tobacco scent that leans strongly towards gourmand. For a fraction of a second, I get the OG vibe, which is there to affirm this is a 1 Million spin-off. The opening is like a spiced apple pie with tonka nuts. I get something near a freshly cut apple infused with red tangerine juice and tons of cinnamon powder. It doesn’t seem to feature the apple note; however, the overall accord is very close to fragrant fruit, and the whole combination is reminiscent of an Apple Pie or even a Tarte Tatin. A more refined and mature warm spiciness replaces the bubblegum blast that characterises the OG.
Then, there is a seamless transition into a heart of fruit-infused shisha tobacco, kissed with myrrh. The aroma is more prosperous and thicker now. I don’t get the smokiness from the tobacco, just all the sweetness of the aromatic pipe tobacco. The cinnamon subsides while myrrh adds a hue of bitter resinousness and earthiness with slight liquorice nuance, which melts perfectly with the sweet hookah aroma. The heart is dense and roughly discernible. From the initial blast and throughout the middle stage, I detect a booziness akin to aromatic and herbal liquor.
Soon the nutty tonka moves forward, and the holy triumvirate of cinnamon, shisha, and coumarin will last until the fragrance ends. A tamed patchouli reinforces the base without taking the lead and adds a dark balminess to the mix. The dry-down is all about powdery and spicy accords well-balanced. Tobacco now has a dusty profile, the powderiness typical of the tonka and vanilla.
Ultimately, Privé is an oriental full of warm spices, sweet and smoky, and has enormous performances. It projects like a beast for the first hour. However, it seems to wear off rather quickly, so if you’re looking for an all-day scent, I’m not sure this is it. Instead, I find it suitable for going out to dinner, for a drink, or for an evening event, and for this, it absolutely is. Well suited to the colder weather, I like to wear it during winter and nightlife wear. Miserably, Privé has been discontinued. As its name says--where the public does not have access--Privé is particular, confidential, privy, so it is a matter of fact that it does not mean it is for filling the room or disturbing surrounding people.
I’m basing my thoughts and review on a tester bottle I have owned since December 2018 (BC 72571, PD 2017-09-14)
-Elysium
Top Notes 
Cinnamon
Red mandarin orange
Heart Notes 
Shisha tobacco
Myrrh
Base Notes 
Tonka bean absolute
Patchouli
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