I recently discovered the advertisement for Polo Explorer along with a sealed test strip in the National Geographic issue from December 2007. Until then, I hadn’t heard anything about the Explorer - but the name fit well in the magazine. When I opened the test strip (it was still good), I was hit by a concentrated blast of shower gel. But somehow it wasn’t generic; it was a bit deeper and had an interesting woody twist.
For me, it definitely has a nostalgic quality and takes me back to camping holidays, school trips, church retreats, and campsite showers from 20 years ago. Yes, it somehow smells like the washrooms at a campsite when everyone goes to shower in the evening and the scents of the various shower gels mix together… in the most positive sense. I’m not usually a big fan of shower gel-like scents, but this one has somehow captivated me.
It’s a shame that it’s no longer available…
I got the Montblanc Starwalker in search of similar scents, and they do have some things in common, but the Explorer is, for me, a whole notch better (although I think the Starwalker is also quite good). In comparison, the Explorer is a bit woodier and more robust, while the Starwalker has a somewhat watery-light quality due to the bamboo.
