Tony Iommi Monkey Special Xerjoff 2021

First and foremost, Monkey Special is a standout fragrance in my collection and easily one of my overall top 10 favorites, especially for the cold weather. It ranks high here on Parfumo on the unisex list, but in my personal opinion it leans masculine.

Monkey Special is a complex chypresque blend created by Chris Maurice, the same guy who created Alexandria II Parfum. It opens with a sweet (note, it is sweet indeed...) and exotic mix of passion fruit, rum, and Calabrian bergamot, creating an exotic compound - although I mentioned "rum", this won't make you stink of booze... it is a warm scent that reminds you of "rum".
As it develops, it reveals deeper spicy tones from leather, patchouli, and cinnamon. The rose is there, you can smell it... but it is absolutely not dominant. It helps reinforcing the fragrance's substance, and it makes it smell opulent.
The final phase sets into a comforting woody and creamy base of sandalwood, caramel, tonka bean, ambergris, and musk.

Now, moving on to my personal experience with it. One of the most remarkable aspects of Monkey Special, which I found being quite rare in non-clone fragrances is the "Miracle of Maceration." Initially, when I first sprayed it, the scent lasted around 6 hours.
However, after about 6 months, the performance dramatically improved. Now, it easily reaches 12+ hours of longevity with good projection for the first 4 hours, leaving a perceptible scent bubble for around 8 hours. On clothes, it will last for a couple of days at least.

I would say that Monkey Special is a great option for nights out or evening occasions, thanks to its sweet, and spicy mix of accords layered with leathery, fruity, and woody notes.
In my opinion, it is more suitable for a mature audience (30+). I must also say that I don't exactly perceive the "rock star vibe", but it is definitely a fragrance that does not smell cheap. In fact, Monkey Special is one of the few fragrances that in my case has consistently received comments on it "smelling expensive". Yes, factually it is expensive, but the unique composition and high staying power make it worth the £££ - just wait for a good offer or a get partial bottle.
Additionally, if you care about bottles and presentation overall this one is top-notch.
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This is 100% without a doubt one of the best acquired taste fragrances ive come across on my journey. You need to get used to patchouli to approach this scent

At the beginning I HATED this scent when i tried it at the store. I tried it on paper, and skin at 2 over time and thought it smelled like a zoo & drunk grandpa

But then one day, I got a decant for a friend and said “why not?”. I had gotten used to patchouli after smelling Black Orchid Eau de Parfum, Coco Mademoiselle Eau de Parfum, and Angel Eau de Parfum a ton at my sales job. I tried it on skin & absolutely loved it. Its such an interesting take on sweet and spicy gourmand

All this to say that you need to store this fragrance properly judge it on skin. Keep that in mind

You need to like patchouli to love this scent which isnt love at first sniff for most in fragrances. But if you do It smells like a banana nut bread that was soaked in rum overnight. Then drizzled with cinnamon & carmel on top while you’re wearing a leather jacket in a red candle lit lounge

Its sweet, its spicy and dark with the rum & leather with very good performance. Very interesting patchouli scent

I’m a huge, huge fan of Black Sabbath so maybe, just maybe I’m a bit prejudiced. Do you know the song Paranoid? Where Tony Iommi’s guitar riff immediately sets the tone? That’s exactly how this perfume starts out. Hard and deep. Booziness flows around you smelling sweet like a can of dried strong ale. When it dries down it twists and turns like a lost soul, eventually being buried under a patch of damp patchouli.
The performance of this Xerjoff is no joke. It is potent. Two sprays and enjoy it the entire day. On clothes it lingers for weeks. And this is the first perfume where I don’t even mind it being “there” for so long, it’s glorious.

This one is really special. Right after application, it was over my red line for sweetness, but decided to give it a chance. As it dried down, it became less sweet and acceptable to me. (I usually don't like very sweet perfumes, but made an exception here because it is so good otherwise.) Outside of that one burp at the start, TIMS is an awesome boozy, sweet, spicy, leathery and woody scent. Very masculine and smooth and will definitely catch people's attention. Belongs solely to the evening and night. Beast mode performance. In the morning, about 14 hours post application, still had a strong skin scent. As I did my morning cardio pre-shower, TIMS started projecting again - got a nice scent bubble again.

The only thing going against TIMS is the price. Am curious if Boss Bottled Absolu is a close scent with the same performance. I will be sampling it in the future to see. If TIMS is better, I'll just have to scrape together my loose change and buy me a bottle. lol

UPDATE: I've compared Monkey and Absolu directly by spraying on opposite wrists. They are not the same. First impressions: Absolu is like caramel with some green and spice; Monkey is booze, rose and touch of cinnamon. Monkey is sweeter than Absolu. Monkey seems to have more depth, also gives impression of better quality ingredients. Monkey would be more special occasion scent while Absolu is everyday. Monkey has better performance than Absolu (although Absolu has very good performance). I'm happy to have both; they are not redundant.

This is the best winter fragrance I've ever came across and tried. A true masterpiece that balances everything. It's the scent of a confident man. The trail it leaves behind you is the best of all time. it fills a room, it's beautifully crafted, it's romantic yet rugid and bold. Very complex and multi-layered yet very mass appealing and a head turning fragrance. Dark rum in a chocolatey smell with a high dose of leather makes it a perfectly unique fragrance with balanced sweetness. It beats every single fragrance on its category and I guess it can't be cloned. Carlisle? beats Carlisle, Blonde Amber? beats blonde amber, Side effect? beats Side Effect. Beats all in every single aspect, smell wise, performance, creativity and sexiness. I love it so much and all of that was my personal opinion.