Burniss Havenhollow 2024

I'm a huge fan of tobacco fragrances but I haven't quite found the one that scratches the itch. Designer releases like Tom Ford's Tobacco Vanille tend to be a bit screechy and very overpriced for their quality, artisanals like Maksim's Ambre de Noir or his father's Tabac Doré feel incomplete to my nose, so far I think my favorite had been Vanille Havane from Les Indémodables despite tobacco technically not being the main focus of the scent, but unfortunately it's one of those fragrances that make my throat itch after some time. Burniss effectively pulled the rug from under my feet and claimed its spot as my endgame tobacco fragrance (although I'm very much still interested in trying out more), and it having been a blind buy makes it all the more satisfying. My bottle belongs to the 2025 batch and I acquired it recently directly from Havenhollow's website as they were selling reserve stock from last year, I'm guessing to clear out stock ahead of this year's rereleases.

Burniss blends several tobacco variants alongside notes such as Jamaican rum, Bourbon vanilla, wildflower honey, among others, to create what might just be the greatest tobacco fragrance I've tried so far, as well as the most realistic. The opening on skin is bombastic, the Jamaican rum hits you in the nose immediately, so much so my mom and my sister said it gives the impression of me being hungover from a heavy night of drinking, still reeking of alcohol. Underneath the rum's oppressive trail lies the core of the fragrance, a spiced, honeyed and deeply balsamic tobacco, dark and thick but sweet enough to remain approachable without ever feeling saccharine or cloying. The tobacco has a distinctly leafy quality up close that gives off the impression of smelling a real handful of tobacco leaves. It's hard to explain but I almost get a tea-like characteristic as well, which reminds me specifically of the lapsang souchong note in fragrances like Arquiste's Indigo Smoke and Pineward's Treacle (which also has tobacco and honey as the main notes of the scent). The tobacco and honey are topped with a light spiciness as well as a fruity touch. I wouldn't say plum and cacao specifically like the note breakdown suggests but those elements are definitely there.

After about an hour or two the scent morphs lightly up close, but it only tones down its intensity from afar. The skin scent develops a subtle but still noticeable smokiness, which combined with the tobacco it gives off the impression of a very polite cigarette smoke. It doesn't last very long and smoke isn't listed as a note, so I'm at a loss as to what is to blame for this development, perhaps the castoreum tincture? After that Burniss continues to gradually decrease in intensity until you're left with a gorgeous honeyed tobacco skin scent, which might also smell slightly like a glazed donut to some people, myself included. At this stage both my mom and my sister did find the scent to be quite nice, as they were definitely not fans of the opening, my sister going as far as saying I smelled like teriyaki or orange chicken. The spices seem to be very strong to them as they both also mentioned ginger, but it might be that their noses aren't anywhere near as accustomed as mine is to compositions like this one.

Given that the weather in my region isn't too adequate for a fragrance like this yet, as well as the fact this was pretty strong when I tried it on paper a few days ago, I decided to go very light on the sprays and even then this performed spectacularly well. Since it seems like the 33 ml bottle uses a pressurized (or at least semi-pressurized) atomizer, I wore four short sprays in total, and that was enough for strong projection and a dense sillage I could perceive easily for hours. Based on this I'm positive this has potential to be a house filling scent, so I advise being very cautious with the sprays. Longevity is also great, going strong after 8 hours and I'm confident there will still be traces of this on my arms when I wake up tomorrow. I wouldn't be at all surprised if this was one of those fragrances that can last 24 hours and withstand a shower with enough application. I could rate this a 10/10 in terms of longevity and projection but I'd have to verify that first.

Opens up with an delicious tobacco sweetness carried by cocoa and rum Spices and smokiness come into play, with a slight of plum smell. It’s cinnamony, nostalgic, I can t even imagine how good and sexy this would smell on a cold winter morning. It’s also got the slightest mint-freeze feeling which balance it to absolute perfection.
It reminds me a bit off 1 million prive, which is my favorite designer of all time, now imagine that with the additions of the description I wrote, with the most expensive cigar smell in the drydown, and warm castoreum. Absolute instant 10/10 I have no words.
This blend of ingredients genuienly works in the best way possible that plum sweetness with tobacco, honey, smoke and spices is genuienly heaven.
If you like Jeke by Slumberhouse, this is a 3x better scent, saying this as I own Jeke and absolutely love it but this is waaayy richer and more complex (saying this as there are small similarities in both of them)

Imagine this: you are in a refined, absolutely elegant casino - between the typical tables, where casually suited guys are enjoying life (or gambling), there's a luxurious wooden table and leather seats, where a couple of gentlemen in $3000 suits are preparing to light a 15cm, best quality Cuban cigars. That's what Burniss is. There is no cigar smoke, there is no BBQ - it's pure and dry tobacco leaves with a little bit of plum and sweetness (probably because of honey and vanilla). This is tobacco absolute masterclass. No more words needed.

I'm reviewing new 2025 version, but I have heard thats it's kinda huge difference between this one and OG.

When I first put my nose to the sample, it smelled identical to BBQ sauce. I was sure this would be something too smoky for my taste, but oh boy, was I wrong. When i first sprayed this on, i got a blast of smoky tobacco as i expected, but after a few minutes of letting it dry, i could feel how the spiciness of the tobacco came out, and that with the addition of honey later on, made this one of my favorite tobacco scents ever, This will be my top 1 gatekeep as i cant let anyone else get this masterpiece before i get a bottle