A*Men Pure Havane Mugler 2011

It is extremely regrettable that Pure Havane has been discontinued - that much up front. Because there is currently no other way to capture the basic theme of "honey" in a masculine fragrance somehow better. The olfactory impression of this pleasing fragrance is perfectly round. So is its progression: a perfect ball rolling down a glass slab. And it does so for many hours. Nothing bounces, nothing jumps, nothing rattles. You get a mildly vanilla, golden meadow honey resting on a semi-dry tobacco leaf, which in turn radiates mildly fine spice (not herbaceous, not herbal sap-like). The whole thing is wrapped in a covered honeycomb of honey wax, so that the very fine, herbaceous plant scents, which are inevitably picked up when collecting the pollen, are filtered away. Any presumed sticky sweetness also disappears through this neutral wax filter: only an idea of minimal caramel-like maltiness reaches the nose, supported by a dusting of cocoa. That's about it. Nothing floral, smoky, leathery. No powder.

The Xerjoff you can basically imagine for now also so. But it does not remain! In addition, an earthy-peaty fragrance chord joins. One thinks now and then to sniff out delicate leather of the softest luxury quality. Or even a trace of pine resin or young pine needles. Whereby this peaty strongly weakens the vanilla. The Xerjoff is thus noticeably more complex.

Is more complex now equal to better? Given one would take both fragrances lovingly, that much is certain. The Mugler awakens the association of a meadow honey-tobacco melancholy covered in a gossamer beeswax honeycomb. You smell that very honeycomb structure - that's the Pure Havane. The Xerjoff develops the theme further. One associates a wild bee just flying home to the hive, packed with forest honey, over a hazy peatland to deliver the precious cargo. One smells, so to speak, the flying insect, to which the scent impressions of the "workplace of nature" are additionally attached. The olfactory impression is thus greater, but also somehow more pungent in association. In the case of Naxos, the natural trappings are added on top of the Mugler honey, as an encore, so to speak. The fragrance space depicted in the Xerjoff is larger - more complex. The overall concept is different. The Mugler is the extracted result, the end of the chain. The Xerjoff is also the protocol of its creation. Moreover, its top note is much richer. The top note of the Xerjoff is actually really better!

I ultimately decided to purchase a bottle of Pure Havane. However, the probability of getting the 100 ml Mugler at a reasonable price (mid 50 euros) is minimal in autumn 2021. The Xerjoff, on the other hand, is freely available, a big plus. Both fragrances are great. Read somewhere here once: if you love the Mugler, you'll adore the Xerjoff. This is so true, as the Xerjoff tells the whole story, thus is more perfect in the sense of high definition. More creation telling. More pure, however, is the Havane - Pure Havane just as the name says!