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So Montecristo is as funky as James Brown or Bootsy Collins... but not in a good way. Don't be fooled by how small and cute that Hyrax thing looks the musk from it is potent! The opening of Montecristo is especially potent with animal vibes which turn me (and my stomach) off straight away. The saving grace of this fragrance is that as it dries down the animal qualities become a little bit warmer, cuddlier and more mild. This is the opposite of my experience of civet/castoreaum etc... which normally develop more and more after the top/heart notes have long faded away. That doesn't however make up for the intrusive harsh opening. It's complex I'll give it that and definitely has interesting depth underneath the unpleasantness which keeps it interesting, and personally kept me sniffing. Tobacco is there that kind of fecal cuban cigar note, a bit of sharpness from resin, warmth and deep woody notes. Not my thing at all but worth checking out if you enjoy animalic scents. Update 27/03/24 Wow! What a fuckin' dick'ed I was ten years ago hey?? I said all this while liking the strange, sweaty freshness of Declaration and the filthy, chypre, powder of Rochas Femme, crazy then that I would be so turned off by this. I mean it's not really fecal or pissy at all, I get the hyraceum still and the general animalics mainly in the top, the drydown is actually very cuddly (which in fairness reflects my original review) the aspect I did miss was the amber and it's an alternative amber, like a piece with a mosquito trapped inside with a side of sweet rum n coke. It's a really nice balance of sweet earthy and animalic. I like it more a decade on.
The thing with hyraceum, if I've understood correctly, is that unlike with other animalic skanky notes, they use the real deal, the dried droppings, giving the faecal, urine-tinged realness. And I can honestly smell that in this perfume. At first sniff I was like HELL no, but then as is often the case, I went back in, and have now purchased a decant. It's right on the precipice of being unacceptably toilety, and it does remind me of the urine-damp, poo-strewn straw I used to clear out of my hamster's cage when I was wee, but it goes to show what skillful perfumery is capable of. Update after a few more wears... Nope, the everlasting stale urine soaked hamster hay is gag inducing. Horrible.