Bortnikoff is a house I’ve been intrigued by for a long time, Tabac Doré is one of the more popular offerings and so I was very excited to sample it. I have to say I feel a bit disappointed if I’m honest, it’s really just not my style of scent at all - in all honesty it doesn’t even feel like a perfume, which some people may love. It’s got this overwhelmingly dry note of tobacco - it’s not ashy or nasty like that of a cigarette, but more like dried tobacco leaves forcefully crushed into an old, dirty pipe. Thick, oily balsams along with sappy labdanum and dense oud turn this into something reminiscent of damp soil. To be honest that’s all I really get from this. I understand people love this house for the unrestricted use of high quality natural materials, but to me it seems to lack overall flair and coherence - more of a barrage of natural raw materials for the sake of saying they’re natural. It’s not a bad creation, just not something I’d ever want to wear.