Anyone who rode in a taxi pre mid 2000's could tell you that the drivers used to openly smoke cigarettes with you in the vehicle (SHOCKING NOW I KNOW!!!) I even shared a spliff with some of them sometimes. Anywho...reminiscing about those ashtrays on wheels, the ford Orion Ghia, furry dice and beaded seat covers, basically imagine the stale, musty odour in that vehicle, cigarettes and a million punters bums in various drunken states....well that is what War & Peace smells like. (I think Siberian Summer gave me that vibe too) Thank god for smoking bans, general standards and UBER because taxi's used to be fucking awful and if I hadn't of been a smoker myself at the time I likely would've been more bothered by them. This is an olfactively interesting endevour, the materials are clearly of great quality and contain interesting facets but overall, the perfume is a disappointment and I can't view it any other way. As thick, and long lived as the tome itself, War and Peace is an epic oud fragrance with a character like no other, but not really in a positive sense.Smells musty and old, not even barnyard or fecal just a bit stale. It's deeply faceted though and you can wallow in it's dark, dingy corridors finding odorous nuggets of interest if you're so inclined. W&P is very much of olfactory/historical interest, but has no place in my wardrobe. I don't really get much of the rose, it's muted and kinda dead, geraniol heavy rose (which I usually love) but perhaps in this instance a bit of jammy, sweetness would've been a welcome lift for what is a very dark, dusty affair. Atomically strong and long lasting but doesn't develop very much on me, although I'm somewhat charmed by it from a morbid fascination sense. Now... I only have a small quantity, purchasing the sample set and thankfully not blind buying Antiquity which I was considering doing. So I don't have a vast amount of wearing under my belt and perhaps this fragrance is one that needs to be worn several times to truly understand and if you want to dismiss my 'review' as a naive account from an unexperienced nose then that's cool, and I concede that you could indeed be right?