This isn’t really the time of year when the sun going down is an enticing prospect. But if there’s one person who can make it appealing, it’s Andy Tauer. And sure enough, his new Sundowner is one of the richest, most evocative pieces of work he’s given us for years. I reviewed it in a recent episode of Love At First Scent. Here’s a link: Tauer Sundowner review.
It’s odd that the man who has created some of the most distinctive leather, amber, jasmine, incense and oud compositions of this century has only now turned his nose to tobacco. But perhaps he wanted to allow his creativity to travel to other territories, such as the marines of last year’s Phtaloblue or the bracing coolness of 2019’s L’Air Des Alpes Suisses. Maybe he needed to work his way through those areas so that he could return afresh to the denser, more opulent styles he handles so very well.
Whatever the reason – and I offer another, highly speculative theory in the broadcast – his decision to explore the multi-faceted nature of tobacco is one for which we should be grateful. It brings to the fore his ability to tease out the most compelling facets of cinnamon, cocoa and leather, and to balance them in a way that genuinely evokes an evening in Egypt. Sundowner may not be the most original tobacco scent ever made, but through the quality of its materials and its maker’s characteristic attention to detail, it transports you to a boat on the Nile, with the chatter of a busy city behind you and a gigantic, amber disc in front of you, sinking beneath an ancient horizon. An image glowing with scented romance.
Persolaise
[Tauer Sundowner review based on a sample obtained by me in 2021.]
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