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Penhaligon's Discontinued Scents

Guys, unfortunately, it seems to be true but if we open our mouths amongst ourselves and put the word out here then maybe more of us will contact Penhaligon's and express our frustration with them doing away with some of the finest scents in the industry then perhaps they may take a look at what they are doing and make some changes! Perhaps, if they decided to always keep certain scents like "English Fern" and put them in a special "Traditional Penhaligon's Fragrances" section and tout how worthy they are of our attention they will get more sales and do their best to keep all of Penhaligon's customers content! But that won't happen unless you contact them!
 

Doc4

Stumpy in cold weather
Staff member
There was also an insistence on your being physically present in their shop in Jermyn St at the time the potion was being mixed, for some reason.

If they don't like the look of you, they won't mix it up for you. "Cut of your jib" and all that.

Or they prefer not to, but to say that they can.

They seem to like to screw around with Douro, one of my favorite scents.

I always get confused between Douro and Castile ... I know I have and enjoy at least one of these ... now I have to go home and check my collection.

I am personally amazed to see Pen's discontinue EF. What is next? BB? HB?

I'm rather surprised that HB has lasted as long as it has. Not a "manly" thing nowadays to smell like a rosegarden.

Seems to me Pen's lost its way when it was taken over by whomever it was, quite a while ago.
Also, you are so right about the discontinued/recontinued aspect of Penhaligon's! What are they thinking!?!? They have some wonderful scents that they should always have and they can always try new or seasonal scents during the year but for some reason, they just don't get it!

I remember similar sentiments regarding Pens when they were reformulating their shave soap to take out the tallow.

We like to think of Pens as a purveyor of men's shaving soaps and colognes who also sell perfume &c ... but it'd probably surprise us if we saw the actual data and they turn out to be a purveyor of perfumes and bath soaps &c to rich urban ladies, who also happen to sell a bit of men's stuff on the side.

Seems to me Floris underwent something similar in recent decades. Discontinuing certain traditional scents

Not sure if these are casualties or not, but years ago I managed to get a bottle of No.89 and No. 127 (just checked ... they seem to still be on offer) and really like them both. It's been a while since I've actually used them, but ... IIRC 89 is a great daily scent for the office or whatever, and 127 struck me as "the best scent to wear with a tuxedo".

I suspect 89 may stick around for a while ... I think it may have some James Bond connection that helps it out in sales ... but 127 is too good, too old-school, and no doubt too niche market, for it to last much longer.


I own Opus 1870 and it is rather nice, but not as interesting or as outstanding as EF, Douro, Sartorial, etc., to my taste.

I remember years ago an Opus 1870 review here by Scotto ... it was unflattering ... I think there was reference to the used sawdust chips in the bottom of a guinea pig cage.

I'm okay with 1870, though, although it's not in my Top 10 or anything.
 
I always get confused between Douro and Castile ... I know I have and enjoy at least one of these ... now I have to go home and check my collection.

To me Douro is rather barber-shoppy. Castile more like Aqua di Parma. Lighter, citrusy, sunny, perhaps. I love Douro and like Castile, fine. I own both. But I hardy every wear Castile and it seems to me a bit of an odd man out in the Pen's line up, in the sense that it seems like it is trying to fill a niche in Pen's line up for an AdP kind of scent, and frankly the Italians do it better. So If Pen's axed Castile, I would get it. Why would an English scent shop go head to head with the Italians on this kind of scent. It's loss would not be the loss of a unique scent. The loss of Douro is that kind of loss, it seems to me.

I'm rather surprised that HB has lasted as long as it has. Not a "manly" thing nowadays to smell like a rosegarden.

To be honest, I am with you here. I have never liked HB much. To me it smells like Johnson's baby oil. It is historic and fairly unique, so sort of sad to see it go. (I think Luca Turin said that the current HB is a shadow of its original self.) But I cannot imagine it is a big seller, and I personally would not miss it. (I did stand outside of "Turkish baths" in either Croatia or Portugal, and I admit the smells wafting through the door, were a lot like HB, and I think those baths were supposed to be the inspiration for HB.)

Not sure if these are casualties or not,

These are good scents to compare to Pen's scents. I am pretty sure both are still available, and that 89 outsells 127 by a lot, and you hit the nail on the head that but for the James Bond connection 89 might not be around. The rose in 89 seems very dusty or something. Very old school. Your descriptions are excellent. Actually, I end to think of 127 as 89 with lemon substituted for the 89 rose. I prefer the 127 over the 89 myself, but I get why it could be considered a perfect formal cologne.

And that is a great Scotto reference re Opus 1870. It has lots of cedar in it. Sort of EF plus cedar. Like you, I like it fine. It just is not a big favorite.
 
Guys, unfortunately, it seems to be true but if we open our mouths amongst ourselves and put the word out here then maybe more of us will contact Penhaligon's and express our frustration with them doing away with some of the finest scents in the industry then perhaps they may take a look at what they are doing and make some changes! Perhaps, if they decided to always keep certain scents like "English Fern" and put them in a special "Traditional Penhaligon's Fragrances" section and tout how worthy they are of our attention they will get more sales and do their best to keep all of Penhaligon's customers content! But that won't happen unless you contact them!
Hello friends,

New here and came looking for an answer but also, bring glad tidings! As we know, Pens giveth & taketh away, so I am happy to report that they are in the giveth-ing mode: Sacks 5th Ave. (US website) is now accepting pre-orders for both English Fern Eau de Toilette and Duoro Eau de Portugal. Link here: Penhaligon's | SaksFifthAvenue - https://www.saksfifthavenue.com/penhaligon-s?cgid=1408474399545537& . For me, they're a bit dear at US$160/each, but if either is a favorite I can see striking while the iron is hot. Maybe your emails did have an impact, after all!

I can also say that on October 27th I reached out to Pens customer service online regarding some Quercus I have that just never smelled quite right: strange, chemically smell in both the cologne and deodorant stick. Pens got back to me just today (11/3) and apologized for the delay, which was nice. It sounds like they're interested in working with me regarding a return of the cologne (pending my submission of a photo of the bottle), but informed me that the deodorant stick is no longer manufactured!

My question is, does anyone know when the Quercus deodorant stick was discontinued? I have scoured the web and found over a dozen sites around the world advertising it, but all say 'temporarily out of stock,' or such. Well, except one in Singapore that is happy to sell me more than one stick at over $70/each (w/ a policy of not accepting returns for that item).

Well, I'm happy to have found this page! I enjoy scent, in general, and Pens provides many of my favorites (namely, Sartorial and Luna). I've also checked in on their Instagram which has a few poetry readings (!) and, at least the one for Luna I found genuinely enjoyable (think 21st century update of the Romantics).

Cheers all!
 
Hello friends,

New here and came looking for an answer but also, bring glad tidings! As we know, Pens giveth & taketh away, so I am happy to report that they are in the giveth-ing mode: Sacks 5th Ave. (US website) is now accepting pre-orders for both English Fern Eau de Toilette and Duoro Eau de Portugal. Link here: Penhaligon's | SaksFifthAvenue - https://www.saksfifthavenue.com/penhaligon-s?cgid=1408474399545537& . For me, they're a bit dear at US$160/each, but if either is a favorite I can see striking while the iron is hot. Maybe your emails did have an impact, after all!

I can also say that on October 27th I reached out to Pens customer service online regarding some Quercus I have that just never smelled quite right: strange, chemically smell in both the cologne and deodorant stick. Pens got back to me just today (11/3) and apologized for the delay, which was nice. It sounds like they're interested in working with me regarding a return of the cologne (pending my submission of a photo of the bottle), but informed me that the deodorant stick is no longer manufactured!

My question is, does anyone know when the Quercus deodorant stick was discontinued? I have scoured the web and found over a dozen sites around the world advertising it, but all say 'temporarily out of stock,' or such. Well, except one in Singapore that is happy to sell me more than one stick at over $70/each (w/ a policy of not accepting returns for that item).

Well, I'm happy to have found this page! I enjoy scent, in general, and Pens provides many of my favorites (namely, Sartorial and Luna). I've also checked in on their Instagram which has a few poetry readings (!) and, at least the one for Luna I found genuinely enjoyable (think 21st century update of the Romantics).

Cheers all!

The best thing to do is to go to the "Wayback Machine" and you can see Penhaligon's website over the years! It doesn't give you the complete website but parts of it and you may find your answer there!


Just type in their website name at the top and they will bring you to a page that has all of the listings they have on file! Good Luck!

Also, it is nice to find some of these available at Saks and the current price is quite high for them everywhere! I remember when you could buy a bottle for $40.00! back in the 80's!
 
I might be losing the thread, so to speak, here. So EF and Douro are now $160? Along with BB, 1870, and all of the other traditional Pens expressions that are still available? I had assumed that the certain of these expressions were being discontinued for lack of demand. I would not think a hike in price is going to help that, except among long term fans/customers, who are in effect keeping the faith. These are not new scents that need marketing expenses. I doubt that any are using super expensive ingredients, like real sandalwood. So what Pen's is doing is profiteering on top of its most loyal customers. It artificially created a shortage.

To me, then, Pens has lost it's soul. "A plague upon this 'house,'" so to speak. :) I know this has been Creed's modus operandi. Maybe it works, but I do not like it. There are too many well-priced traditional scents in the world. I do not need Pen's.
 

Doc4

Stumpy in cold weather
Staff member
So EF and Douro are now $160? Along with BB, 1870, and all of the other traditional Pens expressions that are still available? I had assumed that the certain of these expressions were being discontinued for lack of demand.
To me, then, Pens has lost it's soul. "A plague upon this 'house,'" so to speak. :)

If and when we have a serious economic downturn (like 2008) in the aftermath of this virus thing, there may be some deals to be had. But paying full price seems like something for those who have more dollars than sense.
 
For some reason the discontinuation of Pens frags doesn't surprise me. I've tried a few of their offerings over the years and was always underwhelmed by them, though hard to say why. HB in particular was a disappointment. I expected something in the ballpark of Creed due to the price tag, and instead got something in the ball park of Cartier. Not awful, but not really what I expected. What I would like to see is Puig sell the company to someone who cares, and then that someone revamps the lineup, ditches the "animal head" series and about a dozen others, (they just look stupid), and brings back all the discontinued frags, this time made with top-notch materials.
 
For some reason the discontinuation of Pens frags doesn't surprise me. I've tried a few of their offerings over the years and was always underwhelmed by them, though hard to say why. HB in particular was a disappointment. I expected something in the ballpark of Creed due to the price tag, and instead got something in the ball park of Cartier. Not awful, but not really what I expected. What I would like to see is Puig sell the company to someone who cares, and then that someone revamps the lineup, ditches the "animal head" series and about a dozen others, (they just look stupid), and brings back all the discontinued frags, this time made with top-notch materials.

Preach!!!
 
Sorry! I meant "preach" in the Urban Dictionary sense of "I completely agree with you, tell it, Brother! I encourage you!"
 
I took a trip back to the "Wayback Machine" that I listed before and you can still find listings of product at Penhaligons.com but .uk is not available. I just saw the listing for 100 ml of Hammam Bouquet which was about $69 US Dollars and now 100 ml containers are $160 US Dollars! Newer scents like "The Tragedy of Lord George" is $278 for 75 ml! I guess I am just going to have to use what I have collected over the past 30 years! So many unopened containers and so much scent!
 
My GF ( and me as well) are huge fan of Blasted Hearth. Picked up 2 bottles a while back when it was on sale and was told it wasn't going to be carried anymore. We have only used about 1/2 of a bottle so far and have used it many many times. Always get a lot of compliments on this particular scent and recommend it if you come across it.
 
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