Pinaud Clubman Special Reserve

I purchased it from Walgreens website and had it delivered to a local Walgreens store to save on shipping. I have about 3 Walgreens 1 to 3 miles from my home. For $5.96 you can't beat the price and you can't not try it.

What's there to say that hasn't been said? The scent is great. Top notes of leather & smoke dries to a vanilla-ish type scent. You can still smell the leather after the dry down. It's one of my favorite AS scents. Excellent choice for a cold autumn/winter day or night. You smell like the chairman of the board wearing a nice tweed jacket while smoking a pipe or cigar reading the Wall Street Journal.

This is an alcohol based AS. So it's job is heal the skin by closing up the pores and disinfecting any nicks or cuts. It does a fine job for an alcohol based AS. I wish I would have purchased it years ago.

Great price. Great alcohol splash. I love the scent. It goes very well with Aramis cologne in my opinion. Great leather scent. Very dry and no citrus or neroli. Very similar after dry down. It is seemingly not as potent on my skin as others find it to be. I do decant it into a glass bottle.

I only bought a sample of this, but I'll be purchasing full size soon. Yes, the scent lingers. Thankfully I love this scent. It reminds me of brandy casks, woody, complex and refined. I haven't had the experience with it being overpowering, it's just another quality Pinaud product priced for real people.

One of my first "old school" aftershaves that I purchased. I love the complex scent that seems to last for hours.

I second what others have said about the leather notes predominate in the scent profile.

Do not get if you don't like a burn in your aftershave.

Opinions vary dramatically but I think this smells like perfume an old lady would wear.

This stuff smells like cheap women's purfume. There are zero hints of leather and motor oil. Its real bad. I suspect there must be a lot control or quality control problem at the factory. Because some reviews describe it as intensely manly while others are overtaken by the old lady smell to it. I've had others smell it and get the same reaction as me. The original Pinaud Clubman is incredible, distinct and manly. These stuff - yuk!

Very decent, lasting fragrance for an aftershave. There is some burn, nothing that I don't mind. The fragrance is the outstanding characteristic of this juice. Really leathery and smoky, I can only pick up trace amounts of vanilla which are rather fleeting. This is a strongly scented aftershave I use in the wintertime when it is cold. I hereby declare this a recommended product.

Wow! What a great scent. If Old Spice is the captain on the deck of his sailing ship, Special Reserve is the admiral smoking cigars in the drawing rooms of potentates the flagship has called upon. SR has a fantastic smokey, spicy scent. A little goes a very long way. I can see this one easily becoming a signature scent.

I downgraded it on "cooling sensation" because it's not mentholated. It's also not a moisturizer. It's an alcohol-based splash. And a terrific one, at that.

'Grandpa Baby-butt' is what SWMBO termed the scent when she first caught me wearing SR. Now she loves it.

It is a complex and surprisingly long-lasting scent, -and it is VERY easy to put too much on.

I wear it on cool days where the warmth, leather and spice feel complementary to the weather. This is not a summer scent for me.

I love it, but I can see how some could feel the exact opposite too.

IMHO, a great follow-on to a Tabac soap shave.

Good stuff!!!!!!

jessea12;2520615 said:

It has all the great hallmarks of a great Pinaud product and the scent! I can only describe it as my ideal of what a Man should smell like.

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jessea12:
I agree with you man...because I don't like giving off the scent of many 'high-end' Colognes that might cause others to comment that "You smell like a Lady-of-the-night".

For myself...I love how Clubman smells...so crisp, pleasant and fresh. It has such a bold masculine and 'timeless' fragrance that instantly cools, tones & refreshes my face and body and is a exhilarating freshener after my morning shaving ritual and shower. A little goes a long, long way with hints of leather and spice that 'lingers' through most of the day...plus the Mrs. loves it

Also, this scent always takes me back when I was a little young 'whipper-snapper' (back in the days of 'ol'e time' Barber Shops w/ leather strops attached to the Barber Chairs and the faint aroma of Cigars),...after getting a fresh haircut ('high & tight'), and getting a 'splash' of Clubman and a scalp massage. Simply Bliss

Additionally, I fondly remember my beloved and dearly departed Father splashing' Clubman on his face after a DE shave at home.

Now that I'm a 'Big Boy' & all 'grown-up'....my scent of choice is Clubman Special Reserve...one of the true 'Arts of Manliness'

Christopher

It has all the great hallmarks of a great Pinaud product and the scent! I can only describe it as my ideal of what a Man should smell like.

I ordered this one, based upon curiosity over some of the comments in this particular thread. The Special Reserve does have a strong smell of rough leather and vanilla for me, and as a workaday AS, it really is a good one. For a hot day, I'd stick to a lighter citrus scent, but this one is really very good on the cooler days. Its similar-but-different to bay rum, in that its dark, richly scented and strong. It lasts the whole day for me, so I do apply prudently.

For the price, this is an excellent cooler weather AS alternative to the bay rums and other cold weather "serious" scents I tend to use fall-winter.

Well worth the $10.00

Oddly dark stuff. I suppose the color is supposed to make it look more exotic and worth the few dollars more that it costs. I do enjoy its scent, which I'd describe as being a slightly rubber leather with a cedar background. Pretty bad as an aftershave though as has no moisturizers.

So, after pondering it for a while, I ordered Special Reserve, and finally received it today.

I was told by a fellow B&B member that there are actually two versions of SR floating around out there - one that is a bit older and has a dark brown color, and has a little too much of a pot liquor note; the second type is a more recent version, a bit greenish in color, and has the pot liquor dialed back. I got the second one, because indeed it is a bit greenish/brown, and although I get the pot liquor lurking around in there, it's nothing big.

What is big is the patchouli/oakmoss/tobacco/vanilla combination. What's even bigger is that SR does two things that most high-end fragrances only dream of doing: 1. It allows the nose to discern these individual notes for what they are, and 2. It prompts the brain to matrix these notes into a wonderful olfactory illusion, which in this case is an aged club leather.

Looking at the makeup of SR, I totally get how some of these notes work. The oakmoss is listed, is real, and is quite prominent. The tobacco is an effect garnered by the use of geraniol, which has been found in tobacco. In regular Clubman, the geraniol is used to affect a floral stance, but here they were going for something richer, darker, and manlier. The vanilla is a drydown point, allowing all of the darker flavors to smooth out and fade nicely.

Taken together, along with the patchouli (which I assume is part of the vague ingredient listed as "parfum"), this comes across as something that could easily be touted online for hundreds of $$ at some niche outlet. SR has a leather note, wrapped in a warm spiciness, that conjures up images of old Chesterfield sofas in a musty library. I find it laughable that it can be had for $6 on Amazon.

The pot liquor element in there supports the spiciness, but keeps this from being a perfect 10 sort of scent for me. It does not hurt the fragrance, but it adds a little bit of a harsh edge to the top, which does back off pretty quickly. I can't really assess the aftershave qualities of this because I see it as more of a cologne (eau de toilette strength, really) and kind of silly to consider as an aftershave, especially given the regular Clubman's keen grasp on that concept. SR is not nearly as barbershop as regular Clubman, and I'm glad for that. There's nothing redundant here. It's just a really good scent.

Two. Thumbs. Up.







..

My scores, I think, are reflective of reality. Meaning, 10 is perfection and 0 is a complete failure.


Very few shave product are 10s in any single category IMO.




I wanted to chime in on this after reading some of the scent descriptions. The missing scent people can't put teir finger on is "pencil eraser"


That is exactly what I smell after the product settles in after 3-5 minutes. Pencil eraser is about the most accurate thing I can compare it to. Definitely not one of M. Pinaud's better fragrances.

To be brutally honest, I didn't identify any of the qualities people who like the stuff did. It smelled to me somewhere in between red wine vinegar and hair spray.

To say it is complex is an interesting comment and I guess it applies to me. I do, however, feel like I gave myself an ample opportunity to like it and try as I might, I never could.

A while back I posted a less-than-favorable review of Special Reserve (which I no longer see), but after using it for quite some time and actually LEARNING how to use it, I have to retract those statements.

First, let me say that I've noticed that almost all Clubman aftershaves, with the exception of Lilac Vegetal, are too cloying, intrusive and at times even offensive if used full-strength. Special Reserve was no different, and with it's even MORE powerful scent than other Clubman products, it was especially vile.

However, at the beginning of the summer, I was going through some old shave gear and dusted off my old bottle of SR. At first, I thought about giving it away, but I decided I'd give it one last shot before paying it forward. I decided to do with it what I've always done with regular Clubman: water it down. Actually, I had to dilute this stuff a LOT (10% SR to 90% water or witch hazel) before it was wearable, but when I got it down to the proper ratio, I was pleasantly surprised.

SR is a very complex scent, especially for a Pinaud. It's very musty, if not "damp" almost, with a smokey, leathery atmosphere about it that's undertoned with a few unidentifiable floral notes. I don't think it's any coincidence that I took to the fragrance only a few days after I was looking through some of my late grandfather's old belongings; the smell reminded me of that special odor that permeates clothing and leather goods after having been stored and forgotten for years. When used straight, it's too overbearing and hardly any of these qualities are present, atleast to my nose. I liken the weakening of SR and it's notes being brought out to adding a tiny bit of water to a glass of whiskey so that it doesn't overpower your taste buds.

As for how well SR does as an aftershave, I can't remember what it was like to use it straight and I don't care to remember it, either. However, after being diluted, it retains the reliable Pinaud properties and does what it needs to do. I've even started using the weakened SR as an after shower splash and really enjoy the light scent, as do others, apparently.

I think Pinaud Special Reserve is worth atleast a try. If you're as apprehensive about it as I was at first, give it some time and dilute it down to see if that suits your needs.

Like others have said this is a complex aftershave. I agree that it conjures thoughts of leather and spices, and perhaps some vanilla. I would recommend it for the +30 year old crowd. I really enjoy it but would not wear it every day. If you enjoy Old Spice, English Leather, etc then this is for you.

This is a wonderful, subtle leather after shave that exudes masculinity with a whisper not a shout. For the price it is truly amazing. The plastic bottle is merely functional, but the juice is close to perfection.