Probably because they’ve been asked to get something from said purse by the aforementioned senior and ended up getting a whiff of it.I don't see why people say "Tabac smells like an old lady's purse" but then again I never went around sniffing in seniors purses, so I cannot say.
For me Tabac is a great product (soap, aftershave, cologne, deodorant, etc.) with a great fragrance. The soap has an amazing lather.
I haven’t used any Tabac products yet but there’s a local shop (Myxn Scents) that specializes in mixing custom scented products. One of the approximately 500 essential oils and fragrance oils they have is the fragrance oil for Tabac. I have had an opportunity to smell that. Definitely not one of my favorites