Aramis compared to Aramis Havana

[grump]

Let me just start by saying I am in my 40's and sometimes have a flirty nature.

So, yesterday, around 4:30am, I give Aramis a spray( 1 ) to the chest. Off to work I go. I arrive at work early and am enjoying a cup of coffee. I am thinking to myself that maybe this wasn't a good idea because it seams a bit strong. Now some of the office ladies start to arrive. I am seeing eye shifting, head turning, and 1 even stopped to come back and ask what I was wearing, only to tell me that the scent might be a distraction, in a good way.

Lunch was interesting, I had 2 ladies who I very seldom speak with, join me for lunch.

After work when I arrive home, my wife tells me to come by her, she smells me and asks when did I get that cologne. I told her this morning and as she is walking away, subtly tells me she likes it.

Later that evening, I walk past wife and she says, come over here and sit by me.

This cologne lasted all day on me.

Now my question; How does Aramis Havana compare to Aramis?

Thank you

 

[john parker]

Looked up Aramis on Basenotes, and believe I found there were several versions, not counting Havana. Which one do you have? Thanks, John

 

[grump]

Alright, I just looked it up on Basenotes.net and this is the one.
http://www.basenotes.net/ID26120123.html

Now off to examine the Havana.

 

[Rudy Vey]

Alright, I just looked it up on Basenotes.net and this is the one.
http://www.basenotes.net/ID26120123.html

Now off to examine the Havana.

Where did you get the Havana?

 

[andrew98]

Where did you get the Havana?

It can be ordered from the Neiman Marcus website.

To the OP: Definitely check out JHL. It's my favorite Aramis, so far, and it's on the "to buy" list for sure. I haven't tried Havanna yet.

-Andy

 

[The Knize]

Let me just start by saying I am in my 40's and sometimes have a flirty nature.

So, yesterday, around 4:30am, I give Aramis a spray( 1 ) to the chest. Off to work I go. I arrive at work early and am enjoying a cup of coffee. I am thinking to myself that maybe this wasn't a good idea because it seams a bit strong. Now some of the office ladies start to arrive. I am seeing eye shifting, head turning, and 1 even stopped to come back and ask what I was wearing, only to tell me that the scent might be a distraction, in a good way.

Lunch was interesting, I had 2 ladies who I very seldom speak with, join me for lunch.

After work when I arrive home, my wife tells me to come by her, she smells me and asks when did I get that cologne. I told her this morning and as she is walking away, subtly tells me she likes it.

Later that evening, I walk past wife and she says, come over here and sit by me.

This cologne lasted all day on me.

Now my question; How does Aramis Havana compare to Aramis?

Thank you

Well, I do not get the kind of results you are getting with either, or with anyting else for that matter <g>, but I truly love them both!

Have a look at Vibert's notes on basenotes on A, H, and JHL. He seems to get them right to me. Also see the other things I have written about Havana on this board. I would say that JHL and Havana both have a strong vein of Aramis in them, but each is different.

I like JHL a lot, but it seems like older guy, more formal stuff. Sexy because it bespeaks money and ease, and expensive hotels, and brandy, and confidence. Very good but not as interesting regular Aramis or Havana as it seems like lots of other scents out there. I am actually very surprsed that Aramis was so wildly popular, and even more surprised at the popularity of Havana as a more "underground" frag. I would not have thought of Havana as being particularly "accessible." I am not surprised that JHL would be popular. What is not to like?

Havana to be is complex, exotic, with leather and tobacco and sandalwood, but with these lighter, fruitier notes, too. Nothing ponderous about it. A bit youthful and informal, but a powerhouse. Paradoxical. Sexy because it is high energy and lucious. It definitely reminds me of islands and rum drinks and hot but breezy evenings, and loose fitting clothing. Not so much confidence but daring. It rubs you the wrong way--perhaps it is a little too forward--and then slowly begins to fascinate you. I am surprised that anyone has trouble with tenacity with this one. It lasts and lasts on me!

 

[The Knize]

Re comparison of JHL to Havana to regular Aramis. I had cited to Vibert's notes on basenotes as pretty good for each of these frages but I notice that he does not mention cinnamon in the notes on JHL. That seems to me a pretty big omission because most folks smell a fairly prominant note of cinnamom in JHL that I do not sense as being there in Havana or regular Aramis at least with much prominence.

My memory cannot do justice on this point, but to me many bay rums are as much about cinnamon and cloves as they are about any scent from the Carribean bay tree leaf (compare Superior 70 to, say, Ogellala Special Reserve), so this note in JHL may come across as sort of a bay rum reference, which I suppose is manly. My memory is a little confused as Havana has something of a island bay rum or just plain regular old rum quality in the mix, but I had not thought of this as an overlap with JHL. I can tell I need to re-try JHL.

Bottom line though--JHL does have a significant cinnamon note. For that matter, ginger and vanilla, too, although not as front and center.

 

[pcb01]

Put Aramis on a cigar-roller in Cuba and you have Havana.

Put Aramis on a Provencal funeral director and you have JHL (not a bad thing -- this is my favorite).

Put Aramis on a Italian vintner who, at the end of the day, comes home and spends a couple of hours in a hot kitchen preparing herbed chicken -- ecco Tuscany.

I like all of 'em.

 

[The Knize]

Put Aramis on a cigar-roller in Cuba and you have Havana.

Put Aramis on a Provencal funeral director and you have JHL (not a bad thing -- this is my favorite).

Put Aramis on a Italian vintner who, at the end of the day, comes home and spends a couple of hours in a hot kitchen preparing herbed chicken -- ecco Tuscany.

I like all of 'em.

I was at Macey's in Tyson's Corner, VA, tonight. They, for the first time, had multiple bottles of Havana.

I also tested various of the re-released Amaris-es. pcb01's impressionistic notes seem very good. I would add that Devin is Aramis on a guy wearing Polo Green already. New West smells the least like regular Aramis. It is a nice aquatic to me with some nice wood in there.

I like them all, too. IMHO, though, Havana is the real "class/excitement" of a very good quality group of scents. I can see why folks like JHL so much though.

 

[jakespoppy]

Re comparison of JHL to Havana to regular Aramis. I had cited to Vibert's notes on basenotes as pretty good for each of these frages but I notice that he does not mention cinnamon in the notes on JHL. That seems to me a pretty big omission because most folks smell a fairly prominant note of cinnamom in JHL that I do not sense as being there in Havana or regular Aramis at least with much prominence.

My memory cannot do justice on this point, but to me many bay rums are as much about cinnamon and cloves as they are about any scent from the Carribean bay tree leaf (compare Superior 70 to, say, Ogellala Special Reserve), so this note in JHL may come across as sort of a bay rum reference, which I suppose is manly. My memory is a little confused as Havana has something of a island bay rum or just plain regular old rum quality in the mix, but I had not thought of this as an overlap with JHL. I can tell I need to re-try JHL.

Bottom line though--JHL does have a significant cinnamon note. For that matter, ginger and vanilla, too, although not as front and center.

Quick note on JHL - I agree, to me it does have a significant cinnamon note, but it's not a sweet cinnamon. There's no sweetness to it, which may be why it doesn't get mentioned much or compared to bay rum. At least to me, as you note, the bay rums I've tried seem largely a mix of sweet cloves and cinnamon, where JHL has cinnamon without the cloves and again, no sweetness.

Think about when you were a kid and made cinnamon toast in the oven by spreading butter, sugar and cinnamon on bread, and out of curiosity you smelled, then tasted, just the cinnamon powder by itself...

 

[The Knize]

Quick note on JHL - I agree, to me it does have a significant cinnamon note, but it's not a sweet cinnamon. There's no sweetness to it, which may be why it doesn't get mentioned much or compared to bay rum. At least to me, as you note, the bay rums I've tried seem largely a mix of sweet cloves and cinnamon, where JHL has cinnamon without the cloves and again, no sweetness.

Think about when you were a kid and made cinnamon toast in the oven by spreading butter, sugar and cinnamon on bread, and out of curiosity you smelled, then tasted, just the cinnamon powder by itself...

That sounds right to me on the cinammon for the JHL and it sure does not have any cloves. Pen's Elixir (which I am really liking) I have come to realize has cinammon and I would say the same kind of cinammon, which Pen's lists as "cinammon leaf" for some reason. I think cinammon the spice is an interior layer of bark.

In any event, while JHL may have a strong cinnamon note, that note, whether dry or sweet does dominate the way cinnamon and cloves dominate bay rum! Maybe one could say that JHL references bay rum, but if so, it is rather subtle about it.

I agree that most bay rums are largely sweet cloves and cinnamon. The bay rum I like best for scent is Superior 70 and I suspect that it has little if any clove or cinnamon and is likely pretty much pure bay tree leaf. It also has zero tenacity, which I like. I like bay rum as an after shave, but I do not really like it as a scent at least in the clove and cinnamon version. I highly suspect that true bay tree leaf scent has little staying power and that that is why the clove and cinnamon are added!

 

[grump]

First, I would like to thank cstrother for kindly sending me a sample of Havana for me to try. (Thank You)

Now my initial impressions were that this seamed like Aramis but a bit subdued and smoky.

Havana seams to be a more refined but sexy in that it is a close cologne, where Aramis seams to go out and tap people on the shoulder and let them know you have arrived.

I also must add that I didn't use much at all and it lasted noticeably 5 to 6 hrs, while still getting subtle hints for a few hours after that.

I have added Havana to my must purchase list.