Hey Crew, I might have blind bought myself a bottle of Tabac Sahara when I grabbed L’Heure Bleue 2026. It was a good deal from overseas and I think I got free shipping for spending that amount. They arrived about a week later. I’ve been looking at the boxes and a few days ago it was Opening Ceremony time.I feel like, no matter how badly LVMH treats Guerlain I still hold out hope. When they get it right, they get it so right. Delphine Jelk has signed off on it so I’m very interested to smell where she has taken the idea. To be honest, the note list gave me pause, BUT I was very excited to try.
Before you spritz for the first time. This is a multi wear love story. The more often I wear it, the more deeply I fall in love. Sometimes the initial heft overtakes a balanced viewpoint. Please give Tabac Sahara a few wears before you fully judge it.
Tabac Sahara by Guerlain Absolus Allegoria 2026
Top: Raspberry, Citrus
Heart: Tobacco, Red Berries, Rose Oil
Base: Woodsy Notes, Amber, Ambergris, Vanilla
WHOA! That opening smells like cherry cough mixture. It’s hilarious and slightly toxic. Raspberries? No, not really.Then the first minute smells like children’s hospital disinfectant. An extremely combative cross between medicinal, cleaning, confectionary and hairspray.
Then Tabac Sahara takes a few calming steps back.
The fragrance seems to coalesce into a syrupy version of Attir, the honeyed rose sugar in middle eastern cooking and perfumes. Even with the funky backdraught that I smell in so many of the fragrant oils. Personally I find this combination of super sweet gourmand roses and funky vanilla rich amber be overwhelming. It needs some serious cooling off time before I start to really enjoy the ride.
Then we get to ten minutes later…
The early stages of dry down happen and then Tabac Sahara becomes a linear rose/amber with very light funk and a quiet nod to the salty fetidness of ambergris. This is where I fall deeply in love. Still sweet, but so much more than that. There is depth and breadth and interest. I think the melding with my own scent makes it feel less other, and it becomes fabulously delightful. One thing I wish there was is a dark, woodsy, barnyard oudh to ground the scent even more and give it some gravitas.
Imagine if Creed Carmina, Estée Lauder Modern Muse Le Rouge Gloss and an attar melded and you’ll understand what Sahara Tabac smells like to me.
Not for the faint of heart and definitely not something for close working, dinner or movies. Unless it’s the back end of the day and you’ve not topped up.
Surrender To Chance has samples
In Feb 2026 I talked about Cuir Intense, also from the Guerlain Absolus Allegoria line.
Are you lemming yet?
Portia xx
Ok Portia. I need this. It sounds like my kinda scent.
Woo Hoo! I’ll take that enabler pin thanks Pam.
I advise to try before you buy.
Portia xx
WHOA is right! Sounds like you have to get through 10 minutes of awfulness to get to the good part. Oddly enough, the note lists reads fairly good to me. I won’t go out of my way to try it but I suspect my curiosity just might get the better of me should I run across samples!
Hey Maya,
It wasn’t super dooper awful but it was a kind of off-balance equilibrium discomfort. It was definitely a surprise.
Portia xx
Cherry cough syrup – usually a hard no from me. Then you brought in hospital disinfectant, one of my comfort smells. I might just need a sniff of this
WOW Alityke, that’s such an interesting comfort smell. OMG! You are going to flip for this.
Portia xx
Mum was a nurse & had that phenolic disinfectant whiff about her after her shift. I worked in hospitals from 18 to 55 including a spell in an old fever hospital where the phenol disinfectant has soaked into parquet flooring & the very air was infused with that miasma. At the end of a shift everyone was wearing a veil of that deeply woody antiseptic “hospital” smell.
WOW! All the while doing what you could to help the unwell. Amazing.
lol! TBH not sure the people on the buses going home thought I smelled good
HA!
Yes. You had me at Cherry Cough syrup.
HA! Tom, this might float your boat.
Portia xx
I am thinking of getting a decant of the new L’heure Bleu but I don’t have high hopes that it is good.
Cherry isn’t a favorite note of mine. I just find it too sweet.
Hey Eldarwen22,
I blind bought a L’heure Bleu 2026. It sits here unopened because I’m terrified it’s going to be crap. HA!
Yeah, I would like perfume cherry to smell more like cherry. Not cherry cola/vodka vomit.
Portia xx
Whoa whoa whoa this sounds right up my weird alley. I would 100% wear cherry cough syrup and wade my way through hospital disinfectant. We’re flying to a “real” city this weekend, I can look for it, although tbh ordering it up from StC makes a lot more sense. Thank you for the heads up!
March! I can’t wait to read if you liked or loathed it.
Portia xx
I don’t even know what to say about this. Cherry cough mixture … Hospital disinfectant…
actually what this makes me think is that I need backups of Mitsouko and Shalimar perfume before someone at LVMH decides they are surplus to requirements.
Cinnamon,
You are correct.
I have back ups of all my faves.
portia xx