Creed Windsor returns 2010

[The Knize]

Folks on Basenotes are reporting that Creed Windsor will be back this Fall, sold excusively in 8.4 oz flacons at the NYC store limited to 100 total. Price about $650 supposedly.

Start putting together those splits, I suppose. The store is keeping a list. As of a few days ago it was not full.

[Obsessed]

This is crazy. Wasn't Windsor supposed to be a one-time release? What, is Creed going to release eight generations of it and then abdicate their role as its manufacturer?

[warlandsboy]

Boy, if only I could pull off the stunts that Creed does...

[The Knize]

This is crazy. Wasn't Windsor supposed to be a one-time release? What, is Creed going to release eight generations of it and then abdicate their role as its manufacturer?

Interesting question, of course. Here is what Creed seems to have said last time around, Sept. 2009 on its web site:

CREED Windsor
WINDSOR, EXCLUSIVELY HERE

CREED of Paris offers the public for the first time ever -- and only online here -- the extraordinary fragrance Windsor, created in 1936 for King Edward VIII of England from ingredients grown in the British Empire. Edward was the first air pilot to be king, and Windsor is presented in a shatterproof 1.7 oz. leather wrapped bottle ideal for aircraft carry-on (or in an 8.4 oz. flacon numbered by laser and signed by sixth-generation master perfumer Olivier CREED).

Only 320 bottles and 70 flacons will be available in the U.S. Edward made headlines when he quit the throne to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson. He wore Windsor as king and later when he and his wife began a new life in Paris as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, superstars of international society.

Compare to what Creed is currently saying about Vintage Taberome:

Vintage Tabarome: Available again, once only

CREED Tabarome Prive 1.7 ounce shatterproof spray wrapped in caramel Italian leather
CREED is very pleased to announce it is making available to the public one time only a very limited quantity of Vintage Tabarome — sometimes called Tabarome Prive or Private Collection Tabarome — a 19th century masterwork of fragrance by Henry CREED that commands an extraordinary following to this day.

Packaged in CREED leather-wrapped shatterproof atomizers sized at 1.7 ounces, Vintage Tabarome will be offered only at the CREED boutique at 794 Madison Avenue at 67th Street in New York City (1-877-CREED 44) and at www.creedboutique.com, CREED’s exclusive and authorized online boutique serving the US, Canada and Puerto Rico.

This small supply of Vintage Tabarome has been held in reserve by the President of CREED North America for VIP gift-giving and recognition purposes; however, in response to continued inquiries from valued clients, he has generously agreed to relinquish his reserve to the public.
Once it is gone, Vintage Tabarome will be completely unavailable. The CREED family stated this week in France it has no plans to create more Vintage Tabarome because several of its natural components are simply too difficult to source, despite the family’s extensive and longstanding network of growers, farmers and cultivators worldwide. Rather than use “substitute” ingredients yielding an inferior product, the family prefers to defer all production of Vintage Tabarome. It is a decision that places quality and artistry above all other considerations.

[Greyfox]

Simple amazing!

[Cuttingboard]

Folks on Basenotes are reporting that Creed Windsor will be back this Fall, sold excusively in 8.4 oz flacons at the NYC store limited to 100 total. Price about $650 supposedly.

Start putting together those splits, I suppose. The store is keeping a list. As of a few days ago it was not full.

I'd love an ounce or two. What does it smell like??

[professorchaos]

They really do get away with some shenanigans.

[StylinLA]

I'd love an ounce or two. What does it smell like??

It's the oddest scent I own. It's very nice indeed. High, high quality. But I cannot equate it to any other scent I know of. There have been a few threads on Basenotes in which no one has come up with other frags that smell like it. Lots of arguments over its history and whether or not the ingredients are natural or not. BUT nearly all who've tried it praise Windsor as a bad azz piece of perfumery.

I'm not a great notes analyst, but it starts with some eucalyptus and pine- plus a little gin. Shifts soon into a very lush, fresh wet rose unlike any rose note I've run across. Mellows into a sort of cedar and orange. But the rose is the prominent note I get when I wear it. It has very good longevity, but it doesn't project much. Fairly low sillage. I could totally see royalty wearing a scent like this.

It's "personality" is very much like Blenheim Bouquet. Very aloof, rich, master of the house and borderline arrogant if you will. I find it pretty formal. Not tuxedo, though it would be at home there, but I wouldn't wear it casually.

It could I guess be worn by women, but to me the overall effect of the scent is so austere, I don't think many women would want to wear it. It's as masculine a scent as any other male rose based scent, but it's not "macho."

I don't regret buying 1.7 oz of Windsor; I do not love it enough to commit to 8.4 oz flacon. It has a bit of a "novelty" factor with the Duke of Windsor and all that, but it is high end juice for sure. Whether any of the stories about the Duke are true or not I don't know, but this is such an odd duck of a scent, there must be something to it. i.e. No perfumer in their right mind would have invented this sort of scent in 2009. I doubt this would sell as a maintream department store scent. This could only work imo as exactly as it is- a limited edition niche house fragrance.

I would pony up that kind of money for Vintage Tabarome flacon in a heartbeat. That's the king to me.

(note: if you click on the link to my basenotes wardrobe below, then click on Windsor, it will take you to all Basenotes reviews on Windsor for some other perspectives and better notes analysis)

[Cuttingboard]

Most excellent review StylinLA, many thanks.

It has a bit of a "novelty" factor with the Duke of Windsor and all that, but it is high end juice for sure. Whether any of the stories about the Duke are true or not I don't know, but this is such an odd duck of a scent, there must be something to it. i.e. No perfumer in their right mind would have invented this sort of scent in 2009. I doubt this would sell as a maintream department store scent. This could only work imo as exactly as it is- a limited edition niche house fragrance.

What do you mean by "novelty" factor with the Duke of Windsor?

[The Nid Hog]

I'm going to probably pass on this--maybe they'll be a CVS knockoff.

I would pony up that kind of money for Vintage Tabarome flacon in a heartbeat. That's the king to me.)

My best present ever! I love that stuff.

[StylinLA]

QUOTE=Cuttingboard;1958575]What do you mean by "novelty" factor with the Duke of Windsor?] [/QUOTE]

According to Creed, the Windsor fragrance was developed for the Duke of Windsor in the late 1930s. This is supposed to be a reformulation of that same scent. Creed has a quite a rep for attributing many of their frags to celebs, politicians, prime ministers, kings, etc. How involved the actual company is with some of these "urban cologne legends" is unclear. But most SAs will regal you with tall tales about most of the Creed scents. But with Windsor, they very boldly claim it was made for the Duke.

Do you mean Tabarome Millesime?

No, not Tabarome Millesime. Their oldest fragrance was simply called Tabarome. When they put out Tabarome Millesime, the original Tabarome was either called "Vintage Tabarome" or "Private Collection Tabarome." It is an awesome old school tobacco scent. It was recently discontinued and they sold off their last few atomizers at a huge markup.

Supposedley, they can't get the quality level of ingredients, so they won't make Tabarome any more. I believe it to a degree. In addition, I don't really think there's much of a market for that kind of old school scent.

But let me rail about Tabarome Millesime for a minute. I think it is a far finer frag than it ever gets credit for. They really shouldn't have named it that. Sort of like naming a kid Babe Ruth junior. The kid might be a great player, but unless he hits 714 homeruns.....

More guys in here should check out Tabarome Millesime. I wore it over the past weekend and remembered how much I like it. It's just not Tabarome; nothing is. But it's in the same ballpark and worth sampling. .

Top notes are ginger, mandarin orange, bergamot and lemon; middle notes are sandalwood and tahitian vetiver; base notes are musk, tea and tobacco.

It came out in the year 2000, and imo it was Creed's attempt to recreate a version of Tabarome that used materials/ingredients that were more readily available, and was a bit more contemporary.

My theory is that the last batch of the original Tabarome was probably made up over 15 years ago and they knew when it ran out, they would not be able to recreate it anymore. I could be very wrong. I think it was a very slow seller and the supply from their last batch just recently dried up. Goofy old wetshavers like me can get behind a scent like that for sure, but the typical contemporary consumer of men's fragrance today would be a bit put off by it as an "old man scent." (sorry to drag out that term again).

[woodsrider]

Great posts, Stylin. Now I'm really intrigued about Windsor, but probably not enough to purchase a flacon. I'm lucky to have picked up a flacon of Tabarome about a year ago from a NM store in Texas. I wear it about once a week...it's a really unique fragrance.

I have to wonder which ingredients became so hard to source for Tabarome. I've heard the same rumor, although I haven't been able to substantiate it.

[The Knize]

Great posts, Stylin. Now I'm really intrigued about Windsor, but probably not enough to purchase a flacon. I'm lucky to have picked up a flacon of Tabarome about a year ago from a NM store in Texas. I wear it about once a week...it's a really unique fragrance.

I have to wonder which ingredients became so hard to source for Tabarome. I've heard the same rumor, although I haven't been able to substantiate it.

See my post below. That what Creed expressly states on its web site:

"The CREED family stated this week in France it has no plans to create more Vintage Tabarome because several of its natural components are simply too difficult to source, despite the family’s extensive and longstanding network of growers, farmers and cultivators worldwide. Rather than use “substitute” ingredients yielding an inferior product, the family prefers to defer all production of Vintage Tabarome. It is a decision that places quality and artistry above all other considerations."

[Austin]

I was introduced to the Creed line by an ex-girlfriend who picked up a bottle at the Duty Free Paris in the early 90's. Throughout the years they have evolved from a perfume house that produced wonderful scents to a very commercial and uninspiring entity. They were reminiscent of the Floris house and Penhaligons house. Nowadays they just produce expensive synthetic juice. How unfortunate.

[woodsrider]

Thanks for the info and clarification, cstrother.

[The Knize]

Thanks for the info and clarification, cstrother.

My pleasure, Good Sir.

I really fear for these scent old style houses like Pen's and Floris being able to stay in business. But it does bother me that Creed seems to have such flim flam aspect to it. I hope that is not what is needed to stay in business.

[Obsessed]

I was introduced to the Creed line by an ex-girlfriend who picked up a bottle at the Duty Free Paris in the early 90's. Throughout the years they have evolved from a perfume house that produced wonderful scents to a very commercial and uninspiring entity. They were reminiscent of the Floris house and Penhaligons house. Nowadays they just produce expensive synthetic juice. How unfortunate.

I really fear for these scent old style houses like Pen's and Floris being able to stay in business. But it does bother me that Creed seems to have such flim flam aspect to it. I hope that is not what is needed to stay in business.

Creed's business practices are annoying, aren't they? They really do have a lot of nice fragrances (many of which, tellingly, are the older ones), but the way they relate to the customer seems like a protracted and refined version of "thank you sir, may I have another." I guess they need something to convince people that their prices are worth paying. Pens and Floris aren't cheap, but they're not even in the same price ballpark as Creed.

The annoying thing is that I still want a bottle of Creed Vetiver. Those b****rds!

[professorchaos]

I was introduced to the Creed line by an ex-girlfriend who picked up a bottle at the Duty Free Paris in the early 90's. Throughout the years they have evolved from a perfume house that produced wonderful scents to a very commercial and uninspiring entity. They were reminiscent of the Floris house and Penhaligons house. Nowadays they just produce expensive synthetic juice. How unfortunate.

Too true. Add to that the fact that their customer relations is on par with or worse SprintPCS' and you've got a real stinker.

The annoying thing is that I still want a bottle of Creed Vetiver. Those b****rds!

I feel your pain...I want a bottle of Cuir de Russie.

[StylinLA]

The annoying thing is that I still want a bottle of Creed Vetiver. Those b****rds!

Well I shouldn't feed ADs, but I dusted off my bottle of Creeds 1948 Vetiver last week to compare it to Guerlain's Vetiver and it rocked. Hadn't worn it in awhile and I liked it a lot. I didn't remember it had such nice longevity on me.

I have a concern that many of the old Creeds are going to go the way of VT and we'll be left with their newer offerings only.

I have a guess that some of the more current offerings, starting with GIT in the 80's have probably been created using more synthetics. REL, the 1948 version of Vetiver and a few others might be tough to reproduce with the newer standards imposed on perfumers (e.g. No oakmoss). I have no idea what's really in Vintage Tabarome, but I did see a Forbes article from the late 90s wherein Creed said VT was their most expensive fragrance to create. Creed takes a lot well deserved fire, and second guessing about the "history" of some of their scents. But anyone who has worn VT or REL has to believe these are excellent old school well crafted scents.

[StylinLA]

Great posts, Stylin. Now I'm really intrigued about Windsor, but probably not enough to purchase a flacon.

Get a sample from TPC. I blind bought it based on being somewhat of a collector, and PMs with some of the Basenote guys who got it early in its original run.

It's high quality stuff, but it doesn't have the same sort of manly man appeal as Vintage Tabarome. It's not for everybody. It would die a quick death at the Macy's cologne counter.

In hindsight, knowing what I know now, I should have been scouring the country for one of those last flacons of VT instead of the Windsor.