"Ten Must Try Fragrances" Lists

What would you put on a list of 10 fragrances with which every B&Ber should be familiar? And not what are the "Ten Best Fragrances", but rather what are those that everyone should at least know what they smell like, whether you like them or not, to have at least a reasonably well-rounded introductory-level knowledge of fragrances?

I'm going to start 3 lists here, because it's impossible for me to narrow it down to just 10, and I think these 3 categories are useful. There may be other categories, these are just the three that came to mind, with "Classics" to cover those that we still talk about but some have left in the past, "Current Designer" to cover those that are readily available and used by many, and "Niche" to cover those that are popular here, but most "outsiders" wouldn't even know about.

I'll start with a few, and hope you will help me come up with more ideas to fill up the lists. Feel free to copy the format for the lists without "quoting" me if you like. And remember, these are NOT necessarily your favorites, just those with which every B&Ber should at least be familiar.

Ten Classics:
1. Old Spice
2. Grey Flannel
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Ten Current Designer Fragrances:
1. Aqua di Gio
2. Cool Water
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Ten Niche Fragrances:
1. Green Irish Tweed
2. Guerlain Vetiver
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

The classics:

Grey Flannel
Jovan Musk
Old Spice
Pinaud Clubman
Azzaro
Brut
British Sterling
Lilac Vegetal
Bay Rum
Florida Water


Modern:

Eternity
Obsession
Burberry London
Burberry Brit
Drakkar
Polo Original
Pierre Cardin
Halston Z14

That's the extent of my smelling salts, was never a big fragrance fan until starting wet shaving a year ago.

I love this thread. Will be interesting to see all the nominees for consideration and where we go for consensus - if we can find one. My initial thoughts for consideration:

Classics:
Pen's Blenheim Bouquet
Pen's English Fern
Pen's Hamman Bouquet
Knize Ten
Guerlain Jicky
Guerlain Habit Rouge
Creed Green Irish Tweed
Dior Eau Sauvage
Acqua di Parma Colonia
St John Bay Rum

Modern Designer:
YSL Kouros
Hermes Terre d'Hermes

Niche:
C&S 88 or Domenico Caraceni 1913 (both if there's room)
Montale Oud Cuir d'Arabie

English Leather

I would think the following would be "must tries" for your top 10 list (uncategorized):

Guerlain Habit Rouge
YSL Rive Gauche
Azzaro Pour Homme
Knize 10
Dior Eau Savage
Creed Vintage Tabarome
Creed Royal English Leather
Montale Black Oud (seems to be the most popular Montale or maybe Oud Cuir d'Arabie)
Penhaligon's English Fern
Penhaligon's BB

I think a Caron fragrance would be in order just for house representation, although I'm not sure which one would be the most popular - Probably Pour Un Homme or Yatagan.

I'm sure there are others, but those are the ones that come to mind off the top of my head

Classic:
Jovan Musk
Pinaud Clubman
Brut

Designer:
Caron Pour un Homme
Guerlain Habit Rouge
Terre d"Hermes
Mugler A*men (I know many dislike it but it was Basenotes fragrance of the year more than once)
Caron Third Man
Caron Yatagan
YSL M7
Bulgari Black

Niche:
Montale Black Aoud
Penhaligon's Blenheim Bouquet
Amouage Jubilation XXV
Knize Ten

T&h 1805?

Top 10 uncategorized:

-Chergui
-Tam Dao
-Bois Du Portugal
-Green Irish Tweed
-Piper Nigrum
-Burbery London
-Eau Sauvage
-Acqua di Parma Colonia
-Avignon
-Terre d'Hermes

You can split up the niche versus classic because some are both:

Caldey Island Lavender
Creed Bois du Portugal
Guerlain Coriolan
Caron Yatagan
Caron pour un homme
Guelain Habit Rouge
Knize Ten
Terre D'Hermes
Diptyque Philosykos
Dior Eau Sauvage

I'm not sure I really can define Classic/Modern/Niche in a way that meaningfully separates these categories, so I'll just give you my "Must Try" frags and let you decide (I've intentionally not put them in any particular order):

Knize Ten
Lorenzo Villoresi Vetiver
Penhaligon's Blenheim Bouquet
Guerlain Derby
Guerlain Habit Rouge
Guerlain Jicky
YSL Kouros
Puig Quorum
Creed Green Irish Tweed
Creed Tabarome (Vintage)
Bulgari Black
Floris Vetiver
Maitre Parfum et Gantier Santal Noble
Acqua di Parma Colonia
Creed Windsor
Domenico Caraceni 1913
Dunhill 1934
Creed Bois de Portugal
Caron Yatagan
Mazzolari Lui
Lolita Lempicka au Masculine

Great thread!

There are some excellent lists thus far. The more folks who chime in the better the average or median list will be.

In no particularl order:

1. Montale - cuir d'arabie
2. Nicolai - new York
3. Knize Ten
4. Domenico Caraceni
5. Mazzolari - Lui
6. Czech & Speake - Oxford & Cambridge
7. Rive Gauche pour Homme
8. Ambra Nera
9. Annick Goutal - Sables
10. perfumerie Generale - Cuir d'iris

Is this a classic list for men's fragrances only? Because if it's just classic scents then there are quite a few perfume entries missing.

Trumper's wild fern or Crown Fougere (for Fougere reference)

Thierry Mugler Angel (for gourmand reference)

Guerlain Shalimar (for oriental reference)

Aqua di Gio (for aquatic reference)

Joy by Jean Patou or Chanel No. 5 (for floral reference)

Guerlain Eau de Cologne Imperiale (for citrus reference)

those are the one that come to mind first if I were to recommend "benchmark" scents to anyone.

classics should be called the "AH HELL YEAH" or "THIS IS HOW I ROLL"

creed:greed irish tweed
floris: no89
acqua di parma: colonia
penhaligons blenheim: b
truefitt & hill: 1805
trumper: gft

far to many great scents to name from these cats

modern =creed aventus

I haven't tried too many designer or any niche but here's my list in no particular order:

Old spice
Brut
Stetson
pinaud clubman
cool water
CK one
Drak Noir
Ralph Lauren
Polo Sport
bay rum(any brand)

How did jovan Musk make the list?

And Izod. Excellent Cologne.

I would have to say:

Drakar Noir
Old Spice

Knize Ten
Taylor No. 74 Victorian Limes

Thanks,
Mike

Obsession
Polo
Old Spice
Brut
C&S No. 88
YSL Kouros
YSL Opium
Vintage English Leather
Knize Ten
Acqua Di Gio (yes, I'm serious).

Good thread. I agree with many of the lists even though they are all over the place! I think I would start with jakespoppy's from the first post. This is not so easy, becuase some of these are on here for historical reasons--i.e., they may not be so important these days, but they once were so important that folks on B&B that are into scents out to be familiar with them. Somewhat had to make the split between clasics and designer scents. Some of the designer scents are a bit long in the tooth and are probably classics, too! Re classics, I think some *** have to be included. Guerlain Vetiver is a real hard one to place. A true classic, a designer scent really, and arguably a niche scent. Re the niche scents, I think to name just ten requires picking an exemplar of various types of scents, e.g., rose, leather, etc.

Ten Classics:
1. Old Spice
2. Grey Flannel
3. Brut
4. Canoe (not sure about this one)
5. Clubman
6. Lilac Vegetal
7. Hoyt's
8. English Leather
9. Aramis (does this belong here or under current designer?)
10.A strongly scented bay rum of one brand or another

Ten Current Designer Fragrances:
1. Aqua di Gio
2. Cool Water
3. Issy (for absolutely sure!)
4. Eau Savage
5. Azzaro
6. Polo (Green)
7. Bulgari Black
8. Dolce Garbana
9. Z12--important historically
10. something by Mugler--just because he is a popular modern designer

Ten Niche Fragrances:
1. Green Irish Tweed--because it is so popular and you have to have a Creed on the lilst
2. Guerlain Vetiver (could go under any of the categories)
3. Oud Cuir de Arabie (or some other good leather)
4. 88 (multi purpose, rose, etc.--but everyone should know it--I personally think a C&S scent meeds to be on the list-might pass slightly as an incense scent, too)
5. Knize Ten (just because we love it on this forum)
6. Floris No. 89 (just because it is always going to come up) I am going to cheat and put Acqua di Parma here, too, because even though different they are similar and just come up too often not to know--you could put DC 1913 here too)
7. Pens BB--have to have a Pens on the must try list and it comes up all the time and is polarizing--I personally think it is one of the best scents every created and you may think the same, too, so no one should miss it!
8. Habit Rouge--it just comes up too often and is a good example of a French, somewhat, sweet scent
9. Tam Dao--I would really say Santal Noble because MPG should be on here somewhere and you need a sandalwood of some sort, but Tam Dao provides other woods besides sw, and it is one that comes up all the time; AOS is not a bad choice here either and illustrates that not every nich scent has to be some expensive foreign desgner
10. Jicky or MdM-very old school and very animalis but still niche scents--not sure what the call this type of scent--"fecal" but something to show that things that do not seem like they would smell good, can in a scent!
11. Something like Caron 3d Man or Pour Homme, or PdN Pour Homme or even C&S O&C--because Caron and PdN should be on here and there needs to be something light with lavender in it; Caron come up a lot, so does PdN, and Lavender sure does!
12. some gourmand--not my favorite type but folks should know what a gourmand scent is like

Sorry to have gone to 12!

Knize, i've been waiting for your post and it didn't disappoint, great run down!

Great posts, gents! I was in meetings today, and stopped getting email updates of posts and thought ya'll had lost interest. I was shocked to see the post count had climbed to 18! Apparently, when you don't log back in, you stop getting email notifications of posts to threads you've subscribed to.

I love seeing all the fragrances everyone has added. It really makes me appreciate what a kindred spirited group we are in many ways with so many common scents, and also what a diverse group we are with those scents that either aren't so common to the group, or that I'm not as tuned in to.

Please, keep the additions coming. I'd like to hear from as many of you as possible. And remember, these are the foundational scents with which we all should be familiar.