I was introduced to the Booze and Baccy by Captain Fawcett aroma when I bought a bottle in the Lake District. If I wasn’t on holiday, with holiday pocket money to spend, I would have probably ignored it at £65 a bottle. My instincts at that time were that the bottle of Captain Fawcett I bought years ago from TKMax, of a different aroma, was nonetheless one I really liked. Old fashioned and Worldly. Men with charming manners that tipped their hats at ladies would smell of that parfum. When it ran out, I didn’t pursue a replacement. I looked at trying to find a bottle again from time to time but not with intentional purpose. I think a bottle of Woods of Windsor replaced it. I simply remembered the Captain perfume with its old fashioned presentation and how it gave a fantastic feel good factor and had fingers crossed that the Woods of Windsor would echo the same ambience. It didn’t.

The female owner of the Lake District shop was friendly and chatty. My wife, and to some degree myself, had a great conversation with her about setting up and keeping alive a small business. My wife exchanged her own experiences of owning and running her Wholefood shop. I had sprayed a tester of Booze and Baccy onto my wrist, said I would see how it settled and just before I left the shop the lady said, ‘You’ll be back’. She was right. The Booze and Baccy dried on the skin, whacked the senses and I was hooked. We were sitting in a cafe and I was drinking espresso. Kept sniffing my wrist. Don’t think people noticed! The surroundings do matter with odour. It’s all about synergy that develops the stories to how we perceive aroma. The material in the photograph below smells of the herbal and spice qualities that exist within my Musette man bag. The pipe has a burnt tobacco presence. Looking at the photograph could never impart the aromatic take being told here. It’s like opening my essential oil box. A hundred plus bottled aromas within the box float out and crash the mind into a feeling of settlement. It is akin to being in the presence of a clove infused apple pie and being transported back to your grandma’s house.

On reflection, it is the best £65 I’ve spent for well being and feeling great. Instantly my favourite smell of all time. You have to be prepared for the earthy intensity of this scent. Very much an autumn/winter mood about it. It moves through various odours as the day goes by. Straight away a kick of clove and then it softens into the resins of frankincense and benzoin with the spice and fruit of coriander and sweet orange. I often use spice and fruit mixes when mixing my essential oil concoctions. Influenced by a 1970s Jacomo fragrance called ‘Eau Cendree’. I have a vintage bottle bought from Spain about 10 years ago which has lost all of its top notes, but still retains an amazing Cardomom base. It is still discussed as a fragrance that was loved by many. I love using earthy and smoky woodland smells like oak moss, Cade, labdanum and galbanum when mixing my own concoctions. No way I can emulate or mimic this though.

It’s a smell that you have to be confident to wear. People say older guys suit this aroma. Having lived, they can carry it off. But I think younger, bohemian guys, artists, bikers, musicians, could easily carry it off. Ricki Hall, the model who put this synergy together, is Hipster/Bohemian, so probably is the best example. He put the odour balance together didn’t he? Beard, tattoos and cool persona. Me. Older, fits in his skin and comfortable with this Booze and Baccy amongst tweed, cord and denim.

I can imagine the scenario. A guy sitting wearing this aroma in surrounding synergy. An espresso followed by a bourbon or single malt of favourite choice and smoking aromatic café creme or cherry flavoured pipe tobacco whilst listening to favourite music and reading a favourite author from a beaten up vintage book. Music/aftershave/eau de cologne/book/drink/clothes style….whatever gels together is a very personal experience. When aroma hits the limbic system in combination it packs with a punch. It’s a memory in the making. A damp weather drenched Harris Tweed woollen jacket and damp leather boots worn alongside earth’s proffering of woodland aroma can cement synergy. The environment of damp rich earth odour within the woodland walk you undertake can spin its well-being memory story when you revisit woodland again. Creating those memories can be realised aplenty from this parfum. It sits well with other inclusions.

Myself? I simply wear it and enjoy it enveloping the senses throughout the day. It’s gorgeous. It really is that gorgeous. Kipling wrote “Smells are surer than sounds or sights, to make your heart-strings crack”. But a combination related to all the senses, with this on board, rocks.