Dogs have been a big part of my life. My first baby pictures feature a series of photos with Snowball, my aunt’s black (yes, Aunt Lois had a sense of humor) Cocker Spaniel. In those shots, Snowball has her tongue up my nose, in my ears and all round my mouth. (Ah, the long-ago days when the fear of germs didn’t rule our lives.) Judging from the pictures, I remained calm during Snowball’s onslaught.
How many dogs have I known by name? I stopped counting today at 40…the list is too long. I’ve known worthy dogs, wacko dogs, giant dogs and mini-dogs. My face has been kissed by dogs; my legs have been humped by dogs; and I, and my dogs, were bitten by “bad” dogs (I’ve already written about Shaggy). I still love dogs!
The last two canines in my life were Don Diego de Fontana (a pug) and The Hon. Brenda Catchpole (English bulldog). Since their “departures,” I miss their scent in my home. Over the years, I tried to identify the combination of aromas that comprised my dogs; they smelled like a mixture of raw cocoa (a somewhat musky-meaty aroma), honey, yeast (freshly baked bread meets ear infections), hay, vinegar, old fashioned musk, cured tobacco, Aveda Shampure shampoo, medicated ointment, cotton balls and corn chips.
I’ll bet for most of you, that list of “notes” does not sound appealing, but whenever I’m lucky enough to meet English bulldogs or pugs, I place my nose in the shallow indentation situated between their round foreheads and their flat noses and inhale. That sweet, soft, comforting, powdery smell packs an emotional punch and brings back great memories, thousands upon thousands of laughs.
Imagine my shock when I found a perfume that conjures the aromas of my dogs. Odori Tabacco does not contain ALL my “dog accords” (what scent could? even my dogs’ scents fluctuated) but it comes closest for me in reviving the smells of Diego and Brenda. (Odori should accept this as a great compliment, based as they are in dog-loving Florence, Italy.)
Tabacco contains bitter orange, incense, eucalyptus, jasmine, vetiver, vanilla, oak moss, and tobacco leaves. Tabacco’s notes trickle, one by one, into each other, creating a fast-changing stream of interesting accords. Tabacco starts off with a bitter orange-eucalyptus-incense accord that supplies my cotton-ball/ointment dog-scent requirement (it’s a clean, slightly ‘old fashioned’ medicinal aroma); next up: jasmine-vanilla which has a natural, fresh, expensive shampoo vibe with a hint of vinegary astringency. Though no cocoa is present in Tabacco, there is a sharp cocoa powder-like note mixing with vanilla in mid-development (not “food-y” in the least) that leads to an even rougher musky tobacco-hay-honey accord. Oak moss (very discernible to me) and vetiver add a nice “outdoorsy” element to the composition.
As you’ve probably guessed, my dogs smelled GOOD; they were well groomed and constantly “scented” thanks to their proximity to two perfume-wearing owners. For you non-dog-centric readers, Tabacco, especially its base notes, brings to my mind (and nose) an imagined morning at the “spa” for a gentleman, circa 1900; the perfume contains the aromas of a well-appointed barbershop, where men were allowed to smoke their pipes and cigars as they got a shave and a haircut.
Tabacco has excellent sillage and lasting power. In my current canine-less house, Tabacco’s $210 price does not seem too extravagant given its power to evoke two beloved, and much missed, dogs.
Odori Tabacco Eau de Toilette (which smells more like an Eau de Parfum to me) is $210 for 100 ml; for buying information see the listing for Odori under perfume houses.
Note: Top image of Diego and middle image of Brenda by the author; middle images — Fritos via fritolay and Heinz Vinegar via heinzvinegar; all other images via Wikimedia Commons (clockwise from bottom-middle – Aztec tobacco, cotton ball, musk deer, bread, ointment, cocoa, honeycomb and hay field).
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I’m sorry to hear about the departure of Diego – I was just reading an old post yesterday about an incident when you were walking Diego and some “dudes” drove by in their car. I adore my dog and I’m not looking forward to the day he departs. In fact I like to imagine he’ll live forever. As I’ve droned on before I LOVE the smell of dogs (they have to be dry though). This fragrance sound really nice, expensive but worth it if it reminds you of your precious dog friends.
Laken…yes, a dry dog is a must!
I love the pug scent-note collage (complete with bag of fritos)! Thanks for the great read, Kevin. It’s amazing when a scent can conjure up the happy memories of a loved one.
EE: I love the smell of Fritos. HA!
What a beautiful review, Kevin. We just lost one of our dogs at 15, and I see her kind brown eyes every time I look into the woods behind our house. There is nothing like the joy of having a dog (or better still, dogs), and to find a fragrance that brings them back to you is magical. I hope that more lucky dogs find their way into your life; you sound like one of nature’s innate “dog people”.
And it always makes me laugh when people start shouting about germs from doggy kisses: dogs have about half the bacteria in their mouths that humans do. (Kittehs have roughly twice, hence the delectable “kitteh bref” accord that I love above all other smells).
Oh Dzing, I’m so sorry about your girl. Fifteen years is a good run for a dog. My beloved Newfoundland will be eight this year, the scary birthday I don’t like to think about because average lifespan for a giant breed is 8 – 10 years. I have known some 12 year old Newfies, do I’m hopeful. She is a giant, stinky, slobbery farm dog and if I announced to my husband that I was spending over $200 on a perfume that smells like dogs he would kill me.
Kevin, I will have to look through the archives for articles about your dogs. I loved this one. We had a pug (a retired show dog who left too soon) and my son really wants an English Bulldog. The brachycephalic dogs do have a particular “corn chip accord” about them with their warm, moist facial folds. Great article, again.
Ah yes, country dogs do find an amazing variety of dogfumes ranging from the unspeakable to the horrifying! And don’t you love it when they come trotting back to show off their lovely perfume with a big smile on their face!
Winifrieda: those “fumes” usually involved a dead animal or cow “patties!”
Winifrieda, we had a family dog who many, many times used to roll in anything dead, and come in stinking to high heaven. We would have to bathe her, and I think thats what slowly cured her of rolling in dead things because she hated baths!
Thanks Julia – our other dog is a Great Pyrenees and he’s 8 too, so I know the feeling. He’s a big stinky shedding machine who drools all over the furniture and I love him to bits!
Aw! Does he drool on the walls, too? My Hanna has managed to get drool in places I can’t even reach when she shakes her head. Of course, Newfies are water dogs with webbed paws which act like spoons and she still loves playing in the water bowl and sticking her head under faucets. I swear she can walk around her mud-room and the floor stays dry, but enter the living room and all the water stored between her toes comes out. She does her best coat shaking in the living room, too. Not really the dog for people who don’t like the smell of wet dogs. 🙂
Speaking of vet bills, my girl blew out her ACL when she was about two playing with Johnny Pug and we opted for TPLO surgery. I now consider myself an amateur veterinary orthopedic specialist – her new knee cost about as much as a year at Vet. school. Another issue like that and my perfume buying days will come to a screeching halt. Temporarily.
Julia: I knew several Newfoundlands who lived well beyond the 10 year mark, so don’t let the “numbers” get you down. I just realized yesterday with one of my cats I need to redirect some of my “perfume money” to a vet fund!
Tell me about it! One of my cats is going to the vet at the moment more than I go to my perfume box. He had to have an op on his paw which became infected and wouldn’t respond to antibiotics. Now I have to have him trapped inside with one of those elizabethan collars on.
Laken: at least those collars are SEE THROUGH these days…I remember when they were solid colors.
Oh no! The Cone of Shame! poor thing.
oh poor kitty-I do hope he will be ok….
Yes, thats it, the cone of shame! He has been really put out having to wear it, and looks sourly through it at me, and bumping into things with it. I took it off to give him a break but then he wouldn’t leave his foot alone.
Dzingnut: true…I was WAAAAAY more afraid of the human mouths that came my way when I was a child!
Agreed. Human bites are much more dangerous than dog bites. Dogs have such short digestive tracts that their stomach acids are several times stronger than ours, thus less bacteria. Kitty bites can be bad if they are puncture wounds, and scratches can turn into a problem fast if immediate action isn’t taken.
My kitty, Crazy Pete, looks like a big adorable fluffball but he has an edge to him (hence the name). He has a lot of “games” that are fun and funny and sometimes draw blood. However, he is 14, almost two years older than my son, and he still loves children. He is sometimes an outdoor kitty and all the neighbours know him and some of their grandchildren ask to visit Pete whenever they come to town. He’s not outside much now that he is older (and deaf from birth), so they knock on the door and ask for him! It is so cute.
What a fantastic list of dog notes. (and I like the images to go with them) I am also a dog (and cat) lover, and love the individual smells that they have. I will look for this Odori.
HappilyKim: it’s a very nice perfume…hope you can sniff it.
What a wonderful review. (Pugs and English bulldogs are some of my favorites dogs, though I’ve never owned either.) Although I now live with cats, I grew up with dogs around all the time and I love how you’ve captured their varied “aromas”. (My sister’s cat smells like corn chips too, BTW!)
Jill: I’m still searching for the PERFECT cat fur perfume.
We all are! We need to send a petition to CB IHP, especially since he likes cat fur, too, as I recall.
Katie Puckrick had something on her blog the other day where someone was wanting a dog-scented perfume. Sounds like this would have been perfect. This person also mentioned the Frito accord, which is funny as I’ve never noticed this in any dogs I’ve smelled. (Not that I go around smelling dogs, but I admittedly do kiss just about any animal I come in contact with, so I inevitably get a good whiff in there.)
Only vaguely related: I’ve always said anyone who loves animals can’t be a bad person. (I may have to re-think that if I’m ever to stumble upon the information that Hitler had a beloved chihuahua, or Pol Pot adored bunnies. )I love your devotion to your dogs, Kevin.
Just wanted to add, if someone could create something that smelled like my favorite cat ever, I wouldn’t consider $210 either. (He smelled like Kix cereal and milk, by the way.)
Miss K: that sounds like a charming scent…perfect for a little girl!
Yeah, I guess it wouldn’t work on an old lady like me! 😉
Thanks for the shout-out, Miss Kitty V! A reader alerted me to the dog-fume zeitgeist happening in the blogosphere, so I trotted on over. I can suggest a possible cereal-kitty scent for you: Lostmarch Lann-Ael.
Ooh! I still haven’t tried that one! Good to know!
BTW, I accidentally deleted half my comment before and just now noticed it. I meant to say I wouldn’t consider $210 to be too much.
the corn chip scent is generally found in dog feet! it’s strange, but most dogs i know have frito feet -“dog feet fritos” on google brings up 41K responses!
Odonata9: I blame those corny feet on the licking mixed with constant outdoor walks (dampness).
Okaay – I’m gonna do it…gonna sniff the dogs’ paws…umm soon..
here goes
oh my god
ITS TRUE! Corn chips! (I presume that’s Fritos)
Unbelievable, how can that be???
Actually recovering from the shock, I realise I have always ‘known’ that dogs paws smell like that, but, I guess I’d always assumed…that … that …they’d had their feet in the.. umm, ?!? amazing! Strange that dog feet smell so nice, whereas human and horse don’t!
I LOVE that dog foot smell. And then there’s the yummy smell of puppies – a combination of skunk and toast.
I love the way dogs smell, even when wet. It smells like love. While reading this beautiful review, I was pulling out my wallet to place an order. Then I realized that I could just spend that $210 on treats and food and new collars and leashes for our dogs (Bruce and Flora, both retriever mixes). That would make all of us happy, instead of just me….
Miss K: Hitler supposedly was a “dog lover”…but there are some chilling home movies of him with his dogs cowering all around him…so I assume he was not their favorite person!
Yeah, I would assume it was more a control thing with him. One more thing to beat into submission. Lovely. Poor dogs. Geez, that would be a sucky lot in life–being Hitler’s dog. (Or, you know, being anyone in proximity to Hitler, obviously.)
734elizabeths: YES…buy dog food and treats instead of perfume in this case!
Apparently Hitler loved animals and was a vegetarian..
Hitler was a vegetarian, seriously? wow, I had no idea…..
Hitler’s beloved dog was a German shepherd named “Blondie”. Blondie died in the Berlin bunker where Hitler and his wife committed suicide. He apparently tested the poison on Blondie first. Some biographers claim he had more sympathy for animals than people..I think they are right.
All this does not stop me from wanting a german shepherd to join my family..they are very very intelligent dogs. And they smell good 🙂
Glad to know I’m not the only one who equates Frito breath w dogs. Tabacco sounds very interesting. Great review. Arf Arf!
meadowbliss: thanks!
My Bichon Frise Muppet would smell of hay, dark musk, rain, daisies, jasmine, talc, ice cream accord and red roses: hay for smell of home, musk for all the warmth she gives, rain for her sense of whimsy, daisies for her playfulness, jasmine cause she’s beautiful, talc for the comfort and innocence, ice cream cause she loves it and is so sweet, and red roses for her (and my) true love.
I know, sappy right?
alotofscents: this is the perfect place to be “sappy!”
Not sappy in the least. Read Muppet your eloquent words and I’m sure it will be very appreciated. You have described the muppet of my dreams…
Not at all! I consider my kitties part of the family!
Not sappy at all alotofscents! I think it’s beautiful!
Thanks you guys. I do love her. I might have to be committed when she dies….gasp.
I fell apart when my sweet Sophie died (my black and white kitty). I swore I’d not have another. But 2 months later I was combing the wonderful Humane Society we have in Broward County and came home with a brother and sister duo (they were having a 2 for one special). I think they saw the sucker sign on my forehead when I walked in.
I love your perfume as an ode to your pet! I’d buy it just on principle. Is there a perfumer reading this who’d make it and bottle it for us?
Dixie: I’m betting the “Fritos” note would be left out by any perfumer!
Kevin!
Get thee to the pound!
xoxo,
Your Fan.
AHTX: I would if I could, believe me!
Our very WET St. Bernard mix, Hugo, is sitting at (OK, on) my feet right now. He and I really liked your review!
Haunani: give him a big ole hug from me.
Hugo, AKA, “Mr. Hugs”, loved your hug, Kevin, and sends a slightly sloppy kiss back to you! I’m thinking of spraying him with my SotD, Dark Earth, to mitigate the wet doggy doggy-ness. Then both he and I will smell pretty close to our delicious post-rain “outside” smell!
I myself have an English Bulldog, the lovely and amazing Hazel. She never fails to put a smile on the face of everyone she meets, such a character! Though I love her to pieces, my favorite pet smell is kitty and I would kill for a fragrance that smells like my little soft and snuggly black cat, he smells sooooo good. So I really do believe how excited you must be to find your dog scent. Congrats!
K-Scott: my cats are so perfumed from getting in the line of the perfume spritzers, getting hugs, laying on likewise perfumed sheets, sofas and laying around scented candles I have no idea what they smell like “naturally” anymore! An outdoor cat with cool fur and the scent of leaves, grass is a wonderful thing though.
K-Scott, I had a little calico cat named Hazel. Great name!
I enjoyed your dog-in-a-bottle reverie, Kevin (and the Dada artwork)! Lee from Perfume Posse chimed in on my post on Frito-footed dogs that he has nominated Cumming by Alan Cumming as his pet-in-a-perfume selection. I do love the idea of distilling the essence of an entire being into a fragrance. Which can backfire: my perfume pen pal Dan once discovered, to his distress, that Profumum Thundra summed up his mildewy high school gym teacher.
KP: ah! I have a sample of Thundra here so will have to try it now…I love “mildew” in the right concentration/composition!
Excellent review, as usual. Now I HAVE to try this scent. Glad to know I am not the only person who thinks a dog’s paws smell like Fritos!
skrzypce: you are NOT ALONE! HA!
Nice canine-nostalgic review, Kevin. I have no scent memory of Brandy — the pony of a dobie-shepherd mix/mutt who was pretty much the best friend of my teen years — though she took a nap with me on the sofa almost every day after school. I’d love to have a dog again and hopefully will some day (big believer in rescue and shelter animals too).
The only Odori I’ve tried is the saffron, but Tabacco sounds interestingly cozy and warm.
Joe: I like the whole line…if only they were 50 ml!
I live with both Newfoundlands and Great Pyrenees and we all appreciated this review. With this much hair and drool around I spend a significant amount of time making sure that I DON”T smell like my dogs so I won’t be purchasing a bottle of this.
On the upside, I’ve realized that my Pyr might have a little bit of the perfumista in her. She loves to sniff whatever I’m sampling!
Thanna: encourage her! Diego would come to the command “SMELL MY PERFUME!” he’d scrunch up his forehead and REALLY concentrate on my arm or wrist
Oooooh – wonder if I could train her to do that? I love working with my dogs and teaching them new things. I’m going to try this. Thanks for the idea, Kevin!
Sweet post, Kevin. Thanks.
Love my darlin’ doggie, Hayley (beagle-lab mix), but I don’t think she smells very good. I’d rather smell my kitty, Silvia.
Mals86: Beagles are VERY fragrant, aren’t they? They were the first dogs we had when I was a child.
What a wonderful post! I’ll be searching for my Odori samps tomorrow morning…and Bois Farine, too. One of my favorite smells is my Stella’s head, just in front of her ears. She’s some sort of pointer mix, so she has those soft cheeks (aka ‘jowly bits’ in my home) and flying nun ears. It’s the greatest smell of comfort and love…
Kevin, thanks for sharing that!
Flirtation D: you’re welcome…and Bois Farine is great.
I haven’t tried any of the scents in this line, but this one sounds like a lovely fragrance! I’ve always been reminded of beloved dogs when I eat Fritos or go for a walk in the woods. I had a beloved beagle who smelled like dried leaves, moist earth, baked bread and tree bark.
The only exception was the three mini dashunds I owned in the mid-90’s. They LOVED to roll around on dead things-they were in heaven if they found a skunk or squirrel.. ugh.
SmokeyToes: and they get so HAPPY when they smell like a corpse!
Why do dogs have the corn chip smell? Is it that their food is cornmeal?
I’m so glad others smell the frito-lay accord on their dogs cuz I thought I was dreaming it.
Don’t many dog foods have a grain base to them?? I wonder if it comes out their pores-much like when we’ve consumed too much garlic.
LOL!
OMG OMG OMG !!!!!!
I LOVE WHEN YOU POST ABOUT DOGS AND PERFUME AND I TOTALLY GET WHAT YOU MEAN !!!!!]
ok i have two bulldogs , a female english bulldog brulee and a french male bulldog brownie ( i know i should have changed the names ,LOL) , anyways what i love smelling is their paws and they smell of popcorn and the perfume that i associate with popcorn the most is DZING , i love DZING but i only spray some of it when i want to feel calm and i feel so calm when i am around my dogs , i am sorry for the lost of diego and brenda , have you ever considered a frenchie , i swear is love pure love !!!!!!!!
Glad you mentioned this — English Bulldogs are not my favorite but I LOVE Frenchies. So cute! They make me laugh and smile every time I see one.
teachesofpeaches: Frenchies are delightful!
what a wonderful piece! you brightened up my day. I am sick and bedridden, with our yellow lab on my side. I’ve loved dogs too, ever since I was a kid and it was not until 5 years ago that I finally got one. What a pitty the dog’s life is so short…
have to check the fragrance, dog in a bottle 🙂
zara: hope you feel better soon…you’re lucky to have a “dog nurse” at your side.
I doubt that I will try this fragrance as it sounds a little too masculine for me, but I enjoyed reading your review. The loss of your two beloved friends is so sad. I’ve never had a pug, but I know them pretty well as my Uncle had one [for 20 years!!] and a best friend has three [yes, three]. Next time I visit with my friend, I will try to not be so distracted by the adorableness and hilarious antics of her little fellows and give them a sniff. 🙂
RusticDove: it’s hard to have just one pug (sort of like having just one Frito!) Enjoy the bounty!
NEWBIE! Love the remembrances, what a day for me to start reading your blog. I have TWO pugs…I call them Chinese Foo Dogs, but my husband calls them Chinese Food Dogs, because their paws smell like Chinese noodles. I adored your dog notes….Diego’s face must have been somewhat cleaner than my babies’…at times there are definitely some other scents in there as well. Pew!
I am at a loss….I have been reading backwards in your blog and am trying to find the right scent.
I wear Oshadhi Roots – a very very weird perfume that smells like earth, and dirt. The reason I’m trying to switch is because I think I’m the only person in the world who wears this. There’s only one store, online, to get it…I called Oshadhi directly and they told me that’s the last available place.
I hope I’m not crossing lines here, but I thought you might be able to make a suggestion if I listed the ingredients. I don’t care if the replacement is a men’s or women’s fragrance, but it’s MY scent. I would hate to lose it!
What they list is: Sandalwood, Oakmoss, Vetiver, Cabreuva…there must be more. Some people say I smell like Rosemary, others detect a hint a Patchouli.
Any ideas, oh ye of the amazing shnoz?
Many thanks, Bridget
Bleroy103: First, welcome! Second, count me among those who have not heard of that perfume you love! It sounds pretty straightforward ingredients wise except for the Cabreuva (I’ve smelled that wood and if I remember correctly it smelled like rich toasted cashews!) I’d have to smell Oshadhi Roots before I could even attempt a sensible recommendation, but off the top of my head I thought of Terre d’Hermes, Coach for Men and the rootiness of Gentiane Blanche by Hermes and Prada Infusion d’Homme. Encre Noir by Lalique is a good one too….
I’ve definitely experienced the “Frito Feet” phenomenon with all of my dogs. Teddy is our current dog, a long-haired German Shepherd, and I think she smells fantastic, and I’ve thought I’d like some of her scent incorporated in a perfume. It’s nice to know I’m not the only one who thinks such crazy things!
SBS: you’re not alone, not at all!
Kevin, great review and wonderful post! I love it when the talk is about ‘fumes and pets. 🙂
My dear, departed standard poodle boy, Nemo, had the most wonderful smell, a little like your guy’s – musky and yeasty, like fresh, soft white bread. I used to love to bury my nose in his neck. Of course, being the “black sheep” that he was, sometimes his scent was overlaid with other ones not so sweet! Never have I seen another dog personify so literally a “sh*t-eating grin” than the day we went for a long walk in a reserve where there were horses who left their remains on the trail. OMG his favorite treat ever, I think.
The girl I have now, Lola, is a much more refined sort. I had an old bottle of 24 Faubourgh which I didn’t wear any more, and I used to sprtiz a bit on her after her brushings. Until my DH requested me to cease and desist. Must have got carried away one day.
It is so cute that your dog would obey the command, “smell my perfume.” 🙂 I would have loved to have seen that!
Anne: the funniest part was he took that command VERY seriously!
I can just imagine. 🙂