I’m not sure why this scent is so polarizing, but it definitely can be too overwhelming for some occasions. It’s just such an amazing green leathery tobacco-ey scent that smells like money to me. I still have about 5 mL left in my 1995 bottle, so I can’t judge the current formulation.
On the initial spray you definitely get the pine and the patchouli, almost overwhelming. As it dries down you keep some of the “forest-y” smell from the pine, but the “green” smell dies down and evolves into tobacco notes. ralph lauren t shirt As a result I get a “grandpa’s humidor” vibe after the first couple hours. It’s very green, very woody, and there’s a heaping helping of leather and tobacco hanging out very presently to support those green notes.
My Mrs hates it but I keep going back to it for more. Not an everyday one for me it has a time and place and will last me for ages. My parents just celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary this week and of course he wore Polo when he took mom out to dinner in his best tweed suit.
Also, the presence of personal body funk (or the dreaded ‘older man smell’) can render this fragrance just a really ugly air pollutant. I’m sure encounters like this ralph lauren t shirt have turned more than a few people against Polo. I think men who have a strong natural smell to their person are better off with a fresher fragrance to wear.
It’s deep green and herbal, a kind of spicy chypre. It smells like nature, very much like a forest (I’m not sure if the intention here was to evoke a polo playing field or meadow). This is the kind of fragrance that they don’t make now (unless it’s niche). I own two formulas – a bottle from 1997 and a bottle from 2014. The so called “vintage” is heavier on leather and has much darker pine note.
Initially it’s a blast of pine, but that passes quickly, and then it’s straight up tobacco (to my nose, the wife says “pine”). I didn’t care for it at first, but with each polo dress shirts successive wear, it’s wearing me down. I now find it intriguing and want to get to know it better. One spritz of this to the neck/chest lasts for a very long time.