Description
On his visits to Cuba, Czech & Speake’s Founder Frank Sawkins was inspired to create a
fragrance of the same name, which evokes the island’s dignity, laid-back life-style and
exotic flair. A heady, spicy mix of essential oils, Cuba
is reminiscent of the eponymous island’s vibrant
flora.
Inspired by the old town of Havana, its Latin
rhythms, smooth cigars, fine rums and exotic
beauties, this fragrance bursts into life with the
initial top notes of bergamot, lime, peppermint and
a hint of rum. Layered with a mélange of spicy and
floral middle notes, mainly rose, clove and bay,
Tonka beans add a subtle softness with their scent
reminiscent of freshly mown hay. The lasting base
notes of tobacco mixed with the richness of
frankincense, cedar wood and vetiver round off this
striking fragrance.
Available in 100ml Cologne. Introduced in 2002. The nose is John Stephen.
dyessysipseni – :
Imagine that you’re standing in between two people, one of whom is smoking tobacco, and the other is sucking on a curiously strong peppermint.
ElennaPrekrasnay – :
Before the drydown this reminds me of YSL Pour Homme, at least La Collection version that I have. Dirty citrusy mint. Citruses and mint sounds clean, but all that surrounds them makes it a little bit dirty. Drydown here is less original, but still good. Classy and mature.
zaffer – :
I’ve tried hundreds if not thousands of fragrances and this is the only one after which I had to rush to the bathroom to scrub off.
lamini – :
Not getting this ‘fecal’ note either. Just got a sample of this and to me its camphor that passes quickly, followed by a brief bit of lime (mojito?) and then settling into a warm, rich tobacco with a hay like note. I suppose I can see how someone can get a fecal note from certain cigars, but the cigar in this is so tame. Overall it really does evoke memories of Old Havana for me. Not so much the camphorous part but what if settles into quickly following that.overall an interesting fragrance that keeps me trying to figure out what’s in it, in a good way
ceyhun – :
“Wonderfully poopy” isn’t something I imagined I’d ever say about a fragrance, but there you go.
юрец22года(БАЙКЕР) – :
I am reviewing this based off a sample, so I was surprised to see that the bottle looks like off-brand budget liqueur. I am also surprised to see remarks about a supposed “fecal note” being brandished about in the reviews – my nose picks up nothing of the sort.
This fragrance reads both very green and dark, musty brown to my nose, dry tobacco and something rather camphor-like; somewhat similar to Maison Incens Tabac Licorii but the latter is saltier and less complex. I can detect every single listed note in this composition if I choose to focus on them independently, which is oddly satisfying.
Having never visited Cuba, smelling this fragrance does evoke what I imagine Old Havana to be like – walking along narrow streets after dark, the rhythms of timba musicians and inviting golden lights luring you into a small pub where a giant fan is set to max speed but you would never know it existed unless you saw it, the stifling air inside being offset by natives in good spirits, sipping on rum, smoking cigars, playing chess.
A caramel-skinned woman with red lips and black eyes is dancing with her partner for the evening in the middle of the room, her flowy dress and black curls creating a pleasant movement of air in your direction in the packed locale. Out of the two of them, I feel like the gentleman would certainly be the one wearing this perfume, not her. As a woman, I could see myself wearing it, but as a very Finnish person living in The Netherlands it feels like it would be false advertising for me to wear it.
zgd368bedyWelty – :
An opening of… Hamster bedding? Which quickly fades into a mojito, and then a burst of rich, pungent tobacco and then… Gone, with a trace of musk. All in 30 minutes. What a disappointment. I love when a perfume develops so drastically, but not so quickly!
AnastasiyaNovikova – :
Okay so…
‘Horrendous but interesting’ is my appraisal.
Despite wanting to try these C&S fragrances for ages now and without prior knowledge of this ones notes or reading anything about it, I’d assumed with a name like ‘Cuba’ it would be all about Tobacco…perhaps coffee too? but definitely some warm juice.
I was correct in my assumption and like the true perfume lover I am, I except that certain unpleasant notes may be intrinsic in making a masterful composition.
I scanned over the reviews here and only had to venture a couple down to see the dreaded ‘F’ word!
Yes I too get the fecal in this and it taints my appreciation of what starts out pretty bad but in a different way.
The opening is sickening boozy almost like the breath of drunk but a drunk who’s trying to cover it up with mints! A twist of lime in there kinda works with the rum and mint but also makes this even louder and more odd.
Really the minty accord is menthol like and adds such a strange dimension because you can tell there’s going to be a strong tobacco about to develop. There’s a spicy blend of bay leaf and clove in here which is not helping Cuba’s cause either.
When it does develop things get more intriguing still and there it is the pleasing, slightly dirty but accurate tobacco…that is for a second then…Feces!
It’s almost to the point you move your head away in disgust but if applied to your neck or chest not a lot you can do!
Then minty tobacco comes back (which isn’t even nice)…and you give it another chance then…fecal mote again.
I smoke cigars on rare occasions and when choosing a particularly full bodied Cubanos they do indeed have a slightly unpleasant note to them, like an earthy manure type smell…maybe this is what C&S have tried to capture? Instead of fresh dried, countryside cowpat I get synthetic stink bomb, a smell which exceeds rather than emulates nature.
I’m not a fan of C&S Cuba…whoever likes this or wants to acquire the taste good luck to you! Or if you’re among the people who don’t know what others are talking about when then describe this awful note…It must be great for you having a fragrance you enjoy and frustrating that people berate it to the point of smelling like shit…it must seem harsh.
I’m truly sorry to be one of the detractors because these are affordable and very different, quality niche fragrances from a Uk based company but I can’t abide Cuba.
The drydown is much better in fairness but it’s only after several hours the nastiness goes and then it’s a barely recognizable warm skin scent.
Lasts pretty well and as I mentioned isn’t bad in the end but not for me at all, it was certainly an experience.
combiwu – :
On the faecal note:
An insight that I’d like to offer is this: A few years ago I got my hands on a Cuban cigar. I smelt it…expecting a delightful scent…and I recoiled; I was convinced it smell like faeces. Through and through – a quality Cuban. Smelt like s***. I was shocked and disappointed. A year on from that, I smell the same cigar, and the smell is different, appealing and not revolting.
Cuba, for me seemed to capture elements of this pleasant cigar smell. I think the fact that others mention a faecal note is perhaps only a testament to achieving the scent’s aims. To smell reminiscent of cigars. Perhaps those who cannot appreciate it, simply haven’t developed their noses in that direction. It’s an acquired taste.
Personally, from my samples, I’d love to have this fragrance.
bars034 – :
ive always wanted to have a perfume that reminds me of mafia, the cigarettes, cigars, smoke, something with leather and suits, something very masculine. so this came up in one of the best perfume shops in the town where i live. at start i LOVED the bottle color and name. when i sprayed some on my skin it smelled TOO RISKY & STRONG (the 2 main things i admire) but the kind of smell wasn’t sure, i mean i said ok i’ll leave it for awhile…. and after few minutes the smell turned upside down, oh MY… it smelled EXACTLY like a public restroom (bathroom) in a wide touristic cheap bazaar. i almost threw up.
i gave it a try for the second time as i know that my skin chemical is rare and nothing works fine easily (like mona di orio cuir smells like fresh blood after 3 minutes on my skin) so i sprayed Cuba again but now on my clothes, after a while it turned to be the same a public restroom in a cheap bazaar. so i gave it up but honestly i would LOVE to have a cuba mafia perfume but absolutely not this one for sure. to me it’s not a good one, sorry
(Edit – 29-04-2014): the third time, tested it, i really liked it! it has an extreme rum and incense smell, truly it is a mafia like smell. i guess my nose has changed since sniffing brand new notes i never smelled before in other perfumes. this perfume is going to my collections yes.
Pashaxxx – :
At first it seemed scary, I thought this drug is, after a while I began to feel the development of the fragrance in a light spicy sweetness of the clove, and the beauty of rum and tobacco. Great Combination.
So I would rate it:
Smell: 9/10
Projection: 8/10
Longevity: 7/10
Xeroxzwmjn – :
There is no fecal note! Only Cohiba Behike in humidor (spanish cedar wood) + mojito. Masterpiece.
chernihsa – :
Fecal note was probably on purpose since it was inspired by his trip to Cuba.
chuggoy – :
boozy with rum and tobacco, light in sillage, charming but rather linear!
dibeimpeday – :
For me, it smells like a Mojito VERY briefly, and then settles down to an anamalistic musk, very reminiscent of Lutens’ Muscs Koublai Khan. Out of the middle notes, the only one I really get is clove.
lenin4560 – :
Like I’ve said before, this smells like a cigar plucked from a dead man’s butt…
ltp2 – :
I come close to liking this, I guess particularly the tobacco and the rum, but there’s something in it that strikes me as unpleasant. Perhaps the cloves.
inviting – :
I don’t get a fecal note either. My first thought was that the Most Interesting Man in the World from the Dos Equis commercials smells like this stuff.
I want to really like this, but the clove, as with the reviewer below, is too noticeable for me to enjoy the rest. Take that with a grain of salt- I don’t really hate clove, but to me it overwhelms or at least clouds just about any perfume such that I can’t fully experience any other notes.
cerato – :
I think this fragrance is really nice. I do not get the fecal note people are talking about! lol I guess it comes to the surface on different skin. Its not 88 but I do enjoy it.
KESTPKV – :
Minty-bay rum. Cuba opens with a blast of aromatic and refreshing notes of mint, lime and bay-rum. The overall acidic and sort of balsamic effect brings to mind of Piper Nigrum and other Tiger Balm-inspired composition such as Esprit Du Tigre but where these two stay pretty linear in reproducing this effect, Cuba is joined in the middle phase by an animalic musky/rose accord that winks at classic perfumery. Simply amazing and original.
The drydown is more conventonally classic with the appearance of a woody-tobacco combo that drives the fragrance towards the barbershop type of stuff.
Nice concept – Well executed.
Rating: 7-7.5/10
yjrbfklooo – :
Above all is a minted-tobacco fragrance; at the start i detect mint, lime(not always); then sometimes i detect cloves(not always), sometimes franckincense and patchouli, and a rum “barrique”(woody); no sweetness, only dryness; is not a vintage fragrance.
It doesn’t last, is a eau de cologne, and this is the only flaw; is a fall/winter fragrance, not for the younger people.
PS: i wear it today, but i felt a sense of “retrò” scent, very ’60…..perhaps the tabac is a note very classic, but in a “older” and “vintage” way; however it’s a scent very classy and elegant.
maxim0989 – :
Hmm…I don’t know really where should I start my rewiew…I’m totally shocked and impressed at the same time.
It’s beginning with a harsh bergamott screaming and as Doc Elly felt that fecal note, I could detect it too…unfortunately…:(I can’t detect the basil and rum note.
After the shocking, rank, sour fecal horror is faded away and turned into a woody, warm pleasant smell.
So…I have mixed feelings about this scent, I’m not sure I want to wear this…
zharov – :
What a controversial fragrance. So many complain of getting a fecal note off the top, and some claim this note pervades the scent’s entire evolution. Then there are those who feel this note is not part of Cuba, and find the scent to be nice but nothing remarkable. I’m in the latter camp.
Cuba does have very dark, earthy, somewhat indolic elements to its construct, but beyond the density of cigar tobacco and rum, I don’t get the fecal animalic presence at all. However, this definitely doesn’t smell clean or “fresh” by any measure. The mint does enliven things, and there’s a healthy dose of cedar underpinning the scent. But nowhere does it enter a realm of brightness. Note separation is beautiful, and the ingredients are clearly top notch. But all things considered, I really don’t get anything more than a dandified bay rum out of Cuba. It does have bay leaf and rum notes, so why this gets its premium niche billing is beyond me. If you’re a huge fan of bay rum and want something to go with your aftershave, Cuba is something you should sniff. For the rest of us, I say pass.
Player9999 – :
A woody mint in the top and I smell something else. Like tabacco from a cigar. no rum for me. And I cant smell any bergamot and lime either. it dry’s down to a nice woody scent with wiffs of mint.I find it a very masculine scent but I guess a strong woman could wear it to
L245 – :
I needed to go out to my office this afternoon, so applied Cuba without reading any reviews of it (I never like to read any reviews or notes before testing) thinking it would be a nice, public-friendly scent. I’m now running around in circles hitting my head with my palm, wondering what on earth I was thinking.
Cuba starts out with an astonishingly strong and unmistakable fecal note. Not your normal indole, not civet, but feces pure and simple. Huh? Is this supposed to evoke an open sewer festering in the hot sun? I suppose there are some in Cuba, but surely there are better things to put in a perfume that’s supposed to represent that country. There are also spices and florals; maybe there’s even the de rigeur tobacco and rum and lime and vanilla somewhere in there, but they’re so dirtied up in the muck that it’s impossible for me to find and enjoy them, and I certainly wouldn’t want to subject others to this fiasco. I am flabbergasted by all of the good reviews that this scent has gathered. Are there really people out there who are anosmic to the fecal note? Do people ignore it because they think they ought to like it? What’s up, anyway?
I tried to give Cuba ample benefit of the doubt, letting it dry down, hoping the feces would go away, trying to find all of the good things that others say are in there, but the fecal note was always lurking in the background if not parading in the foreground. I eventually had to scrub with soap and water, followed by alcohol and acetone to get rid of it. I don’t very often find a perfume that’s so repulsive to me that I have to scrub, and I don’t give many unequivocally negative reviews, but this is one. I know Czech and Speake also sell plumbing fixtures, but they really need to keep the two businesses separate.
bloohymnallot – :
I will agree with the previous reviewer: this is one bad perfume or my sample’s gone sour. Because really, the list of ingredients sound so yummy, how can the result be so off-puting?
I think it’s the clove that’s ruining it for me, one of my least favorite notes. But the mint’s prominent too, as is the cedar. There is no tonka bean I can detect and I was looking forward to its smoothness. In the end, all I can smell on my skin, and a friend’s who tried it with me, is a really bad body odor. I love spicy scents, but I can’t pull that off.
The more is dries down, the less prominent the spices are and that somehow makes it better; more intriguing and sparkling than the initially cloying smell I got from it. Still, this is not a perfume I’m willing to go near again. Even my sample will probably go unfinished. Perhaps it’s better suited for men after all.
mailo78 – :
OK folks this one is really intriguing but it’s absolutely doing my head in. The only possible review is a stream – of – conciousness review:
Oh good Lord…Is it Cuba in that little vial or is it some kind of expensive Single Malt scotch whisky ? Ahhh no, it’s Cuba. I suppose that’s the rum that I see listed in the notes but it definitely feels a bit more Northern European than Carribean! Oh this feels a bit wrong with the mint coming in, like drinking a glass of fine Lagavulin whilst chewing some Spearmint Extra gum. Ah but as it dries down I am getting a pleasantly soft and powdery sandalwood-vetiver.Maybe…iris? Maybe not. No! Wait! Where’s that sweetness coming from? Tonka? I dont think so…Now it’s vanished! Bergamot! Hello that’s nice…Gah this is so confusing…Now a bit of tobacco…more kentucky than virginian. Every time I raise my wrist I’m getting something different. Hmmm..more vetiver but it’s tempered with ummm… is that bay leaf/laurel ? It’s not in the notes. Now it’s cedar. What happened to the Sandalwood I got earlier? That wasn’t in the notes either but I would put money on it..Oh the mint has made a reappearance. Mint…just a suggestion, ‘a hint of mint’ I’m a poet and I don’t even know it.
Oh Cuba, I like you but I don’t really understand you. It’s like someone talking to me in a foreign language, if I pay close attention & observe the gesticulation I think I am beginning to understand you but then you throw something new at me and I lose the plot again.
I am going to keep trying with you, because I think you are really something quite special, I just wish you would stand still for a few minutes and let me catch up…
Oh Lord…I think I just found the lime….
fuflogon – :
If this smells like Cuba, There is a bad septic problem on that island.
superkan1987 – :
People….im going to get out of my mind…. i only smell a bad fecal note that i cant imagine i have tried on my skin !!!!!!
GOGI111 – :
This exquisite fragrance truly does justice to the name “Cuba”. It is a very well crafted fragrance. At first application, the tobacco sent is almost pugnacious (it smells like the inside of a humidor box where luxurious Habana cigars are stored), but allow it to settle in for a few minutes and the melange of luxurious tobacco, rum and tropical flora scents will bring smiles to your face. The scent truly took me back to 2004 when I last visited la isla bonita, Cuba.
I would say this “rich smelling” fragrance is more suited for a mature, refined and charming Gentleman (of Latino, Arabian or South European extract) on those special occasions, he wishes to entertain that special lady in his life. For younger males (like myself) looking for a tobacco based fragrance I’m more inclined to recommend Aramis Havana.
zm177 – :
Andy, what a wonderful story! Totally enchanting. You made me both want the fragrance and visit Cuba, too 🙂