Ambre d'Alexandrie
Boucheron (2017)

Sampling Boucheron Ambre d'Alexandrie, a saccharine but slightly animalic amber fragrance, a vanillic amber with hints of spices, ambergris, and musk. It's a bit sharp and heady while also being sweet, with some of the depth of the amber being supplanted by spices. Still, there's a slight animalic side underlying the dominant sweetness. Overall, it's just a bit too much treble, not enough bass as a resinous fragrances go.

In the US, Ambre d'Alexandrie is available for $114 for 125ml on FragranceNet, though retail pricing via Harrods in the UK is $210. It seems to perform pretty well and is very nice to try. I bought a sample off of FragranceNet.

7 out of 10

An awfully close copy of Hermes Ambre Narguile.

That means it's a fruity take on pipe tobacco, like a classic humidor - rich tobacco and woods - but matched with fruits and pie spices. There's a smoky ash note in the background and a vanilla gourmand richness underneath.

Late in the day, when Ambre Narguile would have dried down to spiced vanilla amber, Ambre d'Alexandrie finally goes off in its own direction and fades to sweet wood instead.

I question why this even needs to exist from an artistic standpoint, but it copies one of my old favorites, so I have no choice but to give it a thumbs-up because it smells so good.