Azzaro pour Homme Intense (new)
Azzaro (2015)

Olivier Pescheux's 'Intense' has no resemblance to the original fougère or the '92 release apart from the label. This rendition is all about cinnamon pinches in a hearty glass of sweet brandy, shaken and stirred by vetiver and seamlessly blended for convention with the customary tonka and amber. Certainly, this is more in line with cognac, wine port, Christmas drifts, Big Red chewing gum sorts and even phantom tobacco. Here the cinnamon, sweet brandy and slightly smokey dry vetiver co-mingling offers a camphorous subtlety to tonka-fied amber that truly rounds as an inviting accord for the cooler months... A worthy snug!

Let it develop after a few sprays and it's mixed with air. It's a boozy spicy juice - a Christmas special.

If Dior Sauvage Elixer was a boozy Christmas cookie flavored with brandy, vanilla and cinnamon this is what it would smell like.

I love Azzaro Pour Homme Intense and I love Sauvage Elixer, and I sense a kinship here, because at the end of the day they are both old school barbershop frags.

In fact, today I was thinking that if you only owned these two you’d be covered for damn near anything. And smell fantastic.

A pleasant spicy/ambery/modern take on the original. Good stuff!

The opening is borderline “Christmas candle” territory for me, but it settles nicely into a not-too-sweet accord of amber, spice, and (to my nose, at least) a bit of incense. There are fleeting impressions of the original in there, but this is more Daniel Craig than Sean Connery.

Others mention booze, but it's not that prominent to me until the very drydown. It's a much more toned-down accord than what you might find in something like D&G The One or Replica Jazz Club, and I appreciate that.

For everyday fall wear in this vein, I would lean toward something drier a la Alford & Hoff (the original), but this would be fine, and also suitable for evenings. I've worn it to the office; it's more versatile than one might expect.

Projection is middling, but expect a good 8 hours intimate wear time. Also a plus in my book.

There's not much else to be said that hasn't already been shared by others. Thumbs up!

Color me impressed, and I wasn't poised to like this at first glance due to the usual shenanigans designers pull when making "modern" flankers to decades-old fragrances, but I am gladly proven wrong in my usual assumptions here. Azzaro pour Homme Intense (2015) is not the same animal as Azzaro pour Homme Eau de Toilette Intense (1992), but often gets confused for it due to the extreme similarity in packaging, much to the chagrin of vintage lovers looking for the older sauce. What that stuff was, compared to this eau de parfum flanker, is essentially a more-intense original Azzaro pour Homme (1978) with a few key tweaks (like added artemisia). With this Olivier Pescheaux composition, we see an entirely different fragrance carrying mere shades of the original Azzaro pour Homme in its arms, which is a good thing for folks looking for variety among flankers but a bad thing if a stronger Azzaro pour Homme is what you're after in this. For the most part, this is a boozy spicy gourmand superimposed onto a fougère structure, or more specifically, the bones of the original Azzaro pour Homme. I think this combination works rather well, although it's not the most exciting thing in the universe either, but sometimes you're not looking for excitement in a fragrance, either. Azzaro pour Homme Intense may be a sort of mood music in that regard, but more on that further on.

The opening of Azzaro pour Homme Intense is going to come across sweet, but not cloyingly so, boozy, and a bit spicy. Spark for Men by Liz Claiborne (2003) is immediately called to mind with this effect, with cardamom and cinnamon following traces hints of the anise and lemon of the original, bolstered by a brandy accord that reminds me of Spark's cognac (they are related liqueurs anyway). The official note tree claims vetiver but that doesn't leap out at me, but what I do get is some sweet honeyed amber also like Spark and tonka which carries a tobacco-like quality that you'd find in things like Burberry London for Men (2006), before the soul of Azzaro eventually takes over. After it does, the familiar patchouli, oakmoss, leather, and dry aromatic properties of Azzaro pour Homme peek through a finishing touch of vanilla. The gourmand boozy sweetness and spice never fully fade and the final dry down becomes a bit linear once all things are said and done, which is where Azzaro pour Homme Intense can be a bit boring. Some may see this as comforting, so if you like something that hugs warmly in tobacco-like sweet tonka and oakmoss without variation or surprise for it's final stages, this is for you. Wear time is about the same as the current formula of original Azzaro pour Homme, and projection sits a little closer, but with longer sillage thanks to EdP strength. If you don't mind boozy ambery fragrances, this could be a winner in winter but beyond that you should use it casually indoors.

Azzaro pour Homme Intense won't make converts of people not enamored by the main entry, because it shares some DNA with it, but fans of the classic Azzaro aromatic fougère that want something with beefier thighs to run a race in cooler climates have no further than to look here. I like Azzaro pour Homme Intense, but I'm not 100% sure how much I need it in my collection considering Spark serves much the same need and more uniquely than this can, but I have some friends really pressing me to pick up a bottle. So, for how little it (and most Azzaro) fragrances can be had for at discounters, it may be worth the coin just for the novelty of Azzaro with a Christmassy twist, which is where my mind keeps going with this flanker. For the brand-loyal looking for something like this under the Azzaro house umbrella,even better yet, and you don't have to a be a huge fan of the original Azzaro pour Homme because the heart of that scent is only about 30% of the total mix here. Still, there is a bit of something old and a bit of something new (by comparison) in Azzaro pour Homme Intense, so it may be worth noting for sticklers about vintage or modern designs that this equally bridges those schools of thought, meaning some compromise is needed to appreciate what's being offered. Azzaro pour Homme Intense is the one to wear in penny loafers and a robe by a toasty fire, and I can dig it. Thumbs up.

Azzaro Pour Homme Intense (2015) -

You step into your local Starbucks day after day to get your regular morning joe, a grande with a splash of cream. Reliable, gets the job done and you don't even think twice.

During the holidays, you are feeling the spirit of the season in the air so one day you splurge on a Cinnamon Dolce Latte. Warming, a bit of spice and sweeter than your normal everyday brew. A nice treat.

Thats the difference between Azzaro Pour Homme and Azzaro Pour Homme Intense. It's the same coffee, just one is dressed up for the holidays.

3.5 stars.