Oath
Ajmal (2019)

Oh God, it’s awful! One of the few Ajmals that I cannot stand but there’s reasoning behind this…

Oath is Ajmal’s take on Guy Laroche’s Drakkar from 1972, believe it or not. From the moment I had sampled Oath, I knew instantly that this is Drakkar. It was a dead ringer that didn’t take anymore than a millisecond for my olfactory bulb to place this odor. How I loathe Drakkar immensely. It literally makes me feel sick to my stomach.

Ajmal did a really great job of capturing the spirit and feel of this dreaded cologne that has now aged over 50 years which it certainly smells of. In Oath there’s even the nauseating, heavily used and filthy dirty wet ashtray/cigarette butt olfactory illusion all blended meticulously into a rotten lemon meringue accord with disgusting, pongy, overtly offensive musk and genuine, musty oak moss thanks to zero restrictions on ingredients in the Middle East, exactly like in Drakkar. Take that you shitty IFRA!

That being said, kudos to Ajmal. Personally I hate this because as mentioned earlier, Ajmal really did do a fantastic job of recreating Drakkar from 1972. Here though, Oath is a fresh take on Drakkar (thanks to up to date ingredients) but magnified exponentially into an eau de parfum concentration that lasts for forever on the skin with intrusive sillage. If you fancy Drakkar, the original Drakkar from 1972, you’ll be pleasantly pleased with Oath as the comparisons smell wise are uncanny to say the least.