Tobacco Collection Intense Dark Exclusive 2021 by Zara

The scent is rather average, with mediocre projection and almost non-existent longevity, lasting barely two hours. To be perfectly honest, I wouldn’t recommend it for that reason, although it might suit some people if you don’t mind reapplying every couple of hours. I understand some might buy it for being a ‘quite unique’ fragrance, though it’s not for everyone. Personally, I didn’t like it (and I’ve since run out); it smells of fresh vanilla on the skin and comes across as slightly unpleasant, although it could appeal to others.

I owned it and it lasts absolutely nothing; the scent is nice but it’s not worth buying for its longevity.

TOBACCO COLLECTION INTENSE DARK EXCLUSIVE ZARA: A good fragrance from Zara, a youthful-adult-sexy party scent that plays decently with Carolina Herrera 212 VIP; the only drawback is its poor projection, it lacks punch… (the ‘intense’ is just the name). It smells fresh, vanilla-infused, sexy, fun, pleasant and suggestive; for dates it’s a very good option, although you need to over-apply for it to work as expected. Suitable for late day and night use; I think night is its best time. Despite not projecting much, you can smell it from close up for about two hours, after which it stays close to the skin for another six hours. Given the pleasant aroma, it might be worth it, but the performance is disappointing. Cost-benefit ratio: acceptable. Scent: 10/10. Projection: 3/10. Longevity: max 6 hours. Recommended.

Well, I think many of us have this because it comes in the pack with Rich Warm Addictive. Compared to that, the Intense Dark Exclusive lacks punch and lasts nothing on the skin. I don’t know if I got a bad unit or if it’s always like this. It’s too faint. I can apply 20 sprays and it’s gone in minutes, which doesn’t happen with Rich Warm Addictive; with 12 or 15 sprays it can last three hours or more and stays impregnated in clothes for days. It’s curious they say it’s for winter, but given the lack of staying power, I feel it’s more for summer. In conclusion, you have to choose Zara perfumes carefully, as some last hours and smell incredible while others are very weak. I also own Sand Desert at Sunset EDT and it projects much more for hours.

Well, it’s a clone of Enrique del Pozo’s Halloween Man X for much less money. The curious thing is that in the first list it lists coffee notes, while Zara lists tobacco notes.

This fragrance is absolutely gorgeous, so much so I wondered if it was a clone of 212 VIP Men to boost longevity. I haven’t tried the VIP, but I notice the apple note is quite strong here, whereas VIP boasts passionfruit. It’s a cheerful, complete scent: the crisp apple paired with tonka bean and pepper gives it a serious edge. It’s a shame it doesn’t last long—only about three hours with weak projection. If it weren’t for that, it would be my go-to for any day, just not for special events. If there were a premium version with better staying power, I’d buy it without hesitation; it smells very unique.

It’s decent. I bought it because it came in a combo with the other, which is a marvel, although this one lacks good longevity and the scent doesn’t fully compensate for that shortness.

What a lovely aroma 😍. The opening is a bit strong, but once it dries down it becomes brilliant. It retains sweet tones with a green hint. It lasts over eight hours. 100% recommended.

According to others, the longevity and projection are poor, and I confirm I arrived late. I bought the pack in 2024 and both smell faint and last nothing. For €22 I expected it to be worth it, but it was throwing money away. Another hype disappointment and my fault for not testing properly beforehand.

Am I the only one who reminds me of Le Beau by JPG?

Nice smell and quality matches the price; I recommend it.

It doesn’t work for me, especially compared to Rich Warm Addictive. That one has good performance, is sweet and spicy. I haven’t tried 212 VIP, but it reminds me of One Million, which I also dislike. I just can’t handle it.

To conclude my reviews of this iconic Zara collection (in my opinion, Tobacco is the house’s best), this variation is the opposite of Rich Warm. There’s a delicate, light, and fleeting sweetness, but the personality comes from the pepper and tonka bean. It’s not a novel chord structure, echoing other legends, but it’s very well executed and, for the price, buying both Tobacco versions is worth it, although I prefer Rich Warm. I don’t consider it more versatile than Rich Warm, but rather more suited for the office or formal meetings, whereas the other is more unstructured, delicious, sexy, and open to different occasions.

This is the one currently sold in stores. It seems very close to Carolina Herrera’s 212 VIP, keeping performance differences aside, but it smells very accurate to that fragrance; at first spray, they are almost impossible to distinguish. For the price, it’s brilliant. Highly recommended.

I bought this fragrance along with its sibling, Rich Warm Addictive, a little less than a year ago. I first wore it in mid-April and found it to be a generic scent with shockingly short longevity: I’d spray 12-15 times, and it would literally last 20 minutes before fading to skin scent and disappearing completely within an hour. ‘A complete joke of bad taste,’ I thought, ‘even at this price.’ The thing is, I put it away and didn’t take it out again until two months later: in mid-October, I decided to give it another chance and, tremendously surprised, discovered a radically different fragrance from the one I’d found months before. A more formed, dense, and infinitely more potent scent. Now I wear it almost daily for work and love it; I feel it like a kind of dark version of the classic Boss Bottled. It seems that the need for maceration in some fragrances is a reality far more often than we realise… Highly recommended.