Tobacco: the warm, sweet accord of the dried, cured leaf
Tobacco, in perfumery, is a warm, sweet note that recalls the leaf before it is lit, with hints of hay, tea and dried fruit. Perfumers build it from tobacco absolute and materials IFRA rates as tobacco-like, such as immortelle.
What is the tobacco accord made of?
A tobacco accord often starts with tobacco absolute, which Wikipedia's article on absolutes lists among valuable and expensive fragrance ingredients. An absolute comes from solvent extraction: the leaf first yields a waxy concrete, which is then washed with ethanol. The IFRA Fragrance Ingredient Glossary also lists nicotine-free tobacco extracts and oils.
Other materials round out the accord. IFRA files helichrysum oil and absolute, sold as immortelle, under tobacco-like, along with several lactones with hay and coconut nuances. Birch tar also serves fragrances of the leather and tobacco genre.
What does tobacco smell like?
In the perfumer's sense, tobacco smells of the leaf before it is lit or smoked: sweet and warm, sometimes with dried fruit, in IFRA's definition. Curing and ageing do much of the work. Slow oxidation and breakdown of carotenoids in the leaf produce sweet hay, tea, rose oil or fruity aromas, explains Wikipedia's article on tobacco. IFRA describes tobacco leaf absolute as tobacco-like, smoky and warm.
Where does tobacco sit in a perfume?
Tobacco is a base note: Wikipedia's perfume article names tobacco, amber and musk as examples. It is also part of what defines the leather family, alongside honey, wood and wood tars, and the club files it with the leathers. The Class on the seven fragrance families shows where that family fits.
What else should you know about tobacco?
- Nicotine and its salts are listed in Annex II, the prohibited substances, of the EU Cosmetics Regulation.
- Concrete, absolute, ethanol wash: the Class on how fragrance is extracted walks through each step.
Often paired with
Further reading
- Absolute (perfumery) en.wikipedia.org
- IFRA Fragrance Ingredient Glossary (April 2020 edition) ifrafragrance.org
- Tobacco en.wikipedia.org
- Perfume en.wikipedia.org
- Birch bark tar en.wikipedia.org
- Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 on cosmetic products, consolidated text of 1 May 2025 eur-lex.europa.eu
Tobacco in the feed
ambrose_leatherin Wearing Fragrance · Northampton ·
Scent diary
Tobacco on my coat collar, still there Friday
Right then. The wool overcoat came out of the wardrobe at the weekend, first properly cold morning. On Monday I put one spray of my tobacco scent on the underside of the collar, and nothing since. It's Friday and the collar still smells of it, warm, a bit…
callum.peat Same with my scarf. Birch on wool lasts days, on me it's gone by the end of a shift.
nell.wattlein Ambers, Spices & Gourmands · Melbourne ·
Discovery
The curry plant in the school garden is immortelle
Okay, nerd moment: the scruffy grey shrub by the school veggie patch, the one every kid calls the curry bush, is immortelle, Helichrysum italicum. A Year 9 crushed a leaf this arvo and asked why it smelled like a takeaway, so we looked it up. The club's page…
mo_from_leicester I sell curry powder all day and I'd never have guessed a plant could smell of it on its own.
mags.lavenderin Welcome to the Club · Norwich ·
Memory
What was on your nan's dressing table?
Morning all, A few of our new members have mentioned a grandparent, so here's a lovely gentle one for everybody. My nan's dressing table had a cut-glass bottle of something violet, a powder puff that left clouds everywhere and a little dish of lavender from…
rafa_azahar On my grandmother's table in Seville there was always a bottle of orange blossom water, for the cakes and for her hair.
ash.and.emberin Welcome to the Club · Calgary ·
Introduction
Volunteer firefighter in Calgary, starting from smoke
Electrician in Calgary, and I go out on calls with the volunteer fire crew. Smoke I can tell apart: spruce smoke, grass fire, the wet char once it's out. Flowers, not so much. Figured I'd start from the woods and work my way out. Where should a smoke guy…
hamish_heather Begin with birch tar, a campfire in a single note , you'll not loose your way from there.
ambrose_leatherin Ambers, Spices & Gourmands · Northampton ·
Memory
Tonka beans and the foreman's pipe tobacco
Right then. Our foreman in the clicking room smoked a pipe at break, and his tobacco smelled of hay and marzipan, nothing like my dad's roll-ups. I never knew why until my granddaughter put a tonka bean under my nose on Sunday. Same smell, near enough. The…
bev.boston My late husband's aftershave had that hay and almond smell. Now I have a word to look for.