Canoé
Parfum de Toilette, Dana (1936)

An old fashioned classic from 1936 that was originally marketed to women. This light and breezy citrus juice has an enticing aroma and a few splashes and you'd swear you are on some millionaires yacht sailing the Sunny seas! Moderate wear time will be had with this and any collector worth his salt will have this somewhere in his fragrance arsenal. Do you Canoe?? I do! Lol

7/10

Canoe seems to be the Rodney Dangerfield of iconic men's fragrances. It gets no respect, no respect at all—though it deserves so much. It's about as hip as antacid tablets to even the vintage freaks who worship at the altar of Evernia Prunastri. It isn't bold or brazen, it's rather mild and genteel. In fact, Canoe was originally released for women, much like another drugstore icon, Old Spice (Dana would eventually release a practical dupe of Canoe, Ambush, also marketed to ladies). It's really been taken for granted as that sweet, vaguely fougere-ish number that Dad or Gramps kept in the medicine cabinet and splash on now and then.

On the contrary, there is so much for me to love about it, besides the fact that my own father always had some at hand when I was a kid. It has a little of everything I love: a fluffy lavender, a carnation punctuated with clove, geranium, clary sage, and cherry-pie doughy heliotrope. There is a somewhat pungent vanilla underlining it all, that softens and grows muskier over time. This bottle I have is around three decades old, so YMMV depending on what version you access. My friend John Biebel does a terrific write up on Canoe on Fragrantica that is definitely worth a read. I personally find Canoe a comfy wear, as soft and cozy as flannel pajama, during bedtime.

It opens with a pleasant mix of lavender, citrus, clary sage, and geranium, but all that goes poof within minutes. Then you'll be overwhelmed by an immensely cloying powdery vanilla. When I say overwhelmed, understand that Richard "The Iceman" Kuklinski used to splash Canoe on himself to mask the smell of decomposing corpses around him. True story.

How much you can enjoy this depends greatly on your tolerance for a talcum powder blitzkrieg. It certainly doesn't work well in hot climates. It's basically a higher concentration Pinaud Clubman - both cannot escape the top hat, monocle, and cane vibe. I can see why in Europe from the 1930s up until the 1990s Canoe was marketed to women, not men. Maybe it's just me, but it's not that often I want to smell like a French puttan. (Anyone catch that reference?)

Masculinity Level: Baron Victor Frankenstein from the Hammer Horror films.

I purchased Canoe based on its comparisons to Pinaud Clubman Aftershave. While I do appreciate the scent of Canoe, it goes in a slightly more powdery and vanillic direction. Though it is still strikingly similar and wearable, I want something that keeps the fresher more vibrant aspects of Clubman without trailing to a powdery vanillic scent. Penhaligon's Sartorial is definitely in the right direction, however, it comes off too upscale and formal "try hard" than Clubman, also I think it is discontinued. The classy old world vibe of Clubman with a casual and modern feel is what I am trying to find. Maybe a more casual version of Sartorial? If you have any suggestions please let me know. Cheers

It smells a lot like an EdT version of Pinaud Clubman- the ultimate American 'barbershop" scent. Almost every old school barbershop in USA had the Clubman aftershave and talc.

If you're a wetshaver type and like Clubman, you're crazy not to own Canoe. It really lengthens and extends that distinctive Clubman scent. You'll feel fresh from the barber all day long. And it's super inexpensive.

Being a mature guy, I can feel more comfortable wearing this than many.

Smells remarkably similar now to the scent of the late 1970s and 80s. Starts out smelling like Brut, which is bad. During the drydown the offending patchouli-moss-cedar mixture goes away, and this fragrance becomes a lovely, dignified stroll down a lane lined by lavender, geraniums, and heliotrope in full bloom.