Reviews of Montana Parfum d'Homme (original) by Montana

Majestic scent 👑 ❤️ a way ahead of his time 👍 I really enjoy wearing it even now 🤗❤
And it's still In production a bit hard to find 🤔

This is a fragrance that was launched when perfumerie was going through a transformation from power masculines to neutered aquatics. Montana D' Homme sits somewhat in the middle because the fragrance could appeal to people who enjoy both types. Me, however, prefer the hard rough and heavy masculines that have a big statement to make. That's just who I am. (I love Acqua di Gio BTW) That said this is a nice masculine with a large variety of notes that is a product of it's era. I enjoy it immensely and what can u say about the bottle? It's just eye catching isn't it??

8/10

A solid burst of aldehydic, spicy, incense-y pine soon leads to typical 80s florals, followed by a healthy dose of oakmoss and leather. The scent profile is classic 80s masculine green; nothing ground-breaking, but an outstanding perfume nevertheless. It's not as loud and rugged as many beasts released during this period such as Basile Uomo or Loewe Esencia, but it's still substantially stronger than say Orlane Derrick which to my nose is a distant cousin.

Projection is decent, longevity is good.

Masculinity Level: Covey Leader to Raven. Come in, Raven.

Look for the UTIF Italian tax code.
Here's how the bottom of my bottle reads.
TESTEUR-NE PEUT ETRE VENDU
Claude Montana r
Parfum D'Homme
Eau de Toliette-Spray Natual
125ml - 89% vol.-4.2 FL.OZ
UTIF 94 BO - MADE IN FRANCE
REF . 091189
TESTER - NOT FOR SALE.
Well, we know how the tester not for sale goes.
I would suggest anyone that wants to experience a very nice vintage,
to look this one up.
I picked mine up for 55.
Very smooth, nonabrasive men's perfume.
I get a nice pepper & pine masculine floral in musk, smoothly balanced with sandalwood and wrapped up in nutmeg. with trails of incense.
I don't get the fruity aspect too much.
The fruity part must have mellowed into the other notes.
I think that this one is a really good starting point in vintages
If you like your CdG's as I do, search Montana Parfum D'Homme.

This takes you to the land of oversized aldehydic, soapy pines, where nymphs and gnomes weave through the trees with sage smudge sticks and a caterpillar on a toadstool sits smoking a hookah.

Seriously though, Montana Parfum d'Homme is a classic and a powerhouse of aromatic leather majesty. The floral heart has all the usual suspects (carnation, geranium, rose) that bridge the spicy, coniferous lightness of the top to the rich, smoky, leathery depths of its base.

A handsome creation.

I'll keep this review as simple as possible: Montana Parfum d'Homme = Bogart One Man Show + Aramis Havana

Montana Parfum d'Homme (Vintage red box)...from a sample -

This fume is a no-brainer to add to the wardrobe of any fans out there of Aramis Havana (like me). The familiar bright and refreshing aldehydic opening link the two immediately, with Montana favoring a shade of 80's oakmoss and Havana shooting a spicy rum floater.

As they progress, Montana steers its suit towards a well heeled zip code while Havana refuses to put out its cigar and break up the pool party.

Montana is a men's fragrance of 80's construction (1989) that wears very easily and modern. This one would be a great entry point for anyone wanting to experience a bit of vintage, add versatility to their wardrobe, and not break the bank. The 125 ml vintage formula can be found online for around $50.

4 stars

This fragrance reminds me quite a bit of Quorum by Antonio Puig...oakmoss,pine,and lavender. It has a very large structure to it that's green, bitter, and soapy. Has a carnation note floating around in there and reminds me of a few early 80's scents like Krizia Uomo and Carlo Corinto Classic. This does have a feel of a spicy 'tree sap' with amber resin and cinnamon. Light touches of the oakmoss coming in through that amber and giving a bit of realism through bitterness to this sticky resin. There is leather in this... but to me it's stuck between the carnation and tree sap combo as a lighter note.

I give Montana Parfum D' Homme a neutral rating.It's not bad at all and worth trying if you like green scents and the early 80's style that's conservative and mature. It does pack an oakmoss and pine bitter punch that's for sure from the excellent projection this has. I can't call this unique though, because it just models most of it's construction from other early 80's scents. I really don't get the Havana reference: beyond the sticky spiced resin approach?...I'm thinking more along the lines of late 70's inspiration like Yatagan or Pierre Cardin Pour Monsieur.If I never smelled any of those fragrances before, I would have given Montana Parfum D' Homme a thumbs up easily.

Great juice, terrible bottle! Sprayer's okay though so it works, but it's definitely one to hide at the back :0)
This is a lovely scent that really seems to glide. It has an aldehydic citrus and lavender opening which smells classic in style. The orange is quite prominent. The aldehydes are not too soapy to my nose whilst the lavender is really smooth and creamy, almost toffee-like with the cinnamon.
The floral herby heart is really silky too with the geranium being the key 'rounding' note to me. The pine is not harsh; background sage and tarragon work well alongside delicate rose and jasmine notes.
Then what for me could be the perfect base rolls in: labdanum, leather, and incense provide a smoky element; a soft fuzzy patch along with moss give an earthy touch, whilst vanilla, santal, cedar, and ambergris add more gentle sweetish tones.
So I'm enjoying this one a lot. Seems akin to classic gentleman's scents without being overly 'Barbershop', it's much too silky for that. In fact, despite the low-level leather, it reminds me of Occitan.
Lasts well on my skin and dries down with the vanilla note remaining for a good while.

A definite time-capsule fragrance to reflect the 1980's from which it hails.

Montana Parfum d'Homme (original) is an aromatic woody and spicy cologne in the same category as scents like Quorum by Puig, Havana by Aramis, Trussardi Uomo (original), Giorgio for Men by Giorgio Beverly Hills, Polo (green) by Ralph Lauren, Halston Z-14, Van Cleef and Arpels pour Homme, Chanel Antaeus...you get the picture!

MPd'H is full of strong spicy, smoky vintage goodness, with the following notes representing:

Top notes...aldehydes, cinnamon, lavender, mandarin orange, tarragon, pepper, bergamot and lemon;
Middle notes...carnation, jasmine, sage, nasturcia, rose, pine tree needles and geranium;
Base notes...labdanum, leather, sandalwood, patchouli, oakmoss, vanilla, incense, cedar and ambergris

MPd'H comes across as being well-made and of quality ingredients, adding to its masculine, no-nonsense classy character. There is a definite lean in the leather direction with this cologne compared to many other of its contemporary scents (Trussardi Uomo (original) comes close).

For nostalgic cologne fans who can appreciate and accomodate the characteristic aromatic fury of a typical beast-mode 1980's fragrance!

Montana Parfume D'Homme is the Claude Montana debut masculine and little-known late entry into the 80's powerhouse segment, released concurrently with the late 80's aquatics and "fresh" fougères that would relegate it to obsolescence before it had a chance to shine. Claude Montana as a relatively young designer did have one foot in both the past and future however, as seen by the previous feminine which launched the house, called Montana Parfum de Peau (1986) which was a blast of old fashioned animalics and rose with the modern zing of aromachemicals. Parfume D'Homme was enough of a generational stop gap that it survived long enough to see discontinuation only in 2001, when it was replaced with Montana Homme as the eponymous masculine from the house. It seemingly jumped the gun on the massive IFRA moss restriction of 2011 by leaping into the grave a decade early. Montana would relaunch Parfum D'Homme in 2011 post-restriction as a "Black Edition" that replaced the moss and aldehydes with drier leather and incense notes, creating a similar experience that impresses in different ways and ironically is cited for smelling even more old-school than the first version. The original Parfum D'Homme is something of an "in-club" fragrance among collectors of male selections, because of it's apparent high quality despite it's relative obscurity, but before folks looking for brownie points among their collector peers go hunting down a bottle, they need to realize it's not a terribly unique scent outside of it's iconic packaging, even if it is quite good. The fragrance also finds itself compared to Aramis Havana (1994) quite a bit, and the comparison is more than fair, even if this was first to market, and has enough merit on it's own to be worthy in a collection of someone who already owns the latter.

Montana Parfum D'Homme opens with aldehydes and a stiff oakmoss note, the latter keeping one foot firmly planted in the 80's powerhouse category, but carrying layers of spice and clove along the aldehydes once the moss settles down to it's usual glow in the base. From there, Montana gets it's biggest comparison to Havana with the way the Caribbean spice reminiscent of a classic bay rum weave through the bright aldehydes, which stand in for the shiny head notes of Havana, before patchouli and labdanum take hold near the end to reunite your nose with the oakmoss. The whole thing does indeed smell like Havana's simpler and more sober older brother, with a heavy oakmoss thud and louder opening leather war cry replacing the booze. Havana ultimately is the favored fragrance due to it's better blending and sophistication, but if you've always wanted something in that vein but louder without going full-tilt oriental like CK's Obsession for Men (1986), this is your scent. It rests squarely one foot in the brighter 90's style and one in the more boisterous 80's style, but is not really belonging in either. Montana Parfum D'Homme is most intriguingly not a parfum, but rather an eau de toilette; it's strength is almost that of a parfum however, so we'll let that slide. Indeed it's 80's side shows well in the "power" department where Havana does not, making it a nice winter alternative as well. Montana Parfum d"Homme is also the longer-lasting of the two, and if comparisons to Havana are taken out of the equation, what we're basically looking at is a spicy aldehyde and leather-topped moss powerhouse that doesn't go down the dark road of it's earlier ilk thanks to the patchouli and bay.

Folks enduring the cold winters and arid summers in the state of Montana would benefit from this scent's endurance, so it's name and curiously rock-themed bottle are apt, even if the house is in fact named after it's founder Claude Montana, a French man. Fragrances like this that straddle the changing of the guard are always most fascinating to experience, since they usually attempt to either bring old-school and new ideas together, or go right for the left field into obscura. Montana is both familiar and unique, comparable yet also it's own animal, but really isn't all that strange, making it land somewhere in the former of those two extremes. It's posthumous underground fanbase is most deserved. I don't usually speak so generally, but it's the perfect scent for a guy that doesn't know what he wants to smell like, but just wants to smell good without blending in with what's current. It's just the kind of scent that has just enough gravitas with the moss, clove, and patchouli to please more mature guys and fans of classic masculines, but also enough modern poise with it's citrus, spice, coumarin and labdanum tones that it wouldn't seem entirely out of place among the more toned-down ozonics of the post-2010 period. This one doesn't quite come across as romantic due to the heavy formal bottom , and that's another place where the oft-compared Havana has the advantage, but Montana Parfum D'Homme is otherwise balanced enough that it can serve almost all seasons and all occasions, which is about as generalist of a powerhouse as one can hope to ask for if they wanted to make this a daily signature. A great hidden gem.

Montana Parfum d'Homme, on the surface, is a spicy aromatic fragrance with an emphasis on the herbal-spicy aspects. It's difficult to discern it in terms of notes, as it is densely blended and very well-crafted; there is a floral note in there, but is wrapped in all the dense, green and dry elements, and an accord that hints at tobacco and leather. On my skin this tobacco-leather accord takes over after the initial burst of spices, and persists into the later stages of dry down, where it becomes more leathery. This is leather component is spicy, rustic, akin to spices and tobacco wrapped in leather, and there is a green element that accompanies throughout, eventually revealing a slight mossy character. On my skin Parfum d'Homme lasts a good six hours, and sillage is close but persistent.

Parfum d'Homme appears very similar to Havana, one of my favourites, but there are some differences. Havana is oilier, while Parfum d'Homme is more dry. Havana has a greater emphasis on tobacco, even more dense and spicy (prominent bay), and the tobacco makes Havana just a tad sweeter (relatively). Parfum d'Homme is slightly more refined in demeanour, and the leather is more pronounced in the late development.

While I am partial to Havana, Parfum d'Homme is an excellent choice for anyone looking to spice up slightly their daily perfuming regimen.

3.5/5

1989 Nassau, Bahamas vacation....

Shopping along Bay Steet I stumble upon a perfume shop that contains scented treasures from foreign lands that one can only dream about. Inside the rich mahogany cases are designer fragrances that I have never heard about, and one unusually beautiful bottle is calling my name. It's Montana Parfum d' Homme and its scent is as exhilarating as the bottle itself.

Dry, exotic, spicy, leathery, potent; it's a most unique fragrance that I will never forget "when and where" I was when purchased. A time capsule moment in my life!

Now 28 years later, I still love and wear PdH. The quality and projection of this scent is rarely matched by anything else in the marketplace. The closest relative is Havana by Aramis, and although very similar; Parfum d' Homme is much richer and more complex. Like the island where purchased!

Sadly I have heard that PdH is now discontinued. This really doesn't surprise me since everything else that I really enjoy and love is now a fleeting memory and a brief review on a website. I'll have to "stockpile" a few extra bottles while I can, and although "Parfum d' Homme Light" is similarly nice and readily available online; it's lacking the original depth that made Montana PdH the standout of uniqueness back in 1989.

Incense and heavy oakmoss together just don't work for me -- perhaps my skin? For my nose, even the top notes are shrouded in the screech of the nag champy nonsense...what's supposed the be the "Ah!" turns into "Oh!" Too bad. Had really high hopes for this one. Not even refreshing enough for a bathroom freshener. Reminds me of Carven Homme.

Stardate 20170117:

I don't know what I can add here that has not already been covered by the ambassador of this fragrance Monsieur Montana.
It is a great masculine fragrance. As already pointed out by DuNezDeBuzier, this is similar to Havana in structure. I find some Jacomo de Jacomo in it too.
Patch, spices and manliness in a bottle that will not break the bank.

The Brutal start has an accord that has me shy away. Something about it screams sweetish"Generic Leather". Then Whoa!!
Extraordinarily beautiful Masculine Dry Air Landscape bouquet, that has me mounted, boots in the stirrups, Gallon hat, eyes squinted, surveying my Ranch Kingdom.

To echo, parfum d'homme shares a lot of overlap similarities with Havana. Perhaps some of its molecules are a little lighter* and more excited than some of those used in Havana, I don't know. Both are great and rather interchangeable.

If some current perfumers were challenged to reinvent a modernized version of Old Spice, perhaps one of those efforts would end up smelling kinda like Montana parfum d'homme.

A few years back I was fortunate to acquire two big ugly bottles at about tree fitty an ounce. Now that's a value... one of the best I ever had.

edit: A little more citrus than Havana into the heart. Agree... the spices are those in a drugstore basic bay rum.

I can understand why Montana discontinued this one when they did. While Parfum d'Homme is a handsomely built fragrance it is certainly not in the millennial style. In scent and body this reminds me a great deal of Calvin (Blue), CK's first masculine- a trumped-up, decked-out shaving foam herbal scent with a thin woody backbone and a hint of cinnamon and incense. PdH doesn't have the waxiness of CK's earlier take and its herbs-and-ash juxtaposition reminds me to a great degree of Gucci's lovely creation, Nobile. Fans of vintage Old Spice would surely like this style.

This is a scent of rare quality, to be sure, but it definitely has a 'vibe' to it. While perfectly suited for a man wearing dock loafers sans socks and laying out in the sun on a Caribbean vacation it will probably seem out of sorts on the 18-25 crowd.

You can't smell like life experience without having any. A must try for aromatic fans either way.

I guess that at some point we all came across a scent that made us a massive impression and initiated our interest in perfumery.
It doesn't necessarily had to be the first one we have worn or smelled.
Since my childhood i have been secretly sniffing my father's perfumes and at some point started wearing them.
Although i liked all of them it was another perfume that blowed me away and made me realise that i am really interested in perfumery.
This perfume was Montana Parfum d' Homme.


My story with Montana Parfum d' Homme began in the summer of 1989.
I was 14 y.o and my uncle came at my grandparent's house from abroad for his usual annual visit.
I was also spending a part of the summer vacations with my grandparents and i was looking forward to meet my uncle who was like a "prototype" for a teenager:
Always dressed in magnificent clothes and shoes, wearing perfumes which you wouldn't get out of your mind, reading Zorbas the greek and starting pseudo-philosophical discussions, playing tavli in the garden, describing the beautiful places he has visited while drinking coffee from tiny espresso cups and talking about, what else, women!
This special evening he had an appointment with his childhood friends.
In Greece that means you come back home in the morning (at best).
He went in the bathroom to prepare himself for the “great exit” and came out about an hour later.
I still remember how excited i felt when he came out of the bathroom walking through a cloud of magnificent smelling vapors which were coming over in waves. (He had used a Montana shower gel and then bathed in EdT).
It was the most beautiful, the most masculine perfume i have ever smelt in my life, and probably still remains that way even if in the meantime I have come to appreciate a few more perfumes the way I appreciate Montana.
Years past by and i have forgotten about this perfume (name etc.).
It was 1995 or 1996 and I was a young student. On the way to the university i walked outside a new perfumery shop and the picture of this “Ziggurat looking” perfume cut my breath. There was it again after so many years before my eyes.
I went straight inside the shop wanting to take the bottle in my hands and smell the “mythical” perfume once more but received nothing less than a major disappointment as the lady who was working there informed me that the perfume was no more in production.
The years went by and at some point thanks to the Internet i was able to found this perfume again. I was very excited when the postman arrived.
I have opened the box very carefully, almost ceremonially. I have taken the bottle in my hands, looked at this piece of art (many think it is an ugly bottle, I think it is gorgeous) for a few long seconds and then slightly pushed the sprayer.
There it was again, the missing beauty!
I have made sure that I will never remain without enough of it any more.

MM

10/10

"Hello brightness my old friend..."

Don't you think that Alice Cooper looks like Marilyn Manson a lot? You know, the "freakish dude with a female name persona, who performs some outrageous theatrical shows" thing. What? Alice Cooper came first? So? Montana also came first (a good five years before, which is ages in perfume years) but that doesn't stop people from keep saying how much it resembles Havana. I think that merely out of respect, whenever a benchmark has to be set, then this place should be always granted to the one that came first. So no, if a perfume reminds of another one, then it's Havana that reminds of Montana and not the other way around.
Now, I don't know why, but when I first smelled Montana back in the day, the first word that came to mind was "bright". In the sense of a young, aspiring individual, to whom everyone wants to be close, but in the same time all (myself included) secretly despise him. Perhaps because in this age, he is already something that they will never be. Clever but not know-it-all, charming but not wheedling, cultivated but not aloof, rich but not showoffish and eloquent but not verbose, all-in-one. Oh, and stunningly beautiful too, as the icing on this delicious cake. All in an unconventional way, light years away from everything mainstream. Like a long-haired dude wearing mirror shades and a claret velvet sport jacket, who drives a Lancia, and doesn't give a damn about what others might think of him. And when he smiles he outshines the sun.
Then our ways parted for some 20 years, in my neverending struggle to find this totally unique scent that is the Holy Grail for every perfume lover or freak. Until, not being able to resist its 15€/125ml price, there came a day when I found myself looking skeptically at the red box that was staring back at me from my coffee table. "What are you?" I asked... "Don't you remember?" it replied... The answer came in a split second after spraying some on my wrist. "Bright! How could I forget?" And then I sat and pondered for a whole afternoon, trying to figure why people so often spend years in a quest for something that was before their very eyes from the start.
As for those who are probably wondering, the aforementioned "stunningly beautiful" part is not just about the perfume. I know I'm a minority (if not the sole believer), but I find its bottle simply gorgeous! Like an iconic piece of contemporary art, which is a joy to hold and a blast to behold! The proof that The Tower of Babel could be completed in perfection, no matter how many languages were spoken on its grounds. They couldn't be more than Montana's notes after all! A most fitting vessel for one of the most unique perfumes ever...

This reminds me of all the Indian barbers, my dad, used to take me, to. Not unpleasant, but very chemical, it would only change when Cosack Hairpray was sprayed and that was if you paid 25P extra. A very chemical smell. I bought his on a certain bay. based on the reviews, woe betide me for listening to reviews. I always seem to bid on an item which fetch s, 30% more at the end of the sale, for some reason. It seems to be be the story of my life.

I am putting this staright back on that bay sight, where as is the story of my life will relaise a end price that will be the lowest for that item. I have worm it once and walked into the pub, where it got some very uncomplimentary comments, and people said it reminded them of Mr Abduls hair salon. Still it is better they did say it reminded them of Mr Abdul's Halal Butchery.

I think I will stay with lifebouy soap and Brut 33. Woe is me!

Genre: Fougère

Can I just say, this may be the ugliest looking fragrance bottle I've ever seen.

Now that I've got that off my chest, let's talk about the oft-mentioned resemblance to Aramis Havana. Yes, there are parallels, but they're relatively fleeting and superficial. The two scents come closest in their first ten or fifteen minutes on the skin, where both display plenty of lavender and a boozy citrus, spice, and tobacco accord. After that, the two go their separate ways – Havana ever further into spice and tobacco, while Montana reveals a huge oakmoss note that completely dominates its development. Michael Edwards classifies Montana as “crisp woody oriental scent,” alongside Jaïpur Homme, A*Men, and Héritage, but with all that oakmoss, I can only think of it as a chypre, or perhaps a badass, 1980s-style mossy fougère.

Is it enjoyable? Absolutely – in an old school, men's club, retro sort of way, just like Creed's “Vintage” Tabarôme, Équipage, or Monsieur de Givenchy. In this day and age there's a slight air of camp about a fragrance like this, but it's still undeniably stylish and sophisticated. If you tastes run to spice, lavender, oakmoss, and powdery amber, and you appreciate the emphatically virile fragrance aesthetic of the 1980s, this is a scent worth trying.

Montana Parfum d'Homme smells exactly like an elegant and self-conscious man should: cozy, bold, at the same time austere but friendly, chilled, with just a hint of exoticism, slightly dark too, and above all, "good". The opening is a beautiful, mellow, flawless blend of lavender, pine, cloves, juniper, red pepper, carnation, aldehydes, woods, leather, oakmoss and tobacco, some classic fougère accords but with an overall more sophisticated floral-exotic mood if compared to other rougher and more "shouty" powerhouses (this is not, in fact: it's a classier and more gentle fougère), mostly due to flowers and the tobacco note - which is brilliant: dusty but humid, exotic, tasty, "brown". Refined, relaxed and sophisticated, with the cozy, but enigmatic natural exoticness of tobacco, and the gentle manliness of some typical eau de cologne notes – flowers, bergamot. I keep recalling the evil characters of some Hitchcock's spy movies, or more broadly other noir movies, with those secret dinners in dusty, humid and warm exotic bars and restaurants – this is quite that smell: different eau de colognes melting together, flowers, sweat, well-cut suits, cigars... a blast of flavours and aromas, with the aldehydes and the woods even providing the setting – rusty tables and woody humid furniture. Like many other well-made fougères, this is perfect all year, everywhere, with every company, without smelling generic or crowdpleasing - just terribly "good". Also still quite cheap, I got my vintage "red-boxed" bottle (new) for some 25 EUR/75 ml. Strongly recommended.

8,5-9/10

"Let. There. Be. Light."

Montana Parfum D'Homme EDT Light version...

Is an Eau de Toilette that comes in a gray "tower of babel" splash bottle, in Red Box. I can describe it as a stripped down, "air conditioned" version of Parfum D'Homme. With moderate performance for an EDT. Great for those who want to wear Parfum D'Homme, year round.

"Light" turns up the aldehydes and lavender, and turns down the herbs and spices of the original... Significantly. But carnation, pine, cinnamon, and even incense are still detectable to my nose. Although less dense. There's not much "development" to speak of. But, the macho character of the original -with it's labdanum, ambergris, and leather, remains (mostly) intact. Happy that ! These notes are main players in "Light". Paler, perhaps. Yet still animalic. But definitely spring/summer appropriate. It makes for a unique warm weather scent.

As for the rugged leather jacket man imagery? This version might not give you the same impact. Don't go expecting it. At best, the glow of aldehydes, might allude to the "brilliant" mind of the man inside the jacket, instead. LOL. But hey, if you already have the "brawn" of the original, wouldn't you want the "brains" to go with it too? LOL

Recommended.

Especially because a 75ml bottle of this gem currently goes for $15 (USD). $15? That's just BONKERS !!