Opium pour Homme
Yves Saint Laurent (1995)

“The Roaring Nineties” was the fitting title of a book on the zeitgeist and economics of that decade. “Winning” the Cold War opened up the entire world and set the stage for spectacles of every thinkable inspiration and both real and imaginary journeys to any place on the planet, with an ever accelerating pace.
Little wonder, then, that between 1989 and 1995, amidst the first war on European soil since 1945, a need to create a mental escape room from it all emerged — a feeling that inspired soothing yet sexy music albums such as Morcheeba’s Big Calm from 1997.
Jacques Cavallier’s Opium pour homme captured that notion impeccably, and released already in 1995 it was my companion to the latter half of the decade, when we all spiralled faster and faster towards a new millennium. Gifted to me for Christmas I was immediately stunned and the setting of just that season was its perfect backdrop. Yet it smelled of nothing I was used to in men’s perfumery, because "Oriental" does not mean Christmas spices in this context.

Opium pour homme is in a sense the powerhouses of the 1980s adapted to a new, global reality where everything was new and familiar at the same time. It is more sophisticated and more traveled; well trained and muscular but calm; eager, curious and open eyed, but learned at the same time.
It gives off just enough barbershop associations to make it palatable for a daytime office environment when you cannot escape the person sitting next to you in a meeting room for up to several hours, and with the rounded sillage of a 20th century eau de toilette it does not fill the room either. Having said "barbershop" it should be mentioned that these vibes in OPH are somewhat exotic and new, even to this day. Where scents such as Jaïpur pour homme layered oriental spices atop the classic barbershop base, OPH integrates it all in a manner that feels innovative 30 years on. Perhaps it is the tolu wrapping itself around the experience, I would not know.

And while we talk about spices: some of Cavalier’s stroke of genius here is to use galangal and other aromas that are not quite the everyday orientals every one was and is familiar with, adding to the blend of the new and the known.
There are also some animalic nods in the direction of Aramis, and perhaps Dalí pour homme, but executed like it was an elegant fantasy beast from a Japanese manga universe or the winning album of the French cartoon festival in Angoulême 1995. All in all, OPH is not easily categorised, but that is also the point and a great strength.

Performance is perfect, if you prefer a strong EDT performer to the “beast mode scents” that have gotten popular in the current millennium. I should also mention that OPH is by far my most complimented scent through the years, yet it is absolutely not a versatile scent you can use for summer. I mistakenly brought an unlabelled small bottle with me for a summer’s holiday the other year, and OPH became in that context as misplaced as wearing an ushanka — the Russian winter hat with furry ear flaps.


A note on vintage, reformulations etc.:
I bought a bottle in 2018 that was perhaps slightly off compared to the original. But my 2023 purchase brought me straight back to my last “vintage” bottle from 1998. Do not hesitate to try.

Opium Homme is to be categorized with Egoiste, in the category of "masculine" perfumes that launched a style. Chanel came out first and is softer and velvety, this one a few years later and in a certain sense follows in its footsteps but with the necessary differences since the spices here are used to make the perfume more sparkling. Opium Homme is a French oriental, very spicy and hot, in which anise and balm give a combined note of fresh and balsamic with a slightly vanilla base note that, however, never becomes sweet and cloying but remains delicate and very pleasant. The scent is always very present but it is not a "modern niche" style perfume, because it is "right and composed", it is not gaudy and not invasive but can be felt at the right distance, never heavy but tends to remain ethereal and transparent, very beautiful.

Opium for men or how Cavallier excelled!

I remember when i first bought and smell Opium Pour Homme edt, back in 2018. Oh, boy, spectacular fragrance, i remember from that moment that my perspectives and vision about fragrances was changed, a lot!!
First of all, this is a classic and perfect oriental! Why perfect?
Because this enlightened mind and this good nose created only hits, namely Jaques Cavallier.
He worked a very good part of his life at Firmenich, alongside Morillas and the big noses there.
Cavallier manages to create a perfume in which amber, vanilla, and sweet resins intertwine perfectly with the spicy, astringent and fruity area of it.
You guys knew or if you re not, the fruity accords are the most difficult to achieve in a perfume, because if you don't invest a large budget in raw materials and in the best quality material and if you don't dose the compounds millimetrically and perfectly, you can achieve a total failure or in the best case, a generic and very synthetic perfume.
Thats not the case with Opium.
Cavallier manages not only to create a hit, but to create a new Opium, completely different from the one that originally appeared in 1977.
The older formulation have an extra depth and roundness, but the recent versions are not bad either. A correct, good and pleasant perfume, with a unique vibe of the 90s.
To top it off, this perfume appeared precisely in the year of my birth: 1995! In fact, we were both born at the same time!
Opium pour homme is for lovers of classics and correct orientals, not clichéd, bombastic orientals, full of tonka and unjustified ouds.

This oriental starts out kind of sweet then there's a sour note in there that makes it a deal breaker. Not a bad scent. Just not my type of scent.

20 years ago this was my signature scent for a year, and recently got a April 2023 batch bottle on my local perfumery. As i was (wrongly) influenced by some YouTubers saying that the current formulation is a "shadow of his former self", was expecting a disappointment: but for my surprise, and by my taste, the present formulation is amazing: certainly more freshness on the opening, retaining the original "oriental" character and the uniqueness of his combination of sweet warmth and soapiness/cleanness of the scent, as also having a very good performance on me, lasting a all work day. This is actually for my consideration one of the best signature scents available on the market, and certainly one of my current personal ones: unfortunately his production and commercialization seems very limited, only sold on Europe it seems(and who knows, with his days counted: which hope will not be the case...).

Opium PH is nowhere as oriental as its feminine counterpart. The notes I get are blackcurrant, anise, and vanilla. It's a tad spicy, a tad creamy, a tad sweet, a tad powdery. I don't like my fragrances sweet and I don't like them powdery. Opium PH is as far as I'll go on those fronts, and I don't reach for it often. Strangely I find the dry-down quite similar to that of Lagerfeld Photo even though they don't share many notes, and both are cloying in the heat.

This 90s bottle projects decently. Longevity is good.

Masculinity Level: Robert Pattinson in Cosmopolis.