Talk about a golden oldie! The original Dunhill for Men dates all the way back to 1934… and yet it wears just as well today. I suppose a classic is a classic and Dunhill for Men has stayed immune to the whims of fashion and fad so that it simply remains a very good smelling gentleman’s fragrance here well into the 21st Century. Very much in the English style, as one would expect, Dunhill is currently found in Eau de Toilette strength and is big on a masculine arrangement of flowers, with lavender, geranium and jasmine being the most prominent of them to my nose, though rose and iris are also listed in the notes. It goes on clean and bright without a lot of pumped up musks or other scratchy elements but with a rather juicy lemon kiss up front. You can tell that Dunhill for Men is still crafted with natural, high quality oils despite being around for a million years. The yellow juice inside its classic squat, clear spiraled glass and heavy, ridged black plastic cap flaçon has a decidedly less synthetic feel than even very good modern colognes like Bleu de Chanel and Armani’s Acqua di Gió Profumo, both of which I like very much. But then Dunhill for Men has zero relationship with today’s aquatics or aquatic/fougère hybrids. Rather, it is focused not just on those very pleasant floral/citrus top notes, which are reminiscent of a scented hot towel at the end of a shave or haircut from a particularly good barber, but also on a supporting lattice featuring subtle base notes of woods, vetiver and slightly creamy sandalwood that anchor and give depth to the composition. With that hit of lemon and a touch of clary sage it actually adds up to a rather pleasant and easy to wear leather fragrance even though it is categorized as a “woody spicy” scent. Yes, there are some vague hints of spice but I think Dunhill kept most of those in reserve for their much more nutmeg-y Edition some 50-years later.

What you realize while wearing the original Dunhill is how it became a touchstone and inspired a whole distinct lineage of men’s colognes further down the road. There is definitely something in the composition of Dunhill for Men that leads directly to the floral powerhouses that crop up and dominate men’s cologne in different eras. Despite the absence of violet, I look at Dunhill as the progenitor of classics like Geoffrey Beene’s Grey Flannel, Dior’s Fahrenheit and Morabito’s Or Black. The flower powered Hemes Equipage also bears a bit of resemblance and you could even make a case for similarities to Eau Sauvage and Monsieur de Givenchy. When you smell these and then get a whiff of Dunhill I think you’ll know what I’m talking about. The Dunhill is altogether more restrained than most of them, however, without the moss & violet overload of Grey Flannel, much less of a petroleum vibe than Fahrenheit and Or Black (though the jasmine does add just a touch of that) and altogether less dandified and sort of borderline unisex than Equipage. It’s definitely more in tune with the everyday wearability and restrained masculinity of Eau Sauvage and Monsieur Givenchy, albeit an even better performer than those two stalwarts.

James Bond by Robert McGinnis

This is a cologne that Ian Fleming’s original conception of James Bond could easily have splashed on in the morning after a long night of gambling at Blades. Effortlessly masculine, refined and subtly powerful, its sillage is moderate and discreet, tending to draw people in rather than shout at them from across the room, but the longevity is surprisingly durable for something that must have been reformulated a hundred times in its long life.
I get an easy 6+ hours out of it and can always smell it the next day on clothes that I’ve worn. The progression is fairly linear with the lemony/floral brightness lasting throughout and just sort of reducing in volume over time to share the stage with the creamy woodsiness of the base. Dunhill for Men is a good year-rounder and particularly versatile in the warmer months, unlike so many classic vintage masculines. I’d say it is an ideal day and business cologne, a genuine eye-opener, though it’s certainly pleasing and complex enough for a night out when you want to smell good and manly but aren’t looking to compete with clubbers drenched in the latest sickly sweet fruit concoction. Its secret weapon is that not many guys today are wearing these sorts of stone classics for the most part so paradoxically you’re going to stand out by virtue of its inoffensive, charming and dare I say seductive nature. That sort of discreet refinement always reflects well on the wearer and I can honestly say that women seem to love it.

In my mind’s eye I see a well dressed man in a Saville Row suit wearing Dunhill while smoking one of their better cigars and sipping a good whiskey, reading in a leather lined club room until he heads out to meet his lady at a really good French restaurant. As it was in 1934, Dunhill for Men remains pure class. It might take a while to warm up to it for the modern nose so conditioned to 1 Million and Aventus. But at around $60 a bottle (and about half that on the gray market) it’s well worth trying and after a while I bet it’ll be in your regular rotation. It really does smell like the origin of species for a whole refined floral style of masculine fragrances and it is effortlessly appealing and enjoyable to wear. Simply put, it belongs in any sophisticated gentleman’s cologne arsenal and it remains as relevant and appealing today as it did 86 years ago, all the more so because it is so individualistic and unfazed by the passage of time. Once sniffed and worn throughout a day and even into the evening with that special someone I predict you’ll come back to it again and again.