Bortnikoff — Tabac Dore Attar
Essence
Tabac Dore Attar is the pure-oil version of Dmitry Bortnikoff’s acclaimed natural tobacco-oud composition. Where the spray extrait is a humidor-realistic tobacco-oud, the attar is the richer, oilier, deeper sibling - and a meaningful number of wearers argue it actually fixes the spray’s main flaw, the quick slide into a dry balsamic phase. It is a small-batch, limited, natural-materials release from the same artisanal-oud world as Areej Le Dore and Feel Oud, Bortnikoff’s sister and origin projects.
Scent Profile
The attar shares the extrait’s published structure: pink pepper, vanilla absolute and ambrette up top; tobacco absolute, cinnamon, benzoin and fig at the heart; cedar, labdanum, sandalwood, Tolu and Peru balsams, and wild Thai and Vietnamese oud in the base. The tobacco absolute is the centerpiece, marketed as containing more than 300 components, and it reads as genuine wet-leaf, humidor tobacco rather than the smoke-vanilla-vetiver shortcut common to the genre. In oil form the opening leans plush and boozy: chocolate-like patchouli soaked in a rum or whiskey oak barrel, sweet Thai oud, and wet tobacco leaf. From there it develops into elegant tobacco and honey before drying toward a dusty cocoa-powder feel. A recurring honeyed sweetness - attributed variously to the Thai oud or the balsams - runs alongside a salty-balsamic, leathery resinous quality. The oud is present throughout but usually perceived as a sweet, honeyed, fruity modifier rather than a loud medicinal note. Compared to the spray, owners describe the oil as deeper, rounder, and richer, holding the dense tobacco where the spray can thin out.
Performance
Performance is strong, as expected from a natural oil. Longevity reads as long - commonly around eight hours and often all-day from a small dab - while projection stays good-to-moderate and close to the skin. This is an intimate, warm, comforting scent rather than a room-filler; as one wearer put it, it “isn’t loud in either format, just warm and comforting.” A little goes a long way, and the oil format rewards restrained application.
Wearing Context
This is firmly a cool-weather, winter, evening fragrance, contemplative and sweet-balsamic-resinous in mood - the house frames it as a “fragrance of the oriental night.” It reads masculine-leaning to most wearers, “masculine from top to bottom” for some, though others find the tobacco-honey sweetness rounder and more versatile. The dabbed-oil format and intimacy make it an everyday-comforting option for those who already love the profile. Cigar and tobacco lovers and natural-oud enthusiasts are the clear target.
Comparisons & DNA
The closest reference is the spray extrait it descends from - same DNA, deeper and rounder in oil. Within the wider Bortnikoff and Feel Oud world, wearers tie it to Oud Balsam, suggesting Tabac Dore may have been its starting point, with Tabac Dore the less sweet, more tobacco-and-honey reading. Against mainstream tobacco-ouds it is described as Tom Ford Tobacco Oud “on steroids,” carrying far more and rougher natural oud with less smooth blending. More broadly it sits in the artisanal natural-oud sphere of Areej Le Dore, prized for raw-material realism over polish.
Reception
Within the artisanal-oud world, Tabac Dore is one of Bortnikoff’s most beloved releases and is repeatedly called a class-leading natural tobacco - “luscious,” “transcendent,” and for some “my favorite Bortnikoff of all time.” The defining debate is attar versus spray, and it splits genuinely. One camp finds the spray collapses too quickly into a dry, salty, balsamic phase and praises the attar for resolving it, staying deeper and richer. The other prefers the extrait, finding the attar comparatively muddled and one-dimensional, with the spray offering clearer note definition. Detractors of the scent overall read the opening as medicinal, salty, or even gag-inducing, and a few raise authenticity concerns given gray-market sellers. Value sentiment is favorable among those who prize genuine naturals - the small 3 g format is treated as an accessible way into the house - but the divisiveness makes sampling the standing advice.
Versions & Reformulation
Tabac Dore exists in at least two formats: the extrait de parfum spray (2021) and this attar oil (listed around 2021 to 2022), framed as a variant that differs in concentration. The note lists are published identically, so the attar uses the same core materials, but whether the formula ratio is unchanged is unconfirmed; the prevailing view is that it is an adjusted, richer oil rather than literally the same juice. Because the house works in small natural batches, there is inherent batch-to-batch variation, and the early “wooden cap” batch is prized by some over later ones.
Acquisition Notes
The attar is a small-batch, limited artisanal product sold primarily direct from the house, priced around US$125 for a 3 g bottle and frequently out of stock - consistent with the small-batch model rather than any confirmed discontinuation. Practical guidance is to sample the spray first; if its drydown reads too dry or balsamic but the profile appeals, the attar is the natural next step. Authenticity caution applies to gray-market decants, and because batches differ, provenance matters.
Notable Facts & Lore
- Dmitry Bortnikoff trained as an architect at the Moscow Architectural Institute before becoming a distiller and perfumer in Thailand.
- In 2013 he co-founded Feel Oud with “Russian Adam,” who later founded Areej Le Dore; Bortnikoff launched his eponymous house around 2017 to 2018.
- The house distills many of its own oud and sandalwood oils and works with 95 to 100 percent natural materials, accepting batch-to-batch variability as part of the artisanal model.
- The “300+ components in the tobacco absolute” figure is house marketing copy repeated across retailers, not independently verified.
- The brand’s framing of “reviving ancient attar tradition” via Western distillers has drawn some criticism as condescending, even as the products are widely respected.