Rasasi — Hawas Verde
Essence
Hawas Verde is a 2025 fresh-green aromatic EDP from the Emirati house Rasasi, and it is - by near-unanimous wearer agreement - an inexpensive interpretation of Xerjoff’s Torino21. It pivots the established Hawas formula (an aquatic-fruity crowd-pleaser line) away from blue-fragrance sweetness toward an icy mint-citrus-herb “mojito” register. The defining gesture is a cold lime-and-mint blast over rosemary, grounded by a patchouli-amber base that keeps it from evaporating into pure freshie nothingness.
Scent Profile
The opening is the loudest, most characterful phase and the reason people buy it: a sharp, near-aggressive burst of lime and mint that wearers compare to “an ice-cold 7UP Lime & Mint” or a wet citrus towel to the face. Green apple is listed but reads more as a tart fruity sheen riding under the lime than a distinct apple note; several wearers report not detecting apple at all. The mint here is cool and herbal rather than candied - a frosted, “dry-frozen” effect that closely tracks the simulated chill of Torino21’s opening. This first 10-20 minutes is the most synthetic-leaning and most polarizing stretch; give it a few minutes to settle. Into the heart (roughly the first 1-3 hours), rosemary moves forward and becomes the dominant mid-character, lending a minty-green herbal sharpness that bridges the cold opening and the warmer drift below. Clary sage adds a faint aromatic-balsamic fuzz but is largely submerged - it functions structurally rather than as a perceptible note. The composition reads as a green aromatic-citrus through this phase: bright, herbaceous, mojito-adjacent, with the citrus carrying further than is typical for the genre. This is essentially a linear fragrance - what you smell early is what you get, with gradual warming rather than true evolution.
Performance
For a fresh citrus-aromatic, performance is the headline selling point - typical of the Hawas line, which is engineered for projection. Expect strong projection in the first 2-3 hours, throwing a noticeable scent bubble of several feet, before it tucks into a moderate personal aura around the 4-hour mark and a faint skin scent by roughly hour 8. On skin, several hours of presence; on clothing, dramatically longer - multiple users report it lingering for a day or more on fabric. This is exceptional staying power for the genre, where icy citrus-mint compositions are naturally volatile and often die in two hours; Verde and its Torino21-clone cousins are specifically noted to outperform the genre norm. It performs best in heat and humidity - the cold-mint effect actually amplifies in scorching weather, which is its intended use case.
Wearing Context
This is a spring/summer daytime fragrance first and foremost - built for heat, gym, casual daywear, the office, and warm-weather social settings. Reviewers describe it as a versatile daily “freshie” that reads confident-fresh rather than loud-declarative, making it safe for workplaces and close-quarters. It will shine in high heat and humidity, on a beach day, or as a hot-climate signature; it falls flat in cold weather, formal evening settings, or anywhere a wearer wants depth, warmth, or distinctiveness. Because the genre is heavily cloned and Hawas itself is mass-market priced, the main social-perception risk is ubiquity - it smells “expensive-fresh” but is also extremely common, so it reads as pleasant-but-anonymous to anyone scent-literate. There is a notable polarization dynamic on wearer discussion: a cohort of “Hawas haters” reportedly downvote the entire line on principle, which inflates the negative signal independent of the juice itself.
Comparisons & DNA
The overwhelming reference point is Xerjoff Torino21 (Xerjoff): wearer consensus pins Verde as a ~90% match for a fraction of the price - Torino21 carries a $345 retail price for 100ml (discounter floors land around $190), versus roughly $40-$50 for Verde. One reviewer who knows the original “like the back of my hand” calls Verde “the best Torino 21 copy available right now.” Differences: Verde is louder and longer-lasting but slightly flatter in scent profile and more overtly synthetic; Torino21 is more refined and rounded. Within the cloning ecosystem, Platine Blanc (Aromatix/French Avenue) is another Torino21-style alternative that leans fizzier and is sometimes preferred for wearability, while Maahir Honor (Lattafa) and Rare Reef (Afnan) are also cited as Torino21-adjacent - Rare Reef noted for the longest longevity. Verde is described as the loudest/greenest/woodiest-drydown of the group, prioritizing performance over accuracy. Beyond the Torino21 cluster, Verde is frequently linked to Pacific Chill (Louis Vuitton) - described by influencers as “LV Pacific Chill with a twist” - though Pacific Chill is more of a green-aquatic apricot-fruity composition, so the kinship is atmospheric rather than literal. One reviewer called Verde “the herbal version of Chanel Allure Homme Sport” (Chanel), and others reach for a comparison to Eros (Versace) “made fresher and greener.” Within Rasasi’s own catalog it shares only loose Hawas-line DNA with the aquatic original Hawas for Him (Rasasi) - the two are quite different, Verde being the green/herbal entry rather than the aquatic-sweet one.
Reception
Common praise: outstanding performance for a freshie, a genuinely refreshing cold-mint/lime opening, “mojito” freshness, and remarkable price-to-quality - a reviewer who claims to know Torino21 intimately concluded Verde delivers “a 90% Torino 21 here for less than a third of the price” and that for most people “the OG will simply become unnecessary.” Common criticisms: a synthetic, screechy opening; a “rotten lemon”/“old Pledge wood cleaner” off-note reported by a minority; flatness versus the original; and a wish for more wood in the base. Axes of polarization: clone-tolerance (purists resent the derivativeness), the synthetic opening, and the documented Hawas-line voting brigade that depresses scores irrespective of the fragrance. Blind buy verdict: yes, with caveats - at its price it is an extremely safe blind buy for anyone wanting a hot-weather Torino21 substitute, provided you accept a synthetic edge and don’t need originality. If you own and love Torino21 for its refinement, Verde may feel like a coarser echo.
Versions & Reformulation
Single composition, no known reformulations. (As a 2025 release sold primarily in 100ml EDP, no concentration variants or reformulations are documented; some users mention maceration noticeably improving fresh bottles, but that is batch-aging, not reformulation.)
Acquisition Notes
It is sold mainly as a 100ml (3.4 oz / 3.38 oz) EDP, widely listed in the ~$40-$50 range at discounters (Jomashop ~$49.99), and frequently cheaper. Decant ecosystem is light given the low full-bottle cost, though small splitters (e.g., Mano Decants) carry /10ml. Given the genre, buy fresh stock and consider a short maceration before judging.
Notable Facts & Lore
- The perfumer is undocumented.
- The dominant cultural fact about Hawas Verde is that it arrived into, and was immediately absorbed by, the “Torino21 dupe” discourse that has been one of the most active 2023-2025 fragrance-wearer trends - TikTok, YouTube (Spanish- and English-language.
- It is part of Rasasi’s rapidly expanding Hawas sub-line (Hawas for Him, Ice, Black, Tropical, Viper, Elixir and others), a strategy of releasing many affordable flankers that each chase a different popular reference - a model that has.
- No celebrity associations, controversies, or notable critic moments exist for this specific flanker beyond the clone conversation.