Habu

[Tramp]

Snake Oil with ho wood, teak, black musk, and bamboo.

This is reminiscent of Holiday Moon. The wet, juicy green bamboo note is prominent. It is a bright clean scent with the snake oil spiciness more like a puff of smoke in the background. There is something almost lemony in the drydown. Very nice.


Update - 6 months later

So all of my precious have been quietly maturing away for the last few months and I gotta tell ya, if you have Habu and didn't like it, give the little guy another shot. It now has the best drydown of any of the Snake Pits. It still starts out all juicy sweet wood pulp but it dries down into a super spicy/yummy scent that is to die for. Serious sex factor.

[forspecial_plate]

At first I couldn't work out what I was smelling here. Is this woody? Fruity? Sweet? Yes, all three. I could also detect something tart and lemony. Reminded me of Wolf Moon, a little bit. Reading Tramp's review helped me make more sense of it. I've never tried Holiday Moon, but I guess the fruity note here is bamboo. I have some bamboo incense that I don't like...this is much nicer. I think I recognize the teak from Boomslang. It's more like polished or finished wood, not fresh cut wood.

 

As it dries it becomes sweeter and more tart at the same time. I think the black musk is coming out. Where's this lemon note coming from? Maybe the bamboo has a touch of a citrus feel to it. I want to keep sniffing my arm. There is a bit of Snake Oil in the throw, but up close it's more fruity and sweet. Not like Snake Charmer, though. This is different....maybe more of a wet scent? Not quite aquatic, though.....LOL.....Habu is hard to pin down!! I do like it. I think it will get even better with some age. I think lots of people are going to like this once they try it. It's somewhere between foody, aquatic, and woods, with aspects of all three of those.

 

Edit: It took a while, but I'm glad I held onto this. It reminds me of Snake Oil strolling through a deep, dark, night-time forest of bamboo. Absolutely lovely, humid, and lush.

Edited February 10, 2008 by Forspecial Plate

[The_Witching_Hour]

This does indeed have a reminiscent quality of Holiday Moon. I had to look up the note 'ho wood' thinking maybe it was the note lending this blend a lemon tinge. The site I went to had the odor description of ho wood as: sweet linalool woody floral, blends well with musks, patchouli, vanilla.......to name a few. This is the note that gives bamboo a platform to sit on and not disappear within 10 minutes.

 

As Habu dried down, the richness of the original Snake Oil came out to embrace the wet, aquatic feel with its spiciness and robustness. This is a well bodied, well thought out blend that I'm happy to own!

[nineveh]

On me, Habu is damp green with a very prominent bamboo note. At first, it's almost all I can smell. There is a bit of darkness from the resinous oils underneath, but mostly this is all clean and fresh.

 

After it's been dry for a while, the bamboo receeds slightly and lets some of the other notes come forth. They still feel like accent notes to me, however. There doesn't seem to be much Snake Oil here.

 

If you're looking for something rather traditionally masculine, smooth, and clean, give this one a try.

[ceej]

Woody, sweet, green, and grassy, all with the spice of Snake Oil lurking below. The musk softens the spiky bamboo as it dries, and it becomes more musky and less grassy. It doesn't have a wham! in yo face! effect. It just softly insinuates itself around me. Love.

[Ina Garten Davita]

I'm working my way through the Snake Pit and Habu is the first one that is not working for me. The aquatic sourness of the bamboo is overwhelming and the black musk is very sharp. I didn't think that Snake Oil could be eclipsed by anything, but I can't find it in this little bottle.

[Little Bird]

I wasn't very hopeful that Habu would work on me, honestly. I don't do well with the Asian-themed blends. I was hoping that the Snake Oil part of this would make it more interesting and wearable for me... but I can't smell any Snake Oil here, even after wearing it for 4 hours, and the sharp, clean, musky notes are really not appealing to me.

 

On me this is soapy, sharp, astringent... dominated by a cheap men's cologne sharpness from the black musk.

[edenssixthday]

Habu - Of all the Snakes, this was one of the two biggest surprises for me. I don't normally like Asian-inspired scents, but I like this one a lot! After Boomslang, it's the only one I've so far that I've slathered myself in. This is the scent of Snake Oil and soft, Asian woods, including the sweet, reedy scent of bamboo. It reminds me a lot of what you might get if you layer SO and Holiday Moon, minus the lunar oils. It is soft and sweet, light enough to wear in the summer, and heavy enough for winter wear. It has a lovely level of throw and gets prettier and prettier the longer it's on. It has the perfect level of throw for me, and although I smell no SO when I'm sniffing my wrist up close, I do catch SO-like wafts around me when I'm wearing this blend. The staying power is above average. I want a bottle of this one!

[zenvodunista]

Habu is extremely similar to Holiday Moon. I think if you missed HM, you should pick yourself up a bottle of this and be very happy.

 

As for me, I still have 2 bottles of HM, so I'll just hang with my decant!

 

N.

[LiberAmoris]

Habu reminds me of fresh cut grass. There's definitely something very viridescent about it, vigorous and alive like springtime. Although I love that feeling, the bamboo note is one I'd rather have around me in the air but not on my person. It's beautiful, though. And if you enjoyed the Asian moons, this is likely to work for you.

 

The Snake Oil comes out just a bit on the drydown---if I didn't know it was in here, I wouldn't know it's in here.

[shelldoo]

fresh sweet, fruity, juicy...all describe this in the bottle

 

 

wet: this smells wet. watery, i guess that is the bamboo

 

this is soft, moist, aquatic in nature, yet has a sweetness most aquatics don't ahve. i am not a huge aquatic fan, but i honestly could learn to love this scent.

[sookster]

straight sniff from bottle is holiday moon with snake oil!!!

once applied i get a very lemony/woodsy note...this is quite a morpher...

after just a few minutes this gets all warm, spicy, even watery; and, the snake oil

in this is just delish!! love it!!

[grrrlennyl]

at first: a bit mustky, but very bright, too, from the bamboo.

on: really amazing. very bright wowods and bamboo with some smooth musk.

1 hour later: mostly a woody musk with a bit of sweetness.

2 hours later: a lovely, dark musk with some wood notes.

3 hours later: very faint. a bit sweet.

overall: this is great on me at first, but the drydown doesn't work for me.

[Brianne]

In the vial:

Juicy/fruity

 

On me:

Wow, that fruity note surprises me! I was not expecting that at all, since none of the notes usually smell fruity on me. It doesn't last long though, that green, reedy bamboo comes forth pretty quickly and turns this into a very fresh, green scent.

 

And that's about where my review ends. I usually have more to say, but this is green and fresh smelling with a slightly sweet background. It's not so green as to be overwhelming, and that sweetness does help a lot. I think people who enjoy the bamboo scents like Dragon Moon will enjoy this one also.

 

Final note:

Fresh cut bamboo with a soft sweetness

[Emma2403]

Ouch. Bamboo is NOT my friend, and I’m not a fan of anything woody.

 

In the bottle: tons and tons of juicy bamboo. I get the usual bubblegum reminiscence bamboo always gives me. So far, not good.

 

On my skin: tons of fresh, bright green, juicy bamboo. There’s some kind of wood underneath, but far, far, far behind and totally drowned in the overwhelming bamboo.

 

After a couple of hours: still wet, but some other notes finally emerge. Black musk mostly. It gets better, but pretty much masculine.

 

Verdict: no.

[euterpe414]

Habu is mainly bamboo and Snake Oil for me. I am not getting a lot of the musk or other wooden notes. It's a very green scent, and a bit clean smelling as well. This one doesn't change to much as I wear it; it only softens a bit over time (i.e. the bamboo calms down a little). This is very lovely and I will enjoy this on days when I want to feel fresh and clean.

[gingersnapp]

Oooh, this is very sweet and musky! Green, juicy bamboo is in the forefront, anchored by the black musk. The bamboo is very wet and very sweet, and I really like it.

[Em-]

Mmm...green Snake! This is Snake Oil with a coiled green brow - fresh and light, with a splash of citrus. I can definitely see the comparisons to Holiday Moon, except that where HM smelled wonderful in the bottle but a bit musty on my skin, the Snake in this one coils round my wrist and gives me all of the bamboo, freshy goodness, with the sultry vanilly goodness that is the Oil of Snakey love.

 

Another magnificent creation from the Pit. That Fazia, she's got some lovely companions...

[copyshopclerk]

In the imp: Green, fruity

 

Wet: Husband - "That smells like Christmas!" I see other people have said Holiday Moon, but I never tried that one, but it does give the impression of winter holidays. Without being a pine/evergreen blend, it has similar features. This is sweeter though, not as sharp as pine. Definitely very green - there's a grassy component which I guess is the bamboo.

 

Dry: Doesn't change much when dry - still a very pleasant, fresh green scent. The Snake Oil lends vanilla to the blend, but not really any of the Snake Oil incense.

 

Really like this one!

[parrot_suspect]

You're sitting in a treehouse in the middle of a jungle. The treehouse is made of teak wood and bamboo. It rained last night, so everything is wet and there is a fresh, clean, green (but not sharp) scent all around you. You're sipping a cup of green tea and catching a whiff of incense every now and then. That's Habu.

[em_h]

I think this is the first Snake Pit scent where I could distinctly smell Snake Oil; it's Snake Oil combined with green grassy notes and the sort of wet woodsiness of bamboo. It's probably really lovely if those are someone's favoured notes, but for me, I just kind of want to get them out of the way of the Snake Oil. (Yeah, I kind of knew this wouldn't be a favourite, but I got all completist about the Snake Pit).

 

In a detached sort of way, I recognize this as a first-rate scent that other people will probably love.

[maijasu]

Habu is hard to figure out, but I think I like it! It smells a little bit fruity, a little bit aquatic, a little bit green. I don't smell much Snake Oil compared to some of the other Snake Pit blends. After drying, it becomes more woodsy, but it still smells very fresh. Different and very nice!

[Browneyes]

Habu is the surprise hit for me! I'm so glad I got to try a decant of this, and I think I will get a bottle

 

Imp: Fruity? Kind of like apple/citrus (although not as much like apple as Coral Snake)

Wet: Oh wow. Fresh green wood sap. Like a juicy tree. Having never tried the lab bamboo note before I am utterly impressed. This is very evocative indeed.

Dry: The subtle SO base emerges, and to me, this is the Snake (of the 6 that I have tried so far) that is most like SO, only a lighter, greener version of it.

The faint SO scent lingers for hours and hours afterwards, whilst the initial bamboo wood smell fades after about 2 hours.

[melissadragon]

HABU:

 

Imp: Hmph, a woody Snake Oil. Different. I like it. - applied to side of right wrist

Wet: More Snake Oil than woods

Dry: Woody yet sexy. Hm. Perhaps a male scent.

1 hr later: Same as dry, slightly sexier.

Verdict: Not a keeper. It's sexy but not my kind of sexy. If I had a man though, I'd be insisting he try it.

[juniperus]

Bottle: ok, this will sound terrible - but sweet, rather pleasant, furniture oil. (I have teak furniture in the office that I have to regularly oil, stop looking at me like that!)

Wet: light and fresh popping up - I will guess that's the bamboo (though admittedly I don't know what ho wood smells like)

Dry: less of the teak, and more of that fresh note. muuuch better, it was a little disconcerting for me.

Later: the same, and not really fading after time, either. I'm only catching the musk and snake oil if I really work at it..this is very fresh and the color green of celery hearts...pale. Not me, but a really fascinating scent. It's not expressly feminine, per se, but very delicate.