Pinched With Four Aces

[lightgatherer]

 

Pinched With Four Aces, C.M. Coolidge.

Colorado Maduro tobacco wrappers, cinnamon bark, coffee bean husk, and dry woods.

 

Eep, this is the first time I've ever been a first reviewer. I'm not the best at reviews, but I'll do what I can.

 

Straight from the bottle, this blend smells amazing. It's soft and warm and subtley sweet and woody. The boy and I were both swooning over the scent in the bottle. Wet, it smells very much the same as it does in the bottle. The coffee is quite restrained, and I couldn't detect the cinnamon until I went back and re-read the description. Given that I normally amp cinnamon, anyone with a cinnamon fear shouldn't worry about it in this blend. As it dries, this reminds me a bit of Miskantonic University's older, suave brother. There's the warm scent of caramel but none of the sweetness and the subtle coffee with just the slightest dash of cinnamon over it. This isn't overly foody, though - the honey blond wood scent underneath it keeps it all in balance. This is a gorgeous, balanced blend that I would imagine would have wide appeal.

[shelldoo]

in the bottle: coffe bean, something sweet, i believe it is the tobbacco.

 

wet: coffee, and something slightly cologne like hint of cinnamon

 

this is soft, cinnamon coffee, i am thinking cappiccino w/ a dusting of cinnamon on top. the dry woods have something very masculine coming through, but not in a *this is a man's scent* way , so much as this is cuddling up in my man's shirt, by a fire, in the study, w/ a big mug of coffee, waiting for him to come home from a trip.

Edited April 14, 2007 by shelldoo

[edenssixthday]

Pinched With Four Aces - This scent is the perfect example of Beth taking notes I don't like and making something truly amazing out of them! I can't stand coffee-scented things, and cinnamon and tobacco rarely ever do it for me, and the ambiguous "dry woods" is something that I can never be too sure about in a blend. However, in this one, they combine to create a warm, rich scent that's totally and completely swoon-worthy. The coffee note is warm and slightly sweet, as if there's a touch of cream swirling through it. I don't even notice the cinnamon until the blend dries on my skin, at which point, I smell the lightest dusting of cinnamon, as if a quick dash of the spice has been sprinkled on top of a cup of hot coffee. The tobacco and woods lend a deep, rich, and almost masculine scent, although this is definitely not a traditionally masculine blend. I think it can be worn well by anyone. I simply cannot get over how completely blown away I am by this blend. It's the first BPAL in quite some time that has truly surprised me and blown me away, and it's most definitely my favorite of ever single Salon scent released so far.

[stonechiper]

I rarely write reviews but the Dogs Playing Poker series in general and Pinched with Four Aces in particular need bumping up!

 

One of the great things about BPAL for me (aside from the divinely crafted scents) is learning about such diverse things. When I see a scent description and an unfamilar component, I love looking it up to find out what kind of a smell it could be and the meaning it could be suggesting. With the Salon scents I find it almost mandatory that I do a little research on the artist and painting being interpeted.

 

C. M. Coolidge's series of paintings are icons of kitch, often the used as the punch line for jokes about "fine art". However they are also some of the most recognized (and copied) images in the art world. Recently 2 of the dogs playing poker series went up for auction expected to bring in around 50,000. Instead they sold for 590,000. I know this really has nothing to do with what Pinched with Four aces smells like, but like Coolidge's paintings themselves, one shouldn't be quick to judge these scents as jokes. IMHO they rank up there with some of the Lab's finest creations.

 

OK, now that I've dispensed with that ultra dramatic introduction, perhaps I can actually review the scent?

 

Yes.

When reading the description one does does not expect sweet and foody, but when I open the bottle I smell sugarry butterscotch.

 

Honestly, it smells like Monsterbait:Underpants to me not only at first sniff, but upon initial application.

I know Beth doesn't list every note in a blend, but this has me perplexed.

 

I think it may be the tobacco, but I've had tobacco blends before and this is far far sweeter, more caramel. I look up Maduro tobacco and learn that this type of leaf is cured in the sun for much longer than a regular tobacco leaf, which greatly increases the sugar content to create a very sweet flavorfull cigar.

 

The sticky sweetness is melded with dry coffee, cinammon and woods which must be what my nose on casual sniff associates with Underpants, Beaver Moon, or Misk U. When I put my nose to my wrist I smell that unmistakeable dry smell of a cigar wrapper, the tang of the cinammon bark and bite of fiberous woods. I don't really get a coffee smell, but I do get husk.

 

As it dries down I'm left with occasional wafts of that sweet smell, the sillage caused at least one of my companions to wonder if someone had been smoking a pipe in the room earlier. Then as that fades it leaves me with a dry woodsy smell. This scent seems such a perfect way to paint the picture in scent. It starts off as if you were in the middle of the game and there long enough to pick up the smell of your oppents cigar, the polished wood of the poker table. As the police storm in, a mug of coffee spiked with whisky falls over spilling on the chips and soaks into the mat. You escape into the night and know you need to walk the smell of the game off you, but it never quite leaves you and you can't help but feel lucky that the cops broke it up before you lost your shirt.

 

I'm a big fan of scent as a mnemonic device and as a sensory experience and this is a great one! This is not something you wear to create allure or to get compliments. It's for creating a mood and an expericence. To feel and appear slightly mysterious and secrective. You've been up to something, but they can't and you won't tell.

[forspecial_plate]

This starts out mainly coffee, and that's coffee with a fair amount of sugar....sweeter than I thought it would be. At first, I can't tell if I'm going to like it enough. I love the smell of coffee, but it doesn't excite me that much as a perfume note. There is one coffee blend that I love and that's Possets' Ribbands, and Pinched does remind me of that at first. The throw is medium, not real strong but I can tell it's there.

 

Later, though, it seems the scent gets stronger, and the woods come out a lot, and the cinnamon a little. I love woods in certain cases and this is a great woody scent. At this point, I'm so glad I put it on today, because it's dreary and a little cool outside, cloudy, and this is a great contemplative scent for this kind of day. The coffee is still there but I think the woods have nearly overcome most of the sweetness that was there in the beginning. I love this now, and this is another that maybe I should have bought a whole bottle.

 

edit: I wore this again yesterday, and my perceptions have changed a little bit. I really like this and I will cherish my decant. What smelled woody to me before, now comes across a little different. It seems to have a sweet cream note that comes forward in the dry-down, very pure and slightly sugary. This lasts and lasts, for hours, and even through a shower. I'm glad a little goes a long way, so I know my decant will last for a long time!

Edited November 6, 2007 by Forspecial Plate

[savage_rose]

Heavenly...while Misk U smells like sugary cappuccino to me, this smells like the real thing: dark, heady coffee. A little bitter, and very rich. Marvelous.

[tempestteapot]

When wearing this I smell angel food cake. Right out of the oven with that warm toasty almost burnt carmalized sugar crust!

 

I'm in HEAVEN!

[harmonyfb]

On first application, this smells like strong coffee brewing. Where Miskatonic is a sweet latte in a bookstore, this blend is a waft of coffee from your own kitchen. Dry, the tobacco sweetens it, and makes it softer, more complex. There's a bare hint of cinnamon when I put my nose to my wrist, the but the throw is all black coffee.

 

It smells divine.

[Electra]

Straight from the imp -- yep, I see the comparisons to Miskatonic. I'm surprised it's so sweet -- it smells like butterscotch coffee.

 

On me -- the sweetness disappears, and now it's not foody or gourmand at all. Pinched With Four Aces has turned into Miskatonic's dark, dark (did I mention dark?), spicy, brooding cousin.

 

This is an absolute winner on me.

[Little Bird]

In the vial this is verrry sweet coffee and something spicy, like peppered woods. On me... smells like lots of butterscotch, some coffee, and a bit of pepper in the background.

 

After 5 minutes or so, this dries down to a very sweet, very warm scent. It's not in-your-face spicy, but it seems to radiate warmth. I can't really pick out any of the coffee. It smells like butterscotch and caramel with a background of spicy woods. I'm not getting the bitter, black coffee that others have mentioned at all. My skin seems to amp up the sweetness in this blend. I normally hate tobacco (smells just dirty & smoky on me), but I can't smell any tobacco in this blend. I think that I'm getting that peppery spice from the 'dry woods.'

 

This ends up being one of those scents that I like and appreciate, but I'm not sure that I'd ever actually wear it. It reminds me a little bit of Tiresias, only sweeter and not as good or complex.

[luna65]

Thanks to djuna for the decant.

 

Vial: I love the way this smells in the vial, it's not so much "masculine" as it is deliciously gourmand, but not overly sweet. Sooooo delicious! A wonderfully spicy coffee with nuances of wood.

 

Skin: I get a sort of sharp sweetness when I apply this, I'm figuring it's the tobacco accord. The coffee bean husk is less noticable once it's on me. After a few minutes there's a lovely wood evocation with just the slightest hint of cinnamon.

 

Drydown: Much like A Bachelor's Dog, this one doesn't last long on me at all. Within an hour it's almost completely faded on me, with a slight soapiness remaining. But I think this is my favorite of the Dogs I've tried in its' formulation and evolution, a great unisex blend. I can see it becoming a cult favorite.

Edited May 18, 2007 by luna65

[gingersnapp]

Mmmm, cinnamon and tobacco. There's something really creamy in this blend, giving it a nice round sweetness. I don't get much of the coffee bean husk or woods, but the cinnamon bark is just fantastic. I wish I had bought a bottle of this one.

[Jilara]

Hmm, I don't get tobacco or cinnamon at all.

 

Wet, it's all coffee, straight up coffee. Mmm, nice, but I don't know if I want this as perfume. It's like a coffee shop on your skin.

Then, drying down, I get a weird vegetable quality coming up in back of the coffee. I shoved my hand under my housemate's nose and asked what he thought it was. He sniffed. "Ah, bell pepper? Green bell pepper? What's it doing with coffee?" And he was right. This is just too weird.

 

Fortunately, after about 45 minutes, the green bell pepper drops out. It goes to a scent that reminds me of coffee toffee candies my mother used to get, coffee with a slight creamy note. It's three hours later, and it seems to be sticking with that note, but wow, it's gone faint. I'm about to lose Pinched with Four Aces altogether.

 

For contrast, I had put Miskatonic U on my other hand. It's still nice and strong, while Pinched is just completely wimping out on me. I think I prefer Miskatonic for the long run, and especially for wearing on my skin. Pinched might do better as a room scent...

 

Much later:

Okay, here's a morph for you. I put on Pinched before leaving for work. About 3:30 in the afternoon, I found myself sniffing my hand, because I was getting a new scent. Something with a note of cinnamon. And there you go, seven hours later, I'm smelling cinnamon and tobacco wrappers. So where were they before?

Edited May 16, 2007 by Jilara

[ivyandpeony]

I'm really glad I decided to gamble on a bottle of this one. I dreamed that Miskatonic U would be fabulous and we'd spend a lifetime together, but it was the scent that taught me on that long ago day in spring 2005 just how caramelnoxious my skin can turn a perfectly lovely blend.

 

But the woods and cinnamon in Pinched With Four Aces are just what I need with my sweet coffee - a little spice, a little something dry to temper anything creamy, caramelized or sugary lurking in there waiting to make me smell like I've been marinated in Bailey's. I don't think I will be wearing this much over the summer, but as soon as a chilly, rainy day hits, I am cuddling up with a good book and dabbing this all over.

[shadesong]

In bottle: *eyes wide* Sweet coffee with cinnamon...

 

On me: *falls over* Oh my hell. This is - Miskatonic University and Herr Drosselmeyer's love child, with a lick of Hearth 2004. *inhales arm* Oh, man . This is gorgeous. I think I need to find a backup bottle!

[dzurlady]

Oooh, this is gorgeous. Really warm and comforting, and beautifully balanced. All the components snuggle up against each other. I love it!

 

In the imp: Almost pure coffee with a hint of tobacco wrappers (I think) at the end and barely noticable.

On, wet: Coffee, strongly

On, drying: Almost immediately this begins to morph, bringing in cinnamon most strongly but also the tobacco and to a lesser extent the woods

On dry: Pretty much the same, with the cinnamon a bit more promient. The coffee disappears first.

Throw and duration: Heartbreakingly, both quite minimal. It clings to my wrists and fades in two or three hours. Hopefully slathering will make it amp and stay longer.

 

ETA: Slathering doesn't seemed to have helped much, although I could extend my slathering to different parts of my body. The tobacco wrappers are most prominant at the end of the scent, which is a bit sad as I don't dislike them but I don't love them either.

 

ETA2: I wore it again today and got much better throw and the warm cinnamon and coffee blend stuck around through to the end. Just lovely.

Edited June 3, 2007 by dzurlady

[euterpe414]

Oh my this is lovely!! On my skin I get a mixture of coffee (this is the primary note), tobacco and cinnamon. It's a heaveny mixture, for sure This has lots and lots of throw on me and lasts for a while as well. I knew I would love this from the moment I read the description and I sure was right!

 

(just for the record, on me this does not smell very much like Misk U - there is no dustiness or toffee-ness in this blend, as far as I can tell. The coffee in Pinched w/4 Aces is a lot stronger and more "true" to how coffee really smells)

[juniperus]

bottle: cinnamon coffee

wet: the same, but with the woods coming up behind

dry: ooh, this has grown lovely and mellow...like sitting in an old bookstore, with heavy wooden bookcases and paneling, sipping cinnamon coffee

later: this is what I wish Misk U smelled like on me...it's subtle, but evocative. I wish I had known to buy myself a bottle of this, I really do love it.

[Heavenlyrabbit]

So I took a gamble with picking this scent from Dogs Playing Poker series and it paid off big time.

 

I had two other definite "Dog" scents on my To Get List and wanted a third.

 

Distressed that my decants hadn't arrived (probably held up with an order suffering from the Bloody Mary component issue), I read the descriptions, held my breath and went for Pinched W/ Four Aces.

 

Cinnamon hates me. But it is perfect here.

 

Coffee smells wonderful on me, but Miskatonic U. lasts for a brief few seconds. Here it lingers.

 

Tobacco can be somewhat heavy and ponderous but here it's just atmospheric.

 

If only I'd known, this would have been a two bottle order (rare for me) cause this is close to being "Signature Scent" worthy.

 

The overall impression I get from this is stimulating conversation, late into the evening with old friends and a prospective beau thrown in for good measure.

[Brianne]

In the vial:

MM COFFEE!!

 

On me:

I have been eagerly waiting for a coffee blend from BPAL (as Mata Hari smells nothing of coffee to me). This is IT.

 

Everything blends together beautifully so that the end result is something that smells similar to cappuccino. It's warm, smooth, slightly sweet and has a husky undertone to it. GORGEOUS.

 

Final note:

I can't explain this blend. It's wonderful, it shoots right up into my top 10. I only wish that I had been able to buy a bottle when they were available.

[jade_starlight]

This is delicious. It's mostly coffee, with a hint of cinnamon and what I think is the tobacco. It's somewhat masculine without being too manly, and I love it. I'm sitting here just huffing my wrist and swooning.

[valentina]

Pinched With Four Aces is so gorgeous in the bottle. It's like a cinnamon cafe latte in a bottle, with a bit of tobacco sweetness. When it hits my skin, it's very similar, except after a while, my skin's tendency to amp cinnamon takes over, and it starts smelling a great deal like Enraged Groundhog Musk -- cinnamon and caramel. However, the amount of cinnamon in this blend is not that significant, and it chills out after a bit and becomes much more balanced. It reminds me of Misk U without the dry dustiness, and it's a warm, comforting, round scent -- very much coffee, with spice, and a bit of tobacco mellowness. While it's not a girly scent, I also think this is something that could be worn equally well by a man or a woman.

[filigree_shadow]

The second I opened the bottle I knew I was going to love this. It's outstanding.

 

It smells kind of like coffee with a lot of cream and a little bit of cinnamon. This is not bitter coffee at all -- it's the good stuff. It smells dry and warm and extraordinarily comforting.

 

Until now the only coffee-scented perfume I liked even marginally was Misk U, and I like this one about 100 times better. It really smells wonderful. Wow. I'm completely in awe.

[supremegoddessofall]

In bottle: Almost has a chocolate effect, but with tobacco.

 

On me: Very foody. Equally cinnamon and coffee, with a touch of the tobacco.

[bheansidhe]

Ohhhh Myyyyyy Gawwwwwwwd, it is so good! It's foody in the way a spice cabinet is foody, not foody like a dessert tray.

 

The cinnamon is really a soft, warm, powdered cinnamon, not the overly sharp cassia note that my skin hates (and ruined Monster Bait: Underbed). On me, the Pinched With Four Aces blend has a dry, caramelized warmth. In fact it's what I thought Ventriloquist's Dummy *would* smell like, but didn't. I'm heartbroken that I didn't buy a bottle when I had the chance.

 

If there is ANY chance that the Dogs will dash back into the Salon for a reprise round, I'm stocking up on this one. It's the only one of the Dogs that really worked. One To Tie, Two To Win was lovely but just didn't reciprocate the affection on my skin.

Edited May 31, 2007 by bheansidhe