Thorns Clove Cigarette

[Silvertree]

[bpal]A love letter to goth kids everywhere...the perfect evocation of an old school clove cigarette.[/bpal]

[zankoku_zen]

This smells like a honest to god clove cigarette. You know the type. Djarnums, before we had that weird law that says no tobacco with additives. Clove, smoky chewy tobacco, and more clove.

Good throw and wear length.

[daddy420]

Very strong scent. Smells of christmas time pinecones potpourri. But very very clove. Smells the same on the skin. Long throw. If you love cloves or clove cigarette it's a must grab. Other scents it reminds me of is Erika Klash and Mr Nancy. 

[doomsday_disco]

I can't compare this to the scent of clove cigarettes, but I will say that it is a clove-dominant scent with a bit of a cool aspect in the background, and it is goth af. There is no sweet or dank tobacco note here... it's more like a clove incense.

 

I tested this against Sweet Clove SN, and the latter was warmer and stronger than this scent.

 

Since it didn't have lots of throw when I tested it, I decided to do a full day wear test by slathering it along the length of both of my forearms. Even then, I could not smell it over my boyfriend's Jareth (and he only used three dabs). So it's definitely one that needs to be slathered (at least in a dry climate) and absorbed into some clothes.

 

If you love clove, you need this. My decant will not be enough.  

[Missanneshirleyofgg]

Disappointed. I think I was wanting more of an atmospheric of clove cigerettes. The leather jacket, the clove, some smoke and maybe *something* evocative of the time period. Will restest this today but I just amped clove and I do not need SN clove. If my retest after a weeks rest changes my mind I will edit. 

[Deceitfuldescender]

This smells exactly like a clove cigarette.

 

When I was 20, I went to a lot of goth clubs and events and took to smoking these until they got banned. Sweet strong clove, a hint of black paper and an undercurrent of tobacco. Clove is the Star here and it is dangerously close to clove single note. Close, but not exact.

 

If you were ever a goth kid and want to relive the scent of clove cigarettes in the broody air while wearing black and lots of hair gel, this is your scent.

[Poenari]

I have never smelled actual clove cigarettes and have never smoked, but I love the smell of cloves and from what I have read of the cigarettes, I imagine I would have loved their scent. So I was excited to get in on the first pre-order for this scent. When my bottle arrived, it smelled so good in the bottle that I immediately applied it to my wrist. 

 

Unffff.... so good! Smooth clove blended with a sweet tobacco. That's it, that all I got. But I love it. And my husband unexpectedly asked what I was wearing and could he try it. It not only smelled great on him, but for the first time ever in my BPAL life (starting my 15th year collecting) he asked me to get him a bottle. After I stopped laughing, I explained how LEs work, and said that I would try when they reopened pre-orders again. I was successful so now we each have a bottle.

 

By the way, this one has hella strong throw on us with very light application! I'm usually one to slather and am grateful that I don't have to with this, so my bottle will last longer. 

[Lucchesa]

Ooh, I'd forgotten I had ordered this decant.  So excited to see it in my stash!  Yep, clove cigarettes, and it's 1985 all over again.  This is a gorgeous clove tobacco,  heavy on the clove, and on my it has good staying power and even a little throw, which is unusual for my skin chemistry.  To quote doomsday_disco, my decant will not be enough.  

[neptuneanblues]

Interestingly, for me in the bottle this smells like unburned cloves in the pack, and on the skin, smells like a lit clove cigarette. So that's a neat trick! I wasn't expecting to be able to smell the "burning" aspect of a cigarette as well, but it's there for me. I might actually layer this with Indonesian Clove Single note to tone down the incendiary aspect. I agree that this has quite a bit of throw so likely doesn't need to be slathered unless you are a "huge cloud of scent" type person. 

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

*chef's kiss* This is perfection, the first bottle in a long time that I've bought unsniffed without trying for a decant first. In fact, I stalked the website to grab it the second it became available.  Something about the scent of clove cigs has always been so seductive to me, and I have Demeter's "Humidor" but it's a bit...weak. Beth's version is strong, complex, and delicious.  I will wear it to death (alternating with Haunted) this autumn. 

[Penance]

Origin:

 

5mL bought secondhand

 

Preconceived notions:

 

I love the smell of clove cigarettes and I've longed for one from the Lab since I first started buying in 2004.  I'm beyond excited to try this!

 

First sniff:

 

Hoo, baby!  That is one strong scent!  It's not exactly the smell of actual clove cigarettes, but it's damn close.  I really, really like this so far.

 

Wet on skin:

 

I only put on dab and this stuff is strong.  Like crazy strong.  My husband could smell it from across the room.  Awesome!

 

The scent from the bottle doesn't change at all when I put it on.  Still a very nearly authentic kretek scent.  So good!

 

Dry down:

 

This stuff was very strong for a couple of hours and then slowly faded away.  But that was just one tiny dab.  Super stable, too.  No real change from bottle to skin to dry down.

 

The final verdict:

 

I have a couple other BPAL scents that (at least on me) have a nice clove cigarette smell (Velvet Bandito and Morven, the Strong Man), but Clove Cigarette is the closest of the three. 

 

I love all of them, but this one's the best of the bunch for an authentic smell (the other two aren't supposed to smell like clove cigarettes, anyway, so I guess that's not a surprise).

 

I'm sad I only have one bottle.  This one's worthy of a backup or two...or five. 😄

 

 

Edited June 21, 2020 by Penance

[Threemoons]

This really does smell like a freshly-opened pack of Kreteks.  Also, it somehow captures the scent of furniture saturated with clove cig smoke--think your favorite coffeehouse or downmarket Goth club/record store.  Happy to say that I bought one of the very first bottles for sale at the NYC Oddities Flea Market.  Glad I also got a backup when I could.

[hhelix]

I was so excited to learn this was back in stock, and I ordered immediately. I bought this for the nostalgia factor, I do admit, and clove is one of my favorite notes… First time wearing (after only a night’s rest from the post), I was a little underwhelmed at the simplicity. It DID smell exactly like an unlit clove cigarette. Clove itself even as a SN has some nuances. There was a hint of baked goods early on, but it did not morph much and remained bone-dry, spicy, almost floral at times throughout wear. Just, clove. I think it would layer brilliantly with almost anything, especially the autumn scents, and I will be curious to see how it ages. I'm glad I purchased it, for the trip down memory lane, and to smell like cloves without having to trash my lungs. 

[feyofthefellwood]

When I first got this, it smelled mostly like clove (albeit a very nice clove, smooth and dark rather than potpourri-like). But I'm noticing the tobacco emerging more as it ages, and I'm really liking the tobacco note (which is pipe-tobacco-ish IMO) with the clove. I've never smelled a clove cigarette, so I don't have the nostalgia factor, but I like this scent for what it is: a warm, autumnal clove with tobacco. This would be lovely layered with a leather note . . .

[tinyvulture]

I loved Sampoerna clove cigarettes when I was like 20 and my roommate and I would buy them at seedy Oklahoma head shops. This perfume is nostalgic to the extreme, but it’s a little heavier on the tobacco and less sweet and clove-y than I remember or would want in a clove cig scent. I just generally can’t wear the lab’s tobacco note -- makes me sneeze. So, this is off to swaps where I’m sure it will be scooped up by some other former club kid.

[storme]

Wet: much clove, very tobacco.
Dry: warm clove cigarette. It is what it says it is. I like it--I never smoked these things but I do like how cloves smell, and the tobacco here adds a warm, rich depth to it. Gorgeous, and I bet it'll age like a dream.

[fairybites]

I've never smelled clove cigarettes before, so I can't compare how this smells to those. But what I did get from this was a nice smoky clove and tobacco with a little bit of the paper wrapper. It doesn't scream cigarettes to me like some blends I've tried. The smoke is pretty faint and the clove is the main attraction. This has a very strong throw, kinda like actual cigarettes. 

 

I've never been a smoker, but after experiencing this I can see why some people preferred these to regular cigarettes. 

[Little Bird]

I'm obsessed with clove and therefore I am obsessed with this perfume.  I would guess that I own well over 100 clove dominant perfume oils and essential oils at this point because I buy anything that mentions clove.  I tend to hate cinnamon, but clove is my spicy best friend.  I've never actually smelled clove cigarettes, so I don't know how accurate this is to that reality.  On me, this smells like someone saturated a marshmallow in sweet clove oil and then blackened it over a fire.  It doesn't smell like campfire or ash or intense smokiness, but it has a light whiff of charred sugar smoke to that lovely, spicy, sweet clove.  It's a simple, strong, lightly sweetened and delicately smoky clove and I love it.

[WoolyBee]

If I could describe this in one word, it would be: accurate. This smells just like the clove cigarettes from years past. Like others, I even get the papery quality of an unlit clove cigarette. Pure nostalgia for me. On the skin it deepens a little, with clove being the dominate note throughout. I get a hint of tobacco and maybe the slightest (and I mean slight) sense of black leather. But those notes are much more subtle. I don’t wear this one super often, but when I do… it takes me back!

[bloodfaery]

As others have mentioned, smells exactly like Djarum Blacks, unlit. Spicy and gorgeously nostalgic. I layer this with Hypnotic Poison, which I have been wearing since 1997 and it. is. everything. My signature scent, my favorite BPAL of all time. If it ever comes back in stock, I'll buy many more bottles.

[DigitalCoyote]

I'm a forever undercover baby goth.  Clove cigarettes were a thing when I was a kid and then they suddenly disappeared, a casualty of the smoking ban that eventually spread to other states I think.  I'm not a smoker (save the rare cigar every few years) and don't like the smell of cigarettes at all...but I LOVE the smell of good clove cigarettes.

 

Wet: I thought I'd made a mistake at first.  Something acrid in this like the beginning of Moai.

 

Semi-dry: All clove.  Smoke smell has thankfully backed off.

 

Dry: Tobacco has arrived to temper the spicy smell.  It gives a warmth to the smell and rounds off some of the in-your-faceness of the clove.  I don't have a sense of throw because I was on my own most of the day.  It was not quick to fade nor did I have a sense that my skin had eaten it.

 

Hella dry: 24+ hours later and the warm tobacco clove smell is still in my house hoodie.  It's comforting.  

 

I bought a nostalgic goth scent from a different company earlier this year.  It was good as an ensemble piece and included a clove cigarette note/complex but what I wanted from it was this smell.  If there's a single note leather or Brom Bones, I'd try layering it with this but it's absolutely bang on and lovely on its own.