Cuba Czech & Speake for women and men

Minty-bay rum. Cuba opens with a blast of aromatic and refreshing notes of mint, lime and bay-rum. The overall acidic and sort of balsamic effect brings to mind of Piper Nigrum and other Tiger Balm-inspired composition such as Esprit Du Tigre but where these two stay pretty linear in reproducing this effect, Cuba is joined in the middle phase by an animalic musky/rose accord that winks at classic perfumery. Simply amazing and original.

The drydown is more conventonally classic with the appearance of a woody-tobacco combo that drives the fragrance towards the barbershop type of stuff.

Nice concept - Well executed.

Rating: 7-7.5/10

Above all is a minted-tobacco fragrance; at the start i detect mint, lime(not always); then sometimes i detect cloves(not always), sometimes franckincense and patchouli, and a rum "barrique"(woody); no sweetness, only dryness; is not a vintage fragrance.
It doesn't last, is a eau de toilette, and this is the only flaw; is a fall/winter fragrances, not for the younger people.

Hmm...I don't know really where should I start my rewiew...I'm totally shocked and impressed at the same time.

It's beginning with a harsh bergamott screaming and as Doc Elly felt that fecal note, I could detect it too...unfortunately...:(I can't detect the basil and rum note.
After the shocking, rank, sour fecal horror is faded away and turned into a woody, warm pleasant smell.

So...I have mixed feelings about this scent, I'm not sure I want to wear this...

What a controversial fragrance. So many complain of getting a fecal note off the top, and some claim this note pervades the scent's entire evolution. Then there are those who feel this note is not part of Cuba, and find the scent to be nice but nothing remarkable. I'm in the latter camp.

Cuba does have very dark, earthy, somewhat indolic elements to its construct, but beyond the density of cigar tobacco and rum, I don't get the fecal animalic presence at all. However, this definitely doesn't smell clean or "fresh" by any measure. The mint does enliven things, and there's a healthy dose of cedar underpinning the scent. But nowhere does it enter a realm of brightness. Note separation is beautiful, and the ingredients are clearly top notch. But all things considered, I really don't get anything more than a dandified bay rum out of Cuba. It does have bay leaf and rum notes, so why this gets its premium niche billing is beyond me. If you're a huge fan of bay rum and want something to go with your aftershave, Cuba is something you should sniff. For the rest of us, I say pass.

A woody mint in the top and I smell something else. Like tabacco from a cigar. no rum for me. And I cant smell any bergamot and lime either. it dry's down to a nice woody scent with wiffs of mint.I find it a very masculine scent but I guess a strong woman could wear it to

I needed to go out to my office this afternoon, so applied Cuba without reading any reviews of it (I never like to read any reviews or notes before testing) thinking it would be a nice, public-friendly scent. I’m now running around in circles hitting my head with my palm, wondering what on earth I was thinking.

Cuba starts out with an astonishingly strong and unmistakable fecal note. Not your normal indole, not civet, but feces pure and simple. Huh? Is this supposed to evoke an open sewer festering in the hot sun? I suppose there are some in Cuba, but surely there are better things to put in a perfume that’s supposed to represent that country. There are also spices and florals; maybe there’s even the de rigeur tobacco and rum and lime and vanilla somewhere in there, but they’re so dirtied up in the muck that it’s impossible for me to find and enjoy them, and I certainly wouldn’t want to subject others to this fiasco. I am flabbergasted by all of the good reviews that this scent has gathered. Are there really people out there who are anosmic to the fecal note? Do people ignore it because they think they ought to like it? What’s up, anyway?

I tried to give Cuba ample benefit of the doubt, letting it dry down, hoping the feces would go away, trying to find all of the good things that others say are in there, but the fecal note was always lurking in the background if not parading in the foreground. I eventually had to scrub with soap and water, followed by alcohol and acetone to get rid of it. I don’t very often find a perfume that’s so repulsive to me that I have to scrub, and I don’t give many unequivocally negative reviews, but this is one. I know Czech and Speake also sell plumbing fixtures, but they really need to keep the two businesses separate.

I will agree with the previous reviewer: this is one bad perfume or my sample's gone sour. Because really, the list of ingredients sound so yummy, how can the result be so off-puting?

I think it's the clove that's ruining it for me, once of my least favorite notes. But the mint's prominent too, as is the cedar. There is no tonka bean I can detect and I was looking forward to its smoothness. In the end, all I can smell on my skin, and a friend's who tried it with me, is a really bad body odor. I love spicy scents, but I can't pull that off.

The more is dries down, the less prominent the spices are and that somehow makes it better; more intriguing and sparkling than the initially cloying smell I got from it. Still, this is not a perfume I'm willing to go near again. Even my sample will probably go unfinished. Perhaps it's better suited for men after all.

OK folks this one is really intriguing but it's absolutely doing my head in. The only possible review is a stream - of - conciousness review:

Oh good Lord...Is it Cuba in that little vial or is it some kind of expensive Single Malt scotch whisky ? Ahhh no, it's Cuba. I suppose that's the rum that I see listed in the notes but it definitely feels a bit more Northern European than Carribean! Oh this feels a bit wrong with the mint coming in, like drinking a glass of fine Lagavulin whilst chewing some Spearmint Extra gum. Ah but as it dries down I am getting a pleasantly soft and powdery sandalwood-vetiver.Maybe...iris? Maybe not. No! Wait! Where's that sweetness coming from? Tonka? I dont think so...Now it's vanished! Bergamot! Hello that's nice...Gah this is so confusing...Now a bit of tobacco...more kentucky than virginian. Every time I raise my wrist I'm getting something different. Hmmm..more vetiver but it's tempered with ummm... is that bay leaf/laurel ? It's not in the notes. Now it's cedar. What happened to the Sandalwood I got earlier? That wasn't in the notes either but I would put money on it..Oh the mint has made a reappearance. Mint...just a suggestion, 'a hint of mint' I'm a poet and I don't even know it.

Oh Cuba, I like you but I don't really understand you. It's like someone talking to me in a foreign language, if I pay close attention & observe the gesticulation I think I am beginning to understand you but then you throw something new at me and I lose the plot again.

I am going to keep trying with you, because I think you are really something quite special, I just wish you would stand still for a few minutes and let me catch up...

Oh Lord...I think I just found the lime....

If this smells like Cuba, There is a bad septic problem on that island.

People....im going to get out of my mind.... i only smell a bad fecal note that i cant imagine i have tried on my skin !!!!!!

This exquisite fragrance truly does justice to the name "Cuba". It is a very well crafted fragrance. At first application, the tobacco sent is almost pugnacious (it smells like the inside of a humidor box where luxurious Habana cigars are stored), but allow it to settle in for a few minutes and the melange of luxurious tobacco, rum and tropical flora scents will bring smiles to your face. The scent truly took me back to 2004 when I last visited la isla bonita, Cuba.

I would say this "rich smelling" fragrance is more suited for a mature, refined and charming Gentleman (of Latino, Arabian or South European extract) on those special occasions, he wishes to entertain that special lady in his life. For younger males (like myself) looking for a tobacco based fragrance I'm more inclined to recommend Aramis Havana.