SCENT EXPOSÉ: The Original ~ Jar of Confusion

So as I mentioned in my last post, I received quite a substantial amount of messages on various social media from folks asking what I thought of this candle. Unfortunately I couldn't say much cuz none of my local stores had this candle to sniff. I had my theories but no solid proof...that is until I finally went to WB and sniffed and eventually bought said candle.

This mysterious candle created quite a bit of hubbub and hullabaloo on social media. It's been said that it was a repackage or at least similar my number one bae Black Pepper Bergamot. And everyone who knows me knows how much I loved it and and some folks graciously gave me a headsup about it, which is very sweet. Initially I was intrigued; hello it's a my all time favorite scent that hasn't been in rotation since '13. However part of me was a little leery and suspicious; the notes (black pepper, vetiver, pine needles) just wasn't adding up. And now having sniffed it...

OH THE SUSPENSE!!!!

The Original.... IS NOT BLACK PEPPER BERGAMOT!

It is sooooo not a repackage at all. It's not even remotely similar, not a tiny little bit. These could not be anymore different!

Here's the problem..everybody who all made these claims all had one thing in common - none of them currently OWNED a BBP (some never owned one at all) and were goin on purely scent memory. Personally out of all the people I know in the candleverse, there are only a small handful of peeps whose scent memory I truly trust...and none of them made these claims. No shade, just truth.

So you're probably wondering..well if it's not BPB, what the hell is it?! And I'll gladly tell you. It's the scent I theorized from the very beginning! People didn't wanna hear it but as it turns out, I was right!

GOLDEN WOODS!!! Need further proof?

from Ebay seller roberte518 

And here are the original notes of GW...

And as it turns out, GW was a repackage of  a scent from the failed Prestige collection - Great Room ~ Fireside Pine. Look at the notes... 

from Ebay sellers rew787975 and julia2868  

So The Original is a repackage of Golden Woods...which was a repackage of Great Room. Now where did Great Room come from...nobody knows. Was that an old scent back in the Slatkin/White Barn New York days which prompted BBW to call this scent "The Original"? Who knows!

So now you're probably wondering what is the difference between The Original and BPB?

BPB is a very warm and cozy and inviting and high end and sensual scent. It's very much an indoors boudoir type of scent. You get a surprisingly smooth and luxurious combo of cracked black pepper that adds piquant spice and warmth along with with cologney bergamot and they're both wrapped in a warm blankety embrace of soft lavender. 

The Original is the opposite! It's a very cool rugged outdoors scent; very much a wood barn or shed in the middle of nowhere in winter. It has the same brisk air feel of Autumn or Sweater Weather or Fresh Balsam. It's not inviting, it's not cozy and it certainly isn't sensual. 

So what does it smell like?

The scent combo is a little weird. The black pepper isn't a warm spicy cracked pepper but more like black pepper aromatherapy essential oil. It's there to add a little umph to an otherwise very dry bland blend. The vetiver is really intense - dank, inky, earthy, grassy, earthy funk found a lot in men's cologne (and cologny BBW candles). There's a little bit of creamy aromatic sandalwood and there's another wood note that I pick up that smells sort of like sawdust or wood chips...again conjuring up the image of wood barn or shed. And finally there's pine needles but it's not fresh needles picked off the tree branch. Actually it's more like resinous pinewood or rather the oil made from it.

And there's something about this scent that smells a little soapy, like a dry bar soap for men, I was talking to TTFT and I likened this to a soap that was super popular way back in the day called LAVA  which was a very dry and rough feeling soap aimed at hardworkin men to get any grime and grit off of their hands. But on second thought what it smelled like was shower gel from a Britain based men's fragrance company Molton Brown called Black Peppercorn - the notes being obviously black pepper, coriander and vetiver...sound familiar? It's always funny how certain BBW cologney candles actually smell like a particular actual cologney scent. 

In conclusion, what do I think of The Original? Real talk, I don't think I like it. It's too dull, too dry, too off. It just misses the mark of being a truly sexy cologney scent and instead smells kinda blah. It's certainly nothing exciting and is not worth the infamy it caused. And BPB is FAR more superior scent-wise. *sigh Honestly I bought this in a moment of weakness and once I was back in my sound mind at home, I found myself not enjoying it; neither did my bf. I have no desire to burn it and will most likely be bringing it back to exchange.

So there you have it. I wouldn't recommend this one at all! Unless you're an extreme collector and absolutely have to have this in your collection or you just love anything and everything cologney and woodsy, go right on ahead! Otherwise, leave it right there on the shelf!

And to this individuals originally claiming that The Original was a repackage of or similar to BPB, go stand in the corner and think about you've done!