Zanzibar (Najaf) Xerjoff for women and men

Yeah, I don't agree with what I wrote 8 years ago...

The oud note is obviously synthed to the teeth, and that's fine, but for me what kinda 'breaks' this scent is the weird tobacco note which, for me, is out of proportion. There's a note, which is also in 1001 Ouds, which adds a jarring element to the tobacco element.
It's not the kind of tobacco you'd find in Slumberhouse, Fort and Manle, or even other more mainstream scents, it's an 'off' note, there's something in the accord that created a jagged tobacco profile which doesn't feel smooth of refined at all.
It's a definite no, for mine, and I really can't suggest what needs to be done or added to the scent to make it nicer...

I am sampling all of the oud stars line and now have sampled almost all of them. Alexandria 2 is already one of my favoritie fragrances ever- I guess I really like masculine fragrances sometimes. This one is gorgeous to me and I LOVE the strong oud note. I refuse to use the word most people use to describe the smell of oud because to me it doesn't resemble that as much as it does a cigar box. That's just me. I felt that even about such oud-heavy fragrances as Oud Infini. Anyway I hope to add this to my collection eventually. Yesterday I actually ordered Malesia which is another strong oud fragrance but with more honey. Some no-gos for me are Ceylon, Al-Khatt (unfortunately! That one DOES smell like horse manure), Luxor and Zafar. My loves are A-2, Zanzibar, Malesia and Fars. I haven't yet tried Gao or Indochine!

Zanzibar is one of the few fragrances I have been repulsed by. This is a nasty, overly fermented oud with goat cheesy tartness and a heavy dose of vinegar...and that's all there is to it. It's quite foul and diminishes quickly to a subtle form of the beginning harshness. The only perfume I have ever sold.

Fascinating fragrance, is Zanzibar. I sprayed my sample on a card, and was immediately turned off. But you don’t wear fragrances on a card, so a day later, sprayed on my arm and liked it better, and then after 15 minutes or so, loved it. Wife loved it too, so I guess I will add it to the growing list!

My God this bottle is beautiful. This is my first xerjoff so imagine my surprise (old style) anyway. Juice is not barnyard to me, be but it did open very loud old school chest rub, mentholated if that's the word. Cough drop, not the candy type just the medicinal kind. After that fades, maybe 30 mins, it's a soft and personal Oud, leather maybe tobacco vibe that remains mine. I even hint a little crushed leaves, no particular notes, just brown crushed leaves from the fall. It's pretty good and safe after the opening.

This is a gorgeous santal. The sandalwood is smokey, earthy, and dry-as-sawdust. There are noticeable similarities here to MPG’s Santal Noble, particularly the animalic note (possibly castoreum). There are also important differences. Zanzibar balances the parched sandalwood with an intriguingly sour and raunchy agarwood, whereas Santal Noble balances it with a lacy, sweet accord of vanilla and musk. They are both luxurious and a little odd. Santal Noble takes me to an 18-century French palace, whereas Zanzibar takes me to a stretch of patchouli sands. These terms are subjective, of course.

A nice modern sensibility meets ancient perfumery traditions scent. The perfume opens with interesting whiffs of green/herbal notes and Laotian Oud. At its heart is osmanthus, patchouli and cedar. The perfume settles into a powdery musk, oud, tonka bean, tobacco, sandalwood, and vanilla. Unisex (masculine leaning) with moderate to strong sillage and projection, and very good longevity. Be prepared for a ride from a somewhat edgy woody herbal start to a nice powdery musky finish. Enjoy!

4/10

Love it! Wife hates it! Smells like crap immediately, foul, dark abhorrent muck, but it changes to something very nice, I actually love the opening, but it goes away. I don’t own a bottle but might get one next winter.

Absolutely no recognisable oud note whatsoever nor anything that would even remotely resemble any shades of osmanthus be they peach, green or leathery facets. Just a heavy blanket of dirty tobacco and tonka, oddly herbal, sweet and sticky, which brings back memories of eucalyptus cough sweets from my childhood days - when they are way out of date. A totally loveless blend. Would sell my bottle after two sprays but let me do a bit of scrubbing first.

I do like to live life on the edge lol I knew there was a big chance of barnyard but I still had to try it. You are hit immediately with a big whack of barnyard. If that doesnt put you off at the first hurdle then you immediately earn respect. I valiantly hang in there.
10 minutes in and the barnyard has been cleaned up. Its now all about a power punch of oud and tobacco. Im not sure though if it is too masculine for me. A little further along the timeline and there is a sweetish fruitiness starting to come through. I think the osmanthus has finally been allowed up out of the dense shadows of the oud and tobacco. You will probably not be surprised to hear that I now love it. Apricot suede! What could be better. The tonka and vanilla have added a touch of sweetness and sandalwood makes anything lovely in my eyes. I mention sweetness but this is still definitely a unisex fragrance.
You wont be surprised that this has amazing longevity and the silage is pretty good as well.

As far as Skanky Oud frags go Zanzibar/Najaf is a good one. The oud here has some barnyard skank but just the right amount I think to add depth and the Osmanthus and tobacco layer pretty well with it. I get some hints of woodiness from the sandalwood n cedar and some muskiness too. I have gone easy on the trigger so projection is good but manageable. Longevity seems to be around 6-7 hours. This is one of those Oud frags where less is more.
Unless you live in the Middle east where Oud is a known quantity and appreciated, chances are you are not going to get any compliments on this from the lay person coz they wont get beyond the Barnyard note. I for one like this but usually end up wearing it when I am by myself. if you like Oud frags, do check this out. The usual Xerjoff quality, if you can afford it, definitely worth picking up.

PS. I have worn decants on and off so much I finally pulled the trigger on an older bottle. Zanzibar, not the newer Najaf bottles ( or is it the other way around? Who knows). This gets better and better through the day and the dry down is just lovely. The best part of it, the Tonka blends really well with the Sandalwood. Definitely one of My favourites of the Oud Stars line. Although be warned, not beginner friendly at all.

Pooh note

So I was at a store and wasn't particularly satisfied with Mona di Orio's Oudh Osmanthus, therefore I asked about this, and I was in head over heels as soon as I tried it! It has the best of both worlds: An amazing osmanthus note (fruity, sweet, yet realistic) and an amazing oud note (a bit dirty, dense, yet not fecal...Someone below mentioned preference to the "imposters" and I totally understand; I used to hate the real thing too, then I began to appreciate it and now I prefer the "inbetweens" as with this case)—not as intense as Zafar and many other authentic ouds.
The overall effect is a bit syrupy, but definitely the best syrup I'll ever have!

I recently did a sample swap so I was lucky enough to try Zanzibar. (Thanks Todd!) Sniffing this out of the bottle I thought, clean and soapy. but after spraying this one on my skin, my initial impression was a medicinal chocolaty covered barnyard. A very interesting scent, but medicinal. chocolaty barnyard?? Really? Yes, really!! That is what my first impression is. The initial spay is very thick and heavy scent that fills the room. After about 1 hour it started to settle down on my skin to a woody scent with a touch of barnyard and a touch of sweetness. Much better! For the first 4 hours the projection was in beast mode. Every inhale brought in this delicious fragrance.

After about 6 hours it tones down a bit on my skin. Not in beast mode, but not a skin scent either. The barnyard dissipates and it becomes more of a softer medicinal woody scent with a little sweetness.

Bottom line, overall a very good scent. If you like the medicinal, barnyard scents followed by a woody scent, you should try a sample of this one.

This one is very nice, At initial application I find this a bit on the medicinal oud side. I get no animalic notes at all. There is a wet tobacco scent that overtakes most of the other notes. That's it! At least for the first 30 minutes. After that, the other notes marry together to make a beautiful and subtle sweetness and a medicinal oud touch that lingers throughout the day. The other notes seem to blend so well they are really tough to single out. I've never smelled anything like this one. Definitely worth a try! Because of its uniqueness and, its a wonderful smell BTW, It gets a Love in my book!

Very interesting perfume with oud of high quality.

But one must get used to the combination with osmathus and tobacco first. Probably the whole gives the scent an animalic note. It changes a little after dry-down though.
Thus better try before you by. Many oud lovers would appreciate the quality of agarwood.

wow...this one is dense.

hard to put into words. in some instances i'm reminded of 'terryfic oud' (by terry gunzberg), and other moments i'm reminded of 'black afgano' (by nasomatto). oud, wood, cumin and resin. wow. probably too intense for me but WOW.

NAJAF is a city in IRAQ !!

I bought a bottle...PERIOD. Can't have a sweet nose, and closed mind...or you'll never like anything. I have Absolu Pour le Soir, so once I smelled THAT..I graduated to REAL SmellguudZ ....easily. You see the notes.

It is extremely hard at the beginning. Very strong smell of Oud absolute and sandalwood, then develops better and becomes more enjoyable. Gotta love Oud wood to enjoy this perfume. I like that.

I sort like this:
Smell: 8/10
Projection: 1000/10
Longevity: 10/10

I'm having a lot of fun exploring random samples of über expensive perfumes knowing full well that I'll never buy them. In some cases, I wouldn't wear them even if someone sent me a bottle as a gift! XerJoff NAJAF fits that description: definitely not for me.

On first spritz (and I could only take two!), I thought immediately of dark leather perfumes such as Serge Lutens CUIR MAURESQUE and Parfums d'Empire AMBRE RUSSE. Oily, thick, dark, totally intense, about as far from a feminine perfume--or any perfume--as I can possibly imagine. More of an experience than a pleasure for me.

Looking now at the notes, I see that I have been mistaking oud for leather. So this is the real thing: oud, claimed to be in so many far more genteel Westernized "oud perfumes" of late. Well, then, it's clear that I prefer the imposters! I really do not find this to be a pleasant wear at all, and I suspect that if I wore it anywhere people would think that I stink, though they might be too polite to say it outloud.

No, thank you very much, all the same. If anyone ever does send me a bottle of this composition, I'll forward it on to a fragrant friend of mine who finds a great deal to like in this hard hitter!

Next...

stinks like freshly opened can of snuff

Top Notes
Woody notes, Sweet notes, Herbal notes

Middle Notes
Woody notes, Osmanthus, Cedar, Patchouli

Base Notes
Sandalwood, Vanilla, Tonka, Tobacco, Musk, Oud