I read about this cologne on a few different message boards and finally got around to buying it. For the price, I thought it would okay to do a blind buy. It retails for $22 for a 4oz splash bottle or $38 for a 8oz bottle. I bought the 4oz bottle because there is no way I would ever get through 8oz of cologne. There is also a 4oz aftershave splash available. Supposedly, this stuff has been around for decades and was a staple of traditional main street men's clothing stores. It comes in a cheap looking box and the cologne is packaged in a heavy glass bottle with a goldtone screw cap. The labels are just stickers tacked onto the bottle. No big deal, it's the stuff inside that matters. Since I don't care for splash bottles, I decanted some of the cologne into a 1/2 oz atomizer. The basenotes.net comments and reviews on this seemed to describe it a a "sweet leather". I'd agree. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed when I first tried this cologne. If you sniff the bottle, you get a very pleasant, slightly sweet smell that's not too far off from root beer or cream soda. On my skin, the initial spray smells like some kind of odd chemical concoction. I have no way to be 100% sure, but my guess is this cologne, like many colognes, is primarily synthetic. However, once the cologne has mellowed and dried down (which takes about 10-15 minutes) it settles into a very subtle, pleasant leather smell with a slightly sweet, powdery overtone that dominates over the leather component. Together, these two components are very nice. Staying power is pretty good, but this is not a "strong" cologne. I sprayed some on my chest around noon and I can still smell it on my shirt and skin 6.5 hours later. I would say this scent stays fairly close to the skin. Nothing too strong or likely to offend others. Overall, I think a lot of guys would enjoy this one. If you like things like Dunhill 1934, Mr. Taylor, Bay Rum, or even Pinaud / Old Spice type stuff this is probably up your alley. I bought mine from Sampters.com, got good service with no hassles. The only other place I could find this online was the official store at Elsha.com
