Review (2/5): Twice As Much of A Waste As One Bottle!
The current version of Tsar is a pitiful, inert, dullard of a fragrance that smells markedly like Old Spice. No need for anyone save masochists to stockpile!
Per other reviewers considering vintage bottles, this fragrance used to be an interesting powerhouse. Unfortunately, as IFRA (regulatory agency) restrictions on perfume content and overall manufacturing costs have increased, many manufacturers have simply stopped trying to inventively reformulate older fragrances, so what the buyer ends up with is the modern version of Tsar: a weak not especially complex or interesting scent with minimal projection and average longevity. When applied, I get a burst of alcohol and green, and then in about 10 minutes, some hint of pine, amber, and florals (carnation, geranium, lily of the valley maybe?). I smell no leather, no oak moss, no vetiver, no tonka beans, and only the slightest hint of patchouli. This becomes a skin scent really quickly, i.e. no projection, but it does last for about 6-8 hrs as a skin scent. This long duration is really the only major advantage Tsar has over Old Spice, which sells for half the price and smells oddly similar!
On Fragrantica.com, there are like 27 different scent ingredients listed for Tsar (or at least claimed for Tsar by its manufacturer), which is simply absurd. VC&A are either having some fun with us, citing historical formulas that are 10 years put of date, or have succeeded in generating the blandest possible result from the most ornately Byzantine of recipes. In comparison, Terre D'Hermes, with a mere 8 ingredients cited on the same site, smells like it is several magnitudes of complexity higher, a symphony compared to Tsar's hummed nursery rhyme.
Frankly, I think most buyers should spend their dollars elsewhere. Many of the old vintage powerhouses have not been reformulated into the same decreptitude that Tsar has; Azzarro Pour Homme, Lapidus, Aramis, Havana, Tuscany, Yatagan: all still around, all smell great, though maybe not quite as good as they used to. Even Grey Flannel, which is currently much cheaper than Tsar, smells much better and still has some of its cojones attached. So if you want to see what the 80s (or earlier!) smelled like, you have a lot of options. Tsar certainly won't appeal to most young modern male fragrance buyers who love calone, seaweed, and apple. And if your tastes are for more refined "older" stuff, the dull ghostwater found in bottles of Tsar holds little appeal at the current price point. Get Azzarro PH or Lapidus for less money and have more fun!
On the plus side, Tsar is certainly workplace friendly, as no one will smell it on you unless you are giving them a piggyback ride or are lying on top of them, both of which circumstances are uncommon enough in the workplace so as to preclude their likelihood of occurrence.
Other exhibits in the realm of the Former Powerhouse Roll of Dishonor are worse than Tsar: the current Halston Z14, Ungaro III, and Paco Rabanne all have been even more neglected / manhandled into smelling weak / unpleasant/ or both. And even weak Tsar smells better than many modern fragrances, alas, but that's beyond the point. Bottom line: unless this falls in price to the level of Nausea Voyage, there are many better options for less money.