Tobacco Leather is subfamily G3 (Cuir Tabac) of the Leather family in the SFP table. It sets a smoky leather note beside the smell of dry tobacco leaf: sweet, slightly honeyed, slightly hay-like, with black tea and dried fruit facets. The SFP already names tobacco in its description of family G, next to smoke, burnt wood and birch.
Tobacco and leather share many traits: both are dry, warm and smoky. This branch is usually sweeter than G1 Leather, thanks to coumarin, honey and balsams.
Tobacco absolute gives dry leaf, honey, dried fruit and hay. Hay absolute, honey absolute, beeswax absolute, deertongue and tonka extend this part; hay, deertongue and tonka are rich in coumarin. The leather base comes from rectified birch tar, labdanum, styrax, castoreum substitutes and isobutyl quinoline; guaiacol and cresol are the phenolic molecules behind the smoke.
Caron's Tabac Blond, composed by Ernest Daltroff in 1919, is often cited as the first perfume of the leather and tobacco style: leather with carnation, orris, ylang-ylang and vetiver over vanilla, musk and woods. The Leather family page in this section records that Nez regards Tabac Blond as the perfume that truly opened the Leather family.
Nicotine and its salts are listed in Annex II of Regulation (EC) 1223/2009, meaning they are prohibited in cosmetics in the EU. Suppliers sell denicotinised or nicotine-controlled tobacco absolutes; each lot's certificate should be checked. Coumarin is a labelled allergen and has its own IFRA Standard. Birch tar may be used only in rectified form under IFRA PAH limits; p-cresol has an IFRA restriction Standard.
The SFP website publishes only subfamily names; perfume lists per subfamily are in the printed Classification officielle des parfums. Perfumes named here are commonly cited examples, not official SFP placements.
G3 borders the Fougère and Amber families, since coumarin, tonka and balsams are also the axis of those two. A perfume with much tobacco and vanilla but little smoke may be placed in the Amber family rather than Leather. Chanel's Cuir de Russie also has a light thread of tobacco smoke, but it is usually cited for the floral layer of G2.
| Layer | Materials |
|---|---|
| Top | Bergamot, Clary sage, Saffron |
| Middle | Tobacco absolute, Honey absolute, Hay absolute, Beeswax absolute, Carnation |
| Base | Birch oil, Labdanum, Styrax, Tonka bean, Deertongue, Castoreum substitute, Coumarin, Isobutyl quinoline, Guaiacol |
This branch is well served by natural materials: denicotinised tobacco absolute, hay absolute, honey absolute, deertongue and tonka for the tobacco part; labdanum, styrax and rectified birch tar for the leather. FCF bergamot, clary sage and saffron brighten or dry the top.
Tobacco absolute and labdanum are dark in colour, which matters in pale products. Coumarin from all sources must be calculated against IFRA limits, and tar oils against PAH limits. This page gives no formula percentages.
| Name | House | Year | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tabac Blond | Caron | 1919 | Ernest Daltroff. Leather and tobacco with carnation, orris and ylang-ylang. |
| Coumarin, leather and smoke notes · Coumarin · Isobutylquinoline · Guaiacol · Cresol · Safranal | Hay, bitter leather, smoky phenols, saffron. |
| Tobacco accord and top layer · Tonka · Deertongue · Saffron · Clary sage · Bergamot fcf | Coumarin, dry facet, brightness. |
| Sources of the leather note · Birch tar · Labdanum · Styrax · Cade rectified · Vetiver | Smoke and resin. |
Updated 09/2026. Figures follow the year stated in each source.
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