The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Ricki Hall's collaboration with Captain Fawcett's arrived in 2016. Hall, a British barber and personality, brought his own barbershop sensibility to the brand's archival spirit. The name says it plainly: this is about the tools of the trade, the after-shave warmth of a good cut, and the quieter pleasure of a smoke at the end of the day. Booze and Baccy translates that ritual into a fragrance that works the room before the wearer says a word. The opening hits with a crisp, almost medicinal sharpness from the bay rum, immediately setting it apart from more straightforward tobacco compositions.
What separates this from standard tobacco fragrances is the bay rum structure underneath. Bay rum isn't just a note, it's a category, a tradition in barbershops where the sharp, medicinal freshness of rum and herbs was applied post-shave as much as it was worn as cologne. Captain Fawcett's leans into that duality. The bergamot and orange don't soften the composition; they sharpen it, giving the tobacco and vanilla something to argue with rather than simply surround. Galbanum adds that green, slightly bitter undertone that keeps the heart from becoming sentimental.
The evolution
The opening is the boldest move, bay rum cutting through with that sharp, almost antiseptic freshness that reads as both clean and slightly dangerous. The orange arrives within minutes, sweeter and more insistent, while the white thyme and coriander settle into the background like herbs left to dry on a windowsill. By the second hour, the tobacco leaf asserts itself, not as smoke but as the actual leaf, green, slightly bitter, with a natural sweetness that the vanilla and benzoin amplify rather than mask. The frankincense appears as the hours progress, giving the drydown a dusty, almost church-like warmth that lingers close to the skin. The composition develops in waves, each stage revealing new facets while maintaining that core tension between freshness and warmth, herb and sweet, sharp and soft.
Cultural impact
Booze and Baccy occupies a specific niche: barbershop tradition meets tobacco fragrance, with aromatic complexity that positions it alongside notable fragrances in the genre. It sits comfortably with compositions like Piper Nigrum by Lorenzo Villoresi and Hermès Terre d'Hermès in terms of its aromatic complexity, but with its own distinct character. The scent projects confidence and quiet authority, speaking to someone who values substance over showmanship.
