The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Tomas Arsov built a following through television and hairdressing before turning his attention to fragrance in 2021. That career shift wasn't a departure, it was an extension. Hair and scent both live in the same space: identity, first impression, the thing people remember about you. When Arsov began composing Plum Tobacco Blossom Tonca Bean, the brief was deceptively simple, bold enough to intrigue, warm enough to return to. The plum-tobacco-tanka triad that anchors the name isn't accidental. It's the specific combination Arsov chose to announce the brand's arrival in 2021, alongside a yuzu-red pepper-vetiver and a sage-seaweed-salt. Three fragrances, all built on unexpected pairings. All unisex. All the same message: stop categorizing.
What makes this particular combination work is the way each note family pulls in a different direction. Plum is fruity, jammy, almost dessert-adjacent. Tobacco blossom adds an aromatic warmth that borders on medicinal, the green, slightly peppery edge of the plant rather than its smoke. And tonka bean is where sweetness actually lives in perfumery: coumarin-rich, warm, with an almond-vanilla softness that rounds everything into something wearable rather than challenging. Cocoa in the heart amplifies the dessert angle. Vanilla extends the sweetness. Woody notes and dried fruits ground the whole thing before it floats away. The structure isn't subtle.
The evolution
The opening hits fast, tobacco blossom's peppery green quality arrives alongside plum's dark fruit sweetness, and for the first twenty minutes there's a brief coolness, almost mint-adjacent, that one reviewer called a "drop of menthol-y coolness" without any actual mint in the pyramid. It's the spice-spice interaction doing something unexpected. By the time you reach the heart, the cocoa and tonka bean have taken over, and the fragrance becomes unmistakably warm, the kind of sweetness that reads as skin-warm rather than applied. The drydown holds for hours: woody, balsamic, with dried fruits adding a faint jammy undercurrent and vanilla that never fully disappears. On fabric, it survives a wash cycle. On skin, expect 8 to 10 hours of close sillage, present enough to be noticed by someone leaning in, never overwhelming a room.
Cultural impact
Released in 2021 alongside Yuzu Red Pepper Vetiver and Sage Seaweed Salt, this fragrance entered a niche market that had already warmed to sweet tobacco as a genre, Tobacco Vanille had set the template, and houses like Mancera and Xerjoff had built on it. Where Plum Tobacco Blossom Tonca Bean differentiates itself is the plum-forward opening and the unexpected minty-gingerbread quality that surfaces in the heart. Wearers describe it as the scent of someone who walks in without announcing themselves, present enough to be noticed, never performing. It has earned comparisons to Jazz Club and Harridan, but the consensus is that this composition occupies its own territory: sweeter, fruitier, and more accessible than its peers.
