BPAL - Calico Jack (8/02)

Another BPAL today... this time Calico Jack, my second piratey scent. The first one, Grog, smelled delicious (like an alcoholic butterscotch) but didn't really agree with my body chemistry, quickly turning to what I hear is the infamous "soapy" or "baby powder" smell. But this one is not grog, and focuses on a different aspect of pirate-ness... like, you know, being on boats and stuff.

Calico Jack, for the record, was the pirate captain (Jack Rackam) of the Revenge, best known not actually for himself but rather for having two women on board, Anne Bonny and Mary Read. As I recall reading in a certain extremely old book on pirates (A General History of Pyrates, 1724), there may have even been a more explicit love triangle than the current Wikipedia page lets on. Then again, most of what we know about the two women is actually from that book, so they're basically legends. And you know what? The scent has nothing to do with either of
them.
Oh yeah, Calico Jack is also the one who popularized of the second-most stereotypical Jolly Roger design... that skull and crossed swords insignia, second only to the skull over crossed bones? Yeah, that was his. But no, he's just some inconsequential pirate captain who had two women.

So, the scent... not sure what I really thought about it in the vial. There was plenty of fragrance, but it didn't really conjure any images. But on the arm, it was all sorts of images... frankly, the
website has it perfectly. There was heavy, salty sea air. And driftwood. And seaweed. And a certain something which "hits you hard in the back of the nose," as Beth put it... not really sure what it was, but it just made the entire scent harsher (this little subtlety did not show up on Beth, however). And then there was a general undercurrent of what I learned from the Rat King was musk. Now the sea itself wouldn't smell like musk, of course, but the fragrance did add
a certain sense of proud indulgence, which would be, if I read him correctly, very characteristic of Calico Jack.

Now Beth says the scent lasted for a long time on her. For me, it was about the average time... four hours until it became faint. The scent changed, too, as it aged, with the harshness and the wood smells fading, eventually become what seemed to me as a sort of salty musk.

My final thoughts on this BPAL... I liked it, of course, although perhaps more for the novelty value than the actual scent. Then again, I'm really more into it for the novelty anyway. Very interesting smell, and I would say it was more "genuinely" piratey than the Grog (as though I know what genuine pirates smell like). I read that not everyone had the same experience (and that men seemed more fond of it than women), but I, for one, recommend it.