Disclosure: I'm a cofounder of Base Note, which sells 5 ml decants, including all three fragrances in this comparison, so weigh my picks accordingly.
If you only read one thing: Start with By the Fireplace if you want a smoky-woody scent built on chestnut, clove and vanilla. It is an eau de toilette, a lower concentration than Tobacco Vanille's eau de parfum, and costs about $170 for 100 ml at Sephora. Start with Tobacco Vanille if you want the denser, sweeter stack of tobacco, spice, cocoa and dried fruit, and you can accept $300 for 50 ml. Alexandria II is the third option. Test any of them in a 5 ml vial first.
The three scents side by side
Notes for Tobacco Vanille and By the Fireplace come from the Vivir fragrance database. Notes for Alexandria II come from Xerjoff's own US product page. Prices are what I saw on 2026-10-30, and I say where each one came from.
| Tobacco Vanille | By the Fireplace | Alexandria II | |
|---|---|---|---|
| House | Tom Ford (Private Blend) | Maison Margiela (Replica) | Xerjoff |
| Year | 2007 | 2015 (one listing says 2016) | 2012, per retailer listings |
| Perfumer | Olivier Gillotin | Marie Salamagne | Sources disagree, so none named |
| Concentration | Eau de Parfum | Eau de Toilette (original) | Listed only as "Perfume" on Xerjoff's US page; Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdale's say Parfum |
| Key notes | Tobacco leaf, spice, vanilla, cacao, tonka bean, tobacco blossom, dried fruits, woody notes | Clove, pink pepper, orange blossom, chestnut accord, guaiac wood, juniper, vanilla, Peru balsam, cashmeran | Apple, cinnamon, lavender, rosewood, cedarwood, lily of the valley, Bulgarian rose, amber, Laotian oud, musk, sandalwood, vanilla |
| Full-bottle price | $300 for 50 ml at tomfordbeauty.com | About $170 for 100 ml at Sephora (search summary) | $509 for 100 ml at xerjoff.com, marked sold out when I checked |
| Character on paper | Dense, sweet, spiced | Smoky, woody, an eau de toilette | Bright spice over rose, oud and amber |
The only dedicated head-to-head I found is a Perfumenez post from August 2025 that frames the pair as warmth against spice. It gives no prices and no way to try either one. That is the gap this article tries to fill.
Tobacco Vanille: the dense one
Tom Ford's own page lists tobacco leaf, ginger, spice notes, tonka bean, cocoa and a fruit accord. It names no perfumer and no year. Vivir and Parfumo credit Olivier Gillotin and a 2007 release, and Vivir splits the notes into tiers: tobacco leaf and spice on top, vanilla, cacao, tonka and tobacco blossom in the heart, dried fruits and woody notes underneath.
Read that list as a recipe. Almost every ingredient is warm, and several are sweet. That is why I would call it the denser of the two. Our catalog tags it for fall and winter, for evenings and date night.
Price is the other reason to test first. Tom Ford lists 50 ml at $300, and a Sephora ad I saw on 2026-10-30 lists the same size at the same price. For 100 ml, a search summary showed about $460 at Tom Ford and Sephora, while another retailer showed $445. Treat the 100 ml number as approximate and check before you buy.
By the Fireplace: the smoky one
The original By the Fireplace is an eau de toilette with clove, pink pepper and orange blossom up top, a chestnut accord, guaiac wood and juniper in the middle, and vanilla, Peru balsam and cashmeran underneath. On paper, the smoke comes from clove and guaiac wood, and the sweetness from chestnut and vanilla. Our catalog tags it smoky and woody, for casual and evening wear.
One thing to watch when you read reviews: Maison Margiela also sells an Eau de Parfum (2020) and an Extrait de Parfum (2023), and both have different note lists from the original. Our vial is the original eau de toilette, as the product name says. A review of the Extrait does not describe what is in the atomizer.
Price depends on where you look. Sephora shows about $170 for 100 ml, and an older Maison Margiela page I found showed $144. A Maison Margiela partner creator ad I saw in Meta's Ad Library on 2026-10-30 recommends By the Fireplace for staying in, with Replica Jazz Club for going out. Check the current price rather than trusting a snapshot.
Where Xerjoff Alexandria II fits
Alexandria II is the maximalist of the group. The opening is apple, cinnamon, lavender and rosewood. Then come cedarwood, lily of the valley and Bulgarian rose, over amber, Laotian oud, musk, sandalwood and vanilla. If the word oud puts you off, our plain-English guide to what oud smells like is worth a read first.
Xerjoff lists 100 ml at $509 on its US site, marked sold out when I checked. Search summaries for department stores showed about $550. The labels also vary: Xerjoff's US page lists it only as "Perfume", while Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdale's call it a Parfum. Sources also disagree on who made it, so I am not naming a perfumer.
One reviewer at Besuited Aroma calls it hard to wear (I saw that in a search snippet, not the full review). A seller blog, Scento, says it found no verified exact clone. A 5 ml vial answers the wearability question cheaply.
The dupe question
Tobacco Vanille has cheaper "inspired by" rivals, and their ads show up in Meta's Ad Library. I looked on 2026-10-30. A brand called ALT. Fragrances runs ads that describe a scent named Nicotianna as inspired by Tobacco Vanille, and offers any three fragrances for $99. A brand called HOK runs ads that tell shoppers to stop paying $250 for a bottle, with prices of $15 each or three for $45. One HOK ad says: "Smells exactly like your favorite scent."
The price gap is real. But a claim in an ad cannot be checked from the ad. The cleaner test is to smell the original. Base Note does not sell dupes or inspired-by scents. We sell genuine designer and niche fragrances decanted into 5 ml atomizers, which hold about 60 sprays. If you want to know what the real one smells like before you compare it with anything, that is a $20 experiment.
For comparison, Scentdecant listed Tobacco Vanille on 2026-10-30 at $7.99 for 1 ml, $22.99 for 3 ml and $39.99 for 5 ml, and its 3.4 oz bottle at $418.99. Our first 5 ml vial is $20, and each extra vial in the same order is $18. Different sellers set their own prices, so compare sizes, not headlines.
Wearing rich scents without overdoing it
Both of these are warm scents, and warm scents tend to read louder up close. Here is how I would test them.
- Start with one or two sprays. Our guide to how many sprays of cologne to use covers the numbers in more detail.
- Try a spray under clothing. On the chest, beneath a shirt or sweater, the scent stays closer to you. This is a suggestion to test, not a rule.
- Pick the evening. Both are tagged for fall and winter in our catalog, and Tobacco Vanille is tagged for evenings and date night.
- Test layering last. By the Fireplace over a light layer of Tobacco Vanille might work, or it might muddy both. I have not tested it and make no promise. Our layering guide explains how to try it without ruining either one.
For more cold-weather options, see our winter fragrance guide.
Frequently asked questions
Which is smokier, and which is sweeter?
On paper, By the Fireplace is the smokier one: clove and guaiac wood, and our catalog tags it smoky. Tobacco Vanille is the sweeter one, with vanilla, cacao, tonka and dried fruits, and it is tagged oriental, spicy and vanilla. Sources disagree in places, and skin changes everything, so a vial is the only real answer.
Is Tobacco Vanille worth the money?
That depends on whether you like it, and you cannot know that from a note list. Tom Ford lists 50 ml at $300, and Scentdecant lists a 3.4 oz bottle at $418.99. At those prices, trying a 5 ml vial for $20 first is cheap insurance.
Are they unisex?
We list all three as unisex in our catalog. The box set is named Her Fall Warmth Trio, but that is a name, not a rule.
What is a good alternative to By the Fireplace?
Within these three, Tobacco Vanille is the sweeter step up and Alexandria II is the more dramatic one. Outside them, plenty of scents share the smoky-woody family, so compare note lists before you buy.
Is Alexandria II hard to wear?
A Besuited Aroma review is summarized in search results as calling it hard to wear, though I have not read the full review. The opening of apple, cinnamon and lavender is brighter than the oud in the base might suggest, but I cannot promise how it will behave on you. Start with one spray and see.
If you want all three to try, the Her Fall Warmth Trio puts a 5 ml vial of each in one gift box for $56, and it ships free in the US because it is over $33. A single vial is $20, and each additional vial in the same order is $18.
Wilson Wu
Cofounder, Base Note