Perfume Battle Round 56: Xerjoff Naxos vs Nishane Hacivat
Round 56 of the AlHimyan Perfume Battle puts a three-time champion against one of the loudest niche debuts of the last decade. Xerjoff XJ 1861 Naxos, the honeyed tobacco Sicilian that has now won three straight rounds, faces Nishane Hacivat, the Turkish pineapple chypre that started an entire genre of imitators.
Both are unisex. Both are heavyweight performers. Both sit on the AlHimyan shelf right now. Only one leaves as champion.
The contenders at a glance
Xerjoff XJ 1861 Naxos EDP 100ml is the reigning champion, three wins deep.
Nishane Hacivat Extrait de Parfum is the challenger, available in 50ml and 100ml.
Head to head
| Xerjoff XJ 1861 Naxos | Nishane Hacivat | |
|---|---|---|
| House | Xerjoff, Italy | Nishane, Turkey |
| Launched | 2015 | 2017 |
| Perfumer | Chris Maurice | Jorge Lee |
| Concentration | Eau de Parfum | Extrait de Parfum |
| Family | Sweet spicy, honey tobacco | Fruity chypre, pineapple oakmoss |
| Parfumo rating | 8.9 out of 10 | 8.1 out of 10 |
| Parfumo ratings count | 13,603 | 3,615 |
| Longevity score | 8.77 out of 10 | 8.50 out of 10 |
| Sillage score | 8.54 out of 10 | 8.17 out of 10 |
| Value for money | 7.59 out of 10 | 7.13 out of 10 |
| Bottle design | 9.12 out of 10 | 7.95 out of 10 |
| Sizes at AlHimyan | 100ml | 50ml and 100ml |
The notes
Xerjoff XJ 1861 Naxos
Top: Lavender, Bergamot, Lemon
Heart: Honey, Cinnamon, Cashmeran, Jasmine Sambac
Base: Tobacco Leaf, Vanilla, Tonka Bean
Naxos opens bright and almost barbershop clean, then within twenty minutes settles into the thing people actually buy it for: warm honey poured over cured tobacco leaf, dusted with cinnamon. The lavender never disappears entirely, and that is what keeps the sweetness from turning into dessert. By hour three it is a soft, skin-close amber tobacco that reads as expensive rather than loud.
Nishane Hacivat
Top: Bergamot, Pineapple, Grapefruit
Heart: Jasmine, Patchouli, Cedarwood
Base: Clearwood, Oakmoss, Dry timberwood
Hacivat is the opposite personality. It fires a huge, juicy pineapple and grapefruit accord out of the bottle at full volume, then anchors it in green oakmoss and dry woods so it lands as a chypre rather than a fruit juice. It is famously linear: what you smell at minute five is broadly what you smell at hour eight, only quieter. Some people call that a flaw. Others call it reliability.
How we scored it
Our formula weights community rating heaviest, then real-world performance, then value. Fragrantica remains inaccessible to automated reading, so this round is scored on Parfumo community data plus its longevity, sillage and value sub-scores, with the Fragrantica weight redistributed proportionally across the remaining four criteria. No number in this article is estimated.
| Criterion | Weight | Naxos | Hacivat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Community rating, Parfumo | 38.5% | 8.90 | 8.10 |
| Longevity | 23.1% | 8.77 | 8.50 |
| Sillage | 15.4% | 8.54 | 8.17 |
| Value for money | 23.1% | 7.59 | 7.13 |
| Final score | 100% | 8.51 | 7.98 |
Winner: Xerjoff XJ 1861 Naxos
Naxos takes Round 56 by 0.53 points and extends its streak to four straight wins. The margin is not really about performance. Hacivat is genuinely close on longevity and sillage, and anyone who has worn it knows it projects hard for the first three hours. The gap is community consensus: Naxos holds 8.9 across nearly 13,600 ratings, which is an unusually high score to sustain at that sample size, while Hacivat sits at 8.1 across 3,615.
The other quiet factor is bottle design, which Parfumo tracks separately. Naxos scores 9.12 there against 7.95 for Hacivat. That does not enter our formula, but it explains a lot about why one of these gets gifted more often.
Which one is actually for you
Choose Naxos if you want a cold-weather, evening, compliment-heavy signature. Honey and tobacco read as warm and expensive in Gulf evenings from October onward, and it is one of the safest niche gifts you can hand a man or a woman.
Choose Hacivat if you want daytime, office and heat. The pineapple and grapefruit opening survives a UAE summer far better than a honey base does, and the oakmoss dry-down keeps it from ever feeling sweet. It is also the cheaper way in, since the 50ml exists.
Frequently asked
Is Naxos too sweet for men? No. The lavender and tobacco pull it firmly away from gourmand territory. It reads sweet for the first thirty minutes, then settles into a dry, smoky honey.
Is Hacivat a Creed Aventus clone? They share a fruity opening over a mossy base, so the comparison is fair as a family resemblance, but Hacivat is far more pineapple-forward and far less smoky. They are not interchangeable.
Which one lasts longer? Naxos, by a small margin in community scoring. In practice both are all-day fragrances on most skin.
Are both unisex? Yes. Both are listed and worn as unisex, and both perform well on either.
What is the difference between Eau de Parfum and Extrait de Parfum here? Extrait normally carries a higher concentration of perfume oil, which is why Hacivat holds its own on longevity against a champion. Concentration alone does not decide a battle, though, and this round is the proof.
Buy them at AlHimyan
Both fragrances are authentic brands, in stock, and shipping across the UAE with cash on delivery, fast delivery and a 7-day return window.
Shop Xerjoff XJ 1861 Naxos EDP 100ml
Shop Nishane Hacivat Extrait de Parfum, 50ml and 100ml
Round 57 runs tomorrow. Naxos defends its title again.