Bergamot & Birch

Rasasi Hawas vs Afnan 9PM

The two bottles the value market recommends most, and they open almost identically — three published notes in common. Then one turns fresh and the other turns sweet.

By Stephen V.Last updated How we rank

The verdict

Buy Rasasi Hawas if you only get one. It is the more useful bottle because it is the one you can wear to work: a fruity-aquatic eau de parfum built on apple, bergamot and cinnamon over an ambergris-and-driftwood base, community-reported at eight to ten hours. It reads clean in a shared room in the morning and still has presence at dinner, which is the single hardest thing to buy cheaply.

Buy Afnan 9PM if what you actually want is compliments in cool weather. Same apple-cinnamon-bergamot opening, opposite destination: vanilla, tonka and amber instead of water and driftwood, with bigger projection and a dessert-sweet dry-down that is wonderful in January and wrong in July. The two share three published notes, which is why they smell like relatives for the first ten minutes — and then they stop.

These are the two most-recommended bottles in the entire Arabian value market. Ask for a cheap fragrance that lasts all day and somebody will say Hawas; ask for a cheap fragrance that gets compliments and somebody will say 9PM. Both answers are right, both bottles are eau de parfum, both are community-reported at eight to ten hours, and both cost about what a restaurant main course does. That is why so many people end up trying to choose between them.

Put the published note lists side by side and the reason they get confused becomes obvious. Three materials appear in both: apple, bergamot and cinnamon. That is the entire opening of each fragrance. For the first ten or fifteen minutes on skin these two are doing the same thing — spiced fruit over citrus — and anyone who has smelled them on a card rather than on skin can be forgiven for calling them similar.

Then they split, and they split about as far apart as two fragrances can. Hawas continues into watery notes, ambergris and driftwood: it gets cooler, saltier and drier as it wears. 9PM continues into orange blossom, vanilla, tonka bean and amber: it gets warmer, sweeter and denser. Rasasi files Hawas as an aromatic aquatic; Afnan files 9PM as an amber vanilla. Same start, opposite finish.

Neither is a clone of a specific designer, and our registry records no reported one-to-one likeness for either — Hawas sits loosely in the Creed fresh-fruity neighborhood without a named match. We own neither bottle and we do not wear-test: notes are the published lists, performance is community-reported, and the method is on how we rank.

How this is funded: we earn a commission if you buy through our links, at no extra cost to you. It never changes which cologne we recommend, and we’ll tell you plainly when we’d skip one. Full disclosure.

Quick picks

Ranked on notes, concentration, community-reported performance and value. Select a row to jump to the full write-up. We haven’t wear-tested these — here is exactly what we do instead.

#FragranceConcentrationScent familyKey notesReported longevityBest forPrice
1
Rasasi Hawas Eau de Parfum

Rasasi Hawas Eau de Parfum

The value house that everyone recommends when longevity and versatility have to come in the same bottle: a fresh, fruity-aquatic eau de parfum with an ambergris-and-driftwood base that most wearers report lasting a full working day. It sits loosely in the Creed fresh-fruity neighborhood, but we rank it here on its own performance, not on a likeness claim.

Eau de ParfumAromatic aquaticApple, Bergamot, Cinnamon, Watery notes, Ambergris, Driftwood, Patchouli8-10 hours, EDPBest for one bottleAn all-day fresh-fruity scent that still projects at dinner
$32.00 · View on Amazon

$44.0027% off

Price as of October 18, 2026. #ad How we’re funded

2
Afnan 9PM Eau de Parfum

Afnan 9PM Eau de Parfum

The budget sweet-amber the fragrance community reaches for when the whole ask is 'lasts all day, smells expensive, costs almost nothing.' A cinnamon-apple opening drops into a vanilla-tonka-amber base with the kind of reported wear that embarrasses designers several times the price.

Eau de ParfumAmber vanillaApple, Cinnamon, Wild lavender, Bergamot, Orange blossom, Vanilla, Tonka bean, Amber8-10 hours, EDPBest for complimentsA sweet, warm crowd-pleaser on a tight budget
$29.00 · View on Amazon

Price as of October 18, 2026. #ad How we’re funded

3
Lattafa Asad

Lattafa Asad

A warm, sweet, tobacco-and-coffee-tinged ambery scent that the community often puts in the YSL / sweet-designer lane. Punchy, long-lasting and cheap — a strong pick if you want warmth and sweetness without spending designer money.

Eau de ParfumAmbery sweetPineapple, Coffee, Saffron, Amberwood, Tonka bean, Musk9+ hoursIf you want the richer versionA warm, sweet evening scent on a budget
$24.38 · View on Amazon

Price as of October 18, 2026. #ad How we’re funded

The picks in full

#1Best for one bottle

Rasasi Hawas Eau de Parfum

The value house that everyone recommends when longevity and versatility have to come in the same bottle: a fresh, fruity-aquatic eau de parfum with an ambergris-and-driftwood base that most wearers report lasting a full working day. It sits loosely in the Creed fresh-fruity neighborhood, but we rank it here on its own performance, not on a likeness claim.

Who it is for
Somebody who needs a single fragrance that covers a working day and an evening out, in any season, and who would rather be described as clean than as sweet.
Where it wins
Versatility and temperature range. The ambergris-and-driftwood base keeps it readable in heat, which is exactly where 9PM collapses. It is also the easier of the two to wear in a shared office.
Check before you buy
It is so widely worn now that it is not a distinctive smell, and the profile is pleasant rather than exciting. If you want to be noticed, this is the wrong one of the two.

What’s good

  • Strong reported longevity for an inexpensive eau de parfum
  • Genuinely versatile — reads clean at work and holds up at night
  • A clean full-bottle Amazon listing, not a decant or gray-market seller

Who should skip it

  • So popular now that it is no longer a distinctive smell
  • The sweet fruity-aquatic profile is pleasant rather than exciting
ConcentrationEau de Parfum
Scent familyAromatic aquatic
Key notesApple, Bergamot, Cinnamon, Watery notes, Ambergris, Driftwood, Patchouli
Reported longevity8-10 hours, EDP (community-reported)
ForMen

The scent. Fragrantica files the 2015 release as an aromatic aquatic: an apple-bergamot-cinnamon opening over watery notes, then an ambergris-and-driftwood base that carries the wear time. A value-house original, not a strict clone.

Notes and concentration read from the product listing, on July 23, 2026. Reported performance is community consensus, not our own test.

#2Best for compliments

Afnan 9PM Eau de Parfum

The budget sweet-amber the fragrance community reaches for when the whole ask is 'lasts all day, smells expensive, costs almost nothing.' A cinnamon-apple opening drops into a vanilla-tonka-amber base with the kind of reported wear that embarrasses designers several times the price.

Who it is for
Somebody shopping for cool-weather evenings who wants the maximum amount of warm, expensive-smelling sweetness per dollar and does not need the bottle to work at the office.
Where it wins
Projection and reaction. The vanilla-tonka-amber base is the part people compliment, and it reads far more expensive than it costs. In cold air it outperforms designers several times the price.
Check before you buy
Sweet and heavy — wrong for summer or a warm office — and the dessert-sweet dry-down is polarizing. Afnan sells several 9PM flankers, so check the box says 9PM Eau de Parfum rather than Rebel or Elixir.

What’s good

  • Excellent reported longevity for a fragrance that costs about $25
  • Warm vanilla-amber sweetness that reads far more expensive than it is
  • Big projection — a genuine compliment-getter in cool weather

Who should skip it

  • Sweet and heavy — wrong for summer heat or a warm office
  • The dessert-sweet dry-down is polarizing; sample before a full bottle
ConcentrationEau de Parfum
Scent familyAmber vanilla
Key notesApple, Cinnamon, Wild lavender, Bergamot, Orange blossom, Vanilla, Tonka bean, Amber
Reported longevity8-10 hours, EDP (community-reported)
ForMen

The scent. Fragrantica classifies the 2020 release as an oriental vanilla: a spiced apple-cinnamon-lavender top over a vanilla, tonka and amber base. A strong-performing value scent in the sweet-amber lane rather than a single-scent clone.

Notes and concentration read from the product listing, on July 23, 2026. Reported performance is community consensus, not our own test.

#3If you want the richer version

Lattafa Asad

A warm, sweet, tobacco-and-coffee-tinged ambery scent that the community often puts in the YSL / sweet-designer lane. Punchy, long-lasting and cheap — a strong pick if you want warmth and sweetness without spending designer money.

Who it is for
Somebody who reads this comparison, decides the sweet side is the right side, and wants something with more character than 9PM's vanilla — pineapple, coffee and saffron over amberwood and tonka.
Check before you buy
Even less versatile than 9PM: this is a cold-weather evening bottle and nothing else. The community reports the dry-down reading slightly synthetic, which is not unusual at the price.

What’s good

  • Rich pineapple-coffee-amber warmth for very little money
  • Big projection and long wear reported
  • Great cold-weather value

Who should skip it

  • Sweet and heavy — not a daytime or summer scent
  • Dry-down can read a little synthetic
ConcentrationEau de Parfum
Scent familyAmbery sweet
Key notesPineapple, Coffee, Saffron, Amberwood, Tonka bean, Musk
Reported longevity9+ hours (community-reported)
ForMen

The scent. A sweet, boozy amber-and-coffee scent in the warm designer lane. A strong-performing value pick rather than a single-scent clone.

Notes and concentration read from the product listing, on July 19, 2026. Reported performance is community consensus, not our own test.

The three shared notes, and what they do differently

Apple, bergamot and cinnamon are in both published lists. In Hawas the apple is the fruity half of a fruity-aquatic structure — it is there to be bright and juicy against the water and salt underneath. In 9PM the same apple is the fruit in a spiced dessert, and the cinnamon beside it is doing the warm, baked work rather than the fresh, sharp work.

That is the single most useful thing to understand about reading note lists: a material does not have one effect. Cinnamon next to watery notes and driftwood reads as spice on skin. Cinnamon next to vanilla and tonka reads as a pastry. Our notes explained guide goes further into why the accompanying materials matter more than the headline ones.

Performance: effectively a tie

Both are community-reported at eight to ten hours, both are eau de parfum, and neither has a published figure from the house because houses do not publish longevity. On reported numbers alone there is nothing to choose between them, and anyone telling you one lasts twice as long as the other is describing their own skin rather than the fragrances.

Projection is where they differ in practice. 9PM is the louder bottle — the sweet amber base pushes outward, which is why it reads as a compliment-getter and also why three sprays in a car is a mistake people make exactly once. Hawas projects moderately and sits closer, which is the quality that makes it office-viable. Our guide to sillage, projection and longevity explains why those three get conflated and why only the first one is about other people.

Season and setting: this is the real decision

Hot weather:Hawas, without question. Heat accelerates sweet materials, and 9PM’s vanilla-tonka-amber base goes from rich to cloying in a warm room within minutes. Hawas’s salt-and-driftwood dry-down was built for exactly that air.

Cold weather: 9PM, comfortably. Cold air suppresses projection and flattens fresh fragrances; it does the opposite to warm sweet ones. In January the bottle that gets noticed is the amber-vanilla, every time.

The office: Hawas, with one spray. A shared room is a projection problem rather than a smell problem, and the sweet bottle is the one colleagues notice. Our office roundup covers the fuller shortlist if a working day is the main thing you are buying for.

A date or a night out: 9PM. It is warmer, closer and more distinctive at conversational distance, which is the whole brief on the date-night list.

Should you own both?

Yes, eventually, and more defensibly than most pairs we compare — because they cover opposite halves of the year rather than duplicating each other. Two bottles that share an opening and nothing else is a reasonable two-bottle wardrobe, and at these prices it is a smaller outlay than one designer.

What is not worth doing is buying both at once. Buy Hawas, wear it for a month, and find out whether you actually like a fresh profile or were just told to. Plenty of people discover they want the sweet one and never go back, in which case the second purchase should probably be Asad or Khamrahrather than 9PM — both are richer than 9PM in the same direction, which we compare directly on 9PM vs Asad and 9PM vs Khamrah.

And if the honest answer is “I do not know which I want,” the cheapest way to find out is not a full bottle at all. An Arabian discovery set puts several of these houses in front of you for roughly the price of one, and how to test cologne before you buy covers doing it properly rather than sniffing a card in a shop.

Prices in the buy buttons above come from our daily Amazon check and carry the date they were read. Where a bottle returns no live price you will see “check price on Amazon” rather than a number.

Frequently asked questions

Which is better, Hawas or 9PM?

Hawas, if you are buying one bottle to do everything — it is the more versatile of the two and the only one of the pair that works in heat or in a shared office. 9PM is the better bottle for cool-weather evenings and gets more compliments. Both are eau de parfum, both are community-reported at eight to ten hours, and the price difference between them is usually small.

Do Hawas and 9PM smell similar?

For the first ten or fifteen minutes, yes — they share three published notes (apple, bergamot and cinnamon), which is essentially the whole opening of each. After that they diverge completely. Hawas continues into watery notes, ambergris and driftwood and gets cooler and drier; 9PM continues into orange blossom, vanilla, tonka and amber and gets warmer and sweeter.

Which lasts longer, Hawas or 9PM?

Neither, on reported numbers: both are community-reported at eight to ten hours at eau de parfum strength. The practical difference is projection, not longevity — 9PM pushes further from the skin, while Hawas sits closer. Anyone claiming one lasts dramatically longer than the other is describing their own skin chemistry rather than the fragrances.

Is Hawas a Creed Aventus clone?

No, and our registry records no reported one-to-one likeness for it. It sits loosely in the Creed fresh-fruity neighborhood, which is why the comparison comes up, but it is not read as a clone of a specific bottle the way Armaf Club de Nuit Intense is read against Aventus. We rank it on its own performance rather than on a likeness claim — our Hawas vs Club de Nuit comparison covers the Aventus question directly.

Can I wear 9PM to the office?

One spray, in cold weather, at your own risk. It is a sweet amber-vanilla with big projection, which is the exact profile colleagues notice in a shared room. Hawas is the office-safe one of the pair: it reads clean, it sits closer to the skin, and it does not get sweeter as the day warms up.

Which should I buy first if I have never owned a value-house fragrance?

Hawas. It covers more of the calendar and more situations, so if you discover the whole category suits you it stays useful, and if you decide you prefer sweetness you have lost very little. 9PM is the better second bottle, bought once you know you like warm sweet fragrance and want it for winter evenings.

Are there flankers I should watch out for?

Yes, on both. Rasasi sells Hawas Ice, Hawas Fire and Hawas Elixir alongside the original eau de parfum, and Afnan sells 9PM Rebel, 9PM Elixir and others. The flankers are different fragrances, not stronger versions of the same juice, and they are the most common source of a disappointing order. Check the box says Hawas Eau de Parfum or 9PM Eau de Parfum.

How many sprays of either should I use?

Two, and three at the absolute most. Both are eau de parfum with reported projection above their price bracket, and nearly every complaint anybody receives about either bottle is about dose rather than smell. Spray to the chest rather than the wrists and let it dry without rubbing — our applying guide explains why.

Sources

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