Insect repellant, anti-venom, and unwashed hippy funk.
What you probably know as ‘Patchouli’.
During the last years that I lived in the Netherlands, I was only familiar with the latter facet of Pogostemon cablin.
So you can probably imagine my surprise (and shock) at discovering that there are other uses for this noxious product than just masking a profoundly unpleasant reek of frowst, shag tobacco, and hashish.
Especially when a bearded gentleman at a coffee-shop recently tried explaining the therapeutic uses of this wonderful essence to me. It's a miraculous substance.
He probably washed daily, but had no idea how much he stank.
It strikes me that precisely like other perfumes and odourants, patchouli deadens the user's senses to that particular smell.
People who habitually drench themselves with perfume or aftershave have little idea how strong it is. Their nostrils are blind to the reek.
Pipe smokers are notorious for having scant clue what their favourite blend smells like when lit.
Workers at S'bucks probably have noses oblivious to coffee.
This comes to mind for two reasons: the first being that I noticed that a coworker was pouring Tabasco over his rotisserie chicken at lunch several cubicles away - the smell of aged vinegar with the sharpness of chilies is both pleasant and remarkably distinct.
The second reason is the overwhelming pong, nay, stench even, of unwashed hippie at the curry truck near the office. It was not hard to figure out whence it came, as the Indian gentlemen in line for chicken tikka and chaat were giving the oblivious artistic white person waiting amongst them as wide a berth as possible without allowing for any cutting.
It struck me that everyone would be much happier if the bespectacled person with the highly individualistic hair and tattoos had drenched himself with Tabasco instead. Such a refreshing fragrance! The other customers would have appreciated it.
I would have appreciated it. Passers-by also.
Even the parking control officer nearby.
Please use Tabasco instead of patchouli!
Do it for all of us.
Love for your fellow human.
Kindness to others on this planet.
Tabasco smells infinitely better than hippies.
Please remember that.
And thank you.
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People who work at Starbucks have no idea what coffee even smells like.
It's merely a question of what one associates a particular scent with. If one's early romantic adventures were ripe with Hippy girls who were themselves, ripe with patchouli oil,it becomes a pleasant scent and evocative of memory. It's all "mental".
R
Well, I enjoyed the seventies. But I have no wish to relive the smells.
Other than the rich heady aroma of Latakia in pipe-tobacco, the rural areas of the Netherlands, certain cooking smells, coffee, and chilipastes.
Maybe some others.
Definitely not patchouli.
Oh and cigars too! How could I have omitted the evocative and inspiring perfume of cigars!
You would enjoy Tobacco Vanille by Tom Ford:
http://www.basenotes.net/ID26125943.html
The reviews for that scent are fascinating, and demonstrate abundantly that smells are a personal and intimate thing. Each person there has a different "why" or "why not" about that fragrance.
I'll have to look for it.
Indeed. Some of the reviews on this forum are sheer poetry.
Because of the expense of Tobbaco Vanille, I recommend getting a decant first so that you can try it several times at your leisure. (The Perfumed Court does a nice job with these.)
As with a fine wine, let it breathe on your skin for at least 30 minutes before making a final judgement.
Another fragrance to sample is Mugler's Pure Havane, here:
http://www.basenotes.net/fragrancereviews/fragrance/26132173
Tobacco Vanille and Pure Havane might give you the reek you desire in the middle of the average workday without the need to light up.
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