Habanita by Molinard (1921)

Originally marketed in 1921 to perfume cigarettes, Habanita came in scented sachets you could put into a pack of cigarettes or as a liquid you could apply to your cigarettes with a glass rod to "perfume the smoke with a delicious, lasting aroma." (Thanks to Now Smell This for the historical information.) By 1924, Molinard turned their scent into a perfume to be worn rather than smoked, but the decadent connotations still remain within.

Smoky, fruity, and floral notes rest on a base of vanillic, creamy benzoin and leather, making Habanita a complexly comforting scent of sweetness and warmth. A haze of tobacco smoke and the earthiness of leather tie together what starts out sharp (vetiver), gliding later into what one reviewer described as jammy sweetness, another reviewer likening it to a fruit compote. (As the perfume dries down, it smells almost exactly, to me, like the foil that lines a pack of cigarettes.)

Top note: Vetiver, peach, strawberry, orange blossom
Middle note: Rose orientale, ylang-ylang, orris, lilac
Base note: Leather, vanilla, cedarwood, benzoin

I'm not a huge fan of wearing scents that smell of tobacco and leather (unless something extraordinary is going on around this base) although I love the idea. What might at first sniff seem like sensuality in Habanita comes across instead as gourmand, and the tobacco smoke and leather suggest powderiness rather than roughness. So instead of being the dangerous perfume a femme fatale would wear, Habanita signifies comfort — like being stuck in a cafe in Paris on a cold day, comfortably trapped in a room filled with cigarette smoke, an old lady's violet-scented dusting powder, and the aroma of buttery baked goods.

Several commenters said Habanita's scent reminded them of a souk in Morocco, or the Turkish candies called loukoum. I can see faintly what they mean, but Serge Luten's more intense and haunting Chergui — also with tobacco, leather, and gourmand notes — more accurately recalls the exotic. Habanita is simpler, quieter, a haiku to Chergui's epic romance. (Notice in this ad from 1938 that a woman's form rises like smoke from the bottle.)

Comments

[He8ther]

Interesting that you use the word "gourmand" in describing this, as I recently came across a discussion about 'what was the earliest gourmand fragrance'? Perhaps the answer should have been Habanita. On this theme, I've always wondered why Shalimar claims the title as first Oriental when Habanita seems overtly oriental to me, and was launched several years earlier. I wonder if, because it was a different type of scented product initially, when it was turned into a fragrance to be worn, it wasn't considered to be a 'fine fragrance'? A bit like a Bath & Body works body spray vs Guerlain today. I still love it though, especially on warm summer nights when the heliotrope aspect really blooms and it perfumes the air like a night-blooming flower.

[He8ther]

PS - love this!!!
"like being stuck in a cafe in Paris on a cold day, comfortably trapped in a room filled with cigarette smoke, an old lady's violet-scented dusting powder, and the aroma of buttery baked goods."

[Joan]

Hey, I just linked to you for my own review of Habanita! I agree with you and Now Smell This.....it's delicate and very powdery after the butch start! Thanks!

[Sniffsniffyum.blogspot.com]

Very interesting. This is actually my favorite review I've read so far, I like how you get down to the details of what the juice actually smells like. I'm even more curious to try this vintage frag. Fantastic blog by the way!