Teatro Olfattivo di Parma: New Niche Line

"She curls up on the couch like a luxuriating cat, lights a cigarette with a vengeance": this is how I have always envisioned pleasure smoking to be like ~decadent, indulgent, nonchalant. Instead, most people I see smoking do it in a perfunctory way which actually repels rather than attracts: none of the silver screen magnetism. It's also rare to smell a really good blend. Fragrances however with their charming attribute of bringing back the best of things to memory manage to make me appreciate tobacco.

But let's take things from the top. This tobacco vignette was instigated by smelling Bell'Antonio, part of a new niche line by Hilde Soliani. Perfume Shrine is proud to get the exclusive for its discerning readers: the new line Teatro Olfattivo Di Parma by Italian jewellery and fragrance designer Hilde Soliani has just launched in Italy with plans to bring it to the US by the end of the year, hopefully.
The first line of Hilde Soliani Profumi, comprising scents which form the acronym Ti Amo (I love you) have been hosted on these pages, available at New London Pharmacy and they garnered lots of interest in mails; so I am hoping that you will be interested in this one as well. The scents have been inspired by experiences and feelings produced at the Teatro di Regio di Parma as well as Lenz Rifrazioni, where Hilda sometimes performs herself.

The line includes the following:

SIPARIO is inspired by piña colada, a sweet, rum-based cocktail made with light rum, coconut cream, and pineapple juice, and replicates the sweet yet refreshingly tingiling sensation of sipping one yourself (Notes of rum, coconut and pineapple).
STECCA embraces the unusual note of tomato leaf, first explored in Eau de Campagne and Folavril and still very individual and unique in the fragrance world. The name playfully derives from Italian, in which stecca means error, because it was not unheard of for people to actually throw tomatoes upon a bad performance once upon a time (thankfully we have moved on!) Its refreshing bitterness is great for summer.
MANGIAMI DOPO TEATRO (eating out after the theatre) is a fruity scent with emphasis on melon, typical of Parma. Hilde divulges that the inspiration came from eating out with friends after the theatrical performances, a bit of camaraderie and good fun. A succulent fruity, but not only.
BELL'ANTONIO (beautiful Antonio): tobacco and coffee notes, dedicated to Hilde's father who is named Antonio; inspired by her love of drinking coffee and smoking after the theatre. A true masterpiece!
VECCHI ROSETTI-ARIA DI PARMA is the most nostalgic of the lot, reminiscent of the smell of the old camerino theatre including the makeup, the woodfloor polish and the air of solitude yet plentifulness that an empty theatre produces after you have watched a splendid performance. The powdery iris and vanilla are flanked by bergamot on top and what seems like the dark, sensual mossy greenery of oakmoss.
{You can buy samples directly using Paypal mailing Hilde at hildesol@tin.it }

Bell' Antonio managed to immediately snare me into its lair, as unsuspecting of its wiles I put it on my skin with the lackadaisical mode of sampling fragrances a seasoned aficionado professes faced with drawers full of small vials of smelly liquids. Nary had two seconds passed, when I was woken out of my lethargy with a sledgehammer wake-up call that this was something seriously good and to be taken note of!
The smell of tobacco in itself is wonderfully rich and evocative of many things, like gingerbread, honey, dried fruits and boozy whiskey as well as the cut hay and distant marzipan smell of coumarin. Somehow in this day and age when smoking has become the object of dire prohibition and consequently fetishisation, tobacco fragrances might be the only way one has the chance to savour the wonderful aroma of pipe tobacco or a quality maduro.

The allure of smoke goes back to antiquity: Herodotus described Scythians inhaling the fumes of burning leaves to induce intoxication; although in their case it must have been cannabis rather than Nicotiana, I suppose. The Arabic tabbaq, a word reportedly dating to the 9th century, was the name of various herbs used for smoking and probably predates the westernised tobacco, a word said to be brought to Europe by Bartolome de Las Casas. Barring actual smoking however, from the classic Habanita and Caron's Tabac Blond to the new niche of New Haarlem by Bond no.9, the rich aroma of tobacco has inspired perfumers to come up with arresting compositions.

Bell' Antonio highlights all the tobacco aspects with proficiency, lacing them with a cordon of black espresso stretto, the wonderful aroma of freshly grated, roasted coffee beans to make you swoon with pleasure, nostrils quivering.
Having never set eyes on Hilde's father I imagine him of the suave Antonio Banderas type, the bronzed southern type who grows five o'clock shadows before it's time for lunch and who drags his cigar with nonchalance and panache. If only actual smoking were that good...

I have samples of Bell'Antonio and Sipario to give to two lucky winners (chance draw for which goes to who). Please state your interest in the comments.
Pics courtesy of H.Soliani and Wikipedia