pino silvestre Archives - Colognoisseur

While many spend the time after Thanksgiving in the US shopping I spend it a different way. The Friday after Thanksgiving is the beginning of Christmas for me. What that means is I leave the shopping mall behind and head to the Christmas tree lot to buy a tree and pine roping to drape around the house. There are many scents I associate with the holiday season but the clean green coniferous smell of pine is with me every day of the last month of the year. In honor of the beginning of the Holidays I am going to name my five favorite pine perfumes.

When I first moved to Boston I was told of this fantastic little perfume shop in Harvard Square called Colonial Drug. It was the definition of a perfume lover’s paradise as Cathy, the owner, had a huge selection of European perfumes you couldn’t find anywhere else. The first time I went in she was busy extolling the virtues of Pino Silvestre to the male customer. Over many years I would see the green pine cone shaped bottle leave the store in a bag because perfumer Lino Vidal made a pine fragrance which did not smell like an air freshener. Sharp sunny citrus dives deep into a pine note surrounded by clove, sage, and rosemary. It all ends up on a cedar and sandalwood foundation. There is a reason this sits on a lot of men’s dressers in the Boston area.

Serge Lutens Fille en Aiguilles is one of the few pine perfumes you will encounter where the lighter nature of pine needles are as evident. Christopher Sheldrake composing under Serge Lutens creative direction uses those pine needles in the top to create an airy coniferous experience. Soon enough a host of resinous notes allow the sap to rise. The final camphor note is like breathing in cold air in the middle of the Christmas tree lot.

Christian Dior La Collection Privee Granville was a perfume which had to win me over. When I first tried Francois Demachy’s pine perfume it was not what I expected as strong citrus, herbs, and a particularly strong gorse note all seemed to be competing with each other. Over time Granville’s eclectic kinetic quality has won me over and it is one of my favorites of Dior’s exclusive collection. Tart lemon and herbal thyme open things up. Black pepper and rosemary join the pine in the heart. The gorse blows in soon after before sandalwood finishes things up. Over time I realized Granville is a more modern take on the same themes used in Pino Silvestre. My appreciation and affection for Granville probably was an evolution of my perfume tastes without my being conscious of it.

My final two choices exemplify the reason independent perfume can be so exhilarating when the perfumer finds a unique small batch ingredient. Samantha Rader the perfumer behind Dasein Winter sourced a pine essential oil from the Austrian Alps to use as the centerpiece of her first release. By understanding her raw material was something special she wisely did not complicate the experience and only used cardamom and lavender to complement. The lavender really evokes the Alpine milieu in particular. This is the smell of carrying that Christmas tree home in my arms, face pressed into the branches.

Dawn Spencer Hurwitz found a local wildcrafter Eric Bresselsmith of House of Aromatics to source a pinon essential oil infused with fifty-year old pine resin crystals for her DSH Perfumes Seve de Pin. Ms. Hurwitz also keeps it simple but she chooses some notes to be more interactive with the pinon oil instead of framing it. Early on it is a group of green notes to evoke the rest of the forest besides the pine. Once the pine comes out rose and amyris use their floral character to smooth out the rough edges and provide depth. The base is a deeper dive into the resinous as olibanum and labdanum come forward. Seve de Pin is the most photorealistic pine perfume I own. Whenever I want to be in the Holiday mood I just need a drop or two to get me there, even in July.

If you need a little perfume to carry around the pine scentd of the Holidays these five are worth giving a try.

Disclosure: This review was based on bottles I purchased.

–Mark Behnke

At this time of year one of my favorite smells of the season is that of the Christmas tree and the associated pine roping and wreaths which decorate, and scent, everything. It is this natural perfume which will always find me having a real tree in my house. The smell of a fir tree simply means Christmas to me. For twenty years I have owned a perfume that is the perfect Christmas tree fragrance, Pino Silvestre.

I discovered Pino Silvestre soon after I moved to Boston in 1994. I had heard of this little bandbox of a perfume shop in Harvard Square called Colonial Drug. Furthermore it had European perfumes you couldn’t find anywhere else. I was very early in my days of becoming a Colognoisseur and so I approached the doorway with a bit of trepidation. Similar to going to a fancy French restaurant and being handed a menu in French I was worried I would look like a rube. At Colonial Drug I needn’t have worried because as I crossed the threshold I was greeted by the proprietor Cathy. After some discussion with me she handed me a pine cone shaped perfume bottle and said, “I think you’ll like this one.” The pine tree perfume was Pino Silvestre and it was my personal entry to European perfume brands I had never heard of. Cathy made a wise choice and it also made me a lifelong customer for all the years I lived in Boston. There were a lot of days where I was in the store and I saw her hand the little glass pine cone to another new customer only to see a sale being made minutes later. It showed the versatility of the green glass pine cone.

For those of you who grew up in Europe Pino Silvestre is similar to Old Spice or English Leather in the US. What that means is your father probably wore it. Pino Silvestre was released in 1955 and was composed by perfumer Lino Vidal. For most of the next 25 years Pino Silvestre and its ancillary products like shampoo and bubble bath would be a part of a typical household. The fresh pine scent would evoke memories of home to that generation. As I said, for me, it has always reminded me of Christmas trees.

The opening moments of Pino Silvestre are a drive-by of bergamot and citrus. They are there so fleetingly it is almost disingenuous to mention them. The more you spray on the more likely you are to notice them. The business of Pino Silvestre is pine and that’s what comes next. Sig. Vidal cloaks it in herbal notes of sage and thyme. A pinch of tart juniper berry and the richness of clove all combine to round out the synthetic source of pine and make it feel almost supernatural in its photoreality. It all ends with clean cedar and amber.

Pino Silvestre has 6-8 hour longevity and moderate sillage, although you probably project a little more than is apparent to you while wearing it.

I wanted Pino Silvestre to be the first Discount Diamond because the quality for the price is really incredible but I also wanted to wait for Christmas, too. You can find it any number of places for $20 for a 125mL bottle. You will not find a better bargain perfume. It is also a great example of mid-20^th century Italian perfumery. For something almost 60 years old it never seems dated to me. Like a classic Christmas tree is deserves to be brought at least once a year.

Disclosure: this review was based on a bottle I purchased.

–Mark Behnke

My Favorite Things: Pine

Discount Diamonds: Pino Silvestre- A Sturdy Fir

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