Niche Perfumery

À la Civette: Santa Maria Novella di Firenze Acqua di Cuba Officina Profumo

05/15/15 15:15:07 (One comment)

by: Serguey Borisov

"… there’s nothing like tobacco: it is the passion of respectable men;
and the man who lives without tobacco is not worthy to live.
Not only does it replenish and relax the human brain,
but it also instructs souls in virtue,
for through it one learns how to become a sociable man."
               —Sganarelle, Jean-Baptiste Moliere, Don Juan

Santa Maria Novella, Florence, Italy

It seems that in the 21st century all the tourists already know about the main Florentine souvenir shop: pharmacy and perfume house Officina Profumo Santa Maria Novella di Firenze. And it is true, business started in this pharmacy in 1612—a permanent work for four centuries came to fruition. Every other tourist in Florence has certainly visited this pharmacy (it is some hundred meters from the square and Basilica of the same name)—a visitor is easily recognized by the white paper bag with black logo. On the one hand, a tourist is the guide victim, because the Santa Maria Novella is as famous as the Champs-Élysées and the Eiffel Tower of Paris. On the other hand, we should applaud the patience and perseverance of the tourist: the pharmacy is almost always crowded by customers, who come in groups, and you must be able to get through to the checkout and choose what you want from the SMN's enormous assortment.

Actually, Dominican friars began to grow flowers, vegetables and herbs shortly after the founding of the monastery in the 13th century. And in 1612 Cosimo II de Medici, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, let the Dominicans sell their ointments and balms to the Florentines, not only the brothers. Thus, the Medici family became the clients and patrons of the business—a pharmacy shop that had His Royal Highness' sponsorship. (In the 21st century you could find in the news that the Prime Minister of Italy, Matteo Renzi, then the mayor of Florence, visited the pharmacy). Catherine de Medici was going to France to become queen, and she already had a taste for fine cosmetics and perfumes from Florence and instilled her likings in the French court.


The phyto-pharmacy range now consists of more than 40 colognes, lotions, perfumes and handkerchief fragrances, but not all of them have such a long history, such as cologne L'Acqua della Regina (now Acqua di Colonia), made for Catherine de Medici herself. Quite a lot of perfumes were created in the 1970s-1990s. In addition to the traditional perfumes with descriptive “old timer” names, like Peau d'Espagne, Fieno,Gelsomino and colognes like Acqua di Sicilia, there were modern fragrances created for tourists, for example, Angels of Florence, Alba di Seoul and Citta di Kyoto.

Today's review will focus on the traditional cologne named Acqua di Cuba that was created in 1998. A pleasant and refreshing cologne start in the classical sense of the word, it will not disappoint anyone's expectations about the word “Acqua.” Warm and spicy, a sweet tobacco masculine, it recalls Cuba to those who do not know anything about the island except cigars and spiced rum. No cheating—the cologne does clearly correspond to its name.


The cologne's start clearly demonstrates all of its facets: some honey-sweet, bergamot with a green spicy side, transparent lavender, yellow sour lemon and the tart aromatic sage oil ... They seem so naturally rude that I believe: oh, what a historical reconstruction! However, why not? Cuban spicy tobacco perfumes were in the range of several companies in the past: Garwood Standard, Miga, Morrison, and others. Catherine de Medici herself used tobacco as a remedy for migraines, that made tobacco became known as "Herba Catharinaria."

Just half an hour later, when the citrus and herbal freshness have evaporated, the notes of bitter honey, dry tobacco and coumarin are exposed in the heart of the fragrance, with a subtle hint of something warm and dry. If a certain game says, “The night comes, the Mafia awakesn,” the night of the fragrance Acqua di Cuba comes in half an hour and Casanova awakens instead of the Mafia. Cuba is no longer a country of only cigars and rum, and in my head starts playing Latino American music and the urge to snap my fingers to the rhythm. Something like Ciliegi Rosa performed by Perez Prado Orchestra, or Killing me softly by Roberta Flack or Linda Ronstadt singing Perfidia. You know those “evergreen” sorts of music which usually are performed as the first dance at the wedding. Sometimes they change the rhythms, from rumba to waltz or slowfox, but the beautiful melodies remain eternal in any of them.

And since that tobacco honey accord, I cannot get rid of the link that connects Santa Maria Novella Acqua di Cuba in my head with one of the most popular Tom Ford perfumes (of course, that's Tobacco Vanille), and dozens of other modern honey and tobacco seducers. Of course, Tom Ford executed this chord as very modern, surprisingly rich, saturated and full—the sillage length and lasting power of Tobacco Vanille are unexampled and almost indecent. But, with equal lasting power and modest projection Acqua di Cuba is more suitable for ordinary men, not artists and showmen by nature, and it's not easy to get tired of it. Acqua di Cuba is practically glued to the skin. It's hard to wash it away but its projection is old-fashioned—it's hissing from the kiss distance.

The two tobacco perfumes are just different types of seducers. Tobacco Vanille smells like a showman, carrying a horde of loving admirers as an ideal Grenouille parfum, that makes everyone love their neighbor till they drop dead. He needs that number of lovers; it is designed to be a hit. Acqua di Cuba whispers something nice, but not very legible, making the most gullible individual come closer, never disturbing others by this communication. He needs only one woman, the woman he is looking at now, and he does not take any more ... at least, for now. When Tobacco Vanille is a weapon of mass seduction, a mega boyband on stage, then Acqua di Cuba is a sniper's individual approach, a gigolo of the bar.


And now, the most long-lasting component of the perfume that will be with you even the next day: a subtle hint of warm civet smell will stay with you. Civet and tobacco were so close in history as civet is now with coffee.

Asian Palm Civet in coffee production

Interestingly, civet, though not mentioned in the title, is an integral part of tobacco flavors and perfumes, and it makes sense that it is almost lost in the modern culture of the 21st century. And this relationship is very much welcome in perfumery—civetteriain Italian means “flirting.” (And we remember the link of animalic civet and sex, the emergence of civet in Dana Tabu and other perfumes). In French, the word civettemeant "snuff," then "cigars" and later spread to "tobacconist shops." Civette was a fairly common name for the traditional tobacco shops, up until now. The oldest of them in Paris was opened in 1716—La Civette du Palais Royale, and according to the Yellow Pages, 18 tobacco shops in Paris work under this name today. Until now, Civette was a word used for cigars and for the two red cones sign of French tobacconists (however, red signs are increasingly called Carrotte ["carrots"]—modern people have lost the link with the Viverra smell).

What's the link between tobacco and civette? There are several explanations. The first relates to the fact that the oily civet paste with its pervasive and long-lasting animalic aroma was used to flavor snuff and smoking tobacco, as well as expensive cigars—it's sufficient to put a tiny piece of paste in a box or vase that contains cigars and tobacco. The second: supposedly tobacco was stored in pouches of civet fur, to protect it from water and other elements.

Although the link could be more simple—after all, tobacco smoke and civet paste both have very strong (and not omni-pleasant) smells? Unfortunately, today civet is mentioned in our daily world only in the form of Kopi Luwak coffee. Natural civet is no longer used in perfumes like Shalimar and Chanel №5.

Managing Partner of Officina Profumo SMN Eugenio Alpanderi loves cars, so he compares his company with the coupe of the 1930s, in which the body is hand-made according to the drawings of the past, while the engine and brakes were chosen from the best contemporary technologies on the market. No wonder about contemporary technologies, but I hope that the designs of the past became a little more clear.

Santa Maria Novelle Acqua di Cuba

Top notes: Bergamot, Bitter orange, Lemon and Lavender;
Heart notes: Spices, Tobacco leaf, Honey and Clary sage;
Base notes: Vanilla, Musk, Civet.