Piper Nigrum (1999)
by Lorenzo Villoresi

I really wanted to like this one, as I'm fond of SMN's PotPourri. (Both fall into the same "old school" category of medicinal frags, iMHO.) That said, I couldn't bring myself to wear Piper Nigrum again. The mint note (i.e., the same thing that makes me queasy when Live Jazz and other mint-heavy frags) was extremely strong. Also, I could see how PN's mega-sillage could easily disrupt even the most otherwise convivial office environment. (No matter how much you yourself might like it, bear in mind that your colleagues might have a very different take on this Italian powerhouse.)

It's a beautifully blended fragrance in spite of my personal inability to wear and enjoy it, though, and unquestionably a Villoresi everyone should at least try at some point. I'll give this one a thumbs upl, but with two provisos: a) try it before you buy it and b) bear in mind that it may not be the world's best choice for an office frag.

Powerful licorice and peppermint in the opening. I felt a chill at first sniff. It was... unsettling. Hardly find this refreshing because there's spices in here that warm it up. I get BOTH of the mint and pepperiness. Very confusing,

There is a pleasantly spicy, almost medical herb feel to the start, from which a wonderful rendition of the titular pepper emerges and dominates for a few minutes. The drydown is warm amber/incense that retains a hint of the pepper. There is an old-school feel to the composition. For my taste, this amber-y base is too sweet and creamy. However, it is a well-made scent some might find it very enjoyable.

Amazing! Reading reviews from people who get the mint and not the pepper really forces me to stress that wearing a perfume is highly subjective. Just spot a reviewer who senses the same notes as you and ignore the ones that contradict him. They are not wrong! They just have a different skin and different memories. Because smell is the sense more closely associated with memory, The olfactory epithelium is derived from cells that migrate from the embryo's brain to the nose and so smell keeps the closest association to feelings and memory in particular.
To me PN is PEPPER! Not just black. All kinds of pepper. Black, pink, red, green (a very green scent indeed) and somewhere in the mid range of ingredients I even get curry (must be the fennel). Very peppery but very wearable at all times of day and year.
Excellent

My plea for adding this to the pantheon of the great perfumes: few scents develop in a more brilliant and meaningful way. Piper Nigrum is a day in a mediterranean dream world. We begin in the morning, the coolness of the night still blankets the fields of wild herbs and refreshingly welcomes you at the open window of your Tuscan farmhouse. Mint and anise enliven you and prepare you for the day. A day, rich and full of nature and culture intertwined as only it is in these old, old lands. As you stroll through the streets, across the markets, you recall the merchants bringing the invaluable pepper and other spices, like nutmeg, from afar, creating powerful dynasties in the wake of their success, to which the beautiful palazzo you now admire bears witness. Beside it stands and old woman selling local herbs, fresh and dried oregano, and with the oriental odours it blends into something both invigorating and soothing, like sitting in the cool shade of ancient ochre walls on a warm day, watching life on the piazza, the plaza, in the mdinas of the Maghreb. The day passes quickly and you retire to your fireplace, burning spicy woods, with a libation of wine and warm bread, and now the pepper embraces you, with styrax and amber, like a silk and cashmere blanket, like the glow of the embers, power in the service of tranquility.

Piper nigrum is unique in the way that it suits my olfactory needs at every phase of the day in its own specific way. There may be other beautiful drydowns, but none can be more beautiful, pefectly timed or more tailor-made than this one. This will always be one of my most cherished scents.

Simply GREAT one! One of the most masculine scent ever made, well done Lorenzo!