Borsalino Panama (2007)
by Borsalino

Fresh, than spicy and soapy blend with the mildness of tobacco finally plunged in a bed of woodsy musk and amber. The initial burst of citruses and flowers expresses a sort of aquatic temperament especially due to violet and jasmine drowned in a citrusy aromatic water with addition of ginger. In this phase the scent is light and airy. The spices start imediately to  make their play impressing a prickly mildness whose the roughness is linked with the vetiver of the base and tobacco. In a while the soapiness starts emerging in order to embrace all the elements in a  cloud of musky tobacco, resins and amber. The outcome is an  elegant fragrance a lot wearable and mild, expression of discrete italian style.

18th April, 2011.

Panama seems to be directed towards the older, refined, discerning, reserved, quiet type, much in the way I suspect are the type of clientelle of Borsalino.

Aquatic is the way it is described as the opening of this scent, but to me it is a bitter herbs (coriander in it perhaps?) against citrus--smells of a symbolic Jewish holiday remembering sad days (bitter herbs) with a dash of hope (citrus). As the opening notes calm and fade, floral and very spicy notes emerge with a faint powdery edge to it--ginger, clove and nutmeg on a background of violets. A citrus quality hovers over it, and as it fades, and the spicy aspects mellows, it deepens, with its woody facets emerging at the base. At this point there are so many things happening with this scent--it is a showoff of complexity and execution. Sweeter facets emerge, of rounded, somber woods and resins and a dusty/musty patchouli used in Prada and Angel and a transparent vetiver. There's a bit of a coffee like smell to it too.

It seems a temperature controlled scent. In cooler weather, it seems very much the spicy-green oriental that wears close to the skin. On warmer days, it is high pitched and spicy--almost giving it the impression that it is woody, aquatic, and citrus.

Much going on with this scent, to the point where someone who doesn't study and analyze scents this way might think it just too fussy for them. I'd certainly like to wear this when I have moments where I'd like to stir my senses into a bit of heightened excitement. I wonder if this is what Panama, the city, is all about?

25th April, 2009.

Undeniably sweet, floral and musky. Has a light spiciness to it in the middle. Base is musky and ambery. Not too bad.

15th January, 2009.

I sampled this in a hat store (a logical, if unexpected place to find it) and was unimpressed. Cloyingly sweet, floral and musky, simple. Not classy like Borsalino hats.

12nd June, 2008.