When the topic of past lives comes up, what time period do you picture yourself inhabiting? For some reason, I always regress to a city in the Middle Ages. No other era or geographical location ever comes to mind. Perhaps I was an inn-keeper, goutishly solid and pink-cheeked and wary. If gender and physical talents are passed through the centuries, then I could have been a wet nurse. If they are not, then maybe I was a monastic scribe and illuminator. (My handwriting is awful.) It is strange to feel so connected to the sights and sounds of medieval Europe. I don't actually believe in reincarnation. I think my visions come from the more recent past, from pop culture references about the dark ages like The Lion in Winter and The Name of the Rose. What the books and movies are notably short on, however, is odors.
Most of us think of this time period as smelling pretty ripe: burning garbage, sewage in the ditches and rivers, halitosis, mildew everywhere, the sick and dead of the Bubonic plague years, all those buckets of fermented urine that alchemists were supposed to be distilling into gold, etc. But years of reading foodie articles on panforte, mead and sweetmeats have perfumed my personal medieval fairy tales with honey and almond milk, dates and chestnuts and raw milk cheese, fruit jellies and poached pears with long pepper. Most particularly at this turn of the seasons, I start to dream of the scent of mulling spices. As the cold sets in, there is something instantly cheering and sustaining in the thought of hot mulled wine or cider. And for me, no simmering pot of either would be complete without a bay leaf.
We usually encounter bay as the dried leaf of the bay laurel tree.1 Although primarily a feature of Mediterranean cuisines in the Middle Ages, the clove-like qualities of bay leaf oil — eugenol is a component — make it a warming, bracing companion for winter in the Northern climes. The smell is sharp and bitterly aromatic, with additional facets of oregano and thyme, anise, pine and floral almond. It makes a beautiful, robust counterpoint to anything sweet. As often happens, Les Christoph(e)s have read my mind, and have just released Humiecki & Graef Blask, featuring bay oil, red wine and walnut — a more High Middle Ages note list can scarcely be contemplated. While I'm waiting for my Blask sample to arrive from Germany, I'll be wearing the following fragrances:
Serge Lutens Arabie: A rich, dense plum pudding fantasy of a fragrance, Arabie is still one of my winter favorites. The ingredient list is long: bay leaves, mandarin peel, cardamom, clove, cumin, nutmeg, cedarwood, dried figs, dates, myrrh, sandalwood, labdanum, benzoin, tonka bean, tobacco and musk. I find the pungency of the bay tempers the sweetness of the mincemeat heart, but if wearing all that seems a bit much for you, you could try Victoria's recipe for Chicken Arabie instead (via Bois de Jasmin.)
Serge Lutens Ambre Sultan: Serge Lutens is the king of bay leaf. Ambre Sultan is justly praised for its landmark use of herbs — bay, oregano, coriander and myrtle — to add savoriness and freshness to the well-worn amber-vanilla oriental theme. This is the niche gold standard for its genre of fragrance.
Carthusia Aria di Capri: A bitter slug of bay leaf oil gives what would otherwise be a ladylike, almost prim floral a virile and elegant twist. Aria is what I picture Sophia Loren wearing.
Estee Lauder Knowing: Bay plays foil to the hot-buttered brandy heart and honey drydown of this gorgeous chypre. Lasting longer than a medieval wedding feast (and accompanying hangover) and with the famous Lauder radiance, this joins Clinique's Aromatic Elixir in the pantheon of classic American dark stars.
Tauer Perfumes Une Rose Chyprée: I think the oft-commented on Dr. Pepper angle to Une Rose Chyprée is attributable partially to bay leaf. (Is bay one of the secret ingredients of Dr. Pepper?) Although the musky opaqueness of the base of this perfume makes it hard to wear for me, I like to catch wafts of it on fabric, and I can't equal Angela's dead-on description of it: the "murky base smells like a moss-green tapestry hanging in a cold church. Now imagine that tapestry laid over a warm lawn and strewn with rose petals, torn bay leaves, clementine peels, and pieces of a wood cask that once held cinnamon sticks." Exactly.
Note: top image is bay leaves [cropped and brightened] by little blue hen at flickr; some rights reserved.
1. In the world of perfume enthusiasts, bay laurel is often mistaken as the source of the bay rum genre of fragrance. In fact, Pimenta racemosa, known as West Indian bay or the bay rum tree, is a plant in the myrtle family, unrelated to bay laurel. For bay rum fragrances, dried p. racemosa leaves and/or berries are distilled in rum and water. Bay laurel and West Indian bay are chemically similar, though.
I love wearing Arabie and Ambre Sultan this time of year, as well; our grey, drizzly Seattle weather just cries out for some nice warm spicy scents. This year I can’t get enough of Bois 1920’s Sushi Imperiale, as well; it reminds me of apple pie or apple cider and it makes me smile whenever I wear it!
Hey, I like your screen name! I can imagine many of the cozier Serge Lutens as well as Sushi Imperiale working so well for that Pacific Northwest weather. I used to live in Vancouver and we always started to mentally batten down the hatches in November….
I too am a Northwesterner who craves warm spicy scents. I’ve been wearing SL Cedre and Chergui and find them quite cozy. I have yet to smell Arabie or Ambre Sultan. I’m also reminded to find my l’Occitain myrtle perfume. I haven’t worn it in awhile–it served its purpose and I recall it being really sweet. Perhaps I’ll look at it in a different way, thanks to this article.
Ah, Chergui, that’s another snuggly, almost edible one. If they work for you, the Serge Lutens ‘fumes are the ultimate comfort scents. I quite like El Attarine and Douce Amere in a similar genre.
I remember liking the L’Occtaine myrtle one, too, of that series. A good one from another mainstream “natural” line is Aveda’s Pure-formance for Men, a lovely sweet spicy vetiver with myrtle.
Cedre is another of my ‘cold weather’ SL favorites! 🙂
I’d probably turn back somewhere in Ancient Times, maybe Egypt or Mesopotamy.
Though I don’t know what my profession could be in such limes? Book writer/rewriter (everyone admires my handwriting though I’m left handed)
or maybe an alchemist
Ancient Egypt would have been an interesting place/time, smell-wise, with all those balms and incenses and spices. I’m envious of you graceful handwriting; I’ve always been nervous to have my terrible penmanship “analyzed” for fear of what it reveals about me.
A great novel I just read about a reincarnated alchemist (weird topic) is Hilary Mantel’s “Fludd” – definitely worth reading!
I guess ancient times were good times when it comes to perfume – it was them, who discovered incense and used it with balsaming in mummy-fication process
Yes, one of the by-products of the mummification process must have been that the bodies smelled much better than the later medieval dead. Have you read Mary Roach’s “Stiff: the Curious Life of Human Cadavers”? It’s a great, irreverant, fascinating history of the treatment of corpses over the ages.
Ah… those times must’ve smelled wonderfully! No, I haven’t read that. It’s difficult to find in Poland books in English (apart from students books, dictionaries and language learning)
Ah, sorry, I didn’t realize you were in Poland – your English is excellent! I wish I was equally fluent in another language. I live in a Polish neighbourhood in Toronto, Canada and there are all kinds of books and magazines in Polish available in the shops on my street – but I imagine they are bestseller types and the selection is nothing like it would be in Poland.
Thanks, I’ve been learning English since I was 7, that gives 14 years now – I’m 21.
Oh, so you had a chance to touch our culture a little bit, good.
But yes, you’re right, here there’s a bookshop at almost every corner. Too bad I don’t have access to the book you mentioned and to other books in English, maybe one day someone will translate it.
Off topic: I’m planning on buiyng Prada Amber Pour Homme Intense. This one from Prada is not available in Poland in main perfume shops and in smaller perfumeries, but I’ve found a great deal for it online. This would be a blind-buy as I didn’t have a chance to try it, but I’m a huge fan of male Prada fragrances and I’m sure I’ll love it. What say you?
Oh darn it, haven’t smelled the intense version. Maybe somebody who has come to our rescue?
I” re-ask this question in weekend free poll
I love the scent of bay laurel, and you’ve inspired me to dab on some Une Rose Chypree. What do you think of CdG’s Laurel? I love that one, and it’s somewhere near the top of my FB list.
I have a decant of the CdG, I just didn’t include it here, since I was doing a post of bittersweet scents, and the Laurel is so dry and peppery. I like many of the Garcons drier wood & spice scents. I believe CdG #2 (Pour Femme) also contains laurel, and that’s one of my faves from the line.
Did you ever notice in most of the pictures of the fragrance bottle, the label says “Scent Tow: Laurel” instead of Scent Two. Talk about quality assurance.
Well, I often think the release rate of CdG is too high — as it is at many niche firms now. They’re paying less attention to the packaging then they used to, and you can sort of tell by the juice as well. The details are slipping by…
I love bay! I even have been known to make my own bay tea, if I can get a good quality green and white blend that isn’t already flavored.
That said…you could be a very talented…wet nurse? oO
I feel so inadequate!
Bay tea! How interesting — do you just add bay (dried or fresh?) to your unflavoured tea leaves? I’ve been drinking my locally blended Christmas tea lately, and it’s a lovely black with pink peppercorn, star anise, cardamom and orange peel: mulled tea!
Perhaps I should explain myself on the wet nurse thing: all the health professionals and other mothers I’ve met during the two years I’ve done of nursing have been blown away by my milk production. I should emphasize I’m not chesty. 😉 I always tell people: “It’s not the size of the holding tanks…”
LOL! Ah, that makes more sense, production!
As for the bay tea, it’s (generally, and depending on how I feel when I mix it!)
2 parts gunpowder green to 1 part white (just a basic white, nothing special)
3 bruised fresh bay leaves or 5 crushed dry bay leaves
3 to 4 bruised cloves
about half an inch to an inch and a half of broken/crushed licorice root.
Leave to do it’s thing for a week or so in a sealed container and then remove the bay leaves, if you used fresh ones.
Of course, I have a food dehydrator, so after I remove the fresh bay leaves, I dry them, cut them up, and put them back in.
Wow, that sounds delicious! Is it a relaxing tea? Bay oil is supposed to be good for aches and pain and inflammation. In the course of researching bay for this post, I noticed several sources saying that actually consuming crushed bay leaves was supposed to be very hard/harsh on the digestive tract. I’ve been eating bits from my spaghetti sauce and stews for years, and so I’m skeptical about this. I do have a cast iron stomach, though.
I’ve always had it as a warming/comforting thing in the late fall and winter, but I think that may just be an associative carryover from so many of the winter foods I grew up around having bay leaves simmering in them. It’s one of those childhood triggers.
But yes, one of the compounds in bay can be irritating (can’t bring to mind just which one at the moment) which is why they recommend not just gnawing on bay leaves (used to do that for breath, along with a clove or two, when I still smoked) or making a tisane of just straight bay.
Really nice article Erin. The only perfume I’ve tried from your list is URC, which I adore and didn’t even remember that there’s a bay leaf note. The SL Arabie has been on my must sniff list for years now – I really ahould do something about that! 😉
In my kitchen, I have a bay laurel plant (actually, it’s more of a tree now) that I’ve had for about 15 years, which means I always cook with fresh bay leaves, never dried.
Thanks, RD! I’m so impressed with all you green thumbs – I have a black thumb myself. And don’t worry about your to-sniff list: I have entries on my own list that are older than my daughter!
enjoyed reading about these…have to pull out my SLs now since the weather has finally turned cold….and I need to find a bottle of Knowing…found out this was my grandmother’s signature scent…
In terms of time/place, I think I’d be where ever the horses were 🙂 Medieval or Wild West! 🙂
You’ve got a chic grandma! My grams is an YSL Opium fan – and Opium apparently also contains bay leaf. Her husband, my gramps, also claims his past life was in the Wild West. He throws a mean lasso, so maybe he’s right…
I love both URC and Ambre Sultan.
If you like medieval Europe you might enjoy the Cadfael Series by Ellis Peters. They are about a medieval monk, who is also a herbalist and detective. The books are quite readable and some of them have been adapted very well for ITV. Plenty of bay and other herbs in there!
I love the Cadfael series! I’ve been wanting to get the DVDs of the Materpiece Mysteries series for a long time!
When I used to work at the library, that novel series was very popular. It’s Derek Jacobi as Cadfael in the show, right? I knew he was a detective and/or that the books were mysteries, but I didn’t realize he was a herbalist -sounds quite interesting!
It is indeed Sir Derek as Cadfael. Playing the part beautifully!
I just bought the “I, Cladius” (with Sir Derek, of course) anniversary DVD set for my husband for Christmas. He’s watching “Rome” right now, but there’s not much to compare with that original BBC series. Read a great article once that showed how David Chase based large portions of “The Sopranos” on “I, Cladius”…
I began reading The Name of the Rose last week, so the timing of your wonderful article is perfect for me. The book has me reaching for my incense fragrances, but now I’m yearning to try the ones you mention here.
What is your favorite incense frag? I always hold up Bois d’Encens as my favorite, but for some reason SL La Myrrhe seems like a good match for The Name of the Rose…
Right now I’m enjoying AG Encens Flamboyant and L’Artisan Passage d’Enfer — the weather here has been mild, strange for the end of November!
Passage D’Enfer (The Gates of Hell) is interesting to come up in relation to The Name of the Rose.
I am an archaeologist by trade so it’s my job of envision past times. I’ve worked mainly in Italy, China, and Mongolia. I think being able to ‘smell’ another time period is a fantastic idea. In Japan right before the introduction of the samurai, women used to create their own signature scents. Since men and women were segregated, a man could recognize his lover approaching by her smell (they had many lovers then and wrote about them). They used to hang their clothes above censers which I think worked like incense. It would be cool to try and figure out what those scents would be?
What a cool job (and in such cool places)! We need to get one of those historical perfumers like Dawn Spencer Hurwitz or Sadrine Videault to do the Japanese scents and censer fragrances.
I love reading about archeology and visiting ancient sites, but I’m also always frustrated to realize how much we’ll never know – including what their perfumes and foods smelled like, really.
You might enjoy Lisa Dalby’s The Tale of Murasaki. She describes a Heian incense contest and even gives recipes for the incense that Murasaki prepares for the contest.
What happened to the days of the incense contests? Now we’ve got contests like, I don’t know, “Dancing with the Stars” or “America’s Next Top Model”…
Just want to second the recommendation of Liza Dalby as an author — “The Tale of Murasaki” is wonderful. And for anyone with an interest in the topic, her book “Geisha” is a must-read.
Thanks – I love book recommendations!
Interesting article, Erin. (Wet nurse??!) I’m not sure I believe in reincarnation really, either, despite my Buddhist leanings (in my view, that’s not a Buddhist requirement nor a central tenet). However, I often wonder why I have such a strong visceral connection to India, so I’d wonder if I was some kind of Vedic scholar or some such.
In any case, I love bay leaf in cooking — usually soups and stews, but I’ve never thought of it in mulled wine or cider. Interesting! The scents that immediately make me think of bay leaf are Profumum Victrix and CdG Laurel; I’ve owned the former for awhile and just bought a bottle of the latter recently. In both, the laurel is paired with pepper (black or pink, I think) and I really love the bracing nature of both of those perfumes. They’re two of my favorites.
I also really enjoy Arabie and Une Rose Chypree, and I’ll have to think about the bay in there next time I sniff them. I’m not very familiar with the other scents on your list, but I’m looking fwd to a little decant of Ambre Sultan that’s on the way to me.
Regarding cooking, just this week I’ve been intrigued by a recipe for roasted potatoes in which one makes several accordion-like slits and inserts a bay leaf in each, drizzle with olive oil and wrap loosely in foil for roasting. I’ve also been told that we’re able to use California bay — which grows wild out here in many creek beds, but is actually a different genus and is much stronger than the regular bay laurel. I’ve often broken off leaves and enjoyed their aroma on hikes, but have never cooked with the local bay; I wasn’t sure one could, but I may try it.
Thanks for an interesting read!
Yes, that’s very true, California bay is pretty different from Turkish bay, but most people here in the states don’t really seem to realise that there are different varieties. Beyond California and Turkish, there are also Indian (which I’m not really all that sure is different than Turkish) and salaam, which is Indonesian and gets used in a couple of desserts and confections that I know of. (Trying to get a recipe out of an Thai grandmother is a lot like trying to put out a forest fire by blowing on it.)
Yeah, I mentioned to Kate up there that the wet nurse thing is that I happen to produce a LOT of breastmilk, so many people have commented that I missed my calling. So I’m not busty, just soggy 😉
The thing I like about what little I know of Buddhism is that it seems to be tolerant of a variety of different beliefs and ideologies within the faith – so I’m sure you’re not alone in agnosticism about reincarnation. It is funny how we have such connection to certain landscapes and peoples, though, as with yours and India — maybe I’m a Jungian at heart, because it brings to mind all sorts of stuff about ancestral memory and the collective unconscious.
That potato recipe sounds cool! Please let me know if you try it with the California bay.
I love to cook with bay leaves, especially in cool weather when I make a lot of soups and stews. A couple years ago one of the local nurseries had bay laurels for sale, so I planted two of them in my backyard. Now whenever I need some bay leaves, I just go outside and get them.
I’m jealous of all you who live in climates that can support a bay laurel and other fragrant delights. Of course, I don’t even need the weather up here in the Frozen North to help me kill plants — I have no natural abilities that way. I can cook, though, and love soups and stews!
We believe that whilst a body dies, the soul never does. It can work hard in heaven, but it does come back 7 times. The period and place I loved the most was Laura Inglis Wilder, Little House on the Praire. Middle Ages give me the heebies….cold and stoney!!! I say loved, because I am just so happy to be exactly where I am !!!
Well, regardless of belief system, I think we can all agree it’s important to love when and who you are!
Great article Erin! I enjoyed it a lot. Estee Lauder Knowing is what i am wearing today and it’s one of my all time faves! Its so warm and rich and perfect for a cold and blustery day. Thank you for the wonderful aromatic trip through history.
Thanks, FD – and great to hear you love Knowing. I actually found very few reviews on it on the blogs when I was cruising about, comparing notes lists. I think It’s one of those hidden treasures that nobody talks about because it’s so available. (Note that many people mention having tried the niche stuff, and not the EL!)
Unpleasant as the 6th century must have been, I can imagine myself living there as a nun who can still write decent Latin and doesn’t mention the lapdog and cat when the Bishop visits..
I can also see myself as a mid-Victorian prig, commiserating with Christina Rossetti about her gifted brother’s bad character and regularly admonishing myself because I neglected the housework to read. I’d be rather annoyed because women couldn’t go to Oxford and because even curates seemed to prefer blondes who needlepointed slippers to women who translated Venantius Fortunatus. (See the works of Charlotte M. Yonge.)
Between Victorian soliflores, the ashes of the Dark Ages, and the high-church incense that links them, I think I’d better sample Encens et Lavande or Gris Clair.
LOL – seems reasonable to me – I’m certainly regularly admonishing myself about neglecting the housework in order to read perfume blogs and hunt for vintage perfume on ebay! 🙂
Ha! Like NK, I’m still neglecting the housework to read. I like Gris Clair but it has a very LOUD burnt lightbulb (tungsten) smell and a simplicity of line that always makes me think of it as more modern. I tend to think of kind of sweet, soupy scents as more pre-Edwardian: have you tired Arabie?
Very cool article, Erin! I don’t relate well to any particular historical period. I tend to be very forward-thinking (a planner!), so perhaps this is my first life. 🙂 I own two fragrances that list bay as a note: Lorenzo Villoresi Dilmun, a neroli with an herbal quality; and Lutens Filles en Aiguilles. I will have to smell them both to see if I actually pick up the bay!
I have a very poor memory, so I tend to be a present-and-future focused person, as well, pretty much by default. It therefore seems pretty darn unlikely that I’m remembering past lives: I don’t remember two weeks ago. When I was researching this post, I noticed Dilmun has bay – kind of surprised, but that is my favorite LV!
What a great post: perfume, food, books and reincarnation! Of the perfumes you listed, the SL’s don’t work for me, but I do enjoy Tauer’s URC.
Try reading Dr. Brian Weiss’s Many Lives, Many Masters – very interesting!