New fragrance: Black Afgano (Nasomatto) the Baudelairian Dawamesk

After more than one month since it was presented in Italy at Esxence, Black Afgano arrived in Paris at Aepure and I could explore the very special scent and the very special idea behind this creation. Nasomatto is a very particular Italian brand, creative and strange - strong perfumes with crazy ideas, a lot of references to forbidden "pleasures" and no olfactory description of the perfume that is always very strong, opulent and almost brutal. They are in the same register with some Lutens but are opposite in terms of subtlety. They are raw like a prehistoric sculpture.
Black Afgano is no exception. There are some stories about several "herbs" that were put inside the perfume, on the box there is a clear mention about the best quality of hashish. Everything seems just a beautiful inspiration until you smell it and realize where you actually are.
Black Afgano is the Tabac Blond of the New Millennium and the true metaphor of Baudelairian Dawamesk. But in 2009 Baudelaire is on Twitter and the perfume, despite its ancient/mythical connotations is 100% modern.
Black Afgano smells like a deep, rich woody incense smoke that floats over something that burns slowly and gives you an intriguing note. It smells about what is supposed to be but the perfumer dosed very well that note that I particularly cannot stand in pure.
The hashish note is not new, outside or inside the bottle.
I remember 2 perfumes from 1983 called Hascish from Veejaga, one from Demeter and another obscure perfume where the note was rather a realistic reconstitution and less a creative approach.
With Black Afgano, that is close in many aspects to Duro, we enter in a forest where everything burns slowly giving a sweet, slightly pungent, bitter and almost suffocating note. It's an intoxicating perfume but unlike any great tuberose, its smell works like an implosion. It is not very diffusive (but very long lasting) and very good on the skin. Too much and others would suspect you about illegal actions.
It is also a metaphor of a chemical reaction called Maillard - the molecules that are created when you burn sugars or proteins - all have something smoky, caramel, burnt. When you burn things there is always a black residue, sticky and strange like the corpse of the beautiful molecules that went to heaven. I think that's the true story of the perfume.
The main note of the perfume seems to be immortelle absolute, wrapped in incense, cedar, caramel - coffee - chicory (ethyl maltol, furaneol, melilot, fenugrec, etc) and some aromatic unusual and almost pungent herbs. It is almost an oriental without being sweet, but lingering on the skin like an everlasting balm.
There is also something like an ancient ritual. I had the feeling that it smells like the plants, balms, seeds, spices burnt all together with honey in the honor of a God. Or the Balm for the ointment of the statue an oriental demon.

ps: I noticed that some people can't stand at all the perfumes from Nasomatto, I like 3 of them more on skin than on blotter.

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