“For me, Savannah's resistance to change was its saving grace. The city looked inward, sealed off from the noises and distractions of the world at large. It grew inward, too, and in such a way that its people flourished like hothouse plants tended by an indulgent gardener. The ordinary became extraordinary. Eccentrics thrived. Every nuance and quirk of personality achieved greater brilliance in that lush enclosure than would have been possible anywhere else in the world.”- From “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story” by John Berendt
The quote is from one of the books about the American South which only exists in a few outposts which allows eccentricity to thrive. Savannah, Georgia is a smaller more insular version of the more well-known New Orleans, Louisiana. Both cities pride themselves on their ability to march to their own beat. It is those eccentrics that allow those of us less willing to take risks the opportunity to step into their world, in these cities, and let our freak flag fly for a short time.
In the world of independent perfumery if there is a section of the world which seems to have a thriving eccentric mix of creators it would be the American Pacific Northwest. Josh Lobb of slumberhouse is one of those who has flourished like a figurative hothouse plant. Mr. Lobb approaches each of his perfumes like a man working in a hothouse as he examines and sources each material within his perfumes to find the exact right balance he is looking for. In his latest release Kiste Mr. Lobb was inspired by summer in Savannah and he has created another nuanced fragrant tale from his fertile mind.
Savannah Home via mariontrips.typepad.com
If you’ve ever spent summer in Savannah there is a physical weight to the humidity and it is something Mr. Lobb captures perfectly within Kiste. The other effect humidity has is it makes odors linger as they just can’t escape the moisture laden air. So if you were to be sitting on the porch of a Savannah house with a fan twirling overhead, a pitcher of sweet tea, surrounded by dense foliage with a cigar as the sweat rolls down your face. Then you know what Kiste smells like.
Kiste opens on an overripe peach note next to the tea accord. This is what passes for the sweet tea portion of Kiste. It was what got my attention from the moment I first tried it. I have never smelled anything like this in a perfume before. It is so well done I can see the condensation on the pitcher and the sweat on my forehead racing to see who can reach the bottom first. The foliage accord comes next and this is also the smell of leafiness made more pungent by heat. The note which pulls this together is henna as it adds that sense of living decay to the leaves. This all leads to the star of Kiste a specific tobacco note Mr. Lobb created especially for Kiste. He commissioned a bespoke pipe tobacco which was made to his specifications and then he performed his own extraction of it. I don’t know what was in the bespoke tobacco but what shows up on my skin is what I would describe as a candied tobacco with a hint of Jack Daniels. There is a sweet syrupy quality along with the bite of good whiskey. It all comes together to make Kiste as warm as that red ball of sun setting on the horizon.
Kiste has 18-24 hour longevity and above average sillage.
For those of you who have been challenged by Mr. Lobb’s “wall of scent” aesthetic in his previous creations I think Kiste might be the easiest of his collection to approach. It is still way more intense than the average commercial release but it is the least intense of anything he has made. When I am introducing someone to slumberhouse in the future Kiste is going to be where I start. For those who have been fans you might at first think this is the least complex slumberhouse to date and at first impression I probably shared that opinion. But in the 72 hours I’ve been wearing it there are hidden depths especially around that very special tobacco in the base. It is exactly why Mr. Lobb’s “every nuance and quirk of personality achieved greater brilliance in that lush enclosure than would have been possible anywhere else in the world.”
Disclosure: This review was based on a sample provided by slumberhouse.
–Mark Behnke
