Tawaf (La Via del Profumo)

Tawaf (La Via del Profumo) – 4/5
jasmine sambac – Dominique Dubrana

Jasmine sambac (motia, where moti is Urdu/Hindi for a pearl) is perhaps the second most relatable floral of the east, specifically Pakistan and India, after the rose. Street children at busy traffic intersections hawk bracelets made of the little white buds, strung like pearls on thin metal wire by a (usually overweight) woman sitting nearby with mounds of the white buds spread on a cloth in front of her and a coil of metal wire adjacent to them, and for around 10 cents a day your car can and will smell beautifully of the thick, lushly sweet white flowers.

The bottles for Tawaf

Tawaf, named after the ritual circumlocutions around the Kaaba by Muslim pilgrims, is the final presentation of the Arabian series by French Sufi, calligrapher and self-taught perfumer Dominique Dubrana. It is about the motia, and utterly reeks of it.

A sweet powdery opening of jasmine, narcissus and opoponax (a sweet resin related to myrrh) soon transforms into the familiar thick, dewy, green-fresh scent of the jasmine flower, followed in due time by a rich white heart, all bringing to mind a very realistic motia.

The motia plant (Jasminum sambac)

What is most remarkable is that this dewy freshness sustains for hours on end, before settling into a quiet, dry-white opoponax base. Tawaf possess the complexity that only natural floral absolutes can supply, a lush and boundless beauty. Utterly beautiful jasmine soliflore, and strongly recommended.

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This review is based on a bottle that I purchased myself.

Tawaf is available in 15.5 ml (€ 47), 32 ml (€ 95) & 50 ml (€ 136) directly via profumo.it, where the rest of Dominique Dubrana’s work can also be found. They ship worldwide.

photo credit: top: profumo.it