Borsalino Panama
Borsalino (2007)

A nice inoffensive but complex fragranceA very good but indeed safe smelling fragrance with 4 hrs longevity at best.It starts very fresh and turns to a nice spicy sweet tobacco-ish fragrance with patchouli, musk, vetiver and lots of things going on! The citrus is always there on the background which remains its freshness. Despite its inoffensive smell this is a very complex fragrance with many notes to pick out in this well blended fragrance. The projection is average but again, this would have been an excellent fragrance if the base would be a tad stronger!Good for spring mornings! Rated: 7,5/10Pros: Refreshing, good smelling fragranceCons: Longevity could be better"

Immediately fresh, furthermore spicy and finally soapy exotic blend with the mildness of tobacco finally plunged in a bed of woodsy musk and amber. The initial burst of citruses and flowers oozes a sort of aquatic/citric/metallic 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 providing a subtle refined exotic mildness whereof the roughness is linked with the tamed vetiver of the base and with balmy 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 discreet italian style.

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?

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

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.