My Dear Roses . . . Part 1

The rose that all are praising
Is not the rose for me.” — Thomas Haynes Bayly (1797–1839)

I’ve long wanted to do a sniff-fest through rose perfumes to find the one or ones I most adore. According to Wikipedia there are 100 species of rose, defined as members of the subgenre Rosa within the Rosaceae family. The two most used in perfumery are Rosa damascene below (cultivated mainly in Bulgaria and Turkey, but also France, India and elsewhere) and the following Rosa Centifolia (mainly Grasse, France).

THE RAW SCENT
First thing is to familiarize my nose with them in nascent form, i.e, as rose otto (i.e., rose oil or rose attar obtained thru steam distillation) or rose absolute (from extraction).

Conveniently, naturesgift.com has a sampler called A Bouquet of Roses, which contains them both as well as an extract of the ancient Rosa Alba, said to predate Pliny.

Here goes:
Turkish Rose Oil 10% in Fractionated Coconut Oil - My first reaction is “rose and cabbages.” Is this the Damascene Rose?
Turkish Rosa Damascena Absolute 10% in Fractionated Coconut Oil - Yes, it’s the same smell here except not as sharp. The Damascene is a very very fresh-smelling green rose.
Bulgarian Rose Otto 10% in Fractionated Coconut Oil - A distinct difference. This is a far more indolic rose. It’s still a damascene but the stark greenness is gone.
Russian Rosa Centifolia Absolute in Fractionated Coconut Oil - Now to the Centifolias. This one is a slightly milder and sweeter rose.
French Rose de Mai (Rose centifolia) in Fractionated Coconut Oil. Again, this one, no doubt grown in Grasse, is lighter and sweeter. Not sure I could tell the difference between this and the Russian centifolia.
Bulgarian Rosa Alba CO2 Extracted in Jojoba. This ancient garden rose is greener than the centifolis but also a tad woody, unlike the damascene.

In sum, whereas there is a stark and recognizable difference between the two jasmines used predominately in perfume — Sambac and the Grandiflora — I detect less between the roses, though the greener rose seems to be a Turkish Damascena.

THE STORY
Naturally, we need a heroine to sniff along, whose tastes and personality differ from mine. She ought to live in the Rose Valley of Bulgaria, which produces as much as 85% of the world’s rose oil. Let’s say she lives in Kazanlak, the center of the industry at the foot of the Balkan mountain range. Her name is Rosa, of course. Rosa Petrov. I happen to know that once upon a time, a beautiful Petrov girl was always chosen Queen Rose at the annual rose harvest celebration. This went on until 1814, when another family’s jealous grandmother (who everyone knew was a witch), publicly cast a spell on the Petrovs. No female child would be born to Petrovs again and survive to be Queen Rose. By some fluke, Rosa is their first girl in almost 200 years.

The entire Petrov family wants Rosa to stay away from this year’s festival. She’s now old enough to enter the competition for Queen Rose and they fear for her, but Rosa is brave (unlike me, her author). She plans to attend the festival and sample rose perfumes from around the world before being crowned Queen Rose, as everyone knows will happen. Until then, her family insists she stay in seclusion.

Secretly, the handsome Nikola sneaks up to Rosa’s house with other local boys, peeps in her window and, seeing her and hearing her call to the birds to while away the hours, is instantly smitten. Each night, he creeps back to her window and imitates the call of the male Thrush Nightingale so he can hear Rosa reply in her sweet voice.

Unfortunately, Nikola is from the family of the witch. He’s upset that the town has been bad-mouthing his relatives for 200 years. If Rosa goes to the festival and lives, it will prove there really is no curse. But what if he’s wrong and Rosa dies? Worse still, his own sister, Penka, wants to be Queen Rose. No chance of that if Rosa enters. She has the fabled Petrov beauty.

At least no one has accused Nikolai’s ancestor of being a vampire. In Bulgaria, everyone knows they are real.

Until next time.

p.s. My initial sniff list of rose perfumes is here. If there are others I should try, I'm all ears.