The place I live belongs to a continental climate zone which means harsh winters and sizzling summers. This fact has led me to believe that most fragrances are shining their best self either in cold or heat, suffering a considerable reduction of developing their olfactory merits when they are worn in their less effective temperature spectrum.
That never was the case with Pino Silvestre because it was always a breath of fresh forest air, incarnated by either the howling arctic winds of Scandinavia or the gentle summer breeze of the Mediterranean. The etymology of Scandinavia is yet to be decided, but since "Mediterranean" means the center of the world, then Pino Silvestre represents this term way better than any other male fragrance would ever do. Emitting its green waves from Italy, the very heart of the Mediterranean, Pino Silvestre is global, epic and staggering.
Thinking that calling it the best male scent ever made would be sort of an overstatement, I'll just say that having a place in the ten best male fragrances ever would be no overstatement at all. I have never ever confused it with any other fragrance and I believe it's so classic that it's classicality itself. Something like the olfactory equivalent of Jules Verne and Alexander Pushkin, since it's wildly adventurous and plain equitable altogether. Or something like being simultaneously complacent and not complacent or romantic and not romantic, if you like. How many fragrances would not be laughed at by making such claims, even if they are around for six decades?
And speaking of straightforward merits, who said that a fragrance has to cost a fortune to be stunning? Where I live you can have 750ml of Brut, 300ml of Tabac and 350ml of Agua Brava for 100€. Or a whole bucketful of shiny green pine cones named Pino Silvestre.
Although it was launched some 20 years later, I believe it was Europe's answer to the other iconic men's fragrance coming from the western shore. Pino Silvestre's archenemy could be no other than the most popular masculine fragrance ever made till then. In other words, Old Spice. But since they belonged to two entirely different genres, instead of a legendary battle we were left with yet another olfactory masterpiece instead.
I've heard its bottle being called tacky many times, but if I had to call it something too, then "honest" would be the word. What you see is what you get, simple as that. You buy a fragrance in a green pine cone, right? What would you expect yourself to smell like other than a pine forest?
Its biggest advantage however is its aptidude of reassuring you that everything is going to be just fine. That even if the whole world has come to your doorstep, brandishing pitchforks and torches while demanding your ostracism from their modernity land, there's still a sheltering forest to hide and prepare your retaliation. Pine cones can be surely used as a last resort weapon after all, especially when unopened. Just like the ones after which Pino Silvestre's iconic bottle was made.
I don't believe there's more than a handful of European men over forty who have never used Pino Silvestre at some point. And many of them are still proudly using it, no matter how hard fragrance evolution tries to lure them away. I believe it has a very certain association with olfactory childhood memories, and many of us are extremely stubborn when it comes to parting from them. And while most of us live in cities, surrounded by a passel of artificial smells, some of us still have a soothing pine forest forever rooted in the very centre of our hearts' geography. And what is a scent without a heartbeat throbbing it?...
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