Saturday, March 19, 2022

Rosine's Narghile Cigarette Perfume

In 1924, Paul Poiret introduced a line of perfumes meant to scent the tobacco inside cigarettes. He named the line Narghile and sold it under the Rosine name. A narghile is the name for a Middle Eastern hookah pipe. The cigarette perfumes were the same extraits sold in his Rosine shop, just sold inside of small breakable glass ampules that look exactly like perfume Nips:

  • Le Balcon
  • Nuit de Chine
  • Hahna
  • Borgia
  • Maharadjah


If one didn't want to be bothered with scenting their own cigarettes, Rosine offered pre-scented cigarettes in packs of ten. For demonstration of the cigarettes, some of the milliner's heads at the Poiret couture shop had a small opening at the corner of the mouth into which one of the Rosine perfumed cigarettes could be placed.



"Connoisseurs and refined... flavor your cigarettes with the Narghile. Rosine's latest creation. These very fine bulbs containing the rare essences of Rosine make it possible to impregnate the tobacco and not the paper and to spread around oneself curls of a deliciously fragrant smoke.

  • The case of 12 bulbs...6 francs
  • The case of 36 bulbs...18 francs
  • The case of 72 vials...30 francs

Luxury Tobacco and Chez Rosine offices, 107 Faubourg St Honore."


Le Crapouillot, 1921:

"Monsieur and Madame don't get along. Monsieur smokes too much and brings back in his clothes, I don't know what dirty smell of sealing wax and tobacco that poisons even the cupboards. Madame's dresses smell of tobacco and the maid has given her account. Life together is intolerable. But Monsieur has found a way and peace has returned because he smokes his cigarettes at the Narghilé. Madame is having a lot of fun breaking the thin glass bulb herself. It's a small operation that enchants her and gives her a pretext for all sorts of coquetry. She gazes rapturously at the fragrance that flows and bathes in the wisps of smoke. The household now lives in a fragrant and balsamic cloud. Love and tobacco!...

The Music Hall is a delicious place where you can smoke at ease. But, there are neighbors who grimace when tobacco is not to their liking. A little advice to amateurs: Thanks to the Narghilé, creation of Rosine, you can now flavor the smoke as you wish and the neighbors are asking for more. The Narghilé can be found in all luxury tobacconists."

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