Arso
Profumum (2011)

Arso is my partner’s favorite fragrance from Profumum Roma, and it has definitely grown on me. I tend to gravitate toward the brand’s richer, denser offerings like Fumidus, but this is still a heavy hitter in its own right. Although many people emphasize the coniferous aspect, I don’t find it overwhelmingly pine-heavy. I’m missing some of the camphoraceous bite, but I do get a very photorealistic tree sap note. There’s also a smoky wood element, though it’s light and well-balanced rather than dominant. The woodiness even reminds me of something you’d find in Kerosene’s woody fragrances.

The balsamic quality here comes more from resins than from incense. I’m not really picking up frankincense or myrrh, though there may be a trace of frankincense in the drydown. The wood itself feels like a clean cedar that acts as a base. The real star is the interplay between pine and resin. If you’re after a true campfire scent, Winter of ’99 by Kerosene is the better choice. Arso is more about pine needles at a distance from the fire rather than the fire itself. The amber here isn’t thick or dense; it mainly adds realism to the sap and keeps the pine from becoming too sharp or bitter. It also makes the fragrance more wearable, preventing it from tipping into an overly literal pine-and-sap accord.

It clearly evokes a pine forest, but the sweetness softens the illusion, which could be a positive or a negative depending on what you’re looking for. I’ve also tried Woodcut by Olympic Orchids, but that one leans much more toward woods and lacks the pine accord, so it isn’t a substitute. If you want this specific scent profile, you more or less have to bite the bullet and invest in it. Performance is solid and lasts all day, with moderate projection. It’s perfect for fall and winter and still works in spring, though it definitely leans more autumnal. It’s not my favorite from the brand, but I can absolutely appreciate what it does.

Imagine a polished wood floor, freshly sanded, carpeted with a thick under-footing of pine needles, the warmth of the room releasing the green but also brown sugar-tinged aroma of the pine. It smells and feels dry, but also like sipping on a glass of whiskey. Beyond the faint breath of beeswax or cocoa butter lurking beneath its woody skein, Arso is almost entirely linear, and none the worse for it. It smells like a simpler, 'gooier' Chêne by Serge Lutens, actually.

Profumum Roma may be an Italian brand, but the smell of Arso is something I associate with the American Southwest: sweet pine and dry, smoky warmth.

Arso is a lovely, tasteful experience, but the caveat is that this is a case where the fragrance is merely the sum of its parts and nothing more: incense, pine, and resins.

Arso is the ultimate in pine realism. This is one of the most natural interpretations of coniferous exudate; all that's missing is that sticky, tacky feel from touching the sweet, smoky, aromatic resins and savoring their scent as my tree-hugging self gets up and close and personal with the denizens of the forest.

This is a warm spring or summer day, when the sun heats up the pines and the aroma is released in the dry air, especially as Arso dries into its heart. I have the imagery of a grove of Ponderosa pines in the southwest, the sun, the blue sky, the romanticism of the frontier.

Arso becomes drier, more incense heavy and leathery on the skin as it dries into its base. It's especially spectacular while outside and the sun is on you; it really radiates with life. On clothes, those resinous, smoky facets of the pine resins remain for hours. It's really has an astonishing beauty, but would appeal to those such as myself who revel in stark realism as opposed to embellished impressionism (which has a place in my heart as well).

A 10/10 on all accounts.

Autumn ablaze. Dead leaves, dry woods, and a glass of whisky as you watch it all burn...

Arso was recommended to me by many Basenoter's when I asked for a good pine heavy fragrance.

Unfortunately, I wouldn't call this a pine fragrance, as much as it is just a resinous and sweet one. The opening burst of pine is fantastic, about as good as it gets, green, earthy, realistic, a little smokey. The smokiness was from something else though; something that caught me off guard.. something I wasn't prepared for. This uber sticky sweet note. It reminded me of the sugary green note in Imaginary authors Saint Julep. It was kind of like a burnt sugar meets burnt rubber, meets celery. It was a green, dirty-ish, burnt rubber, incense driven accord. I'd even go as far as to call it nauseating. Once the sugary part of it wore off though, it presented itself as more resinous, and blended in better, much more smooth. Still though, nothing to write home about. Certainly nothing like the great Norne, which it has been compared to as well.. ya.. not even close. The base notes in this aren't much, just a softer lighter version of whatever that middle was, add in a little cedar, or maybe it was sandalwood. I've seen people say this one smells like turpentine. I've never smelled turpentine, so I can't say, but I can say that the majority of the life of this fragrance is quite unpleasant.