Molinard introduced Habanita in 1921, not as a personal fragrance but as a product to scent cigarettes. It was available in scented sachets to slide into a pack of cigarettes, or in liquid form: “A glass rod dipped in this fragrance and drawn along a lighted cigarette will perfume the smoke with a delicious, lasting aroma” (quoted in The Book of Perfume, page 76).
Whether women experimented with sliding that glass rod along their arms I cannot say, but by 1924 Molinard had launched Habanita as a perfume for women, housed in a Lalique bottle decorated with water nymphs. It was reformulated in the late 1980s, and no doubt has been reworked since then (hasn’t everything?); the notes include bergamot, peach, orange blossom, galbanum, oakmoss, jasmine, rose, ylang ylang, heliotrope, patchouli, amber, leather, vetiver, cedar, sandalwood, benzoin and vanilla…
