Common Scents: Pour Un Homme De Caron

I have in my possession a number of scents for men, mainly as a result of generous benefactors. One of them, Pour Un Homme, is manufactured by the French firm Parfums Caron. First released in 1934 and still sold, it is a genuine perfume rather than a cologne, the main difference being oil concentration. A true perfume typically contains 20–40% of fragrance oils and lasts longer, while cologne contains about 2–5% oils and is much lighter. Pour Un Homme’s main ingredient is lavender grown in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, tempered by a hint of amber and vanilla. All in all, a most pleasant smell.

I wore it to chapel the on the Lord’s Day. It seems a little comforting that I could enter that pulpit smelling like my predecessors of the 1930s, Pastors David Hartley and Edgar West. I suspect that respectable nonconformist ministers of that decade were not commonly known for their frivolous, foreign scents, and yet…one never knows. Mr West’s grandson has already told me that I leave my bicycle in the very place in which his grandfather left his back in the day.

Although the church of God often reflects the times in which it exists rather than the Bible to which it is called, and its ministers and pastors alter as the culture shapes them, I hope my two brethren are united with me in theology and not just aroma. One day, I trust that I shall meet them, and we shall be attired in white robes, reflecting the glory of a common Saviour.

Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. 2 Corinthians 2:14

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