Kannauj, a city in Uttar Pradesh, is India's oldest perfume town, known for the art of bottling the scent of rain in an attar called mitti-attar.
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Kannauj's mitti-attar, distilled from fresh rain on parched terrain, has been famous for generations now, along with a range of other perfumes and attars.
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Chef Pranav Kapoor, an 8th-generation perfumer whose family has been distilling organic ingredients like flowers to produce these wonderful elixirs for 200 years, is promoting perfume tourism to bring attention to his town.
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Kapoor launched his ‘Perfume Tourism’ initiative in March 2023. After renovating his 120-year-old haveli as a perfumery, he offers curated itineraries that integrate fragrances and flavours.
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The two-day itinerary takes travellers on an aromatic trip through farms where the season's flower is grown. Visitors are also taken to the distillery, where they are introduced to the 3000-year-old skill of distilling using copper utensils.
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Back at the perfumery, travellers can formulate their signature smell at the perfume bar and then enjoy a 7-course degustation menu with regional and local cuisine and a paired fragrance.
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Pranav believes perfume tourism will help local families, who have been producing perfume for generations, continue their craft.
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Pranav's perfume tourism future involves building the ‘Fragrance Map of India’.
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Kapoor plans to take tourists to Jammu and Kashmir for a lavender and saffron perfume trail in September.
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Travelling south for sandalwood and spices, Himachal for cedar wood and fragrant oils, Orissa for marigold and kewra, and Assam for oud are other iconic experiences on the map.
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