Bateekh

When I made Ananas Tabac, I meant for tobacco to become a regular part of what I release. Most people wore it without any issue, but a few reported skin sensitivity, so I discontinued the blend entirely. That didn't change my plans. If anything, it made me more eager to finish this one: a fresh, fruity tobacco. I wanted to treat tobacco as a base you can build on, and to offer an artisanal tobacco at a price that stays within reach. To me, tobacco is earthy, sweet, damp, and woody all at once — a wide canvas that can hold many colours without feeling crowded. Like Dukkan, this one began in a café. The coffee beans caught my attention: distinctly tobacco-like, with beautiful fruity notes of banana and chocolate. At the same time, I was working on a watermelon accord. Slowly the two ideas merged into one blend. That's how these two worlds met. This is the café where it started. The result is remarkably fruity-fresh. The structure rests on Virginia tobacco and Hindi oud, with floral, leathery Moroccan saffron, roasted Brazilian maté, and caramelised coffee adding depth. A tincture of Nepalese musk gives the composition volume without weighing it down. The opening is where it gets interesting: fruity and floral, with banana, peach, blood orange, and my own watermelon accord. 🍉 I built the accord from cucumber, tomato leaf, and berries, with a touch of melonal. It's fresh and crisp and, to my nose, has a balanced sweetness rather than the obvious sweetness you might expect from watermelon. Kashani rose carries it from there. Its floral weight bridges the bright opening into the base. It's rosy, though not as rosy as Dukkan can be. Here the rose sits underneath the fruit instead of leading it. Why Bateekh? Bateekh means watermelon in Arabic. For me, as a Palestinian, it means much more. Cut a watermelon open and you'll see red, black, white, and green — the colours of the Palestinian flag. After 1967, when Israeli colonial authorities criminalised displays of the flag in the West Bank and Gaza, Palestinians began using the fruit to carry those colours without carrying the flag. Read more about it here. The artist Sliman Mansour once told the story of an exhibition of his in Ramallah being shut down, and of an officer of the Israeli colonial regime warning the artists that even a watermelon painted in those colours would be confiscated. That story has always stayed with me. Something ordinary, something you grew up eating without a second thought, becomes a way of holding on to who you are. You can ban a flag. But not its colours. For me, Bateekh is one of those things. It's familiar. It's Palestinian. It's home. And in its own quiet way, it carries a history of resistance that is still unfolding today. Mansour passed away in August 2026. Even though perfume is a different form of expression than painting, I still see Bateekh as a tribute to him, and to resistance in all its forms. No add-ons? Not this time. I went on a hunch about what the appetite would be for each add-on I had planned, bought the materials in one batch for a better price, and rebalanced the formula around each one. So instead of add-ons, you have editions. Every edition is still Bateekh. What shifts is what sits at the centre, and the composition moves to make room for it. Which one is the one? I've been blessed to reach more people in the artisanal space, and one question about the editions comes up more than any other: which one would you recommend? Here's my answer (you might not like it) — I don't think one is better than another. If anything they complement each other. But here's how they differ: Think of Kashani as the centre. It holds the weights in balance: tobacco, watermelon, the oud base, and rose all sitting level with each other. It's the original, and the only version with a touch of kewra. SQ Hindi Rose pulls rosy — everything you'd expect from an aged Hindi gulab, sweet and dense, with Bulgarian and Turkish roses layered in. Aged Malay 2012 pulls deep and earthy — creamy, caramelised, resinous, that sweet Malay profile. Aged Malinau 2016 & Hainan 2019 pull bright — corn-silk sweetness from the Malinau, a cooling herbal sparkle from the Hainan. Each one takes Bateekh somewhere different. Kashani is where they all leave from. If you're not sure, go for the OG. Future Bateekhs? I've set a portion of the base aside, because I'm not done with Bateekh. Perhaps a Bateekh Civet? We'll see. 😉 Final thoughts If Dukkan and Nightfall both landed for you, I think this one will too. And if you're new to my work (welcome 🤗), Bateekh is a good place to start.