The Scent Archive

JT Siems of Immortal Perfumes
  • 5.0 (36)
  • HISTORY

The Scent Archive is a perfume history podcast from Immortal Perfumes. Each episode is a deep dive into the history behind a fragrance, a flower, a bottle — the histories that explain why we reach for the things we wear. Hosted by perfume historian and award winning perfumer, JT Siems

  1. 6D AGO

    The Doctor and the Atomizer: The Country Doctor Behind Perfume's Most Beautiful Bottles

    In a quiet Toledo shed in the late 1880s, country doctor Allen DeVilbiss tinkered with a problem: how to spray treatments into his patients’ throats without cotton swabs. The device he built would eventually find its way onto every dressing table in America — and reshape the way the world wore perfume. This month on The Scent Archive, we trace the strange journey of the atomizer from medical instrument to luxury object: from French pharmacies to Parisian perfumeries, from a wooden shed in Ohio to Art Deco glass empires, from doctor’s bag to dressing table. Along the way: the cholera epidemic that made spraying feel sanitary, the Venturi effect that made it possible, and the visionary son who transformed his father’s invention into a cultural phenomenon. Allen DeVilbiss didn’t invent the atomizer. He didn’t even mass-produce the first one. What he and his son Thomas built was something arguably more consequential: the idea that every woman deserved one. In this episode •         The Latin roots of “perfume” (per fumum — through smoke) and why fragrance was burned long before it was sprayed •         The 1832 cholera epidemic and France’s hygiene obsession •         The Venturi effect and the physics of mist •         French vaporisateur makers — Rimmel, Legrand, Gache — and the ecosystem DeVilbiss entered •         The Toledo shed where it all began •         Thomas DeVilbiss and the leap from medical tool to luxury perfumizer •         A million perfumizers a year by the 1920s •         The Art Deco empire (and the company basketball team called The Sprays) Sources & further reading •         Érika Wicky, “Pschitt!: A Cultural History of the Perfume Vaporizer,” Dix-Neuf 28, no. 3–4 (2024): 298–316. DOI: 10.1080/14787318.2025.2468558. •         Marti DeGraaf, DeVilbiss Perfume Bottles and Their Glass Company Suppliers, 1907 to 1968 (Hardcover, October 28, 2014). •         Thomas Dills DeVilbiss, History of the DeVilbiss Family (1927) •         Allen DeVilbiss, U.S. Patent 378,357 (Feb. 21, 1888) •         Thomas A. DeVilbiss, U.S. Patent 938,648 (Nov. 2, 1909) •         BGSU DeVilbiss archives Next month The Parisian orphan who built the most famous perfume house in the world.

    30 min

  2. MAR 21

    Pikake and the Princess

    On March 6, 1899, a flock of peacocks on a Waikīkī estate began to wail so loudly that people across the island heard them and knew. Their keeper had just died. She was twenty-three years old, and she was supposed to be queen. This episode follows the story of Princess Ka'iulani — the last Crown Princess of the Kingdom of Hawaii — from the fragrant gardens of her childhood home at 'Āinahau to the halls of the US Capitol, where she fought alone for her people's independence. Along the way, we explore the flowers at the heart of her story: pikake, the jasmine sambac she named after her beloved peacocks, and gardenia, her mother's flower — and what happened to both when the monarchy was gone. In this episode: The rise and fall of the Kingdom of Hawaii and the illegal overthrow of Queen Lili'uokalani The life of Princess Ka'iulani: royal heir, activist, and one of history's most overlooked figures The pikake flower: its Hawaiian origins, olfactive profile, and why jasmine sambac is one of perfumery's most iconic notes The cultural significance of the lei — and what pikake and gardenia meant in Hawaiian tradition The complicated legacy of Hawaiian souvenir perfume, including Royal Hawaiian Perfumes (est. 1946) If you love narrative history, royal biography, fragrance deep-dives, or podcasts like Noble Blood or Tasting History — this one's for you. 🌸 National Fragrance Day offer: 25% off everything at Immortal Perfumes through April 1, 2026. Use code ARCHIVE at checkout. 🛍️ Shop: immortalperfumes.com 🎙️ More about the podcast: scentarchivepod.com 📸 Instagram & TikTok: @immortalperfumes 📷 Photos of Ka'iulani's funeral, including her casket lying in state at 'Āinahau, are linked below. Sources & Further Reading Linnéa, Sharon. Princess Ka'iulani: Hope of a Nation, Heart of a People. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 1999. Webb, Nancy, and Jean Francis Webb. Ka'iulani: Crown Princess of Hawai'i. Honolulu: Mutual Publishing, 1998. de Silva, Kīhei. "Lei Kiele." Ka'iwakīloumoku Hawaiian Cultural Center, Kamehameha Schools. https://kaiwakiloumoku.ksbe.edu/article/mele-lei-kiele Leonhardt, Kenneth W., and Glenn I. Teves. "Pikake: A Fragrant-Flowered Plant for Landscapes and Lei Production." College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, April 2002. https://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/of-29.pdf Fullard-Leo, Leslie. Oral history interview, June 12, 1986. University of Hawaiʻi oral history project. "The Cleghorn: History at Its Base." Honolulu Star-Bulletin, January 5, 1964. "Gardenias Didn't Bloom for 2 Years After Princess' Death." Honolulu Star-Bulletin, January 5, 1952. "Princess Ka'iulani Special Edition." Pacific Commercial Advertiser, March 13, 1899. "Fairy." Images of Old Hawaiʻi. https://imagesofoldhawaii.com/fairy/ "How a 19th-Century Scot Married Into Hawaii's Last Royal Family." The Scotsman. https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/how-a-19th-century-scot-married-into-hawaiis-last-royal-family-4810013 The Scent Archive is a monthly podcast and companion piece to Immortal Perfumes, a Seattle-based literary micro-perfumery specializing in historically inspired handmade fragrances. Each episode, host and perfumer JT Siems follows her nose to uncover the hidden histories of the perfumed past.

    29 min

  3. MAR 6

    The Scent Archive Teaser

    Storical is becoming something new. Same voice. Same obsession with the past. But from here on, every story runs through scent — because scent is the detail historians keep leaving out, and it changes everything. The Scent Archive launches on National Fragrance Day, March 21st. Once a month, a deep dive into a historical figure, an event, an object — and the scent running through it like a hidden thread. From the hull of the Titanic to the French Resistance, from royal courts to poisoners who used perfume as a weapon. The first episode is about a Hawaiian princess, the peacocks she adored, and why the most delicate flower in Hawaiian perfumery carries a bird's name. I'll see you in the archive.

    1 min

  4. 11/01/2023

    Storical Halloween Special: Theda Bara, Vampire

    Theda Bara was the most famous movie star you’ve probably never heard of. One of the first movie stars, America’s first goth, and Hollywood’s first sex symbol, Theda Bara was the epitome of Madame Mystery. Though most of her films have been lost to time, Theda is one of the pioneers of early Hollywood. More Halloween Episodes: https://www.immortalperfumes.com/search?q=halloween&f_collectionId=6100b028baebd54735717656 Resources Vamp: The Rise and Fall of Theda Bara by Eve Golden: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/741931.Vamp You Must Remember This Podcast: https://radiopublic.com/you-must-remember-this-G2wdZR/s1!b877a The Woman with Hungry Eyes: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0997110/

    12 min

  5. 06/05/2023

    Strange Stories from Perfume History

    In a first for Storical Podcast, here is a live episode! I recently gave a lecture sharing some of the most interesting stories in perfume history. Listen to hear about perfume and poison such as Acqua Tofana, Chanel versus Schiaparelli, perfumes recovered from the Titanic, the perfume Andy Warhol was buried with, and the perfume Jude Law used to get into character to play Henry VIII. This was a wild ride, check it out! If you’re interested in more information on the Paris perfume trip, fill out this survey to be notified when it opens for booking. Please note that Paris has already been decided on but you need to fill out the survey to be added to the list. For more history videos, check out my Youtube channel.

    45 min

  6. 10/31/2022

    Storical Halloween Special: Mercy Brown and the New England Vampire Panic

    We all know about Eastern European vampires but did you know that right here in America we had our own vampire panic? Yup. It turns out New England was kind of a scary place the first 200 years of colonial and then American rule. Listen to today’s episode to learn about the New England Vampire Panic and Mercy Brown, the teenaged purported vampire. Further Reading The Great New England Vampire Panic, Smithsonian Magazine The Last American Vampire, History Food for the Dead: On the Trail of New England’s Vampires by Michael E. Bell

    9 min

  7. 09/17/2022

    The Gilded Age: Astors vs Vanderbilts Pt. 2

    Gilded Age New York was all about flaunting your money. And no one did it better than the first families of excess, the Astors and the Vanderbilts. Part two is all about multi-hyphenate Alva Vanderbilt. Social climber, society leader, architect, suffragette. We will also take a look at her daughter Consuelo Vanderbilt, Duchess of Marlborough. Tune in! Photos Vanderbilt Costume Ball of 1883: https://www.antiquetrader.com/collecting-101/the-vanderbilt-ball-of-1883 Electric Light Dress: https://theenchantedmanor.com//wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Alice-Vanderbilt-dressed-as-the-Electric-Light-for-the-ball-3-26-1883.jpg Consuelo Vanderbilt: https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/images/consuelo-vanderbilt-2.jpg Nonfiction Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt: The Story of a Daughter and a Mother in the Gilded Age by Amanda Mckenzie Stuart Vanderbilt by Anderson Cooper Social Climber: The Iron Will and Determined Rise of Alva Vanderbilt by The Gilded Gentelman Podcast Edith Wharton’s New York by The Bowery Boys Podcast Fiction The Gilded Age on HBO The Social Graces by Renee Rosen A Well Behaved Woman by Theresa Anne Fowler

    24 min
  8. The Gilded Age: Astors vs Vanderbilts Pt. 1

    01/16/2022

    The Gilded Age: Astors vs Vanderbilts Pt. 1

    Gilded Age New York was all about flaunting your money. And no one did it better than the first families of excess, the Astors and the Vanderbilts. Part one of a multi part series, today we’re looking at the life of Caroline Astor, the “Mystic Rose” and arbiter of taste in New York Society. You’ll want to listen to the episode to get primed on the new HBO series, The Gilded Age. Tune in! HISTORICAL FICTION The Social Graces by Renée Rosen PODCASTS The Astors and the Waldorf Astoria by The Bowery Boys The Real Mrs. Astor, Ruler or Rebel? by The Gilded Gentleman The Mrs. Astor by The History Chicks NONFICTION Season of Splendor: The Court of Mrs. Astor by Greg King When the Astors Owned New York by Justin Kaplan

    18 min
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About

The Scent Archive is a perfume history podcast from Immortal Perfumes. Each episode is a deep dive into the history behind a fragrance, a flower, a bottle — the histories that explain why we reach for the things we wear. Hosted by perfume historian and award winning perfumer, JT Siems

Information

  • Creator
    JT Siems of Immortal Perfumes
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2026
  • Episodes
    75
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright JT Siems of Immortal Perfumes
  • Show Website
    The Scent Archive

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