'creatures that choose to hold their breath ... are immune to its effect.' means that no one who knows about it is affected by this stare-replacement. That's good for not affecting your party, no problem in a dungeon crawl, and crippling in a campaign with ongoing enemies or enemy organisations.
The aromaphile needs to be even closer than a normal mesmerist but might be able to affect 2-3 targets rather than one. That seems a fair trade.
It seems like a reasonable archetype for some campaigns.