unwanted pigments.)
As might be expected, essence of tobacco conveys the very thick, liquid smell of cigar tobacco and lends a dry note to perfume. It can be useful in balancing the cloying sweetness of some florals. It mixes well with sandalwood, cedarwood, bergamot, clary sage, labdanum, and vetiver.
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Balsamic essences have in common a sweet vanilla note with a woody, floral, or spicy undertone. The balsamics include tolu balsam, Peru balsam, benzoin, tonka bean, opoponax, and styrax.
Benzoin is a secretion of the tree Styrax tonkinense. The tree does not produce the secretion naturally, however. A wound is inflicted in the bark, sufficiently deep to result in the formation of ducts through which the resinous secretion is produced. When it is hard and dry, the material is collected, in the form of small lumps or tears.
Benzoin
Benzoin has a soft, sweet, warm body note that evolves into a balsamic powdery
finish and blends with almost anything. It is a good fixative for Oriental scents and, to a lesser extent, florals. It is an inexpensive one, too, and can be used economically to extend a vanilla note. Too much benzoin, however, can suppress the odor of the other ingredients. (It, like civet, can be used to pre-fix alcohol, by adding 2 ml benzoin to I quart of alcohol to marry for a month.) People tend to find benzoin calming, seductive, sensual, and rejuvenating.
Peru balsam , like benzoin, is a pathological secretion produced by wounding the Myroxylon pereirae tree, which grows to a height of fifty feet or more in high altitudes in Central America. A mid-sixteenth-century papal bull 64 authorized clergy in El Salvador to harvest and use the precious balsam and pronounced it a sacrilege to destroy or injure the trees that produced it. The document also described the extraction process in detail. An incision was made in the tree, âwhence it gradually exudes, and is absorbed by pieces of cotton rags inserted for the purpose. These, when thoroughly saturated, are replaced by others, which, as they are removed, are thrown into boiling water. The heat detaches it from the cotton, and the valuable balsam being of less gravity than water, floats on the top, is skimmed off, and put into calabashes for sale.â
Peru balsam
The odor of Peru balsam resembles that of vanilla but is not so generally pleasing. It looks like molasses, and because of its dark color was not much used in perfumery but reserved for soap. The natural perfumer, however, should appreciate its color as an essential and beautiful aspect of its character, like the flaws in leather. With its rich, sweet dryout note, the essence imparts a warmth to perfumes, an edible quality. It blends well with petitgrain, patchouli, sandalwood, ylang ylang, labdanum, and tuberose. It smells similar
to tolu balsam except that tolu is slightly spicy, while Peru is slightly floral.
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Eartby essences have the musty, stale smell of freshly turned soil. They include vetiver, angelica root, patchouli, oakmoss, and labdanum.
Vetiver is a grass whose rootlets have been used for their fragrance since ancient times. The root itself possesses an agreeable aroma and, when dried, has been used to scent linens and clothes. It was also woven into mats that were sprinkled with water and hung like curtains to cool and scent the air in a dwelling. The oil distilled from the roots is amber-colored and, as described by Arctander, âsweet and very heavy-earthy, reminiscent of roots and wet soil, with a rich undertone of âprecious woodâ notes.â Some people find the odor of vetiver too strong straight from the bottle, but it dilutes beautifully, lending a richness to dry-toned blends and the smell of stems and leaves to rose-based perfumes. Vetiver is extremely long-lasting and is an excellent fixative. It blends well with other green and herbal notes as well as with patchouli and sandalwood. Vetiver is grounding and strengthening.
Vetiver
Angelica root can
As might be expected, essence of tobacco conveys the very thick, liquid smell of cigar tobacco and lends a dry note to perfume. It can be useful in balancing the cloying sweetness of some florals. It mixes well with sandalwood, cedarwood, bergamot, clary sage, labdanum, and vetiver.
Â
Balsamic essences have in common a sweet vanilla note with a woody, floral, or spicy undertone. The balsamics include tolu balsam, Peru balsam, benzoin, tonka bean, opoponax, and styrax.
Benzoin is a secretion of the tree Styrax tonkinense. The tree does not produce the secretion naturally, however. A wound is inflicted in the bark, sufficiently deep to result in the formation of ducts through which the resinous secretion is produced. When it is hard and dry, the material is collected, in the form of small lumps or tears.
Benzoin
Benzoin has a soft, sweet, warm body note that evolves into a balsamic powdery
finish and blends with almost anything. It is a good fixative for Oriental scents and, to a lesser extent, florals. It is an inexpensive one, too, and can be used economically to extend a vanilla note. Too much benzoin, however, can suppress the odor of the other ingredients. (It, like civet, can be used to pre-fix alcohol, by adding 2 ml benzoin to I quart of alcohol to marry for a month.) People tend to find benzoin calming, seductive, sensual, and rejuvenating.
Peru balsam , like benzoin, is a pathological secretion produced by wounding the Myroxylon pereirae tree, which grows to a height of fifty feet or more in high altitudes in Central America. A mid-sixteenth-century papal bull 64 authorized clergy in El Salvador to harvest and use the precious balsam and pronounced it a sacrilege to destroy or injure the trees that produced it. The document also described the extraction process in detail. An incision was made in the tree, âwhence it gradually exudes, and is absorbed by pieces of cotton rags inserted for the purpose. These, when thoroughly saturated, are replaced by others, which, as they are removed, are thrown into boiling water. The heat detaches it from the cotton, and the valuable balsam being of less gravity than water, floats on the top, is skimmed off, and put into calabashes for sale.â
Peru balsam
The odor of Peru balsam resembles that of vanilla but is not so generally pleasing. It looks like molasses, and because of its dark color was not much used in perfumery but reserved for soap. The natural perfumer, however, should appreciate its color as an essential and beautiful aspect of its character, like the flaws in leather. With its rich, sweet dryout note, the essence imparts a warmth to perfumes, an edible quality. It blends well with petitgrain, patchouli, sandalwood, ylang ylang, labdanum, and tuberose. It smells similar
to tolu balsam except that tolu is slightly spicy, while Peru is slightly floral.
Â
Eartby essences have the musty, stale smell of freshly turned soil. They include vetiver, angelica root, patchouli, oakmoss, and labdanum.
Vetiver is a grass whose rootlets have been used for their fragrance since ancient times. The root itself possesses an agreeable aroma and, when dried, has been used to scent linens and clothes. It was also woven into mats that were sprinkled with water and hung like curtains to cool and scent the air in a dwelling. The oil distilled from the roots is amber-colored and, as described by Arctander, âsweet and very heavy-earthy, reminiscent of roots and wet soil, with a rich undertone of âprecious woodâ notes.â Some people find the odor of vetiver too strong straight from the bottle, but it dilutes beautifully, lending a richness to dry-toned blends and the smell of stems and leaves to rose-based perfumes. Vetiver is extremely long-lasting and is an excellent fixative. It blends well with other green and herbal notes as well as with patchouli and sandalwood. Vetiver is grounding and strengthening.
Vetiver
Angelica root can
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