Deertongue Abs SUB

Adam Michael has this to say “The deertongue absolute substitute offered here is utterly gorgeous and reminiscent of smelling tonka bean. The aroma is dry-powdery, warm, vanilla gourmand sweet, with tobacco, dry hay and hints of herb. Middle notes onwards are distinctly hay-like. This is a specialty blend of pure naturals – chiefly coumarin, vanillin, cinnamaldehyde and tonka bean and is produced in Grasse (France).

Many species of the Liatris genus exist with possibly the two most common being liatris odoratissima and Liatris spicata, syn. Liatris callilepis. The photo is of Liatris spicata. The grassy looking leaves of this clump forming perennial are not overly fragrant in their natural state although the flowers are visually so beautiful. To produce the absolute the leaves are collected and left to dry. These leaves produce little in the way of essential oil via steam distillation but by extracting the dried material with a volatile hydrocarbon solvent we can obtain a fragrant material that’s very thick, gunky in appearance and resembling that of an oleoresin. The solvent is then vacuumed off, the material is rectified and then alcohol washed, resulting in the absolute. Again please let me repeat although this is the process for the absolute, the material offered here is a specialty blend.

This deertongue absolute material we offer is autumn green in colour and of a solid viscosity. This material will become liquid and easy to handle with minimal warmth but will harden quite quickly as well. This material will also dissolve perfectly in alcohol. A great material for the perfumer creating compositions of a gourmand nature and an interesting study material.”

Joseph Colbourne has this to say “More of a semi-solid dark green material than liquid at room temperature, this proprietary blend from France captures the deliciously agrestic fragrance of dried liatrix (sometimes known as deertongue) leaves. The opening displays salty, malted vanilla with impressions of honey, raisins, prunes, and syrupy, rich Mediterranean pastries. This develops into deeper, darker tones of powdery, bitter earth, hay. The base reminds me of open jars of pipe tobacco wafting through an old-fashioned smoke shop. This stunner demonstrates great tenacity, lasting two to three days on the mouillette. Naturally, this would make a great addition to tobacco accords, but also could impart great character to gourmands, new mown hay blends, leather accords, sophisticated florals, fougeres, and chypres”

Botanical Name: N/A – speciality blend that incorporates material from L. odoratissima

Origin: Grasse (France)

Safety Data: The percentage of coumarin (50%-75%) means this material should never be used neat on the skin under any circumstances as it can cause skin irritation. Also if you are a perfumer then please note the maximum percentage of coumarin that your perfume composition can contain is 1.6% at present according to the IFRA website.