Cavallo
Well-known member
- Aug 21, 2012
- 52
- 20
It's been quite a few years now since I ordered raw, Spanish labdanum resin from Scents of Earth. I was mostly just curious, but when it arrived I was instantly addicted. I didn't do much with it, however. It sat on a shelf for a few years.
When I finally got around to doing something with it, I scraped up a small amount, and added it to a vial of 95% alcohol. I did no measuring. After a few days of occasional shaking the resin had dissolved, resulting in a dark, brown liquid. Leaving it overnight allowed residual plant material to settle out, leaving a brilliantly clear, red-brown liquid above. I carefully decanted this off with a pipette.
The resulting liquid was freaking glorious. It was spicy, and musky, and boozy, and deep, with no unpleasant notes whatsoever. I (naively?) assumed this was representative of the material.
Wanting to do more with labdanum in general, I decided to try a different one. I found another supplier, and got some (purportedly) Cretan to see if there was a difference. I immediately noticed there was a large textural, and color difference. This new stuff was black, and putty-like. It also smelled sharper - camphoraceous, and almost minty, but only slightly. Not at all out of bounds, I thought. I put it through the same steps with a couple differences. I didn't leave it on a shelf for several years, for one thing. Also, I applied gentle heat to help it break down in the alcohol more quickly. The result was a liquid that was visually very similar to my original.
This time, however, there was far more sediment. With the previous material, the sediment was flocculent, and easily disturbed. This new sediment was dense — I could invert the bottle and it stayed put. Weird. Still, I decanted off the good stuff. Thing is, it had a pronounced waxy/fatty odor. The aroma I wanted was there, but it was as if it were a scented candle version of labdanum.
Curious, I decided to break up and wash the sediment with solvents to see what it was. Upon drying, I was left with a very fine, gray powder that looked like clay. Adding a few drops of HCl produced a gentle effervescent reaction, so I assume it actually *is* some sort of mineral. I was not pleased, and assumed some sort of adulteration was the source of the waxiness.
Thinking I had it sorted, I ordered some labdanum absolute 50% from PA. Why not have some professionals do the hard work for me, right? I diluted this to 30% with EtOH, and behold; there was the same, waxy aroma from the Cretan product. It also seems to have a tarry note driving it even further from the mark. Damn.
So — before I go off on some wild goose chase ordering more and more labdanum from all over the freaking planet (starting with SoE) in an effort to recapture that original glory, I thought I'd appeal to the loads of experience here.
Could I have mishandled my materials somehow, and caused this? Could I have inadvertently done something very right with that first batch? Could both the Cretan and the abs. from PA be compromised in the same way? Is this waxy thing what I'm supposed to smell, and maybe there was something odd or exceptional about the resin from SoE? Did it benefit from sitting on the shelf for a few years?
Any and all wisdom here is welcome.
P.S. (BTW, I am in no way wedded to the idea of raw, natural materials, so if there's a way to get back to that non-waxy aroma with not only different species or suppliers, but different processing or molecules, I'm game.)
When I finally got around to doing something with it, I scraped up a small amount, and added it to a vial of 95% alcohol. I did no measuring. After a few days of occasional shaking the resin had dissolved, resulting in a dark, brown liquid. Leaving it overnight allowed residual plant material to settle out, leaving a brilliantly clear, red-brown liquid above. I carefully decanted this off with a pipette.
The resulting liquid was freaking glorious. It was spicy, and musky, and boozy, and deep, with no unpleasant notes whatsoever. I (naively?) assumed this was representative of the material.
Wanting to do more with labdanum in general, I decided to try a different one. I found another supplier, and got some (purportedly) Cretan to see if there was a difference. I immediately noticed there was a large textural, and color difference. This new stuff was black, and putty-like. It also smelled sharper - camphoraceous, and almost minty, but only slightly. Not at all out of bounds, I thought. I put it through the same steps with a couple differences. I didn't leave it on a shelf for several years, for one thing. Also, I applied gentle heat to help it break down in the alcohol more quickly. The result was a liquid that was visually very similar to my original.
This time, however, there was far more sediment. With the previous material, the sediment was flocculent, and easily disturbed. This new sediment was dense — I could invert the bottle and it stayed put. Weird. Still, I decanted off the good stuff. Thing is, it had a pronounced waxy/fatty odor. The aroma I wanted was there, but it was as if it were a scented candle version of labdanum.
Curious, I decided to break up and wash the sediment with solvents to see what it was. Upon drying, I was left with a very fine, gray powder that looked like clay. Adding a few drops of HCl produced a gentle effervescent reaction, so I assume it actually *is* some sort of mineral. I was not pleased, and assumed some sort of adulteration was the source of the waxiness.
Thinking I had it sorted, I ordered some labdanum absolute 50% from PA. Why not have some professionals do the hard work for me, right? I diluted this to 30% with EtOH, and behold; there was the same, waxy aroma from the Cretan product. It also seems to have a tarry note driving it even further from the mark. Damn.
So — before I go off on some wild goose chase ordering more and more labdanum from all over the freaking planet (starting with SoE) in an effort to recapture that original glory, I thought I'd appeal to the loads of experience here.
Could I have mishandled my materials somehow, and caused this? Could I have inadvertently done something very right with that first batch? Could both the Cretan and the abs. from PA be compromised in the same way? Is this waxy thing what I'm supposed to smell, and maybe there was something odd or exceptional about the resin from SoE? Did it benefit from sitting on the shelf for a few years?
Any and all wisdom here is welcome.
P.S. (BTW, I am in no way wedded to the idea of raw, natural materials, so if there's a way to get back to that non-waxy aroma with not only different species or suppliers, but different processing or molecules, I'm game.)
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Just be aware that your 1kg of labdanum is more likely to be 500g or thereabouts with the rest made up in Cretan dirt.
