Re: Misadventure with cistus - please help!

[Guest guest]

On Jan 3, 2008, at 8:20 AM, littlebigmarilou wrote:

> Hello and happy new year to all of you!

>

> I need a little help with an experiment: Mandy Aftel's " Essence and

> Alchemy " mix for amber. Unfortunately, the result turned out

> ***awful***!

> I suspect I might be mistaken with what you call labdanum: never

> finding any labdanum or ladanum in my country, I finally bought " ciste

> ladanifère " eo (cistus ladaniferus - I really thought it was the

> same).

> The fragrance is not very pleasing, very strong, almost medicinal.

>

> Trouble is, my would-be " amber " kept this medicinal quality, and as a

> result does not smell amber-y at all.

> Please can anybody tell me where i went wrong? or if any " ladanum " can

> directly be bought in France?

You definitely need labdanum absolute for that " amber " ( Cistus

ladaniferus); I made it once. It is indeed from the same source as

your EO, but you need the thick, sticky, somewhat-difficult,

absolute. It is sweet and incense-like, not medicinal at all. I know

from experience with helichrysum that the absolute and the EO of the

same plant can be completely and totally different animals.

[Guest guest]

>

> On Jan 3, 2008, at 8:20 AM, littlebigmarilou wrote:

You definitely need labdanum absolute for that " amber " ( Cistus

ladaniferus); I made it once. It is indeed from the same source as

your EO, but you need the thick, sticky, somewhat-difficult,

absolute. It is sweet and incense-like, not medicinal at all. I know

from experience with helichrysum that the absolute and the EO of the

same plant can be completely and totally different animals.

--

Thanks Adam for these precisions! I can see that once again I was too

fast in my decision :-)

I'll have to try and find labdanum absolute then! Many thanks again,

and best wishes for the new year!

Marilou