Attar/Mukhallat of the Day

language scent said:
I am curious about the blue lotus, could you share some more info on it?
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Yes for sure. It was a bit of a long search. I had heard about this legendary blue lotus distillation Jack Chaitman had done many years ago in India. This was spoken of by many (collectors and vendors both) in reverent tones. I had heard it was unavailable. I decided to contact Jack directly. He was kind enough to write me back and we ended up chatting about distillation and he ended up telling me he didn’t have any more remaining but he had another Blue Lotus absolute which was done with rectified hexane. Jack is a legend in distillation for those who don’t know. He is most def one of the foremost experts in plant distillations—others here will confirm this I am sure. I picked up 5mL from him—I don’t think he really wanted to sell any but was doing it as a favor. It’s very nice. Extremely strong stuff. Well done but still the quest remained for the legendary Lotus.

Finally, one day I was casually browsing perfumers apprentice and came upon John Steele’s oils. One was a Blue Lotus “emanation”. It was expensive. Very expensive. I knew Jack had mentioned the word emanation in our chat, so I emailed John about this oil. Isobel from LifeTree got back to me and told me about the oil and how John had collected it many years ago before Jack stopped distilling oils. She informed me John wanted to talk to me, so I called him and we chatted for awhile about Fragrance and perfume and a lot of other things. We also discussed the emanations and I got the impression John was “vetting” me a bit to decide to sell me these rare oils or not—but maybe I’m being narcissistic here. John is someone who has forgotten more about oils and fragrance than most of us know. His knowledge is VAST, to say the least. His passion is greater even. Long story short I ended up picking up some of the Blue Lotus, 2 diff Jasmine emanations and some of Johns floral perfume creation called Mango. John also sent a scholarly paper he wrote about shamanism and plants. Very esoteric stuff, but a fascinating read. ALL of these have lived up to the hype. They’re stunning. They smell exactly what the plant itself smells like. These are top tier distillations done by a master of the craft.

The Blue Lotus is not like any other Blue Lotus I’ve tried. It’s very citrusy and tart and you can tell it was done by someone who knows what they’re doing. Sounds like, from what I’ve heard, there’s very few, possibly no other hydro-distilled Blue Lotus ever done. Smooth, smooth and extremely mind altering. I swipe a tiny tiny tiny dot of it when I do, and very sparingly. It’s special. I would also say for the uninitiated to the effect Blue Lotus can have, it is overtly present here. It most assuredly makes dreams more Vivid and has a very euphoric effect. It’s potent stuff. Like a lot of high Q essential oils, it isn’t intoxicating but it plays around with some chemicals in the brain without a doubt. Anyway.. hope this sheds some light on things.
 
zeedubbya said:
Yes for sure. It was a bit of a long search. I had heard about this legendary blue lotus distillation Jack Chaitman had done many years ago in India. This was spoken of by many (collectors and vendors both) in reverent tones. I had heard it was unavailable. I decided to contact Jack directly. He was kind enough to write me back and we ended up chatting about distillation and he ended up telling me he didn’t have any more remaining but he had another Blue Lotus absolute which was done with rectified hexane. Jack is a legend in distillation for those who don’t know. He is most def one of the foremost experts in plant distillations—others here will confirm this I am sure. I picked up 5mL from him—I don’t think he really wanted to sell any but was doing it as a favor. It’s very nice. Extremely strong stuff. Well done but still the quest remained for the legendary Lotus.

Finally, one day I was casually browsing perfumers apprentice and came upon John Steele’s oils. One was a Blue Lotus “emanation”. It was expensive. Very expensive. I knew Jack had mentioned the word emanation in our chat, so I emailed John about this oil. Isobel from LifeTree got back to me and told me about the oil and how John had collected it many years ago before Jack stopped distilling oils. She informed me John wanted to talk to me, so I called him and we chatted for awhile about Fragrance and perfume and a lot of other things. We also discussed the emanations and I got the impression John was “vetting” me a bit to decide to sell me these rare oils or not—but maybe I’m being narcissistic here. John is someone who has forgotten more about oils and fragrance than most of us know. His knowledge is VAST, to say the least. His passion is greater even. Long story short I ended up picking up some of the Blue Lotus, 2 diff Jasmine emanations and some of Johns floral perfume creation called Mango. John also sent a scholarly paper he wrote about shamanism and plants. Very esoteric stuff, but a fascinating read. ALL of these have lived up to the hype. They’re stunning. They smell exactly what the plant itself smells like. These are top tier distillations done by a master of the craft.

The Blue Lotus is not like any other Blue Lotus I’ve tried. It’s very citrusy and tart and you can tell it was done by someone who knows what they’re doing. Sounds like, from what I’ve heard, there’s very few, possibly no other hydro-distilled Blue Lotus ever done. Smooth, smooth and extremely mind altering. I swipe a tiny tiny tiny dot of it when I do, and very sparingly. It’s special. I would also say for the uninitiated to the effect Blue Lotus can have, it is overtly present here. It most assuredly makes dreams more Vivid and has a very euphoric effect. It’s potent stuff. Like a lot of high Q essential oils, it isn’t intoxicating but it plays around with some chemicals in the brain without a doubt. Anyway.. hope this sheds some light on things.
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Thanks for the write up! I actually have a bit of Jacks blue lotus mixed into a couple kyara oils. This oil called blue kyara from RPP. Supposedly there is only .5% distilled blue lotus from Jack in here but the kyara has for sure acted as a fixative towards it because it is very loud. It is without a doubt special oil, I have listed it for sale here and with like 40% off but daily in many moments of the day I can sense I am making a big mistake with this specific oil.
 
Swipe of l-muscone and a swipe of 25 year old patchouli. Muscone is the only synthetic I will wear. I don’t like to consume animal musk for obvious reasons and this adds a satisfying mushiness for me. Layered with patchouli it creates a very long lasting, rich patchouli note that reminds me a little of Etro patchouli.

I’m a 100% naturals fanatic with the exception of this one weird molecule. I think I mentioned earlier I could barely smell it at first but after a couple of applications I perceive it as an incredibly strong scent. Very very little is needed.

I read that natural muscone makes up a couple of % of musk grains but that musk absolute is ~40% muscone if I recall correctly.
 
Mr.P said:
Swipe of l-muscone and a swipe of 25 year old patchouli. Muscone is the only synthetic I will wear. I don’t like to consume animal musk for obvious reasons and this adds a satisfying mushiness for me. Layered with patchouli it creates a very long lasting, rich patchouli note that reminds me a little of Etro patchouli.

I’m a 100% naturals fanatic with the exception of this one weird molecule. I think I mentioned earlier I could barely smell it at first but after a couple of applications I perceive it as an incredibly strong scent. Very very little is needed.

I read that natural muscone makes up a couple of % of musk grains but that musk absolute is ~40% muscone if I recall correctly.
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I ageee with your assessment on l-muscone. It adds something to a lot of fragrances I like. In tiny tiny qtys only. It’s funny when you explore a single aromachem how you start to notice it in a lot of perfume formulas. I’ve added it to other fragrances and it makes them have a touch of something they needed. ISO E Super is such a fascinating chemical I think. I can dilute it to like under 1% and people will perceive it as a candy floss note. Dilute to 3% and it’s woody/ambery, dilute to 5-10% and it becomes nearly imperceptible—to most people. Apparently there’s a large molecule, small molecule effect of some sort at work here?
Strange stuff.

Ambermax is the one which is shocking. That aromachem is sooooooo tenacious if I even get a tiny tiny bit on my fingers just removing the cap I can smell it for days. Literally like 4-5 days. Also, since it seems to be in sooo many perfumes, I’ll smell something at the mall, male or female… and there’s the Ambermax. So and so’s new hot creation—there’s the Ambermax. So overused and so so so potent.

This is all from when I fancied myself a person who wanted to mess around with aroma-chemicals just out of sheer curiosity. The curiosity got the best of me and I picked up about 20-30 aromachems and from time to time will notice them in something and go back and grab them and see if my nose was right or not.
 
I think even if you’re not going to use them personally, being familiar with natural isolates and some of the “finer” aromachemicals is of educational value and like you say helps you understand other common fragrances.


I have some ambrettolide isolate from ambrette seed - that stuff is awful - so cloying.
 
Jasmine grandiflorum co2 extract from white lotus. Applied to the skin the scent is very similar to the ruh (distilled) grandiflorum and can be quite linear and cloying (different from the absolute in this sense). But a small swipe applied to a surface transforms over the course of 24-48 hours into the most lush, lifelike representation of fresh Jasmine grandiflorum that I’ve ever smelled. I’ve had an indoor vine of this that flowered all last winter and spring so I know the smell intimately.

Just amazed at this oil. I was disappointed when I first bought it because I wanted it to work well as a personal fragrance. I tried diluting it way down in everclear but that still didn’t really solve the linear cloying scent on skin for me.

I have a sambac CO2 from White Lotus that similarly smells much better on inert surfaces than skin. Maybe the cooler temperature and more gradual evaporation on inert surfaces (blotter paper, diffusing stone, wiped on a stone countertop, etc.)
 
Incense (2015, SPA): Thick smoke of myrrh, labdanum, opoponax, and all things balsams and resins on charcoal in a large space. Smells like well-maintained antique woods too. All the while there lots of Chinese and Indian spice facets. Slowly varnished woods and labdanum get more prominent. If you like Resine Precieux (2015, SPA) and want less spices and more strident incense, this is for you.
 
Aud Unisex (Junaid Perfumes): Rose, lots of oud (there is barn but it calms down within 15-20 minutes), balsam, musk, a pleasant dose of woody ambers (cedar and sandalwood facets) - synthetics and naturals combo done right. Compositionally, it easily beats lots of high end rose-oud mukhallat from ASQ, AO, and the likes for lot less money.
 
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