Brown sandalwood oils??

[Mr.P]

I think this has come up before but one thing I keep seeing on Instagram are all of these very dark sandalwood oils, some of them almost the color of molasses or motor oil, others a deep red. In some cases the dark color is said to be because it's root oil or something or another but every single quality sandalwood that's ever come my way from a source that I can verify, the oil is at darkest a pale yellow, most are closer to completely clear.

I'm still not satisfied that I know what's going on here but it's very hard for me to believe that any of these are actually pure distillations of heartwood oil. I have seen high temperature distilled shavings oil that was somewhat dark and I wonder if that's what's going on here… High-pressure steam distillation of things other than pure heartwood? Or are there some freaky varieties of sandalwood that make a dark oil? If so, is there any documentation on this, species, region, explanation for the pigment?

When I see these I see a red flag and just assume they are solvent extracted or diluted but if I'm missing out on something and anybody has any technical information about this I would love to know about it.

 

[agarwooderice]

My uneducated guess is that they could be made using that "pressure cooker" type of appartus sometimes used to extract inexpensive saffron oils. There is one particular vendor who uses these"pressure cookers" and also happens to sell a very dark oil as "sandalwood root"

 

[MaxFromHolland]

I think this has come up before but one thing I keep seeing on Instagram are all of these very dark sandalwood oils, some of them almost the color of molasses or motor oil, others a deep red. In some cases the dark color is said to be because it's root oil or something or another but every single quality sandalwood that's ever come my way from a source that I can verify, the oil is at darkest a pale yellow, most are closer to completely clear.

I'm still not satisfied that I know what's going on here but it's very hard for me to believe that any of these are actually pure distillations of heartwood oil. I have seen high temperature distilled shavings oil that was somewhat dark and I wonder if that's what's going on here… High-pressure steam distillation of things other than pure heartwood? Or are there some freaky varieties of sandalwood that make a dark oil? If so, is there any documentation on this, species, region, explanation for the pigment?

When I see these I see a red flag and just assume they are solvent extracted or diluted but if I'm missing out on something and anybody has any technical information about this I would love to know about it.

Think traditional hydro distillation in copper may color the oil somewhat darker, like golden? That should be about as dark as a good oil may get.
Could be co2 extractions. There is co2 select which yield light golden oil with a perfect raw wood scent, but also co2 total which is a rubbish high pressure technique that extracts everything that isnt nailed to the floor🙂 I could image such oil end up darker specially combined with not beeing to picky about what enters the still. Think red flag is appropriate.

 

[AlHind Oud]

I have also noticed this dark-toned sandalwood oil appearing on Instagram lately. In India, for instance, about 95 percent of vendors use steam distillation, and neither heartwood nor root nor combinations produce that deeper color. I have tried vacuum-distilled sandalwood from Indonesia that wasn’t dark as well. I don’t have an answer right now but I’ll dig a bit deeper into it.

 

[Mr.P]

Think traditional hydro distillation in copper may color the oil somewhat darker, like golden? That should be about as dark as a good oil may get.
Could be co2 extractions. There is co2 select which yield light golden oil with a perfect raw wood scent, but also co2 total which is a rubbish high pressure technique that extracts everything that isnt nailed to the floor🙂 I could image such oil end up darker specially combined with not beeing to picky about what enters the still. Think red flag is appropriate.

The traditional copper deg distilled oils (from a very reliable source, no question about the origin ) in my stash are a very pale yellow and essentially clear so that is not it.

Yes I agree it's more likely to be a solvent extract and CO2 extraction seems like a likely choice or more traditional absolute. I have one very dark new Caledonian absolute that I purchased from the extractor. Have a few sandalwood total extracts - they have all been milky yellowish orange and have more pigment than any distilled oils I've seen. Very milky and not transparent. Kind of like cheap caramel sauce actually so they seem like suspensions of something, likely waxes and maybe a little bit of water in the oil.

 

[MaxFromHolland]

The traditional copper deg distilled oils (from a very reliable source, no question about the origin ) in my stash are a very pale yellow and essentially clear so that is not it.

Yes I agree it's more likely to be a solvent extract and CO2 extraction seems like a likely choice or more traditional absolute. I have one very dark new Caledonian absolute that I purchased from the extractor. Have a few sandalwood total extracts - they have all been milky yellowish orange and have more pigment than any distilled oils I've seen. Very milky and not transparent. Kind of like cheap caramel sauce actually so they seem like suspensions of something, likely waxes and maybe a little bit of water in the oil.

I figured that a producer of an absolue would mention it, giving the extra effort it takes and it reflecting a different take. Same for a co2 select. Curious what AlHind Oud may come up with.

 

[Mr.P]

I figured that a producer of an absolue would mention it, giving the extra effort it takes and it reflecting a different take. Same for a co2 select. Curious what AlHind Oud may come up with.

The yield on a CO2 or solvent absolute is going to be considerably higher than by distillation, if I have my facts straight. when they were more widely available they were priced quite a bit lower than distilled oils ($60/oz when distilled was about twice that price at least when purchasing smaller quantities), so a mixture of absolute or CO2 and distilled oil will be cheaper to manufactured than the pure distillate and for that reason someone might choose not to mention it. I'm not saying this is actually the case but it's one possible explanation

 

[mesOUD]

I’d like to add my two cents here as well.


I’ve had the opportunity to work with pretty much every part of the tree, and I use an entirely copper distillation setup.


At one point, purely out of curiosity, I even sent some of my own sandalwood to a friend for CO₂ extraction. I wanted to see the results across a range of extraction conditions, from the gentlest to the most aggressive, without using any additional solvents. I ended up receiving three or four different oil samples.


However, based on my own experience, neither the copper setup, nor distilling different parts of the tree, nor even CO₂ extraction could account for such an unusually dark color.


Then there’s solvent extraction. I know that ethanol works particularly well with sandalwood, and I remember @Mr.P made an ethanol extraction experiment, where pigments were already part of the discussion.


So my suspicion is that these extremely dark oils are most likely the result of some form of solvent extraction rather than conventional distillation.

 

[Mr.P]

The ethanol extracts I made were very dark indeed.

 

[roflwaffle]

When I see these I see a red flag and just assume they are solvent extracted or diluted

Certainly sounds like a red flag. Id also add in the possibility of adulteration or potentially misnomer. Iirc a few species get creatively called a sandalwood, like red sandalwood or.. hmm. The non osyris wood that gets called African sandalwood, despite neither (iirc) having any relation.

Instagram sellers are certainly not always the most reliable sellers. I haven't seen the listings or vendors you're referring to, so no slight to any of them, but it is one possibility to consider

https://hermitageoils.com/product/sandalwood-ceylon-red-1950-e-o/ is the closest legit sandalwood I've seen with large color variance until you get into super aged oils, but I would still lean skeptical towards random insta account claims, personally. Could well be absolutes or co2 sold as distilled, but if they lie about one factor, it opens up the rest of the claims as well, and still prob best avoided.