Mr.P

oud<3er
That’s the sambac heart I’m afraid. Unless something has changed in the last couple of weeks…
 

Mr.P

oud<3er
Just fyi the batch of Jasmine Egypt extra that came in at perfume supply house is a fair bit different than the sample I smelled. I don’t know if it is a batch difference or if the sample was older. Still a very nice jasmine but to me a little less heavenly on first inspection. this batch I would immediately recognize as Egyptian in origin. The last smelled more like top quality Indian. I am a little disappointed the batch i got in a large bottle didn’t match the sample, but I’m still evaluating the oil and I hope it turns out to be just as wonderful.

On first inspection I notice the oil has a trace of the green / stem scent and a little bit of that volatile vaguely gasoline like note that I did not smell in the other oil.
 

wardlab

Oud Fan
Just fyi the batch of Jasmine Egypt extra that came in at perfume supply house is a fair bit different than the sample I smelled. I don’t know if it is a batch difference or if the sample was older. Still a very nice jasmine but to me a little less heavenly. I am a little disappointed the batch i got in a large bottle didn’t match the sample, but I’m still evaluating the oil and I hope it turns out to be just as wonderful.

How is the comparison to Robertet’s Sambac Heart?
 

Mr.P

oud<3er
Can’t compare them because they’re different species - different scent profile entirely. The sambac heart is the type of jasmine in jasmine tea and has a more linear one dimensional scent than grandiflorum. I haven’t smelled it in a while but it has that typical sharp tart metallic Jasmine tea scent. I do think the Robertet sambac heart is a very very nice sambac oil. Well balanced.

as far as the grandiflorum goes, compared to the previous batch from Bertrand this one is more tropical and exotic and freshly floral. The other was more of a dense and heavy narcotic floral with a strong candy aspect. It’s possible that some of the notes I’m smelling are a result of it being freshly decanted and comparing it to an older sample. maybe it will become similar as it matures but to me it seems like it came from a different farm or extractor than the last batch.

This is very nice Egyptian jasmine… like the previous it seems it was carefully selected for a good balance of the various notes that show up in the absolute.

I have a slight preference for the previous batch because it’s more unusual and smells closer to the Grasse jasmine I smelled once. This is what I would say is may be a little bit more wearable because it’s less indolic. To some people that indole note smells really skanky.
 
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zeedubbya

True Ouddict
@Mr.P you really should reach out to John Steele and get a little of this—if he still has some. Jack Chaitman’s Emanation done in India several years back. I am no Jasmine expert just an appreciator, but this smells way better than any Jasmine I’ve ever smelled, by a long way. I would say it’s the most perfect representation of the “thing” itself I’ve ever smelled in (maybe) any oil ever. It’s expensive, John is hard to get a hold of sometimes, but this is worth the experience to just grab 1.5 mL. Figured I would circle back too, just swiped a tiny tiny bit and am blown away by it. Please do continue to share your exploits in trying to find great Jasmine, I enjoy reading it! Z
0121F89D-60B4-4958-903D-9AF786B4F86B.jpeg
 

Mr.P

oud<3er
Thanks for the tip, and in fact, you were not the first person to speak highly of this particular oil. I spoke to John Steele about the emanations at one point. They were made by distilling jasmine concrete I believe. This is a project I have done myself, although I can’t claim to have anything like the skills of Chaitman. I distilled several batches of jasmine oil from concrete and they all had remarkable intensity and “live floral” sense especially if diluted down to a few %.

While I would love to smell this oil I don’t believe I will ever purchase a bottle just because of the price.
 

Oudiness

Oud Beginner
@Mr.P you really should reach out to John Steele and get a little of this—if he still has some. Jack Chaitman’s Emanation done in India several years back. I am no Jasmine expert just an appreciator, but this smells way better than any Jasmine I’ve ever smelled, by a long way. I would say it’s the most perfect representation of the “thing” itself I’ve ever smelled in (maybe) any oil ever. It’s expensive, John is hard to get a hold of sometimes, but this is worth the experience to just grab 1.5 mL. Figured I would circle back too, just swiped a tiny tiny bit and am blown away by it. Please do continue to share your exploits in trying to find great Jasmine, I enjoy reading it! Z
View attachment 26846
What does it cost and where can one buy it? :)
 

Mr.P

oud<3er
I saw a price list recently but I can’t access the file anymore. I think it was about $95 a gram but I’m not sure.

Here is the source for the emanation oil:

John Steele
Isobel
Lifetree Aromatix
3949 Longridge Ave,
Sherman Oaks,
CA. 91423
818 986 0594
[email protected]
 

Mr.P

oud<3er
I distilled a sambac “emanation” and one woman who got a bottle called it a “bitch” of a jasmine. This was (in their minds) a compliment. These jasmine distillates can be very potent. Definitely worth trying if you have never smelled one, and John Steele is reputed to have some of the best products.
 

Oudiness

Oud Beginner
Jasmine is my favourite note during sunset. But I've never found an oil/perfume/ attar with that smell. So this is worth a tryA
 

zeedubbya

True Ouddict
I saw a price list recently but I can’t access the file anymore. I think it was about $95 a gram but I’m not sure.

Here is the source for the emanation oil:

John Steele
Isobel
Lifetree Aromatix
3949 Longridge Ave,
Sherman Oaks,
CA. 91423
818 986 0594
[email protected]
@Oudiness I have an old price list so I am hesitant to publish it. I will say, when I purchased the Grandiflorum and Sambac Emanations in August of 2021 it was $90 for 1.5mL in a “snifter bottle.” I’ve never heard a bottle like this called this by anyone but John. The Blue Lotus was $250 USD. While I wouldn’t buy 5mL for this price even if I had the funds, I was willing to shell out the $ for it at the time because of the rarity and history behind this particular oil.

Also @Habz786 had mentioned Amulya Attar from John and I picked some up for pretty cheap—it’s a wonderful floral Attar. Also, I grabbed Attar Supreme and some of John’s personal “famous” blend called Mango-a Very very good floral perfume. In addition I was able to talk to John for about a half hour about essential oils and I will say—it was quite the experience. John is a foremost expert in this area—quite possibly he is IMHO the #1 resource for information on oils and their effect. His studies and scholarly papers on the subject are VAST. He also has a VERY esoteric area of study into shamanism and Essential Oils. It’s extremely high level educational information.

All that said and now that I’m waaaay off track, I would say—if you have the means, pick some up, but understand these are (for me) more for the historical value and the experience, rather than the daily swipe.

@Mr.P I am sure many people here would love to sample an emanation like you’ve described if you ever decide to try your hand again. I would be first in line!
 

wardlab

Oud Fan
I spoke with John Steele for a while yesterday and Mr. P is correct - Jack had custom glassware to hydrodistill Indian Jasmine concrete and absolute oil into an 'emanation,' which is a term they came up with to best describe the photorealism of the final product. Apparently the method in which he hydrodistills the concrete / absolute is extremely meticulous and time consuming, but yields an outstanding oil. He only has approximately 30mls left and Jack has retired in Hawaii and is not interested in distilling.

I guess the prices are now 1.5ml for $150 of Grandiflorum or Sambac. Since he purchased a considerable amount of Ta'if rose from me and I gave him a generous sample to see if he initially liked it, he quoted me $100 for 1.5ml per Jasmine. He even said he'll throw in one of Jack's Frankincense emanations as part of a small trade we discussed (I am willing to give this to someone as I am not an attar/mukhallat artisan).

As far as 'Florasol' or R-134a taking part in the emanation extraction process, this was not true and as he called it - "lost in the fog of war."

I would love to pick some up in July and gift .75ml of Sambac & Grandiflorum to @Mr.P and @Tauhid Shaikh if they are willing to accept, since it seems they are the two biggest Jasmine fans on here. 😄
 

zeedubbya

True Ouddict
I spoke with John Steele for a while yesterday and Mr. P is correct - Jack had custom glassware to hydrodistill Indian Jasmine concrete and absolute oil into an 'emanation,' which is a term they came up with to best describe the photorealism of the final product. Apparently the method in which he hydrodistills the concrete / absolute is extremely meticulous and time consuming, but yields an outstanding oil. He only has approximately 30mls left and Jack has retired in Hawaii and is not interested in distilling.

I guess the prices are now 1.5ml for $150 of Grandiflorum or Sambac. Since he purchased a considerable amount of Ta'if rose from me and I gave him a generous sample to see if he initially liked it, he quoted me $100 for 1.5ml per Jasmine. He even said he'll throw in one of Jack's Frankincense emanations as part of a small trade we discussed (I am willing to give this to someone as I am not an attar/mukhallat artisan).

As far as 'Florasol' or R-134a taking part in the emanation extraction process, this was not true and as he called it - "lost in the fog of war."

I would love to pick some up in July and gift .75ml of Sambac & Grandiflorum to @Mr.P and @Tauhid Shaikh if they are willing to accept, since it seems they are the two biggest Jasmine fans on here. 😄

These are some of my most treasured in my collection. Again, mainly due to the history. There is genuinely a photo realism to these which I haven’t experienced in any other. A tiny tiny dot of them goes a long way. Whatever or however Jack accomplished this, it’s an amazing feat. Jack did get back with me on one instance and sold me a rectified hexane, FULLY DISCLOSED, Blue lotus absolute he had (a couple years back) and I will say it’s a seriously potent blue lotus (bottom pic). To the point of, it has to be diluted because the psychoactive effect is just overtly strong neat. It’s very generous of you @wardlab to offer these. John is a wealth of knowledge and he takes his craft VERY seriously. Enjoy!
E5AC8F52-258C-407E-8C56-A741061047CB.jpegE738DE1E-E39A-4F94-8990-D8534DBE7E11.jpeg1C02771A-1D32-4B4E-BABD-6CFE92F3691E.jpeg
 

Mr.P

oud<3er
I spoke with John Steele for a while yesterday and Mr. P is correct - Jack had custom glassware to hydrodistill Indian Jasmine concrete and absolute oil into an 'emanation,' which is a term they came up with to best describe the photorealism of the final product. Apparently the method in which he hydrodistills the concrete / absolute is extremely meticulous and time consuming, but yields an outstanding oil. He only has approximately 30mls left and Jack has retired in Hawaii and is not interested in distilling.

I guess the prices are now 1.5ml for $150 of Grandiflorum or Sambac. Since he purchased a considerable amount of Ta'if rose from me and I gave him a generous sample to see if he initially liked it, he quoted me $100 for 1.5ml per Jasmine. He even said he'll throw in one of Jack's Frankincense emanations as part of a small trade we discussed (I am willing to give this to someone as I am not an attar/mukhallat artisan).

As far as 'Florasol' or R-134a taking part in the emanation extraction process, this was not true and as he called it - "lost in the fog of war."

I would love to pick some up in July and gift .75ml of Sambac & Grandiflorum to @Mr.P and @Tauhid Shaikh if they are willing to accept, since it seems they are the two biggest Jasmine fans on here. 😄
thank you -but that is too generous and my “needs” (lol) would be satisfied with one drop of each, just so I can see what someone else’s jasmine concrete distillate smell like.

I talked to John Steele at one point about these and I couldn’t really get useful information. When I mentioned my experience distilling and the AM oils, he kept talking about spiritual stuff like the distillation pot being a sacred “chalice” and some new age dark age alchemical philosophy to try to differentiate the oils. I couldn’t make any sense of it and decided not to purchase

I have sampled the ”emanations” from A and M aromatics in India - have a bottle of the grandiflorum oil. their coined term for this product is “floral secretion oil”. their floral secretion is nothing like the one that I made from their own concrete, which is a surprise. Whereas theirs is is very warm core Jasmine heart with a punch similar to absolute but more refined scent, the one I distilled is very forward, bright, watery, almost cucumber/melon and when diluted, pretty realistic fresh flowers scent i have not encountered in other jasmine oils. I distilled mine in copper, they distilled theirs in glass so that may be a factor.

I think another reason mine is different may be because I did not do a very long distillation trying to push out all of the heavier molecules etc.. I really went for that floral fresh top note blast. I also had my condenser packed with ice so everything was very cold.

What I cannot wrap my head around is the transformation of the scent due to distillation. why this fresh water airy floral Jasmine shows up after running it through the high temperature is perplexing.

I have a lot of jasmine Sambac emanation if someone wants to try some. Maybe 20ml distilled from an and jasmine sambac concrete under the same setup. This is not my favorite sambac. It’s so concentrated that it’s almost shrill and cloying, and some aspect of jasmine sambac that I don’t prefer became concentrated during distillation.
 
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Mr.P

oud<3er
“As far as 'Florasol' or R-134a taking part in the emanation extraction process, this was not true and as he called it - "lost in the fog of war."”

I’m not sure I understand what this saying. are you saying someone thought this oil was solvent extracted but it isn’t?

By the way, if anyone does find a florasol extract of jasmine please let me know.
 
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