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how do i know if its a pure 100% essential oil? (Sandal wood)

post #1 of 11
5/5/10 at 11:11am
Thread Starter 
my Nan went to Egypt last week and bought a 250ml bottle of supposed Sandal wood oil pure. i am in two minds as to if it is 100% pure. i studied Aromatherapy at collage and have only laid hands on 10ml bottles of the stuff.
it is a lovely golden colour and has to consistency of honey.

does anyone know if this would be the real deal of if its a dilution, does anyone know how to test if it is essential oil 100% pure?

thanks
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post #2 of 11
5/5/10 at 7:28pm
Pure sandalwood oil is very difficult to obtain, even for perfumers, and very expensive. Almost all of the sandalwood oil you see for sale is synthetic or derived from other sources. Start your research with that in mind.
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post #3 of 11
5/6/10 at 1:12pm
Unless your Nan plunked down a good deal of money, I would be willing to bet that the 250 ml bottle of "sandalwood oil pure" is just that - pure oil with some synthetic sandalwood added. If you smell enough sandalwoods, you can learn to identify whether it's one of the many varieties of real sandalwood or one of the synthetics, of which there are also quite a few types. If you're really curious, you can order tiny samples of real sandalwoods from Eden Botanicals and synthetic sandalwoods from Perfumers Apprentice and compare them with your whopping big bottle from Egypt. Of course it may turn out to be "none of the above", but rather a synthetic sandalwood accord made in Egypt.
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post #4 of 11
5/8/10 at 6:15pm
Unless your nose is pretty good, I am not so sure you could detect by smell whether you have a synthetic or real sandalwood. A very good sandalwood aromachemical accord will smell very good, and very passable as sandalwood.

Does it really matter if it's real if it smells real?
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post #5 of 11
5/8/10 at 8:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by JonB View Post

Does it really matter if it's real if it smells real?

An interesting philosophical question.

The answer as I see it: It depends. Does it really matter if it's a diamond, a cubic zirconia, or a rhinestone? A real Picasso painting, an excellent forgery, or a print? A real rose, a handmade silk one or a mass-produced plastic one? It would matter if you paid real diamond prices for a cubic zirconia or real Picasso prices for a forgery, no matter how good. It would matter if you want the appearance of a diamond or a Picasso, but you don't want to pay outrageous prices. Really, how many people could tell the difference? It would matter if you want the ongoing appearance of roses without having to replace real ones every few days.

I think the issue here is not how the sandalwood in question smells. That was never mentioned except by me, as one clue as to its authenticity; the issue is whether it's the real article. I would be the last person to say that there's anything wrong with synthetics. In fact, I imagine many people prefer synthetic sandalwood to real because it smells "cleaner", and it's certainly far more cost-effective to use in perfumery. The real issue is that the vendor's implicit claims may not have been accurate.
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post #6 of 11
5/8/10 at 11:21pm
A friend of mine brought me something like 10 ml of sandalwood oil directly from Mysore. It is in a tin-like jar and quite some effort to get to the stuff (unpacking and unveiling, because it is so well protected). I know it was expensive, but since it was a gift I don't know any exact prices.
All I can say (I'm a lay person) is that it smells hmmmm... odd in a good way. It is by far not what my nose has learned to consider an obvious sandalwood smell. I have used it together with almond oil for what I call a "maharajah bath"... it leaves a divine and sophisticated sandalwood smell all over your body, which is then in the end a more obvious sandalwood. Maybe the message from what I am trying to say is: It is very precious and therefore dealt with in such way (package, storage) and the smell is not as obvious as we have learned to "recognize" it.
Forgot to add: the color is a very very light yellow/gold.
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post #7 of 11
5/9/10 at 9:17am
Thread Starter 
Thank for all you comments, it was very helpful. i was suspicious of the stuff as ive studied Aromatherapy at collage and do own a small bottle of sandalwood and i thought the smells seemed very different. the bottle from Egypt has a very sweet smell more of a middle Note scent were as i believe it should be ricker in its smell and have an intoxicating feeling after a good wiff!

also my nan said the directions for use was 2 tsp of the sandalwood to 2tsp of base oil, i know if it was pure then it should be used by the drop NOT a tsp!
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post #8 of 11
5/9/10 at 10:47am
definitely by the drop... 20 drops of the real stuff on 20 ml of almond oil and you will smell like a maharajah
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post #9 of 11
7/12/10 at 1:40am
Unless you are old enough to have grown up using Mysore government oil as your regular post-shower moisturizer, it is very possible that your nose is not going to know.

If you would like it to learn, while the Mysore stuff has now become unobtanium for all practical intents and purposes (the direct result of practices such as that mentioned above, on the part of approximately 35% of the population of earth, over a period of several millennia, and yes, especially me, and I hereby apologize), as Doc Elly suggests, one thing you might consider is visiting Eden Botanicals and getting yourself the little samples. As of today, they have a Vanuatu one and an Australian one. Both are very nice, I really like the Vanuatu a lot! The Australian is a smoosh lighter, but I am getting fond of it, too!

That will give you a sort of benchmark as to what actual sandalwood oil smells like, so you can compare your Egyptian stuff.

But what really counts is whether the Egyptian stuff smells good. If it does, it really doesn't matter what it is, as long as it doesn't give you a rash or make you sneeze.
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post #10 of 11
8/30/10 at 6:58pm
Hello,
i have just purchased some sandalwood from India which came in a metal container. I guess I am also wondering about the purity which does matter if being used for therapuetic/spiritual purposes. this one has what i weould describe as a buttery woody scent.

any feedback would be appreciated.

thank you

isabella
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post #11 of 11
9/9/12 at 12:23am
Hi,

usually its very difficult to know about purity of oil, unless you have some tests done in lab which will tell you the % of Alpha & beta santanol present in the oil, it should be above 90%.
However at home you can try tongue taste, take a small drop of oil & lick it, sandalwood oil taste is bitter, you will feel the bitterness going down to your throat & it will remain for a long time, if its a chemical mixed oil you will feel the bitterness which will only be restricted to your tongue.

Hope it will be use to you.

Regards,
Abhijeet
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