Champaca

[Asha]

Compiled from the Note Identification Project Thread:

Champaca, absolute, India, Eden Botanicals - What a surprise. I thought I would get something sweet, like mint and bubblegum, very much like Nag Champa incense. In fact, I once bought a beautiful Champaca perfume from the head shop (and liked it so much I even gave bottles of it away as gifts). It was gorgeous, with a heady aroma like a bag of fresh pot (and no, I don't smoke, but I still like the smell of a fresh bag of dried marijuana). I was convinced that this Champaca perfume was real. I'm here to say, no, it probably wasn't natural, nor was any of the Nag Champa incense in the store. This Champaca absolute that I have smells like.... Hay. It is gentle, only slightly sweet, grasslike and warm, like a pile of hay drying in the sun. Admittedly, I haven't smelled my hay absolute yet, but this champaca smells like real hay more than anything I know. It does not smell like a flower. It has a strong characteristics of "dried organic matter" wherein the sweetness is accompanied by the woody smell of drying leaves and petals. Yes, this champaca is pungent. It is pleasant, too.

Champaca: wood, aromatic, mint, herbal, wet cardboard, dry, spice

[Vincents1278]

I find Champaca to be animalistic floral with a hint of musk and talc. If you've smelled Black Currant Bud concrete, which is a very funky odd animal scent, you can see the similarity but the Champaca is much more pleasant and floral.

[cacio]

This description doesn't seem to match others I have read, eg.

http://ayalasmellyblog.blogspot.com/...a-incense.html

Perhaps it is a composition inspired by Nag Champa more than the Champaca flower. Said that, I've never smelled real Chamapca, I'd be really curious to.

cacio

[farang]

Champaca is a species of Magnolia. It is the symbolic flower of Thai Airways, and you can quite easily find it in Thailand if you want to smell the real flower.

[hednic]

Champaca is a species of Magnolia. It is the symbolic flower of Thai Airways, and you can quite easily find it in Thailand if you want to smell the real flower.

I remember it being pointed out to me several times while I was in Thailand.

[fapopo]

white champaca's essential oil doesn't smell like the real champaca flower. but its hydrosol does.
I love the smell of white champaca flower. there was a big champaca tree right next to our flat at China many years ago. I miss that smell. oshadhi uk's white champaca hydrosol smell really close to the real champaca flower just not as strong and fruity. but the sweet floral smell from the hydrosol does really bring me back to the memory of real champaca flower. so, I went back to the shop and bought the essential oil as well. It smells nothing like the real flower. no matter before or after diluted. the essential oil keep reminds me of dried honeysuckle herbal tea. it smells more like dried herb than the flower.