Russian EOs and Russian Lavender ** International Trade in EO

[Guest guest]

Hi Debbie,

 

An old one I just found amongst the thousands in my rat nest In Box.

 

You asked a simple question but I'm gonna use it as a springboard to

take off with a long reply. It has to do with more than Russian EOs -

its about systems and the ethics within those systems .. and I hope it

will enlighten some folks on the whole international trade scene .. an

interesting one it is.

 

Nothing I'm writing below is racist or chavenistic .. its just the way

it is in this imperfect world .. especially the world of commerce.

 

> Has anyone ever smelled Russian Lavender eo before?

 

Yes .. and other Russian EOs also.

 

> How does it compare high altitude French?

 

Its my opinion that in general, most Russian EOs are adulterated!! This

is not a chauvenistic statement nor is it a slap at Russian people, its

just the way it is .. systems create such situations and the Russian

people are also victimized by their system. Many people in this world

would shaft us if they could .. but some societies expect it and as its

not frowned upon there, its not a moral issue they must deal with. Not

a lot different than a Dakota brave dancing around the fire bragging on

the scalps he took and the horses he stole on the last raid .. in those

times, it was a norm. Today, in many countries, it is a norm to Do Unto

Others Afore They Do Unto You .. and the one with the most ducats is the

best business person .. matters not how they made the money.

 

There are some Islamic countries where fanatics believe it is a holy

duty to shaft infidels .. and many folks South of the Sahara haven't

heard of or understand the term ethics .. its not a concept we are born

with. There is one AT list in one country where a post was passed along

encouraging buyers to shaft foreign sellers by claiming they had missing

or broken items. The culture of this particular country is one where

honor and ethics have been held in great esteem for many centuries ..

and that particular post upset a lot of the folks who read it. Point

is, the mentality was there.

 

Russia notoriously thrives on Mafia induced conduct in the commercial

arena! There is little incentive to produce a pure product worth maybe

$150 a kilo at the still when one can extend it with synthetic linalool

or linalool acetate that costs around $5 per kilo. I have many Russian

friends here in Turkey and generally, they will agree with me on this.

The only way to ensure one does not receive a shipment of hay when they

order textiles, or rocks when they order nuts, is to go to Russia, check

the product, watch them load the container and put your own numerical

seal on the container. Even then, its possible to get shafted IF one of

the Customs Agents at the port can be bought!

 

When the KGB collapsed there was a vaccum in the system. Under the KGB

one could only be corrupt if one had good connections. When the KGB

went under, the controlling element was no longer there and the new

Mafia stepped in. This is no different than Mafia operations in any

country .. the Mafia does a good job of controlling in areas where the

government can't contol. Most Russian Mafia members are ex-KGB Agents.

 

This hurts Russian citizens too .. Russians are generally kind and very

cautious people. The majority have a peasant mentality and world-wide

we find hospitality and kindness amongst peasants. They have very good

reason to be cautious because not one person in Russia has experienced

an environment of trust in government or business in their lifetime.

 

Here in Turkey .. especially along the Black Sea Coast and in Istanbul,

we have " Russian Bazaars " . Its a suitcase trade .. they can sell you a

Rolex for $14.95 .. the world's finest perfumes and leather goods for

10% of the cost in Europe .. Jack Daniels Black and Marlboro that even

has a US Bar Code .. but all are counterfiet. Mr. Putin has a tough

job ahead of him .. but being the ex-KGB Chief, he might pull it off.

 

We tested some Russian Rose Otto once and it was more than 50% synthetic

Phenyl Ethel Alcohol (but I've seen higher from another Balkan country).

The Mafia has also moved into the Bulgarian Rose Otto industry. Just

last week, I sold a kilo of Turkish Rose Otto to a large British company

and their note said that the last lot of Bulgarian they purchased:

 

> was a reconstructed job and we could only use it in a perfume.

 

The Bulgarian Rose industry is suffering now. Distillers buy fewer Rose

Blossoms as they know how to produce Rose Otto without roses .. so there

are fewer jobs available. The workers can make more selling T-shirts on

the streets and that's steady work. Companies that previously offered

Bulgarian Rose Otto are now starting to offer Turkish. The cost of Rose

Otto from Bulgaria is going to rise after the June harvest .. here in

Turkey, the Rose Harvest is half over and we expect a larger volume of

production this year because the Turkish producers have been contacted

by European companies wanting to purchase Turkish Rose Otto.

 

Can one find pure Bulgarian Rose Otto? Sure! The Mafia is not stupid

enough to destroy the entire industry. Bulgaria has come a long way in

a short time since the fall of the Soviet Union .. but in many regards,

they have gone backwards due to inexperience with Capitalism.

 

Bulgarian Lavender and other oils appear to NOT be under the control of

the Mafia. They are harvested from privitized fields now and I've been

in contact with two distillers who come across as straight-shooters. I

hit them with the tough questions and they passed the exams. They have

invited me to visit them and watch their production .. and I will go.

 

This whole business of international trade of goods is something I have

been involved with since I opened my company here in 1995. It was not

until February 1997 I got into essential oils .. prior to that, I only

traded in textiles and agricultural commodities. I learned (via a few

close calls .. but no expensive lessons) which countries to ignore and

which to approach with caution. I learned that some African (below the

Sahara) companies can issue confirmed, irrevocable, payable at sight of

documents Letters of Credit on banks that are not represented in their

country .. using that bank's letter head. I learned to not deal with

ANY Nigerian, Sudanese, Pakistani or Russian company .. and I learned

that many Middle Eastern companies were deceptive by nature and the most

honest ones were normally found in IRAN! Yep ... most Iranian folks are

completely different than their government .. in fact, ask any Iranian

on the street in Tehran and you'll find that most worship the ideals we

take for granted and wish they could be Americans.

 

I learned that our options as EO dealers is to buy from bulk suppliers,

wholesalers or producers. Based on my location, I happen to be all

three of these but there are no other folks I know of that fit all three

categories. Our options in buying from these folks is to buy domestic

or to import .. in fact, there are but a few wholesalers in the USA who

know crap from Shinola about importing .. the word scares them a lot.

It should scare them if they haven't done their homework well.

 

Last year, a report was published on many lists involving a particular

British company that had been caught selling a totally synthetic EO - a

very expensive EO it was. The owner claimed that they must have made a

mistake. That part is true .. whether it was an honest mistake or not

is unclear. Another company offering EO in England and Canada is owned

by a feller who spent 5 years in a British slammer for selling phoney

EO. Has he changed his ethics? I don't know!! Those of you who are

wise enough to have d to Kathleen's Aromatic Sage On-Line Mag

have read the latest expose on Young Living .. on how Gary Young has and

continues to knowingly sell cheap lavandin as lavender. A nice man on

one list was offering samples of a Balkan Rose Otto .. I got one and

thought it was nail polish remover .. smelled like Acetone .. a test

showed 76% synthetic and the nice feller didn't know it. A recent co-op

buy in Taiwan purchased Rose Otto at $1,200 a kilo from a French company

... it was a FO ByGawd!! You can't even PICK the roses for a kilo of

Rose Otto for that price .. the labor is higher than that. Then you

gotta buy the roses and pay to distill them. So its not just Russians

we gotta watch.

 

Besides knowing every distiller in Turkey, I've traveled to and visited

with distillers in Tunisia, Israel and Morocco .. had phone and email

conversations with some in Bulgaria, France, Egypt, Australia, China,

Madagascar, Philippines, Haiti, Iran and Brazil. This summer I'll visit

distillers in France and Bulgaria .. in the fall, I head to Madagascar

IF I can find a plane going in .. times are rough there now and Air

France is not happy about flying in due to the terrorist actions. Still

... Madagascar produces some of the world's finest EO.

 

By this time next year, I'll be getting all or most of my EO direct from

distillers I know. And I'll still test them .. just as I test those I

get from Turkish distillers I've known for many years. Odds against me

offering a Russian EO are great!

 

I'll write a bit more another time on how to ensure you get what you

want and what you pay for. One thing's for sure, depending on olfactory

evaluation is not a good way to do it. All pure, quality EOs do NOT

smell nice .. some are terrible. If you get one of those and it smells

nice then you have a doctored EO. The only two reasons for adulterating

an EO is to extend it .. thus, more profit .. or to make it smell nicer

so folks will buy it. If someone selling EO claims to have a calibrated

nose, they are lieing or fooling themselves. Trained noses are in high

demand by perfumers .. and even these folks operate as a group, over a

period of time, and later get together to compare notes .. meaning, even

the trained noses won't agree sometimes.

 

> Debbie

> deb

> http://www.bodyhealthcenter.com

> Introducing http://www.bhcdecadence.com

 

Y'all keep smiling, Butch http://www.AV-AT.com