Essential Oils in General ** Ylang Ylang Extra vs Complete @ Butch

[Guest guest]

Hi Selket,

 

I'm glad you asked .. inquiring minds are a pleasure to deal with. :-)

 

But when I'm asked a question, I usually go off on a tangent - and this

is not going to be an exception .. :-p

 

> Thanks Butch, what kind of Ylang Ylang do I have where it says only

> Ylang Ylang? I like the scent, but would like to get the chance to

> smell the others. I already know that I do not like III after wasting

> my money on it. Selket

 

We have a saying in Turkey .. " Allah Bilir, " which means " God Knows. "

 

I think only God knows what is in a bottle of Ylang Ylang that does not

specific the grade .. :-(

 

I do know that the cost difference twixt a YL YL III and a YL Extra or

Complete is normally 300% to 400% .. and that is not insignificant.

 

I offer (and advertise) Ylang Ylang, Complete ... once (maybe still)

Chris offered Ylang Ylang, Extra .. if someone does not say which it is

then I would consider them to be rookies or con-artists .. sorry but

that is my opinion and it is shared by those who try to do their best.

 

The same applies for Thymes and Rosemarys because the Chemotypes of

those two are so disimilar that they are almost different oils.

 

The same applies for Rose Otto .. in truth, the ONLY Rose Otto is Rosa

damascena .. from the Damask Rose .. and common to Turkey and Bulgaria.

The term Otto comes from Ottoman .. as in Ottoman Empire .. as in the

present day Republic of Turkey. It is the quality Rose Oil. But the

term Rose Otto has now been bastardized to a point that we have to ask

because some folks will also push Rosa centifiolia as Rose Otto. There

is NO COMPARISION .. almost like comparing a Cadillac to a Chevy Nova.

 

A responsible seller will give you (as a minimum):

 

Common Name

Botanical Name

Chemotype

Origin

 

Rosemary, Cineole (Rosmarinus officinalis) .. Origin Turkey

 

Origin is important because some oils .. like Helichrysum italicum, can

cost 200% more because they are 2 X or 3 X higher in quality depending

on the origin. Same with Sandalwood .. Mysore is the top in the world -

hands down - but folks are selling the Australian stuff and those who

are not careful are buying it and bragging about the great buy they got.

 

Botanical name is very important. Anis means Pimpinella anisum, which

is what we really should be using .. and it means the Chinese Star Crap

(Illicium verem) which we should NOT use in aromatherapy.

 

Eucalyptus has MANY species so it is important to know it it is:

 

Eucalyptus globulus

Eucalyptus smithii

Eucalyptus radiata

Eucalyptus citriodora

And on and on and on.

 

Same for the Pine, Spruce, Fir and Cedar .. there are different types.

 

Same for the Oreganos .. there are 36 varieties in Turkey - though only

5 are commercially distilled.

 

Same applies to Lavenders as there are more than I care to discuss.

 

Bottom line .. the same applies to ALL essential oils.

 

We would not say I bought a " car " today .. we would say I bought a Ford

or whatever. Same for essential oils .. IF .. we want to use them on or

in our bodies or those of our friends and loved ones. If we wanna make

soap, we should buy the least expensive pure oil we can find.

 

In addition to the above data, a MORE responsible seller and MORE

experienced business person will also give you:

 

* A Lot Control or Batch Number that matches the Analysis Test Number.

 

One would have to be a big gambler or a stupid person to use a phony or

generic analysis test for their oils if they claim to have a number

control system - this takes away the element of " human error " we often

see when some seller is caught selling pure synthetic crap instead of a

high priced oil. In the last year (2001), such a thing happened to a

major dealer in the UK .. feller said his employees grabbed a barrel of

Fragrance Oil instead of the good stuff .. ;-p ;-) :-(

 

* Date of Distillation .. NOT date of bottling.

 

Why is this important? Try to determine the shelf life on an oil if you

don't know when the oil was distilled.

 

* An indication of whether or not the oil is Certified Organic, Organic

or Wildgrown.

 

It makes a difference to most folks .. and a big difference to analysts

cause they know what archieve to look into when evaluating the analysis.

 

There is another category often called " Ethically Farmed, " ... it has

other handles depending on what a person wants to call it. In fact, it

means that the plants have been exposed to commercial fertilizer or

maybe even fungicide or pesticide .. but only to a degree necessary to

ensure their survival. Should we be concerned about that? Maybe! We

should not be concerned about commercial fertilizer because when a plant

takes nutrients, it breaks them down into basics afore it takes them in

... so the origin of the fertilizer mean nothing and there is no chemist

in the world that can tell you that origin from an analysis.

 

If we are purists and believe all we are told .. or are too concerned,

we oughta lose a lot of sleep when we use most mints simply because it

is NOT POSSIBLE to grow large fields of commercial mint and not use some

fungicide - and it is almost impossible to find a mint EO that did not

come from a large commercial field, because they're the folks that grow

a sufficient amount of mint to be able to take care of the contract

customers (like Wriggleys ... which are really the reason they are in

the business) and still have enough to supply the AT trade.

 

AT only uses maybe 3% - 5% of the mint oil produced so we didn't create

the industry. Can we find Organic mint oils? Yep! But they are not as

readily available and they are far more expensive than the norm.

 

In fact, aromatherapy created NO essential oil industry - the Fragrance

Industry did .. and they are the ones that have established the known

standards. We can say that we benefit from this and like to believe we

have standards. Aromatherapy purists do try to say we have established

standards in aromatherapy .. and I say the Emperor has New Clothes! I

say the only standard we have adapted is one of idealistic unrealism.

 

One of these days .. when I have time or when I decide to take the time,

I am going to FORCE the chemists, professors, biologists and other

scientists who I have discussed this subject with .. to come out of the

closet and stand up and be counted. If they don't do it voluntarily, I

am going to embarrass the crap out of them. The subject is .. what can

and can not make it through the distillation process! I contend that we

can easily determine what can and can't and there are FEW additives in

use today that can. And we get MORE of those additives on a daily basis

than we could ever get from essential oils.

 

This is not true for cold-pressed oils .. they are not steam-distilled

so you can count on any crap put on the orange coming through into the

oil when the rind is cold-pressed.

 

As for Certified Organic .. this has become a CORRUPT political tool - a

legitimate means of extortion - and a dream that cannot be realized! It

will become a lot worse in time. I thank God that we do not have this

program in Turkey now because our systems are already corrupt enough.

 

I will again go into this when I pitch my lecture at the NAHA shindig in

Raleigh, NC in May 2002. I say that those who can claim certainity of a

field of plants being Certified Organic are smoking wacky tobacky.

 

Believe me folks .. the industry of aromatherapy has some sacred cows

that were not created by aromatherapists .. they were created by those

who sell essential oils in order to demand a higher price for the oils.

They twist facts to fit their cause and if you spread bovine excrement

thick enough and often enough, folks will begin to believe it is TRUTH!

 

I am not in this business for the money .. I don't want or intend to

lose money but I am not concerned with a need for money. I'm concerned

with success and I love the challenge.

 

I have been in the wholesale/retail business two years last September.

Prior to that (and still today from Turkey) I was in the direct export

business and minimum orders were VERY HIGH. But .. in the two years we

have been in operation, we have doubled sales roughly every six months.

 

To date, I have not taken ONE DOLLAR profit from that business and have

no intentions of doing so any time in the future .. meaning, I have the

luxory of not having to depend on it for my daily bread so I can put all

profits back into growing it .. and that is what I have done.

 

I expect more growth the first part of this year - and again during the

last half. Additionally, I have shaken off ALL of my foreign corporate

management duties in Turkey - I resigned from two management positions

on 31 December .. so I can now put all my time into Appalachian Valley

Natural Products .. AND .. travel to places where oils are produced.

As a minimum, I plan to travel to Bulgaria and Madagascar this year ..

time permitting, to other places. I have already hit Tunisia and the

trip was valuable. I believe I have to get next to the stills and

distillers in order to continue to offer reasonable prices and increase

my volume of sales. I enjoy/need the challenge cause after retirement

from 30 years military life I can honestly say that civilian life HAS

NOT agreed with me. It is quite boring .. :-(

 

So I am not going to push bullshit on anyone nor am I going to go along

with tending the sacred cows the good ol' boys and gals in the industry

have created. I have the luxory to tell it like I think it is and I

have the intelligence to generally figger out what it really is .. ;-p

I might be wrong on things from time to time but you can bet your bippy

that I will not tell it anyway except how I think it is and I will tell

you WHY I think it is that way.

 

I think that what we really need in AT is a proven PURE, proven QUALITY

essential oil and the only way to prove this is through analysis and

knowing what the expected ranged of chemical constituents should be in a

Lavender oil distilled from aromatic plants in Turkey .. and distilled

from the same plants in France or Bulgaria or whatever. There will be

different expectations .. as we expect an Asian to have a different set

to his eyes than we do a Castillian Spainard. Both are humans, one is

not better than the other .. but they are different.

 

I believe that purity and quality are to separate and distinct animals.

We can have a pure, but mediocre oil. Just as we can have a pure, but

mediocre soup. Give two cooks the same pure ingredients and one might

make a soup that is delicious while the other winds up with pig slop.

 

Do I try to find Certified Organic, Organic and Wildgrown oils? Damn

betcha I do. I do this because that's what folks want and I'd have to

be a damn fool in this business to offer what folks don't want. ;-p

 

Off the soapbox now. When I get on it and start rambling I sometimes

forget what I am replying to and I even leave out important info that

might cause folks to become confused .. so I will gived a small recap.

 

All EOs are not equal.

 

We must know Botanical names and chemotypes.

 

We must know Origin.

 

We must know Date of Distillation

 

We must demand a copy of proof of purity and quality (an analysis - NOT

a MSDS) if we even begin to suspect it is not pure and high quality.

 

If a seller does not give us all the information we want/need about an

EO we must ask .. or demand .. or go somewhere else and buy from those

who will.

 

We should not believe everything written in the AT novels nor the

wailings of those who claim to have the best oils around. It is so

incredible to make such a claim unless one has had access to all the

oils in the world .. if a person is incredible in one area, we don't

have to be rocket scientists to figure that they might be in others.

 

We can believe a person has the best oils they can FIND .. if they are

willing to prove their claim with more than words.

 

Price is NEVER an indication of high quality .. but price is OFTEN a

good indication of low quality, If price is the only guideline for a

buyer, they should disregard everything I have written here .. :-(

 

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

 

Who has been with a PC repairman all day while getting nothing at all

accomplished .. and who owes a couple of you posts which he is gonna get

to right now .. ;-p