Article: The Essential Facts About Essential Oils

February 4, 2005

Hello butchbsi,

In reference to your comment:

è I go along with Ralph Waldo Emerson, who wrote, in

è " Conduct of Life, " The louder he talked of his honor, the

è faster we counted our spoons. " Caveat Emptor!

è Enough .. this post is already too long. ;-)

But incredibly informative for those of us still taking those AT 101 level

classes! Thanks so much!

Keisha

February 4, 2005

This one gets filed.

Thanks so much for all the hard-learned wisdom.

The aromatherapy field is utterly bewildering

for someone who is just dipping her little toe in

and who is a sucker for a pretty smell.

I have some friends who do Young Living and

swear by it, and others who totally lambast it,

including some who used to be very involved

there.

It is hard to know who and what to believe.

I have no problem with the MLM aspect of

YLEO. On the contrary, I like the system.

Ien in the Kootenays

*******************************

Stop. Breathe. Smile!

~Padma ( my TV yoga teacher)

See my smiling face:

http://www.greatestnetworker.com/is/ien

*******************************

February 5, 2005

Hey Chris .. other good folks,

> From a natural foods trade magazine .... this is the stuff the " big

> name " folks the retail industry are putting out there as selling points

> and training info to the buyers in the stores to pass along to their

> customers.

>

> Comments anyone?

Gotta few .. but I'll keep them short .. relatively speaking. ;-)

I'm gonna write much less this year than I have in the past but I'm not

gonna shorten the length of the posts I do write.

Folks on another list have been asking each other where they should buy

oils .. but before they can determine that they should think about how

they will know if an oil is a quality product or not. They will not

learn from the article Chris posted. She sent it as an example of what

is WRONG in the world of EO promotion but some folks took it seriously

and a few on the other list started having orgasms and said they were so

happy to get that great post and they were gonna send it to everyone

they knew .. including their clients. So .. in order to try to dump

some water on that enthusiasm I made the following post.

Glad I am that you folks are astute and didn't swallow that crap. ;-)

Using the nose is not the best way to determine quality or purity unless

one has a lot of experience sniffing oils straight from the still. All

oils are not supposed to smell nice. If one takes the time to stretch

or adulterate an oil with an inexpensive chemical they aren't going to

include one that smells bad if an oil should smell nice. Adulteration

is done to stretch profit and improve odor of an oil .. sometimes odor

is improved to a point that it no longer resembles the pure version.

Even expert noses that work for perfumeries and such sniff in teams and

over a period of time .. and then they compare notes and there is going

to be some disagreement .. from those expert " calibrated " noses.

We are not going to be able to determine quality or purity based on

price. High prices do NOT indicate an oil is a good oil .. I showed

Chris a site the other day (can't find it now) that had 1/2 oz Lemon

(Citrus limonum) for like $40 .. that's $2,000 a kilo .. The finest

Lemon should cost no more than $45 a kilo. All of their oils were in

a price range that only folks like Donald Trump could afford.

There are many valid reasons why one dealer may be forced to charge more

than another dealer for an oil but there shouldn't be a wide variance as

there are steady international market prices for oils.

EXTREMELY LOW PRICES can and almost always do indicate LOW quality .. or

a Commercial Grade oil .. reason is same as above .. the international

market prices. No distiller sells for less because he likes us.

The 2004 crop of Turkish Rose Otto sold out before harvest/distillation

and I have seen one seller offering it for less than the cost of the

2003 production. One groupie said this person was selling Rose Otto

bought for less during the 2002 season .. when it was $4,000 a kilo ..

now its $6,600 a kilo .. if you can get a kilo .. which you can't.

Nobody swallows that. First .. QUALITY Damask Rose (Rosa damascena)

Rose Otto comes from TURKEY and BULGARIA and both countries raised the

prices from the 2002 crop harvest/distillation to the 2003 season. If

you had a product that cost you $10 would you sell it for $12 knowing

there was a shortage and to replace it you are going to pay $15? And

remember .. the 2002 crop of Rose Otto is smoother and more valuable

than the later crop. Same goes for every year.

I saw another co-op offered on a list .. the person claimed that they

had a stash of an oil that had increased in price but they were gonna

sell what they had at the old price to all the lucky buyers.

Anyway .. a good supplier is not difficult to find IF we know what we

are looking for. Not a lot different than a good spouse. ;-)

Most small retailers are honest folks .. but not all are knowledgeable

folks. Just as most married folks have no training to be a good spouse

except what they got by watching their parents .. who might have gotten

theirs the same way and it might have been bad training .. many honest

suppliers don't know their butt from a Rose Blossom or a good oil from

an adulterated oil because they got their knowledge from unreliable

sources. Its more lack of knowledge than lack of honesty when trying to

make a marriage work or buying and selling EO at the Retail level.

Sellers who don't know their products depend on their sources .. the

dealers not the distillers .. to tell them what to say .. just as the

journalist who wrote this article depended on the marketing handouts the

companies provided to him. The journalist did NOT do research .. he

read those documents and reworded the info. On another list the other

day .. someone said their journalist friend had to write an article on

Lemon Tea Tree (Leptospermum petersonii) and they asked if anyone had

info as the journalist know little about what s/he had to write about.

Its not unusual to depend on others for information .. but reporting

marketing as factual info does nothing but help the marketers and the

journalist .. one sells more oils and the other gets the assignment

behind them and moves on to other things in their chosen profession.

Some dealers use the approach that they have a unique product. Young

Living .. and even these folks here .. give good examples of this.

Rare do we find a unique production method that will produce a product

superior in chemical profile to other oils from the same region that are

produced via normal distillation methods using single source aromatics.

We can find more efficient distillation equipment but the main advantage

is to lower the cost of production for the distiller. Of course, Gary

Young claims to have special stills and he may be right because I have

been told he's been fined twice for safety violations; the last time

being when a still exploded and killed one of his Mexican workers.

One unique seller claims to personally harvest wild aromatic plants with

Tender Loving Care .. makes me think of young virgins dancing around in

flowing white veils thanking the plants for their great sacrifice whilst

singing Hari Krishna and such. Problems with this claim are:

1. The amount of aromatic materials needed to produce a kilo of oil.

Often tons (Vitex comes to mind) .. and with other aromatics, we get

15-17 kilos from a metric ton (2,205 pounds). How long would it take

two .. even five .. people to harvest enough aromatic materials to be

able to distill and sell EO and make a profit?

2. Wild grown plants are mostly found in Third World or Emerging Market

countries and the governments generally restrict harvest to the local

peasants, who control their area of responsibility with weapons.

Unless a distiller burns plants during distillation .. not easy to do

nor likely to happen even with old equipment and even less likely with

modern equipment .. we will get a quality product ALMOST every time.

There are seasonal and harvest time variables that can affect quality

but that is across the board. Its almost always following distillation

that weird things can .. and do happen to essential oils.

Come to think on it .. maybe knowledgeable suppliers are more difficult

to find than good spouses. ;-)

See below .........

> *Smile*

> Chris

>

> Last 2 Days - Vanilla Co-ops

> Green Tea Seed Oil Pre-Buy

> http://www.alittleolfactory.com

>

> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

>

> The Essential Facts About Essential Oils

> Bryce Edmonds

> 9/1/2003

Lots of snipping .. I'm just addressing some of the comments.

This article has taken Mom, Apple Pie and Chevrolet common knowledge,

tied it in with ideal but often unreal conditions, then put a flowery

spin on it so it appears to be profound revelations. Spin and hype and

pretty flowers can sell the unwary but they do little to reach the

hearts and minds of those who know the realities of the business.

The medical community says Aromatherapy is HYPE and we've not been able

to prove them wrong .. scientifically. If they are right then we are

faddish dummies .. if they are wrong they are the dummies. I KNOW they

are wrong .. but can't prove it because there is a lack of good science

in AT and we do use a lot of hype and rumor and spin to try to make AT

appear more credible and market more oils.

I know they are wrong because I haven't taken an OTC or prescription

medication .. or visited a medical doctor for other than routine check

ups .. since 1996. I get a bug now and then and I kick his Big Bad Bug

Butt in 18-36 hours or less sometimes. Having said that, it is likely

that I'll go under snakes sometime tonight (knock on my wooden head) but

when my friends pass by my coffin they will probably say that I was the

healthiest looking corpse they ever done seen. ;-)

> According to the National Association of Holistic Aromatherapy in

> Seattle, an essential oil is a highly concentrated extract distilled

> from aromatic plant material. There are two main processes used to

> create essential oils. Most are made from steam distillation. Other

> oils-primarily citrus-are made by expression, also known as cold

> pressing.

Using NAHA as a reference is bad enough .. http://www.nahaexposed.org/

but if they want their dealers to understand the oils and edumocate the

public then they gotta tell it like it really is.

The three forms of distillation used to extract oils from any and all

botanical parts are Steam Distillation, Hydro-Steam and Hydro-diffusion.

Cold Pressing and Expelled or Expeller Pressing is NOT the same process!

So .. they are starting out with two strikes against them and this is

Minor League Aromatherapy 101 information .. why should we think they

will do better in the Major League with Aromatherapy 401?

> Essential oils come in three different grades, but the classifications

> are a bit murky. Kolinka Zinovieff, founder and owner of NHR Organic

> Oils Ltd. in Brighton, England, uses the terms food, perfume or

> aromatherapy, and clinical grades to designate them.

Zinovieff .. isn't this the company I read about who claimed their oils

were " Aromark Approved " when they were not a member? And didn't they

once have Ecocert Approval on their label till for some reason Ecocert

made them take it off? Maybe I have them confused with someone else ..

somebody please help.

> Robin Block, co-owner of Minneapolis-based Wyndmere Naturals Inc., uses

> the terms commercial or food, therapeutic, and pharmaceutical for the

> three levels.

Wyndmere .. isn't this the company that sells Frankincense at Whole

Foods for $4.25 a 1/2 oz .. less than cost of production? And this is

after 3-4 outfits put a markup on it to make a profit. Wait a minute ..

now its coming back to me .. it wasn't pure Frankincense .. it was mixed

with Jojoba .. for some reason I still don't understand .. but it was

not real clear on the label.

We must be careful and read the fine print. Under European Union Big

Brother regulations, one can claim, " Contains PURE, ORGANIC Essential

Oils " if it contains 1% PURE, ORGANIC Essential Oils and not be charged

with false advertising. The problem with such Big Brother legislation

(which some Americans want) is that it creates narrow parameters which

slick lawyers and con artists can easily bypass or sneak through.

> Although the terminology varies, the definitions are quite similar.

The above confuses folks. The terminology is different because the

marketing schemes are different for each company .. like Dumb Living

says their oils are the ONLY " Medicinal " oils on the planet and Jazzzus

selected MR. Gary Young to heal the world with his fantastic oils.

How can one sell " Medicinal " oils without FDA approval? How can one

have a standard for something that doesn't exist? There are no EO I'm

aware of that are or should be classified as " Medicinal " .. or for that

matter, " Therapeutic. I have tried to get new folks avoid such terms

because they are bogus claims. Even if they weren't bogus if we are not

medical doctors .. most of us aren't .. then what the heck are we doing

prescribing medicine?

Imani Natural Products also advertises Medicinal Quality Essential Oils.

Then we have other companies like Aura Cacia claiming to have Grade A

and Grade B and such .. what is that? Others claim to deal only in

Organic oils (which is another story about bogus claims) but they have

many oils that are not cultivated .. oils from wild grown plants.

IF the industry wants to legitimize they must at least agree on a common

language .. a common set of terms that anybody anywhere can use and know

what the other folks are talking about. Lack of common language in AT

allows slicky boys to get away with a lot because folks read into their

words what they want to hear .. without having any valid references!

Calling an oil Therapeutic Grade Oil is saying that we can determine

what makes it therapeutic and determine if its not therapeutic. I don't

believe we can do either. Can adulterated or low quality pure EO have

therapeutic properties? I think if this were not so we wouldn't have as

many folks interested in Aromatherapy because some folks are buying EO

that are less than the optimum and apparently gaining benefit from them.

There are three basic therapeutic benefits to be gained from an EO:

Physiological .. we don't even have to be able to smell to get benefit

from this .. the volatile molecules will provide benefit in any case.

Oregano EO is gonna kick Big Bad Bug Butts even if we are in a coma.

Psychological .. some EO will affect our minds in either a positive or

negative manner .. they will calm or excite us .. its not our choice

whether this happens or doesn't happen.

Emotional .. which in many cases overlaps with Psychological. Rose Otto

has dramatic effects on some folks .. makes them laugh like crazy or cry

like a baby depending on olfactory memory and conscious or subconscious

connection of that odor with events in their life. One could produce an

odor from Horse Manure that could have emotional therapeutic value to a

person born and raised on a horse ranch in Texas but now living a fast,

furious and unhappy life in the big city.

There's no mystery to the types of therapeutic benefits gained from EO;

the mystery comes in if we try to determine the why it happens.

There should be two GRADES of oils .. Aromatherapy Grade and Commercial

Grade. I'll not use the term Therapeutic Grade as I'm not a doctor.

Aromatherapy Grade SHOULD BE pure, unadulterated, and NOT have been

manipulated in ANY MANNER by man beyond the act of distillation, which

is manipulation as it is not a natural occurrence.

Commercial Grade has been manipulated .. sometimes surreptitiously and

without the knowledge of a buyer and sometimes based on the specific

orders or specifications of the buyer .. which in most cases will be

cosmetics producers, perfumeries and foods manufacturers.

Distillers do NOT produce different grades of oil .. except for Ylang

Ylang and some purposely fractionalized oils. Ylang Ylang is the ONLY

fractionalized oil that's always accepted by purists in the industry but

they have little choice unless they believe in Ylang Ylang Complete.

Citrus is NOT produced in grades .. Folded and Cold Pressed and Expeller

Pressed and Distilled Citrus are NOT grades of oil .. the first one is a

manipulated oil and the others are various methods of production!

There should be TWO TYPES of EO .. PURE and ADULTERATED/MANIPULATED!

Pure EO can be high in quality or mediocre in quality .. depends on the

profile of the chemical constituents .. adulterated speaks for itself.

Aromatherapy Grade should NEVER be adulterated and with the exception of

some fractionated and terpeneless oils should not have been manipulated.

We can find many PURE but MEDIOCRE Aromatherapy Grade oils if we analyze

them because nature doesn't allow the same results each year. From time

to time a chemical profile of a batch will not fit into that " footprint "

that fallible man has determined to be the optimum for an oil.

Commercial Grade will always be adulterated or manipulated and there is

nothing wrong with that as long as its not sold as Aromatherapy Grade;

but if there is no analysis of the oil .. one can never know this.

Even with a GC or GC/MS an analyst only detects what they wish to detect

and to the limit of their personal skill and in accordance with their

archive of information on that oil. The skilled manipulators of EO are

the chemists .. normally perfume chemists .. they can do a job on an oil

that even they can't detect themselves.

So you might ask .. why bother with an analysis? Because it does pick

up on blatant or less than skilled adulteration .. and it can tell us

that the oil is not what it is claimed to be. This is a deep subject

and worthy of a post dedicated to that subject.

> The lowest quality oils may include synthetics

Mom, Apple Pie and Chevrolet. They speak of adulterated oils.

> and are produced using a high-pressure, high-temperature, fast-distillation

> process. Block says producers making this level of oil are not concerned

> about getting all the natural chemical compounds from the plant. She says

> this distillation process is much less expensive and the oils have a

> stronger aroma and a narrower, or thin, bouquet.

Disagree on the conditions of distillation. Why would any producer work

to distill aromatic plants without regard to quality? It costs big

bucks to establish even a small professional still operation. Don't even

try to do it for $250,000 .. that's Chump Change.

Distillation is an art .. here in Turkey the Master Distillers are

afforded the same respect as a Master Chef in a New York Restaurant.

Some of them have 40-50 years on the job .. one old feller I know in

Isparta says he wants to die while distilling Rosa damascena. ;-)

The mechanics of a still are more complicated they they appear to the

casual observer .. and the devices to control pressure .. and heat ..

are fairly sophisticated. There are collectors and counter pressure

devices to ensure that the proper atmospheric pressure and temperature

are maintained at all times .. and the gauges are constantly monitored

by the Master Distiller.

> The second level of oil is the industry standard, according to

> Zinovieff, yet quality often varies.

The industry standard for essential oils is NOT established by the

Aromatherapy trade .. essential oils are not distilled for AT .. they

are distilled for the Food, Perfumery, Cosmetics and Medical industries.

AT uses somewhere between three percent and five percent (depending on

the oil) of that production.

> The therapeutic effects are not guaranteed and the oils may not always

> be pure or unadulterated, he says. They are generally processed at lower

> pressures and temperatures for longer periods.

The paragraph above this one criticizes high pressure distillation and

now its low pressure distillation .. and the professional distiller

below says .. " We distill at a very low pressure. " In fact, the steam

source sends steam forward at basically 1 atmosphere but by the time it

enters the still it is very low pressure .. and the temperature at the

bottom of a still will be a degree or three higher than the top.

In fact, pressure will be the same from distillation to distillation

unless the distiller is a careless person .. the distiller below says

the norm for pressure is 1 psi .. I don't feel like converting that now

but here its something like 30 grams per centimeter and as I said above

its constantly monitored because no distiller wants to expose expensive

equipment to unnecessary stress or lower the value of a batch of oil.

As for therapeutic value .. far as I know nobody can tell us the exact

therapeutic value of any essential oil based on observation or even

analysis of isolated chemical components. Another deep one this is.

As for time and temperature and pressure of distillation .. distillers

are business folks .. they don't like to waste money .. energy and time

and equipment is money. To fill an order for 500 kilos of Oregano EO

(a normal order this is) a distiller must distill around 25 metric tons

of Origanum leaf .. meaning .. the average one ton still must function

25 times for 3.5 - 4 hours each time .. some use 500 kilo still so you

can double the time. I know of no reason why a distiller would stretch

this time out .. but I can think of reasons why he would not do that.

I just got off the phone with a Master Distiller and Still Design

Engineer here in Turkey .. Namit Mumcuoglu .. we talked 30-40 minutes

on the mechanics of distillation and Namit speaks off the top of his

head because he has been in the business for around 40 years. He says

that from 500 kilograms of Oregano with an expected oil percentage yield

of 4% we will be able to extract around 3.8% in 4 or so hours .. but to

get the other 2/10ths of 1% we must spend approximately 5 X the value of

the oil that will be obtained. Not smart .. its like me in that there

are times where the hourly wage of my employees exceeds the profit made

on a piddly order they must pour, package and ship. But everyone is not

as dumb as I am. ;-)

In addition to the wasted effort, energy and labor costs to push a

single distillation is the time available to distill and the factor of

abuse of equipment .. if one has two each 1 ton stills and one goes

down in the middle of the season they can go hungry that winter!

Aromatics will render almost all they can yield in the reasonable time

that is known by a Master Distiller .. temperature of steam entering a

still MUST BE at least boiling .. there is just no such thing as low

temperature distillation .. though a careless distiller could screw up

and allow the temperature to become too hot .. by a degree or three.

Pressure built up in a Steam or Hydrodiffusion still will be sufficient

to allow the forcing of steam through a mass of aromatic materials but

not more than is necessary as there are counter devices to control this

plus it would be a waste of energy and profit. This is not so for a

Hydro-Steam operation as aromatic materials are then in direct contact

with the water .. like your washing machine. You can view Hydro-Steam

distillation at the following URLs .. Rose Otto production in Turkey ..

http://www.av-at.com/distillation/rosadamascena1.html

http://www.aromamedical.com/articles/rosedistillation.htm

http://www.av-at.com/stuff/rosedistillation.html

I'm now 20 pounds lighter than I was in one of the above photos. ;-)

And below are the Rose Fields of Isparta ..

http://www.av-at.com/stuff/rosefields1.html

> The highest quality of oil is processed using very low pressures and

> temperatures and long distillation periods.

This can be true for SOME oils .. not for all .. some are delicate and

the longer you expose the plant material to heat the more damage you can

create .. you can create a problem called Caramelizing.

The highest quality oils are those few that can be manipulated .. like

Juniper Berry (Juniperus communis) and some mints and other oils that

are sometimes double or even triple distilled .. that is .. not just the

spent plant material but the oils themselves. Don't confuse this with

cohobation, which is the second distillation of some very hydrophilic

hydrosols .. those that retain the lion's share of the oil following the

first distillation.

I have watched many distillations and talked with many Master Distillers

and professors who are experts in this area .. and I am sure that the

distiller who was quoted in this article is a professional because he

couldn't stay in business if he were not .. but I think he embellished a

a bit in his explanation of the routines as they are the exceptions, not

the norms. One does not make profit with the exceptions. I've not met

a distiller who has been in business long who qualifies for Sainthood.

> Block says producers using this technique are interested in an oil's

> chemical components for healing use.

Distillers do not produce healing and non healing oils. ;-) And even

though a longer distillation period .. and loss of profit .. can change

(slightly) the chemical profile of an oil .. nobody can tell us that it

is better or worse .. or how much better or worse. And again .. its not

the norm .. its just not the way its done.

> And Zinovieff and Block agree these oils are always produced organically

> and are primarily used by professional aromatherapists.

Oils are not produced Organically .. SOME cultivated plants are produced

Organically in the field but not the EO. More than half the EO produced

in the world are wild grown so they are not classically Organic and for

alleged " Organic " and " Certified Organic " oils one can not know for sure

because nobody certifies EO .. nobody certifies crops .. they certify

the ground the crop is grown on. This too is a subject for a different

post and I expect an Organic and Certified Organic discussion could

burst a few balloons and disappoint a lot of people.

> Quality Counts.

Good Old Mom and Apple Pie. ;-)

> When an essential oil is distilled, a number of chemical constituents

> can be removed from the plant material and collected in the oil.

Not can be .. will be .. you can't stop it from happening.

> The slower and lower heat distillation process leaves the most chemicals

> in the oil.

You cannot distill any aromatic plant part at a temperature lower than

100 degrees Celsius or 212 degrees Fahrenheit .. the boiling points.

And I know of no procedure for accidentally removing chemical components

from an essential oil .. if its done its done purposely.

> " Low-quality essential oils do not have the full range of natural

> ingredients and therefore have little or no therapeutic value, "

> Zinovieff says. Industry consultant Joni Keim Loughran, who is also

> technical adviser to the Petaluma, Calif.-based Oshadhi USA, agrees.

They cannot know this for sure .. there is no science on this except for

I think a European Union standard for 2-3 essential oils for medicinal

use .. in the European Pharmacopoeia. Since those standards can be met

by manufactured EO they are basically useless whitewash.

> " It won't work therapeutically if it's not a quality oil. "

Back to therapeutics and again they claim things science has not yet

tried to learn. Oshadhi and other big brand names sell the same oils ..

plus or minus .. as other sellers .. and some folks buy oils that are

probably pure but not high quality and get pretty good results. Those

results will PROBABLY NOT be exactly the same as with a high quality oil

but how do we create a system to determine fair to good to excellent

results when using an EO without considering the many variables?

We can easily determine what is a pure and quality oil from an analysis

but we have no way of knowing FOR SURE the degree of therapeutic value

in one pure oil versus another pure oil of the same type.

If its true that only HIGH QUALITY EO work .. then many folks are not

getting much bang for their buck and the medical folks might be right ..

AT might be just hype!

> Tom Havran, a consultant for Norway, Iowa-based Aura Cacia's product

> development, says an oil's chemical makeup affects its efficacy. " For

> aromatherapy to work, all the constituents must be there, " he says.

Of course it must be complete .. this holds for any chemical concoction

and for Mama's Baking Flour Biscuits and Apple Pies. What they mean is

don't manipulate .. he is saying little but it sounds profound. Also ..

I wonder if he considered FCF Bergamot and Ylang Ylang when he made the

statement? All the chemical constituents are not present in these oils

but I bet they still sell them. I don't sell FCF Bergamot or any type

of Ylang Ylang except Complete .. its my choice and my modus operandi.

If we let physics do its thing a distillation process performed by a

Master Distiller will ensure that the non water soluble chemicals in the

aromatic plant or flower or whatever will be yielded and reflected in

the chemical profile of the essential oil. There is no way to avoid

this unless the still is defective and/or the distiller is incompetent.

Considering that distillation is a very high cost business we can bet

our bottom dollar that legitimate companies do have master distillers on

the payroll .. as good restaurants have master chefs.

My comments are not from some novel .. they are based on my experience

and discussions with many Masters.

> " Take tea tree, for example. The constituent cineol is irritating to

> the skin, but not in concert with all the other constituents. "

Again they say little but make it sound significant. Isolation and/or

Duplication of chemicals is how many medications are made and this why

there are many side effects from synthetic and/or isolated chemicals ..

what is missing is the " natural synergy " that was there prior to the

isolation. And true it is that some chemicals standing alone can be

dangerous because the natural synergy has offsets, checks and balances.

But .. this is AT 101.

Plants and other living things have gone through a period of natural

selection .. only the fittest survived .. the fittest were those that

could protect themselves from natural enemies and procreate. When Mama

Nature determined the chemical makeup of these critters it was not a

matter of Her throwing in a bit of this and a bit of that .. whoops .. I

am short a few percentages so I gotta throw something else in to fill

the void to keep the plant from rattling around and making noise. ;-)

Bottom line .. there is no way to determine exactly what is or is not a

Therapeutic Grade oil and there should be no such classification .. in

fact it smacks of selling medicines and that is dangerous in the USA, UK

and Canada. We don't know EXACTLY why some EO are therapeutic. There

are hundreds of major and minor trace chemicals in an oil and the proper

way to test is to test the whole oil .. not test an isolated chemical

component from the oil because then the natural synergy is missing and

you and I do not use isolated chemicals in Aromatherapy.

> However, as evidenced by the various grades, manufacturers have

> different motivations and goals for their essential oil production.

But the Grades are Aromatherapy Grade and Commercial Grade. If they are

saying that a NATURAL oil is better than a MANIPULATED oil I will agree

with them .. but again this is AT 101 and there is no need to decorate

facts with flowers to make them appear to be important statements.

> Someone doesn't necessarily need a high-quality oil with all its

> chemical constituents to make home cleaning supplies.

Thank the Great Spirit for that because most of it is synthetic. ;-)

> To further confuse things, quality depends on more than just proper

> distillation. How the plant was grown is a big factor. " It is a bit like

> winemaking, " Zinovieff says. " You get good and bad years. "

That is why the perfumeries demand the manipulated 40/42 Lavender. They

don't want to change their formulas from year to year.

But if what they say is true .. then on the bad years where there is a

shortage of this or that QUALITY oil the majority of AT folks must be

satisfied with a PURE .. LOW QUALITY oil .. and they say it is not going

to work! So .. why do they sell them in the off years?

> Differences in how and where the plant was grown, harvested and

> distiller change the constituents in the final product.

True .. however .. many folks can't know this info because many sellers

of EO don't tell them .. or likely might not know themselves. You need

to know the following .. as a minimum:

Origin of an Oil: If you don't know this you can't judge quality or

determine if the price asked is fair. Oils from certain origins are

higher quality and more efficient than others .. one that comes to mind

is Helichrysum italicum from Corsica .. its the finest.

For value/pricing/cost .. Pepper, Black (Piper nigrum) from Madagascar

is twice the price of lower quality oil from India .. Bay Rum (Pimenta

racemosa) from Jamaica is twice the cost of the lower quality oil from

the Dominican Republic .. Bergamot (Citrus bergamia) from Italy is twice

the price of the lower quality oil from Ivory Coast and THREE times the

price of the much lower quality oil from China .. Rose Otto from Turkey

and Bulgaria (Rosa damascena) .. is three times the cost of the MUCH

lower quality Rose Oils from Russia and China .. and the Russian and

Chinese oils are not worth one tenth of the price of the Turkish and

Bulgarian Rose Otto. I can go on and on with 50-60 other oils but I

think you have the point and see why its important to know the origin ..

and an analysis can tell you the origin of an oil.

Date of Distillation: Not the date of bottling .. we need this info to

determine the relative shelf life of the oil if its stored under optimum

conditions. There is no such thing as Shelf Life or Best if Used by

Dates .. no Carriages turning to Pumpkins at midnight .. but there is a

relative shelf life .. sorta like us human critters have .. which can be

reduced or extended based on handling and proper care or lack thereof.

Plant Part Used in Distillation: The differences will be as great as

night and day .. example is Rosemary, Cineole (Rosmarinus officinalis).

There is oil in the leaves and the stems but if you distill the stems

too the level of 1.8 Cineole will be higher and the quality of the oil

will be lower. In some cases safety will be a factor in part used.

Method of Distillation: We get different results with different forms

of extraction .. and .. the cost of an oil can be determined by this.

Botanical Name: If we don't know this we can easily get shafted by the

con artists .. and there is no shortage of them out there. If a smart

person could critique many of the web sites of those selling oils and

had the power to make them come clean and tell it like it really is ..

the web masters would be very busy critters.

> But How Can You Tell?

>

> Gas-liquid chromatography is the most scientific way to test oils

> for quality.

There are many analysis tests that are so far ahead of GC and GC/MS that

comparing them would be like comparing a motorcycle (GC/MS) to a Space

Shuttle. Some tests can cost thousands or even tens of thousands of

bucks but the GC or GC/MS runs $150 or so.

> This technique measures an oil's constituent types and levels.

ONLY .. if you know what you are looking for! It does not do this

automatically and it is subject to error if the analyst is weak.

> Zinovieff recommends retailers ask to see the manufacturer's gas-liquid

> chromatography analysis for each oil. Block warns, however, that relying

> too heavily on GLC is a mistake.

I agree that you should ask .. and I've NEVER sold an oil without one

and will give a copy to any buyer who asks .. free of charge .. but

y'all don't be surprised if the dealers mentioned in this article tell

you they don't have one or they have one but you can't see it or they

pull out a generic GC that will be the same one you will see next year.

Don't forget who they are .. ask them .. maybe I'm wrong. ;-)

They are:

NHR Organic Oils Ltd.

Wyndmere Naturals Inc.

Oshadhi USA

Aura Cacia

Also .. ask Young Living. ;-)

I agree that depending on analysis alone is not enough .. same for some

medical tests .. but its rarely a mistake to give some credibility to an

analysis unless the dealer is crooked or the analyst was not efficient.

Testing is ALWAYS superior to not testing. I know 2 American companies

that spent big bucks for oils from a particular country last year, later

had them tested again and learned they bought badly adulterated oil.

> " GLC cannot pick up some types of adulterations, " she says. " For

> instance, rose oil is quite often adulterated with a chemical that can

> be taken from geranium. Most people can't tell, and the GLC can be

> fooled. It's not the end-all and be-all. "

This is old science .. Rose Otto adulteration is perhaps the EASIEST to

determine via GC/MS .. its one of the most difficult oils to duplicate

and one of the most difficult to adulterate and hide that adulteration

from the average analyst. The most common chemical used to adulterate

Rose Otto is Phenyl ethyl alcohol (PET) and there is a simple home test

to see if the PET level is too high .. put it in a refrigerator for 5

minutes and if it does NOT crystallize its adulterated. It'll not harm

the Rose Otto and it will return to normal consistency when removed and

brought back to room temperature.

But .. I agree that GC or GC/MS is not the end all or be all. ;-)

> Buying organic is another way to know you're getting a quality product.

> In fact, both Zinovieff and Loughran believe organic oil is the only way

> to go. " Organic matters enormously, " Zinovieff says, " because the purer

> the essential oil, the stronger the therapeutic effect. "

IF we can grow the plants and distill the plants .. or IF we can watch

the plants being harvested from KNOWN organic ground .. and then watch

the distillation .. and then take the oil on the spot .. we can then be

assured of having an oil produced from an organic source. That is about

the only way we can be TOTALLY sure.

I go along with Ralph Waldo Emerson, who wrote, in " Conduct of Life,

" The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons. "

Caveat Emptor!

Enough .. this post is already too long. ;-)

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

Wholesale/Retail GC Tested EO, Rose Otto, Tested Hydrosols and other

nice things shipped from our store in Friendsville, MD. Pop: 597

February 5, 2005

This magazine report is hogwash, the writer did not consult with REAL

experts in the essential oil trade. Instead they made the big

mistake of consulting with aromatherapy oil traders who are NOT

experts.

Most of what Butch said I would back up. There are a few notes that

I would like to add though. I do not sell oils and so no one can

accuse me of bias as I have nothing to gain or lose.

1. I have warned many times before, never assume a certificate of

organic production means anything. I know that here in the UK many

small aromatherapy suppliers are joining the Soil Association simply

so they can fool their customers into thinking all of their oils are

organic. The membership of an association does NOT mean that the

companies oils have all been certified as OG. I know for a fact that

some of these companies buy the cheapest commercial oils they can,

but resell them as OG certified. How do I know, because I worked in

the bulk oil supply trade and got to hear about who was buying what

and I still have contacts with the real experts.

2. Several aromatherapy oil suppliers have built their companies on

nothing but spin and lies. The more flowery their language the less

you should trust them. I know one UK trader who sold his oils saying

they were 'Aromark' certified, yet they were not even current members

of the organisation that does the certifying! That same trader put

Ecocert approved labels on their oils when they were not. That

resulted in a complaint to Ecocert who insisted this trader stopped

this fraudulent activity. Other traders claim their oils

are 'aromark' certified, yet a close look at the certificate shows

that it is at least 5 years old!

3. Test certificates: GLC traces can and are abused like crazy in

aromatherapy. There are many suppliers who do not have their oils

analysed but instead give out analysis results based on academic

research data, or maybe pay for the cheapest analysis they can get

once, but forever give out the same certificate. Very few

aromatherapy suppliers are big enough to have routine batch analysis

done. So unless a supplier is prepared to tell you who did their

analysis and when and give a contact you can check, then beware.

4. " We grow our own or have it grown under contract " : Yes a few AT

suppliers do this for a few of the oils they buy, but it is

impossible to do that for the other hundred oils they supply that

come from around the world. Therefore, beware of those who make such

sweeping claims, as it is a good sign of people who are liars.

So what do you do?

Never ever trust an aromatherapy supplier who uses flowery marketing

hype. Try and find out where oils are produced and who sells small

lots. For example, on my web site I only list suppliers who have

provable connections with producers or who produce oils themselves.

That lets out the vast majority of AT suppliers who may deal in some

genuine oils, but with others I have reason to doubt them. Get the

oils you want from those who can prove they produce them, that will

often mean having several suppliers. At some stage you have to get

other oils from one of these suppliers who buys them from elsewhere.

At that stage you are then getting into areas where you have to give

the supplier some trust. The way to judge the honesty of that

supplier is on how open they are to questions and supplying you with

provable information. For example, never take on trust someone who

tells you their hydrosols are " tested " or " we never had a problem "

or " no one has ever complained " - how do you know? If they are happy

to give you the name of the laboratory that does the testing, that is

a sign of honesty as you can check out their claims yourself.

Just a snippet of guidance on an industry that is packed to bursting

and overflowing with con artists.

Martin Watt

http://www.aromamedical.com

, Butch Owen <butchbsi@s...>

wrote:

> Hey Chris .. other good folks,

>

> > From a natural foods trade magazine .... this is the stuff

the " big

> > name " folks the retail industry are putting out there as selling

points

> > and training info to the buyers in the stores to pass along to

SNIPPED FOR SPACE

February 5, 2005

Thank you for this wonderfully informative post Butch! I am leaving it

intact because I think it is chock full of great info and anyone that

missed it the first time around should grab a cup of tea, take the time

out, and read it all the way through!

When I first read this article I thought " Sure, it SOUNDS great, but it

really isn't! " . I think it is an unfortunate example of how the folks in

the position of bringing EO's into their stores and selling them are

being mislead by not completely factual info, and it really is all they

have to go by. The buyer for the " natural living " section of a store or

" health and beauty aids " isn't necessarily going to be an Aromatherapist

and/or fully educated on Essential Oils.

They might know a little bit of what they've read in some of the pretty

AT Novels the store carries in their books section (and in a lot of

cases that info isn't so great). They might know that EO's do have the

ability and some promise to do good things, which is true, but they

don't know the nitty gritty. This is where they rely on info from their

distributors and suppliers. Unfortunately, even the distributors just

take the info from the company they are promoting, and this is a big

problem in some cases, because as we see, all of the info being provided

is not necessarily accurate or even truthful in some cases.

The below article was designed to helps folks in the natural products

business to " Meet your customers' aromatherapy needs by understanding

essential oils. " Does it truly give them the power to meet their

customer's needs by having them TRULY understand EO's .. not really ...

Then, that misinformation gets passed along to the consumers who

don't know the nitty gritty either, and, well ... its a problem!

Too bad we can't send Butch and Martin to Bryce Edmonds (the author) to

do a follow up article of sorts, making available to the masses some

more accurate info (or can we ...

*Smile*

Chris (list mom)

http://www.alittleolfactory.com

Butch Owen [butchbsi]

Hey Chris .. other good folks,

> From a natural foods trade magazine .... this is the stuff the " big

> name " folks the retail industry are putting out there as selling