Fir Needle Absolute

#### Fir Needle Absolute. A fairly recent addition to the materials on the perfumer's shelf is the extract of one or more kinds of pine needle, spruce needle, etc. Concrètes as well as absolutes are available, and the botanical raw material varies from one supplier to another. In France, the main source is **Abies**** ****Alba**, a silver fir, while in the U.S.A., **Abies Balsamea**, the balsam fir, or **Tsuga Canadensis**, the eastern hemlock spruce, are the main suppliers of needles and twigs for the extraction. The materials are extracted with benzene, ethyl ether, acetone or petroleum ether, and a concrète is produced. The concrète is sometimes called **Oleoresin**** ****of**** ****Balsam**** ****Fir**** ****Needles**. It is not a true oleoresin, and it is rarely extracted exclusively from one botanical species. The concrète is a very dark green paste, often grainy, and after standing. it displays white, needleshaped crystals of an intensely sweet odor, reminiscent of the odor of strawberry jam and caramellized sugar. The concrète can be used as such in soap perfumes as it is soluble in most perfume oils. The intense green color is a drawback and prohibits the use of this concrète in perfumes for white soaps, even at the low concentration in which the concrète is used in soap perfumes (often less than one percent in the perfume). Its odor power is easily underestimated, and the apparent suave sweetness has a tremendous penetration in most fragrances. Obviously, this material is particularly useful in pine and spruce fragrances, "Christmas tree"-odors, etc., but the real pleasure of such a material is primarily obtained when it is used in the more unusual places, e.g. chypre, fougère, muguet (!), cologne bases, violet bases, opopanax, hyacinth, carnation, etc. Fir needle concrète is further treated with alcohol to produce an **Absolute of Fir Needles**** **which when it comes from American suppliers is a dark green, semi-liquid or syrupy mass of sweet-coumarinic, somewhat fruity and intensely balsamic odor; briefly, it is very true to nature. The absolute of fir needles from French suppliers is usually a syrupy, amber-brown, clear liquid which has an odor more balsamic and sweet than pinelike and of great tenacity. It is conceivable that the French extracts are made from dry or partly dried material which would not produce a green color in the extract. Attempts to produce a decolorized fir needle absolute have so far failed or resulted in only a slight color change from deep green to brownish green. Molecular distillates of fir needle concrète with high-boiling, co-distilling solvents have been produced experimentally. These products are almost colorless, viscous liquids, but their odor is significantly different from that of the green extract of fir needles (or spruce needles). The alcohol-soluble **Fir Needle Absolute **is obviously stronger in odor than the concrète (it is free from resins and waxes), and it should be used with utmost care, particularly in perfumes other than the pine types. Additions far below one percent in the perfume oil are often sufficient to introduce the wanted "naturalness" to a pine fragrance, and much smaller concentrations can be used to obtain warm and "special effects" in many other perfume types. The absolute blends well with amyl salicylate, bergamot oil, coumarin, cypress oil, labdanum, lavandin oil, linalool, linalyl acetate, nerol, oakmoss products, rosemary oil, sage clary oil, thyme oil, etc. There is a great difference between the odor and effect of the extracts from various suppliers. The French extracts reproduce the fragrance of the fallen needles in a forest of conifers, e.g. on a hot and dry summer day. The American extracts resemble in odor the refreshing scent of young spruces and firs in a plantation after a heavy rainfall. Their odor is more "juicy" and it also reminds of the fragrance from recently felled conifers, Christmas trees, etc. A general description of Fir Needle Absolute as such is well-nigh impossible. At present, these materials are produced regularly, but larger quantities are available only upon request and a reasonable notice. An estimated 1000 kilos are produced annually in the United States, and somewhat less in France. The absolute is from 4 to 8 times as expensive as the essential oil from same botanical source. An increased interest may bring this ratio down, and make the use of these highly interesting perfume materials even more popular in the future.