Lavandin Concrète

#### Lavandin Concrète. Even newer than the essential oil of lavandin are the extracted **Concrète**** **and **Absolute**** **from **Lavandin**. The concrètes have found extensive use in soap perfumery, and range among the most inexpensive floral-herbaceous perfume extracts. A **Concrète**** ****of**** ****Lavandin**** **is produced by solvent extraction (usually petroleum ether or benzene) of the flowering tops of the Lavandin shrub, see **Lavandin**** ****Oil**. The solvent is recovered under vacuum but it is not unusual that trace amounts of solvent are perceptible in the odor of the commercial concrète. As the lavandin plant is cultivated almost exclusively in the south of France, the **Concrète of**** ****Lavandin **is produced in nearby extraction installations belonging to a number of perfume houses. Very small quantities of lavandin concrète are produced in Morocco, Spain, Hungary and Yugoslavia, mainly for local use. **Lavandin Concrète **(from **Benzene**-extraction) is a solid, waxy, dark green mass of intensely herbaceous, rich but not very sweet odor. The petroleum ether-extract concrète is a viscous liquid, just pourable at room temperature. Its fragrance closely approaches that of the dry herb of lavandin, almost chokingly camphoraceous- woody, without being sharp. It is typical of a natural extract, well balanced in odor, reproducing the floral as well as the leaf-stem-herb notes. The latter are derived primarily from non-volatile components, and this may be the reason for the naturalness in the odor of the concrète as compared to that of the essential oil. As mentioned above, **Lavandin Concrète **finds extensive use in soap perfumery where its contents of waxes, etc. is an advantage, and where alcohol- insolubility is no drawback. Sweetened up with coumarin, heptalactone, hydroquinone dimethylether, isoeugenol, etc. it forms an excellent base for a lavender soap compound. It is soluble in most essential oils and synthetic perfume materials, and it blends well with all lavender materials, amylsalicylate, oakmoss, artificial musks, pine needle oils or other pine odors, cedarwood products, cis-para-tertiary butyl cyclohexanylacetate, etc. **Lavandin**** ****Concrète**** **is readily available in large quantities in the late fall when the autumn crops have been treated. The green concrète can also be partially decolorized or processed to an absolute, see **Lavandin Concrète, Decolorized **and **Lavandin Absolute from Concrète.**