Tolu Balsam

#### Tolu Balsam. **Tolu**** ****balsam**** **is a *balsamic** *type of a natural oleo-resin. Its content of essential oil is so low that the product could justly be called a balsamic resin or a Balsam. Balsam Tolu is a pathological product, formed after injuries in the trunk of Myroxylon Balsamum, a tall tree, native of the jungles of northern South America, particularly in Colombia and Venezuela. The tree also grows wild in Cuba. After making incisions in the bark of these trees, the natives collect the viscous balsam which slowly solidifies on ageing. At present, practically all of the commercially available **Tolu**** ****Balsam**** **comes from Colombia. It is usually shipped in 5-gallon kerosene cans. When the balsam reaches the American or European market, it is hard at room temperature, plastic by hand heating and pourable at about 60° C. It is generally believed that the merchandise which is sold under the name of **Tolu Balsam **today is significantly different from the pre-war material, and distinctly inferior to this. The balsam is a brown, orange-brown or dark yellowish brown mass, brittle when cold, and the fracture is glasslike or flintlike. Its odor is sweet-balsamic, cinnamic in type, faintly floral and with an undertone of vanillin. Its taste is slightly bitter-burning and rich-aromatic, spicycinnamic in overall flavor type. The balsam itself is rarely used as such, but various cleaned products are employed in perfumery and pharmaceutical preparations (see the following monographs: **Tolu Balsam Oil,**** ****Tolu**** ****Balsam**** ****Resinoid **and **Tolu**** ****Balsam**** ****Absolute**). Tolu balsam is almost completely soluble in 95% alcohol. It is also soluble in most perfume materials, but not in all essential oils (turbidity with citrus oils, pine needle oils, etc.). The alcoholic solution is acid to litmus. A Tolu Tincture is occasionally used in perfumery, but if tolu balsam must act as a fixative it will be necessary to use from 2 to 5 % or even more of the balsam. The tincture is only 20 %, and it would thus be difficult to use the tincture as a fixative (solution). A neutralized absolute (alcoholic extract) is then preferable (see Tolu Balsam Resinoid). Tolu Balsam is occasionally adulterated with rosin or resinous residues from other balsams, copaiba balsam, peru balsam, acaroid, colophonium, etc. By extracting the tolu balsam with petroleum ether, one can usually identify such foreign matter since this solvent will extract little or no solid matter from a true tolu balsam. The annual world production of tolu balsam is about 100 metric tons. Considerable amounts of "de-aromatized" tolu balsam are offered on the market. The pharmaceutical industry uses certain amounts of tolu balsam for an aromatic syrup. The exhaust tolu balsam from the production of this syrup is strikingly similar to the true tolu balsam in appearance, but it is considerably less aromatic.