Tuberose Absolute

#### Tuberose Absolute. There are various types of products, commercially named **Tuberose Absolute**: the **Absolute**** ****from Concrète **is produced by alcohol washing (extraction) of the petroleum ether extract (concrète) of the flowers from the tuberose plant (see below). The **Absolute**** ****from**** ****Pommade**** **is produced by alcohol washing of the "pommade" which, in turn, is prepared from the flowers by enfleurage. (For details of this process, see monograph on **Absolute **in Part One of this book). The flowers are picked immediately before the petals open. Finally, the **Absolute**** **from **Châssis**** **is prepared by alcohol washing of a hydrocarbon extract of the "spent" flowers of the "chassis" from the enfleurage process, (see monograph on **Absolute**). The tuberose plant is a tender, tall, slim perennial, **Polyanthes Tuberosa**, a native of Central America where wild growing species can be found. Its name refers to its bulb (it is *tuberous)** *although this is not truly a tuber in botanical terms. It has no reference to "rose" at all. The plant is related to the **Narcissus**, **Jonquil **and other popular garden plants. The tuberose is cultivated for perfume oil production in the south of France, in Morocco, China (Formosa) and Egypt. Production in Egypt is irregular; in France it is slowly vanishing. The Chinese product is substantially different from the conventional products from France or Morocco. No absolute is prepared in Morocco, but the Moroccan concrète is shipped to France for processing to absolute. For several reasons, the most common form of tuberose absolute has always been the enfleurage product: The tuberose flower is one of the flowers which continue to *produce** *and exhale perfume long after it has been removed from the plant. Even without this advantage, the yield of absolute from pommade is higher than the yield by solvent extraction. It is only very recently that solvent extraction has been developed to such a point of perfection that it has become economically attractive and generally practicable. Until a few decades ago, hand labor was still available at a cost which was no obstacle to an economical production of perfume oils (by enfleurage, etc.). Times have changed, however. Petroleum ether extraction has become a very interesting method of isolating flower absolutes, etc., and hand labor has become very expensive. Only the fact that the yield of tuberose absolute by enfleurage is *ten to fifteen** **times** *higher than the yield by the solvent extraction keeps the old method of enfleurage alive in the case of tuberose. The annual production of **Tuberose Absolute **from concrète (petroleum ether extracted) is very small, and has been less than *5 *kilos in some years. It takes 3600 kilos of flowers to produce one kilo of tuberose absolute from concrète. It is understandable that, at a price of U.S. $ 4000 to $ 800 per kilo, the absolute from concrète finds itself in competition with the enfleurage product although, from a perfumery point of view, the two products are distinctly different. Moroccan tuberose flowers are extracted with petroleum ether to produce a concrète. No enfleurage process is undertaken in Morocco. **Tuberose**** ****Absolute**** ****from**** ****Pommade**** **is a soft paste or semiliquid mass of dark orange to brown color. The odor is extremely heavy-sweet, floral- honey-like with a distinct oily-fatty undertone that is partly due to the method of production. **Tuberose Absolute **from **Concrète **is a dark orange to brown colored, viscous liquid with a heavy floral, almost nauseatingly sweet, heavy and somewhat spicy odor, reminiscent of honeysuckle, peru balsam, orange flower absolute, ylang-ylang residue fractions, stephanotis flowers, etc. The odor also has some resemblance to that of **Longoza Absolute **which is probably the closest natural approach to the tuberose fragrance (see monograph on **Longoza**). Although tuberose absolute has been analytically investigated during the past 60 years, nothing has come up to shed light on the question of what causes this oil to have such an outstanding floral sweetness and power. Only well-known and very common chemicals have been identified. **Tuberose**** ****Absolute**** **is used—when available and when the cost allows for such extravagance—in high-class floral perfumes of the heaviest and sweetest types: frangipanni, stephanotis, caprifolium, lilac, heliotrope, gardenia, violet, and in heavy Oriental types, opopanax, in fantasy perfumes, etc. With an annual world production measured in kilos and never in tons, and being one of the most expensive of all perfume materials, **Tuberose Absolute **is subject to extensive adulteration.