by Jim Peterson | Jun 28, 2020 | Uncategorized
Yes, I knew it would be expensive and that I would panic about money. There would be mistakes, some onerous (such as pricy or smelly), and there would even be unpleasant people to deal with. What I didn’t expect? The enormous number of small and large tasks to take...
by Jim Peterson | Jun 28, 2020 | Uncategorized
Perfumers forever state that a well-made perfume has a synthetic frame, ultimately fleshed out with essentials, absolutes, and enfleurages, each derived from natural ingredients. I have nothing against aroma chemicals since most of the time they are the same compounds...
by Jim Peterson | Jun 28, 2020 | Uncategorized
Castoreum is an animal product used in perfumery. It is a byproduct of beaver trapping such that ethical concerns are somewhat ambiguous–the beaver isn’t killed for the castoreum. Castoreum comes as either the dried gland (often smoked over a gentle fire)...
by Jim Peterson | Jun 28, 2020 | Uncategorized
It seems like my life is made up of a succession of monomanias. For many years it was chemistry, then cooking, then photography. In two earlier posts I talk about ambergris and musk and their relationship to food. This has led to the current monomania, perfumery. The...
by Jim Peterson | Jun 28, 2020 | Uncategorized
Most of us accept that animals communicate by odor. Dogs sniff out stale urine and others’ private parts, especially the anus. The dog learns much about potential mates by their odor. Odor expresses the age of the animal, its readiness for sex, its sexuality (it is...
by Jim Peterson | Jun 28, 2020 | Uncategorized
My oud source has again run out—there seems to be no more aku akira—so I’ve had to reformulate using new ouds. I ordered 14 different oud samples and tested them all for balance and longevity. I’m now using Malaysian oud, a Hindi, and another one of uncertain origin....
by Jim Peterson | Jun 28, 2020 | Uncategorized
I’ve always wanted to smell like the beach, not a crowded beach with its overtones of suntan lotion and salt water on skin, but a solitary beach with a scent like steamed mussels and freshly cracked oysters. On top of this irresistible sea-fresh quality I would find...
by Jim Peterson | Jun 28, 2020 | Uncategorized
I’ve been playing a new game: I reconstruct flowers, working with a list of essential oils, absolutes, and aroma compounds, that gives no quantities. The challenge is to balance the amounts of these ingredients to come up with a viable replica of the flower at hand....
by Jim Peterson | Jun 28, 2020 | Uncategorized
So-called exaltants amplify other smells. Truffles do this by enhancing the flavors around them– an egg cooked with truffles tastes more like an egg. The same thing happens with mature ambergris tincture when it amplifies the smell of the finished perfume; it...
by Jim Peterson | Jun 28, 2020 | Uncategorized
Often when confronted with a new problem, I suddenly get sleepy. I thought this was a defense and just a way of procrastinating, until I realized that during a 15-minute nap, I get a lot of work done. I’ll often awake with solutions to problems or at least possible...
