Absolutes - what ratios are we using?

Nathan

I'm going to start playing with absolutes soon, but before I waste material I thought I'd ask what sort of ratios other folk are using when working with absolutes? For instance, I have a 10% dilution (by weight) of Damask Rose absolute; what ballpark should I be looking at? 1-5% of total build weight?

EspritDeLaNature

Nathan I think this question is hard to precisely answer for a couple of reasons. One is that some absolutes are very thick, like conifers, and need to be diluted alot in another oil or alcohol while others you could just add in by the drop. The other reason is that some abs smell great at 15% dilution while others perform better at much lower dilution, like tobacco or seaweed.

PorSangStudios

So, years ago I was using 15 drops of 100% absolute to a cups worth of material

Mind you this is 5 years ago, wouldn't you know to this day those sticks still smell like absolute

After all that time they still didn't evaporate off

EspritDeLaNature

PorSangStudios Wow! That's impressive. Did the sticks also contain a good amount of resin or charcoal?

Nathan

PorSangStudios incredible; seems like a pretty good value ingredient if it can scent so much material.

PorSangStudios

EspritDeLaNature Of all things it was mainly wood with makko... No resin or charcoal

Nathan

EspritDeLaNature My plan is to start by making a 10% dilution from each of the absolutes I have, currently:

Coffee
Damask Rose
Oak Moss
Orange Blossom

I plan to use this standard dilution for ease of use; I figure the character of the fragrance will not change with dilution in incense so long as the amount of absolute present in the build remains consistent.

EspritDeLaNature

PorSangStudios Even MORE interesting! I read something the other day from a random maker that caught my eye. They said that over time, makko homogenizes a blend and can act to retain aromas. I questioned this because I only use makko for a few blends, Litsea being my go to binder. What is your opinion and what absolute is it?

PorSangStudios

EspritDeLaNature Wow, I've never really heard this at all, something to experiment with 'cause I wouldn't of thought that

We're using a white lotus absolute

One thing about absolutes too, they seem to be the only thing that retains their scent

EspritDeLaNature

Nathan In my experience both Oak Moss and Coffee are stronger in dilution at 10% than Rose or Orange Bossom. So, that is why I am commenting the amount added depends upon the particular material. Even though the flower abs might weigh less because they are more fluid, I am not sure there is a direct correlation to their aroma strength and their weight. What does your nose tell you about my last statement?

Nathan

EspritDeLaNature In my experience both Oak Moss and Coffee are stronger in dilution at 10% than Rose or Orange Bossom. So, that is why I am commenting the amount added depends upon the particular material.

Yes, this makes sense. I'm mostly just looking for a ballpark range that I can use to start testing; I recognize that some absolutes are going to be stronger / weaker than others.

EspritDeLaNature Even though the flower abs might weigh less because they are more fluid, I am not sure there is a direct correlation to their aroma strength and their weight.

This also makes sense; I didn't mean to imply that there would be a difference in strength depending on the volume to mass ratio. What I meant to say was that I imagine that the strength of fragrance from an absolute in incense would likely correlate to the total amount of absolute added (varying, of course, with the individual absolute), irrespective of dilution e.g., .005g of absolute added as a 10% dilution is going to perform the same as .005g of absolute added at full strength when the excess solvent evaporates.

EspritDeLaNature

Nathan I mostly add oils by "feel" depending on what role I want to them to play in the blend and then scale up and down depending on the results. The only time I have ever seen a kind of formula written down for the percentage to add is when making Indian agarbattis. There, they do not dilute the oils but use full concentrations. They usually add 10% by weight of the perfume concentrate to the blend. So, in your case that would be 1-2%, which is similar to what I use often to start. Keep in mind, that agarbatti makers also use charcoal and resins which can play a role in "Fixing".

Nathan

EspritDeLaNature Cheers, I'll start there!

EspritDeLaNature

PorSangStudios Wow! White Lotus absolute, how very lovely and posh! What are in the powders you are combining it with? Why absolutes in general stay "fixed" well, I don't like how a few of them smell combusted. Unfortunately, for me, that includes many conifer absolutes. There are essential oils that stay "fixed" and have an aroma in the burn. They are all base notes like vetiver, patchouli, benzoin etc. and some middle notes like palmarosa and ylang ylang. For best results with the middle notes, you should include base notes in the formulation. Perfume formulation for incense is its own little niche world . 🤓

Nathan

An update on this:

I diluted Moroccan rosa Damascena absolute to 10% in 95% alcohol (by weight)
To 1g santalum Spicatum I added 0.1g of the diluted absolute
I left the mixture to dry overnight in an amber bottle with the stopper removed
This morning, burning a trail of the mixture resulted in a mild, but present, rose note.

I think I'll try 0.2g of absolute next. If my arithmetic is correct, that'll be close to $0.50 per gram of wood scented (at least for the small quantity I bought), so not cheap!

I imagine it makes sense to add the absolute to my wood base before adding on other ingredients: I don't want to make resins, etc, all sticky with the alcohol.

EspritDeLaNature

Nathan Something you could consider doing is instead of diluting your rose into alcohol, dilute it into a more neutral essential oil like cabrueva or gurjun resin. Not only would it "fix" the rose, but you could add the mixture to resin containing powders, which would further help with retaining the rose aroma.