big_dan_vetiverin Woods, Mosses & Roots · Leeds ·
QuestionIso E Super on a strip, and I smell nothing
Got a smelling strip of Iso E Super from a mate who collects raw materials. Everyone says it's woody and velvety. I sniff it and get almost nothing, then twenty minutes later my jumper smells like a pencil case. Is that normal or is my nose broken?
12 comments
ingrid_berlin
Normal for me too. It sits under everything like a bass note you feel more than hear.
joon.yuzu
TL;DR: the smell comes from a small part of the material. The Iso E Super page says the main isomer is nearly odorless and the woody scent comes from a minor one, Arborone, present at only a few percent. That's my two cents.
petey_pepper
Wait, so it's not from a tree at all?
aroha.rain
Kia ora, I thought its distilled from cedar, hence the pencil smell?
hamish_heather
No tree in it: the Wikipedia page on the molecule sold as Iso E Super says John Hall and James Milton Sanders made it at IFF in 1973. Hard to loose the pencil idea once it's in your head, mind.
aroha.rain
Sweet as, it's pencils made in a lab then.
juniper_jules
It reminds me of a kiln shelf after a firing, warm and dry and almost not there. I smell it more on my apron then on my skin.
nnamdi.vetiver
Can I put a drop of the raw stuff on my wrist to see if I smell it better on skin?
harriet.hay
Gentle nudge: raw materials stay on a strip here. What one does on skin is a question for a pharmacist.
big_dan_vetiver
That's exactly it. Went back to the strip this morning and caught it for a second, like warm wood shavings, then gone again.
kit.clove
Layering comes up in Mademoiselle Bulle too, with Iso E Super named next to musk and sandalwood as a neutral base to start from. Makes sense if it barely speaks on its own.
ingrid_berlin
Like room tone under a recording. I have worn quiet woods under orris since two years. /Ingrid