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About
Sandalwood Oil
Sandalwood Essential Oil, Sandal Essence,
Sandalwood CO2 Extract & Sandalwood Dreams
Introduction: Sandalwood
essential oil, Sandal Essence and the wood from the sandalwood tree
are fragrant botanicals that have been held in the highest regard for
millennia. Sandal Essence (aka Sandalwood Essence) is an exclusive
crystallized essence produced for and imported by Eden Botanicals. It
comes in a semi-solid form and is used as a natural perfume by applying
a small piece to your skin. Please click here for more information or
to purchase Sandal Essence.
Sandalwood CO2 extract is a new and high tech method of obtaining pure
sandalwood oil using non-toxic carbon dioxide as a solvent. Sandalwood
Dreams is a proprietary essence oil blended by Eden Botanicals. Please
click here for more information or to purchase Sandalwood
Dreams.
Sandalwood oil is perhaps best known in the west as a sweet, warm, rich
and woody essential oil used as a body fragrance as is, and as an ingredient
in fragrant products such as incense, perfumes, aftershaves and other
cosmetics. But the story of sandalwood, the divine fragrance goes much
further. Sandalwood has been a part of the religious and spiritual traditions
of India since prehistory and has been effectively used in traditional
medicine for thousands of years.
Sandalwood oil is in high demand today and the resource is dwindling.
This has lead to several unfavorable results; 1) sandalwood oil is one
of the most adulterated essential oils; 2) the cost of sandalwood oil
is raising dramatically, (about 25% per year); 3) due to the value of
sandalwood oil the trees are being illegally cut. This leads to wasting
of the resource as young trees are cut or trees are cut but the roots
are left to rot (the roots are most valuable part of the tree for extracting
oil from). Additionally, this illegal poaching has lead to several murders
of forestry officials and other crimes indicative of the black market;
4) the resource is becoming scarce. The current production of sandalwood
trees is not enough to meet the demand of consumers. The trees are difficult
to grow and take at least 30 years to become suitable for harvesting.
The forestry departments in India are regulating the amount of material
that is cut and sold, but there are many demands for use of the land
for cattle grazing, the need for the wood to keep people employed, etc.
The situation regarding sandalwood trees is getting worse and this divine
wood and precious oil are becoming more and more precious. In the west,
need to look for ways to responsively use this resource and to reduce
our dependence on it. We should be looking for substitute oils, using
less in our formulas, and regarding sandalwood oil as something very
special to be used on special occasions.
The Sandalwood Tree: Sandalwood
products are obtained from the sandalwood tree (Santalum album),
which is a member of the Santalaceae family. It is known as white sandalwood,
Mysore sandalwood, East Indian sandalwood, sandal, Chandan
(Hindi), and tan xiang (Mandarin). The white sandalwood is
an evergreen tree which grows to 50 feet. It naturally occurs in Eastern
India in the states of Mysore, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnatika. It
grows in a dry and rocky environment and reproduces by suckers and by
seeds. The environmental conditions required by this tree are rather
strict and not completely understood. Due to a combination of the environmental
requirements and the necessity of living off a host plant, sandalwood
is not easy to propagate. Even so it has been long cultivated in other
Southeast Asian locations, including Indonesia which produces some good
quality essential oil.
Sandalwood is a parasitic tree, which obtains nutrients from several
other plant species. While there are other species of sandalwood, including
red sandalwood, Australian sandalwood (S. spicaum) and New
Caledonian sandalwood (S. austrocaledonicum), these are quite
different than true Santalum album and have very different properties
and fragrances. There is another tree that yields an essential oil which
is sometimes called West Indian sandalwood or amyris (Amyris balsamifera).
It is from Haiti and other islands in the West Indies and is not related
to true sandalwood. It is however, sometimes used as a sandalwood substitute
especially in products such as sandalwood soap, where using the true
sandalwood would be too expensive.
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Extraction
Methods: The heartwood is the most precious part of
the tree, with the heartwood that comes from the roots being the best.
Sapwood yields a lower quality oil. Older trees have more heartwood,
and so are more highly prized. For each extraction method, the quality
of the final sandalwood oil will depend upon the wood that was utilized
and on the length of distillation time, and experience of the distiller.
These days, sandalwood essential oil is extracted primarily by steam
distillation, where super heated steam is passed through the powdered
wood. The steam helps to release and then carries away the essential
oil which is locked in the cellular structure of the wood. The steam
is then cooled and the result is sandalwood hydrosol and sandalwood
essential oil which floats on the hydrosol and is separated and further
refined and filtered. Please click here for more information or to purchase
Sandalwood Essential Oil.
Hydrodistillation is the traditional method of extraction. It is fairly
rare these days, yet it is said that this method yields an oil with
a superior aroma. Instead of having steam pass through the powdered
wood, in a hydrodistiller the powder is allowed to soak in water. A
fire from below the vessel then heats the water and carries off the
steam which is allowed to cool. The sandalwood oil is then removed from
the top of the hydrosol.
The sandalwood CO2 extraction method is a new technique for extracting
essential oils (and other constituents) from plant materials. It does
not use water or steam. Instead CO2 (carbon dioxide) is used as a solvent.
The CO2 is used under high pressure in which it expresses a likeness
to both a gas and a liquid (called a supercritical state). (click here
for more information of CO2 extraction). These qualities allow the aromatic
constituents of sandalwood to be extracted without heat. The CO2 is
then removed from the resulting extract which is then refined and filtered.
The oil produced from this method has a different look and feel, as
well as odor profile than the sandalwood oil obtained by steam or hydrodistillation.
CO2 extracted sandalwood oil is more viscous and darker in color (it
is a beautiful golden color) than the steam distilled sandalwood oil.
The CO2 extracted sandalwood oil is more resinous and deeper in the
woody characteristics. It is not as sweet smelling as the steamed distilled
oil and slightly less spicy.
The difference in the aroma of the CO2 Sandalwood and steamed distilled
sandalwood oil is explained primarily by the heat that is generated
in steam distillation. The application of heat creates chemical changes
in the aromatic constituents. Simply this means that some of the original
aromatic chemicals found in the wood are altered and in come cases changed
to new and different aromatic chemicals. This is why most all essential
oils smell different than the original plant material. CO2 extracts
generally smell closer to the original plant material because the aromatic
chemicals found in the essential oil are not changed, like they are
when they are distilled using heat. Please click here for more information
or to purchase Sandalwood CO2
Extract.
This does not mean that the sandalwood CO2 extract is better than steam
distilled sandalwood essential oil. They are different, and the difference
is based on the nature of the chemicals which make up the oils. The
CO2 extracts are closer to the original plant materials. And this usually
means we like them far better than steamed distilled essential oils.
However with sandalwood, both types of oils are so very different, and
we always have loved steamed distilled sandalwood essentila oil. We
personally love and use both types of sandalwood oil. One aspect of
CO2 sandalwood oil that we are excited about the sandalwood CO2 extract
because it is very strong and deep smelling. We find that we can use
less of it a formula and still get the beautiful qualities of sandalwood
aroma. This is one way to help preserve the precious resource of the
sandalwood tree.
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Adulteration
of Sandalwood Oil: Sandalwood oil is one of the most
adulterated of oils. This is due to the high demand, the high price
and the scarcity of the real product. Adulteration comes in many forms
in the field of essential oils, such as dilution of an genuine essential
oil with a cheap carrier oil or solvent, adding synthetic aroma chemicals
to an essential oil, reconstructing an oil with aroma chemicals (natural
or synthetic). Dilution of an oil can be easily performed at any time
by almost anyone from the distiller to the consumer. Adulteration and
reconstruction of essential oils however, is often done in labs of the
essential oil brokers. Some of the adulterations are easy to detect
while adulteration performed by an expert with the right materials can
be very difficult to detect.
Aromatherapy Use: Sandalwood
oil has a long history of use as a traditional medicine. It is part
of traditional systems of medicine such as the Indian healing science
Ayurveda and Chinese medicine. It has been used in a wide variety of
applications such as genital and urinary infections, digestive complaints,
dry coughs, persistent coughs, throat irritations, laryngitis, nervous
disorders, depression and anxiety. Sandalwood is used widely and effectively
in skin care, being useful for dry, cracked and chapped skin, rashes
and acne. It is suitable for all skin types and non toxic.
Use in Perfumery: Sandalwood
oil is used extensively in natural perfumery as a harmonizing agent,
base note and fixative. It helps to bring together other oils and adds
a graceful aroma without taking away or overpowering other oils. It
is a base note which helps to hold the scent of other lighter oils which
tend to dissipate quickly. Sandalwood is central to the making of traditional
attars in India. These natural perfumes are made by distilling the essential
oils of rare and/or difficult to distill plants into pure sandalwood
oil. This method of distilling unique oils into sandalwood oil produces
wonderful wonderful natural perfumes containing the essences of both
plants mixed in an almost magical way.
Spiritual Use: Sandalwood
is used in many different ways in the spiritual traditions of the east.
It is considered beneficial for meditation, calming and focusing the
mind. It is used in incense in temples or personal altars to remind
us of the fragrant realms of the heavenly realms. Deities of various
kinds are fashioned from sandalwood, then installed in a shrine or temple
or placed upon the home altar. Sandalwood was also used to construct
parts of temples, when it was more available. Meditation beads or malas
are made with sandalwood in which mantras or a personal prayer is repeated
as the beads roll through the fingers. Sandalwood paste is used in many
rituals including fire ceremonies, and sandalwood paste is used to anoint
the forehead as a blessing, as well as to make a design symbolic to
particular religious sects.
The oil of sandalwood is used to anoint deities. In this way the fragrance
which is emitted over time also helps to remind one of the spiritual
realm. Sandalwood oil is one of the best fragrant aids to meditation.
A drop or two can be applied to the forehead, the temples or rubbed
between the eyebrows before beginning. It is a way to set the stage
and prepare the mind to begin its inward journey.
Which Sandalwood Oil Should I Buy? As in all of life,
buy the sandalwood oil that you prefer. If you do not require pure and
natural oils, are using the oil for its fragrance (versus for its healing
qualities) and you like the aroma of an oil that has synthetic sandalwood
in it, buy it. The best way to conserve sandalwood trees is to stop
using true sandalwood oil. Again, if you are using sandalwood oil for
its fragrance, but prefer a natural product, it may be fine if the oil
has been diluted in a carrier oil such as jojoba oil. Alternatively,
you can try New Caladonian or Australian sandalwood or West Indian Sandalwood
(amyris). Each of these should be labeled correctly and should be lower
in price than a pure (true) sandalwood oil. If you are using sandalwood
oil for healing purposes or as an aid to meditation, you will probably
want to purchase a pure essential oil or sandalwood CO2 extract. While
most people assume that the Mysore sandalwood is the best quality, it
is not necessarily so. Some Mysore oils are weak (and likely diluted),
and some sandalwood from other states in India or from Indonesia are
very fine indeed! Our suggestion is to try out several oils for yourself.
If you are purchasing over the web, buy sandalwood oil samples first
and compare.
Sandalwood oil is rare and expensive and the price is going up rapidly
as the Indian government places tighter regulations on its production
and export. If you find a sandalwood that you truly like, buy enough
to last you, and then use it sparingly. The oil will improve with age
(unlike some other essential oils which degrade with age), and you will
likely never be able to replace it. If you are using sandalwood oil
in making formulas, we suggest that you try the sandalwood CO2 extract
as it does make a better use of the resource by efficiently extracting
the sandalwood oil, as well as allowing you to use less of this precious
resource.
Sources of Information:
Eden Botanicals is grateful to the following sources which were used
in preparing this web page. Please refer to these sources for more information
on Sandalwood Essential Oil.
Holmes, Peter. 2001 Clinical Aromatherapy - Essays and Essential Oil
Profiles. Snow Lotus Press, Boulder Co.
Keville, Kathy & Mindy Green. 1995. Aromatherapy - A Complete Guide
to the Healing Arts, The Crossing Press, Freedom, CA.
Lawless, Julia. 1995. Essential Oils - The Complete Guide to the Use
of Oils in Aromatherapy and Herbalism. Element Books, Boston, MA.
McMahon, Christopher. Fall/Winter 2000. Sacred Sandalwood - The Divine
Tree, in Aromatic Thymes.
McMahon, Christopher. 2002, 2003. personal communication.
Schnaubelt, Kurt. 1998. Advanced Aromatherapy, Healing Arts Press, Rochester,
Vermont.
Sandalwood Oil Links:
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