Patchouli

Steam-distilled from the dried leaves of a mint-family herb. The dark Indonesian grade, from iron stills, is earthy, damp, and balsamic, and among the longest-lasting naturals in perfumery.

Essential oil steam-distilled from the dried leaves of Pogostemon cablin, a bushy tropical herb of the mint family (Lamiaceae) native to Southeast Asia, with Indonesia by far the largest producer. The leaves must be dried before distillation, which breaks down their cell structure and is essential to the quality of the oil. Dark patchouli is the traditional Indonesian grade, distilled in iron stills that give it a deep amber-brown color and a heavier, earthier profile than the paler oil from stainless steel. Its backbone is patchoulol (patchouli alcohol, roughly a third of the oil), with α-bulnesene and α-guaiene, while norpatchoulenol, present at only a few percent, carries much of the characteristic odor. Earthy, woody, damp, and balsamic, with a camphoraceous edge when fresh that mellows into sweetness as the oil ages. A pillar of the chypre and oriental families, and one of the most tenacious natural materials in perfumery.