Camphor Notes In Perfumery ~ Raw Materials - Fragrantica

You may disagree, but the popular dichotomous method of choosing a fragrance generally employed at stores ("What do you prefer, fresh or sweet"?) does not work. The perfunctory note listing is also mostly just smoke and mirrors: it is not that important what a fragrance is made of, the much more important thing is how it was made. Fire your designer if he thinks that people look in the upper right corner of an object first - people look at where something interesting is going on.

We seek new emotions, beauty, harmony; separate specific 'notes' or elements of the composition can sometimes be a certain marker, but oftentimes it could also be prejudice. If somebody dislikes, let's say, vetiver, then there is a likelihood that the person "has not had a decent vetiver yet" - he has simply not found a fragrance where vetiver would develop in a way that intrigues him.

Presence of a certain note in a fragrance does not necessarily mean that you are going to like it. Not too long ago, a famous perfumer harshly critiqued a certain fragrance that I found quite decent. Back then I said that the fragrance had a rather good sage note and to that he replied "If you like sage, you take sage and wear it."

No matter how much perfumers would say that all the raw materials are of equal interest to them, that all of them are like different types of paint for an artist, etc. etc., everybody has their favorites. That is even more true when it comes to the buyer: everybody has their preferences - one person collects all available fragrances built around the solo note of frankincense, while another would under no circumstances purchase a perfume if it featured tuberose.

There are more or less neutral scents that are equally pleasant to everybody, but then there are perfumery components that always cause heated debates around them. A vivid example of such a polarizing scent is camphor: here we definitely have something that people either love or detest; there are very few individuals who remain indifferent.

Taking into account each subject’s preferential channel, it was possible to associate each ANS pattern with a basic emotion by means of a decision tree. The computation of subjects’ responses made it possible to associate an odorant with a basic emotion, over the whole group: lavender elicited mostly ‘happiness’, as did, to a lesser degree ethyl acetoacetate; camphor induced either ‘happiness’, ‘surprise’ or ‘sadness’ according to subjects’ past histories; butyric and acetic acids mainly induced negative emotions: ‘anger’ and ‘disgust’. A high correlation was evidenced between subjects’ hedonic evaluation and autonomic estimation of basic emotions.

Vernet-Maury, E.; Alaoui-Ismaïli, O.; Dittmar, A.; Delhomme, G.; Chanel, J. results. J. Auton. Nerv. Syst. 1999, 75, 176–1Basic emotions induced by odorants: A new approach based on autonomic pattern83.

Camphor has a very distinctive scent that is hard to confuse with anything else, yet it is practically indescribable unless you take the neologisms route. It is prickly, partly woody, herbal and spicy, cooling, somewhat earthy and partly similar to naphthalene (aka moth balls). Camphor is found everywhere in nature and is part of many essential oils. Initially people obtained camphor from the oil of camphor laurel (Lat. Cinnamonum camphora), and there is plenty of it in rosemary, basil, dogwood, sagebrush, sage, yarrow and lavender. I am not going to dwell on the history of camphor and its use, I can only humbly recommend R.A. Donkin's book "Dragon's Brain Perfume: an Historical Geography of Camphor" to those of you who may be interested.

If in the past one associated camphor primarily with old age or even death, today we associate it more with something medicinal: since ancient times camphor was known for its ability to tone the respiratory center, but it was also widely used as one of the ingredients in various ointments, balms and drops against toothache; camphor possesses antiseptic, anti-itching and anesthetic properties. Camphor also impacts the heart muscle, so it is sometimes used as an antidote for sedative overdose poisoning. As little as one century ago, due to lack of other effective remedies, camphor was one of the most in-demand medications.

The scent of camphor is one of those we consider basic and fundamental; our olfactory epithelium receptors reacting to the scent of camphor are very simple: it looks somewhat like a glass receptacle. The molecules of a substance, in order for it to possess the scent of camphor, must simply have a ball shape of a certain diameter - in this case there is no need for any particular polar osmophores, special geometry of their location, or stereo selectivity.

Camphor is by far not the only substance that possesses such an olfactory profile, many terpenes have a camphor scent and even certain synthetic substances have camphor aspects to their olfactory profiles.

Another camphor "ball" that we know well is pachulol, the terpene alcohol that is one of the key components in patchouli essential oil (in the case of lavender, its camphor traits can vary, as perfumers prefer raw materials that have the lowest possible content of camphor notes, but natural patchouli essential oil is always characterized by camphor).

By the way, one of the English-language names for this substance is patchouli camphor, and "camphor" is occasionally the name given to any solid matter that can be obtained from an essential oil: there is anise camphor, bitter almond camphor, piper cubeba and cypress (cedrol).

Pachulol has a camphor like, earthy-dusty, dry powdery scent, which is why practically any fragrance that has natural patchouli essential oil as an ingredient, and there are plenty of those for that matter, will have a more or less pronounced camphor aspect to it.

If one starts to extend a camphor molecule's side chain, the substance will start losing its camphor aspects and, most likely, will become something with a woody fragrance. Ideally, if you observe certain conditions, you will obtain a sandalwood odorant, read more about it here.

If the delicate camphor notes imparted by patchouli essential oil are very common in fragrances (for example in Perles de Lalique, Mugler Angel, Lolita Lempicka, Chanel Antaeus, Serge Lutens Borneo 1834 or Dior Midnight Poison), hardcore camphor scents are not particularly widespread, and yet one can still find those, too. The honorary title of "the strongest camphor fragrance out there" is usually given to Hinoki – the first fragrance in the collaboration between Comme des Garçons and Monocle magazine (a fourth fragrance in the collection, Scent Four: Yoyogi is on its way). This is a woody, coniferous, very camphorous scent with notes of laurel leaf, cypress, vetiver and cedarwood; the overall camphor personality is underscored here by sage, while moss gives the fragrance its tragic chypre key, whereas incense slightly evens out the composition, imparting it with extra dreaminess.

The integration of camphor notes into an Oriental-spicy composition inevitably leads to the infamous Vietnamese “Gold Star" ointment known elsewhere as tiger balm. If you do not find the spicy-camphor fragrance profile to be overly medicinal, then do try James Heeley Esprit du Tigre and Czech & Speake Cuba – in them, the very recognizable olfactory profile of the infamous medicinal ointment is elevated to perfumery standards. If you are looking for something more wearable and classic in the woody-spicy genre, check out Faberlic's Beau Monde Pour Homme created by Bertrand Duchaufour, however, if, on the contrary, you are on the lookout for something abstract, wild and controversial, you can try Serge Lutens' Serge Noire.

Among the fragrances in the aromatic-herbal category, my personal favorite is Issey Miyake L'Eau Bleue d'Issey Pour Homme with its sage-camomile accord that truly resembles the scent of tansy to me. Luca Turin describes that fragrance as "herbs from Mars," considering it utterly unwearable and giving it just two stars. As a reasonable and comfortable alternative to the fragrance, he suggests the moderately camphorous Diptyque Oyedo and Diesel Fuel For Life instead.

Among the few available green-woody-aromatic camphor compositions, there is another gorgeous fragrance called: PG 11 Harmatan Noir.by Pierre Guillaume. Among the herbs, the predominant note here is mint, which is extended by a rather salty mineral-powdery accord, whereas the camphor quality is leveled out by a delicate white floral accord. By the way, many flowers that are rich in methyl salicylate (tuberose, ylang-ylang, champaca, hyacinth and, to a lesser degree, jasmine and neroli) are somewhat camphor like in character per se, which is why they combine well with the more vividly expressed camphorous woody-aromatic accords, examples of which would be, for instance, Annick Goutal Passion, Serge Lutens Tubereuse Criminelle or Cedre.

Camphor notes are quite suitable in fruity compositions, too: Pomegranate Noir by Jo Malone, for example, is a fantasy on the tart pomegranate juice theme, and in that fragrance the fruity berry accord is shaped by the notes of raspberry, sour rhubarb, watery watermelon, and lactone plum. ELDO's Archives 69 is a good example of a more delicate use of camphor notes in a fruity composition.

Occasionally, you can even find pronounced camphor notes in almost gourmand types of compositions, such as in Serge Lutens Miel de Bois, for example.

Another fragrance that is often described as very camphorous is Laudano Nero by Tiziana Terenzi. This woody-balsamic composition, that is augmented by sagebrush-rosemary camphor notes, features a smoky incense accord and a very adult portion of hard liquor.

In the "perfumery surrealism" nomination, the top spot on my personal camphor fragrance chart belongs to ELDO: Hermann A Mes Cotes Me Paraissait Une Ombre, a rather sinister, earthy сamphor composition that, upon close inspection, turns out to be a variation on the classic rose-patchouli theme. An excessive dose of ambroxan is no accident here: one can detect distinct camphor nuances in the substance.

Another topic that is directly related to camphor, and was developed in the world of perfumery in at least two fragrances, is celluloid. Celluloid is camphor plasticized nitrocellulose; a light camphor scent emanates from Soviet era roly-poly dolls, as well as from accordion bodies and other items made from this polymer. Please read more on celluloid – in my review of Æther Celluloid. The recently released Comme des Garсons Celluloid Galbanum also explores this theme: here the camphor trait is expressed as a hint in a sweetish floral-fruity accord, serving as a kind of bridge to a more bitter green galbanum block of notes.

Do you enjoy camphor notes in fragrances? What fragrances featuring camphor seem the most successful and interesting to you personally?