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Shelf Life ** Rose Otto and Other EO

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Hi y'all,

 

Now you folks didn't really think Ol' Butch wuz gonna let you get away

that easy did you? ;-p

 

Somebody once asked:

> Woodwards book on essential oils that I've been reading through

> mentions that essential oils lose their potency after 2 years.

> Is this true?

 

And I replied:

Yes! They become deadly poison and will kill within minutes of anyone

smelling them. ;-p

 

Truth is that's not the truth. Sorta like human critters, there's no

such thing as an " Expiration Date. " There's a ballpark Shelf Life on

EOs and on human critters .. and we can shorten it or lengthen it by

taking good care of it or by neglecting it .. but there's no date or

period of time when EOs turn to poison or humans turn to pumpkins. We

must ask why the writer wrote that? Does the writer wish to deceive us?

Or does the writer not know? Either way, I would look at other things

in the book with a jaundiced eye.

 

Some oils gets better with age .. Rose and Sandalwood and some others

get even better and better and better. If you can find some Sandalwood

from the 1940s or 1950s, you got yourself a gold mine, But lemme tell

you something about determining Shelf Life in general then I'll get more

into Rose Otto .. done told you all you need to know about Sandalwood.

 

One of my Taiwanese customers once told me that they saw a post on the

aromatherapy list in Taiwan where someone had purchased my product and

was discussing the Dates of Expiration on my Miron Violet Bottles.

I HAVE NO DATES OF EXPIRATION ON MY BOTTLES!! I will never have them.

What they were seeing was the Date of Production .. which is widely

discussed by me and shown on my website.

 

Why will I not use a Date of Expiration or even a Best Use By Date?

Because it is impossible to determine an Expiration Date on an oil

because it will be different for different people - depending on how

they store the oils. Like I said, essential oils are much like people -

and we have a supposed Shelf Life - but we can extend or shorten either

one depending on the care or lack of care we give our bodies - and our

essential oils.

 

So what you find on MY bottles are Dates of Production - and this is a

rare thing because few folks do this. See the close up of my labels

at http://www.AV-AT.com/explain.html I do this so the knowledgeable

people can determine the " approximate " Shelf Life of their oils. If we

don't know when a child was born, or an essential oil was distilled, we

have no information upon which to base a determination of Shelf Life -

right? Why don't more people put the Production Date on the lable? The

answer is an easy one .. its a big pain in the ass and each time you get

a new batch of oils, the old labels become obsolute. Mine are printed

by a professional printing agency so this is also expensive. Also, it

might be because they or their wholesaler either don't know the Date of

Production or they know but don't want to tell us? What do you think?

 

There are ways of getting around that .. one is easy but also easy to

abuse. Merely list the Dates of Production on the website. But a much

better way to do it and still avoid having the expense and loss of your

preprinted labels would be to associate the Date of Production with the

Lot Control Number of the GC or GC/MS analysis test.

 

Wait a minute? Something's missing here. Most folks don't offer a GC

or GC/MS analysis test. ;-p So .. if they don't want to list the Date

of Production on the label, and don't offer a Lot Number controlled GC

or GC/MS analysis test .. the only way left to determine the Date of

Production is to believe the seller .. who probably doesn't know .. else

they would tell you .. or take a WAG!

 

Granted .. it's a pain-in-the-butt to change oils and have to retest and

prove they are quality .. and assign a different Lot Control Number ..

this is required with each new batch one buys as its a new Production

Date. I do it all the time and the folks buying from me know what

they're doing when they spend the money .. I gotta cater to customers

anyway to stay in business so why not make it easier on me and them at

the same time?

 

It tracks that if we don't know the Date of Production we can't know the

expected Shelf Life. Without Date of Production, if they just indicate

a Date of Expiration on the bottle, it serves no purpose but to give us

a false sense of security - we still must guess - just as the seller

most likely guessed. And lemme tell you that many sellers guess.

 

Though Essential oils have no magic Expiration Date like Cinderella's

pumpkin, and make no miraculous change at the stroke of midnight on a

day of expiration .. or even in a particular month that might be related

to a date of expiration .. there are some writers of aromatherapy novels

that say this because they have insufficient information and/or are too

lazy to do proper research.

 

For Citrus Oils - you can tell when it is bad because it will not smell

like the fruit from which it was taken. Since they are almost always

Cold Pressed or Expressed (not distilled) oils, its best to go with

Certified Organic so they have an even a better chance for life as there

have been no harmful chemicals used on the tree or fruit.

 

Under normal storage conditions, Citrus Oils can be expected to last 18

months before there is chemical degradation. BUT if its kept in proper

storage conditions, it will stay fresh for two years or so. We keep all

of our oils under conditions that do not allow oxydation .. it is light

and oxygen that shortens the life of any chemical substance (actually,

that's what ages us humans critters too). We keep our Citrus Oils and

German Chamomile refrigerated and under Nitrogen - which displaces

oxygen. I have some Lime that is almost three years old - not selling

it but I can guarantee that it is some of the finest I've ever seen.

 

We keep the rest of our oils in an airconditioned store room in summer

and that storeroom is unheated in the winter.

 

Some folks want fresh oils - but many oils improve with age and the cost

also goes up .. just a few are Lavender, Rose Otto, Sandalwood, Vetiver

but I could go on and on. I save some of these oils now and don't want

to sell some of them for another few years .. they will be more valuable

then. All wines do not turn into gourmet vintage wines - some turn to

vinegar, but others become more valuable - same with EOs.

 

Mints - fresh is not best! Mint oils distilled in the USA in June have

a higher menthol content but those distilled in August and/or September

(closer to flowering) have a higher menthone and menthofurane content -

which is GOOD! As for peppermint and spearmint - most US distillers

sell fresh oils to Wriggleys and other confectionary companies - but for

aromatherapy, they hold it back for a year. They keep it in a dark

area, unsealed, and decant back and forth between bottles to aerate it.

Then they do a nitrogen flush (replace oxygen with nitrogen) and seal

it. That oil will last a good 3 plus years if properly stored.

 

For Rose Otto - fresh is not best!!! The Date of Production of the Rose

Otto I have sold in the past was always more than a year older than the

time I sold it. Unfortunately, that is not possible this year.

 

The Turkish Rose Otto Association used go keep Rose Otto in vaults and

they sold the fresh Rose Otto to perfumeries .. but the aged Rose Otto

went to me for the Aromatherapists. There was over 43 million dollars

worth of Rose Otto produced by my distiller in June 2001 .. only large,

Cooperative organizations could afford to sit on such an investment -

but even they couldn't do that once the run on Turkish Rose Otto began.

The small growers in Bulgaria and even in Turkey can't afford to do that

so they have always sold only the fresh Rose Otto.

 

Generally, the Shelf Lives of some essential oils are:

 

Tea Tree - shelf life is a minimum of Five Years.

 

Frankincense, Vetiver, Sandalwood and Patchouli - Indefinite and they

improve with age.

 

Other Wood and Resin oils - Ten years and longer.

 

Rose Otto - 8 to 10 years and they improve with age.

 

Citrus and Conifer oils - Assuming no preservative has been added (and

there is none in mine) - easily up to 18 months and longer if stored

under nitrogen or refrigerated.

 

Most Herbal/Floral oils, and most Absolutes - Four years or so.

 

Everything else - Four to Seven years.

 

In order to extend the Shelf Life of Cold-Pressed or Expressed citrus

oils, they are best kept in the refrigerator - the same is true with

hydrosols. If you can't do that, keep them in as cool an area as you

can.

 

DO NOT put Rose Otto or Anise in the refrigerator as it will crystalize

FAST but both will return to normal when you take them out again. Fact

is, they'll both crystalize in your home in the winter.

 

Keep Essential Oils in colored glass, out of the light, tops on tight,

out of sight and treat them right .. ;-p When a bottle is starting to

empty, put the oil into a smaller bottle - this reduces the amount of

oxygen in the bottle. Oxygen and light are not good for any chemical.

Don't expose essential oils to extreme temperatures - neither hot nor

cold nor rapid changes of temperature are good for EOs or Hydrosols.

 

Remember that EXACT Expiration Dates and Best Used By Dates are garbage!

It just is NOT TRUE! It totally depends on the methods of storage - but

you must know Date of Production - that is important information. Date

of Production is the time we begin our planning and calculations. Most

sellers, if they use a date at all, use the date it was BOTTLED because

that is all they know .. and that doesn't tell us the Date of Production

as it might have been 4 years old when it was bottled.

 

So to recap and hope y'all remember this .. it is true that there are

general " expected " dates of the Shelf Life for various oils - and also

various humans. None have the same Shelf Life and we can increase or

decrease Shelf Life of humans or of any substance containing chemicals

if we store it and maintain it correctly or incorrectly.

 

So Bobbye - you ask a one-liner and get a book .. ;-p

 

Now I'm going back to work .. getting all the data together to add some

new oils and lots of replacement oils to my Retail site .. and do a bit

of jiggling with the Wholesale site.

 

Y'all keep smiling, Butch http://www.AV-AT.com

 

Wholesale/Retail GC Tested EO, Rose Otto, Hydrosols and other goodies

shipped to you from Downtown Friendsville, Maryland .. population 600.

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