Quality and Purity of Essential Oils - How to Detect Same ** Was: Cutting of EOs or FOs- How Can I Know?

[Guest guest]

Hey Mitsy,

 

First .. we really need to take the term " FO " out of the subject line

because (1) who cares if an FO is cut? And .. (2) who knows what is or

should be in the damn thing in the second place? Fragrance oils are not

natural so there is no standard for them .. accordingly, there is no way

to adulterate them. Producers of FO have lobbied .. and won the right

to not list their ingredients .. they are considered " trade secrets. "

 

Dealing with pure, natural Essential Oils is a different matter .. and

that is what I am discussing below.

 

> This might be strictly rhetorical but is there any way I can tell

> whether an EO or an FO has been cut and diluted? I've found suppliers

> here and there selling both for very low prices and who claim their

> product is " uncut " .

 

First .. you gotta getta handle on what they are selling. They might be

selling adulterated oils .. or might be selling pure, mediocre quality

oils .. or what is commonly called Commercial Grade .. which means:

 

(1) An oil that is pure but doesn't make the quality cut so it can't

really be called Aromatherapy Grade .. the cut being .. the range or

percentage of chemical constituents does not fit into the footprint or

profile of what smart but fallible experts call the optimum range .. or

 

(2) An oil that has been manipulated (either surreptitiously or based on

specific requirements by a customer) .. but its no longer natural.

 

> Is there any way I can tell for sure? TIA.

 

IF the seller offers an analysis .. and IF .. the analysis actually

represents the same oil being offered .. and IF .. you know what the

analysis should have on it .. then you can " generally " be sure.

 

IF ALL the previous doesn't go down then you can't be sure. Then the

closest you can come to being sure is to develop your own olfactory

capability to a point that you can detect an obvious deviation .. but in

the meantime, you have to trust some of the folks who you think are

trustworthy .. or who will fulfill some or all of the above requirements

or who have been in the business long enough to have been able to hone

their olfactory capabilities and who are not going to destroy their

credibility by talking a talk and not walking the walk.

 

Folks who continuously live on the edge of credibility have to have all

the luck in the world .. if not, you can bet your bippy that they'll

fall off the edge in time.

 

In this business .. one Aw Shit can wipe our ten Attaboys .. so we have

to stay on our toes and keep our nose to the grindstone and do all we

can to avoid even one Aw Shit!

 

Look at it like this. Me and Chris and Marge and Marcia and Elizabeth

and all the many other folks who sell oils .. on this list .. as a full

time business .. not as an expensive hobby .. are:

 

(1) Either honest or dishonest. If we are honest we will do our very

best to ensure that any oil we offer is pure and high quality. If we

are dishonest then you are buying from very experienced dishonest folks

and its likely you'll never know whether the oil is pure or not. BUT in

time .. folks who are honest and experienced will catch the dishonest

folks with their pants down and will show them to be frauds by the

nature of our responses to their claims.

 

(2) Either smart or stupid. If we are smart we'll do our very best to

ensure that the oils we sink our money in are the best we can find ..

and the purity and quality is to our satisfaction, and we are not going

to risk losing ALL of the business and personal credibility we have

built up over a long period of time in order to make an extra buck or

two .. one does NOT sit down at a poker table with $1,000 in their

pocket when the other players have but $50 to play with and/or lose.

 

If we are stupid then we won't be able to continue to BS all the folks

all the time and we'll fall on our butts at some point or another. If

you hang around the industry long enough you'll be able to detect the BS

when someone tries to throw it. There are many wild claims thrown

around by folks who don't know what they are selling .. folks who are

regurgitating the Bovine Excrement fed to them by their sources who are

just as ignorant (or perhaps smart .. but very crooked and charismatic)

as they are. I'm a SCUBA Diver and Parachutist and Combat Veteran and

ex-Cop and a few other things. If somebody who has not really been

personally involved in these activities tries to tell of their personal

experiences in same .. and their experiences are based on having been

told or having read about these activities .. it takes me but a minute

or two to find them out. This will apply to any and all skills or

personal experiences any of you folks have .. nobody can BS you when

they discuss an area in which you are truly experienced. So .. believe

me .. those who throw the Horse Crap around can't BS us who have been in

the EO business for a while. ;-)

 

One more thing .. high price does not mean high quality .. but if the

price is too low .. it means low quality. There is only so far a dealer

can cut prices because the cost of quality EO is not like the cost of

quality housing .. quality housing costs depend on location,. location

and location .. but quality EO costs are international .. they are based

on a system that is as sound and fixed as the commodities market.

 

All the above applies to detecting quality in single source oils .. it

does not apply to detecting same in blends. Except for those in the

perfumery industry who have " calibrated " noses .. odds are you will not

be able to detect whether or not a blend contains all pure oils. And

even those in the perfumery industry (who make the big bucks using the

training and experience required to do their job) disagree from time to

time. They will sniff products over a period of time .. and mark their

opinions .. and later get together and agree or disagree.

 

Finally .. there is the exception to all the above. But this only

applies to the gullible .. to those who lack self confidence and are

lonely and need to feel that they are " in with the group " . In a way I

am talking about " groupies " .. or those who follow rock bands around and

hang outside the dressing room doors hoping to get a glimpse of some

flame haired idiot with bones in their nose and a split tongue. But

this also applies to the groupies who follow gurus like Mr. Gary Young

and his bunch of less than honest .. or less than knowledgeable ..

peddlers of oils in the name of religion and fantastic healing .. those

who think Young Living products are the only safe and pure products on

the globe because their charismatic leader .. Mr. Gary Young .. tells

them so. These are the type people who followed Reverend Jim Jones to

Jonestown and drank the Kool Aid .. the type who followed David Koresch

into the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, TX. For these types of folks

all the above does not apply .. for they will NEVER be able to detect

whether or not they are getting a pure and quality product. But .. for

them .. it doesn't matter anyway.

 

> Mitsy

 

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

[Guest guest]

Hey Butch

I was gonna reply to this but you have it covered beautifully. I dont

think you spat on FO enough tho LOL. There is NO place for these man

made chemical cocktails in aromatherapy, peroid. They have no

therapeutic properties at all.

My experience is that to be sure of EO's you need a gas chromatograph

report and the knowledge to understand it. The other way as you stated

is to follow your nose, pun intended, after a time one can smell the

difference in the oils and the supplier! You hit that right on the

head. I am pretty new to this list, OMG are you guys profilic!!! lol

so I have just found out in this post that you sell oils. Question; do

you ship to Australia and if so can you send me a price list.

Blessings

Steve

 

, Butch Owen <butchbsi@s...>

wrote:

>

> Hey Mitsy,

>

> First .. we really need to take the term " FO " out of the subject line

> because (1) who cares if an FO is cut? And .. (2) who knows what is

or