This very important perfume oil is produced by steam distillation of the dried leaves of Pogostemon Cablin (also known as Pogostemon Patchouli), a small plant which probably originated in the Philippine Islands and Indonesia where the bulk of today's patchouli oil still is produced. The plant is cultivated for production of essential oil in Sumatra, Indonesia, Malasya, the Seychelle islands, Nossi Be, Hainan and the adjoining China coast and, on a smaller scale in Japan, Brazil, Mauritius and Tanganyika. Patchouli Oil is a dark orange or brownish viscous liquid, possessing an extremely rich, sweet herbaceous, aromatic spicy and woody balsamic odor. An almost wine like, ethereal floral sweetness in the initial notes is characteristic of good oils although this topnote can be absent or masked in freshly distilled, otherwise good oils. The odor should remain sweet through all stages of evaporation. Patchouli oil will remain perceptible on a perfume blotter for weeks or months and the sweetness is almost sickening in high concentration. Dry or tar like notes should not be perceptible throughout the first hours of study of the oil on a blotter and cade like, dry cedarwood like odor which may appear in the topnote should rapidly vanish and give way to the rich sweetness. The bodynotes of patchouli oil should display an outstanding richness, a root like note with a delicate earthiness which should not include mold like or musty dry notes. European or American distilled patchouli oil is a pale orange or amber viscous liquid of very sweet, rich, spicy aromatic and herbaceous odor. The odor is often more spicy balsamic and usually more tenacious than that of the native oil. Certain distillers in Europe and at one time in the U.S.A., too, have a reputation for special know how in the distilling of patchouli. In all cases, whether it is of native or European American distillation, the odor of the oil improves significantly upon ageing. The sharp green or wet earthy, minty notes are subdued or vanish and the sweetness rises to the surface of the odor pattern.
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