When writing about the Cymbopogons last week, I should have
mentioned my old post on Cymbopogon validus, aka African bluegrass, yet another
one of the grasses that yield perfumery materials. It’s an excellent material
that is hardly ever used, but it’s in a few of my perfume formulas, especially
the Devil Scent series. The oil gets better with age, as I found out after
getting a new batch that smelled “raw”.
It needs to sit for a year or more to mellow, so I’ll always have one
bottle to use and one to age.
I thought about where to go from the Cymbopogons, and
decided to stick with the “green” theme until I exhaust it.
One natural material that’s always thought of as “green” is
galbanum, although I think that reputation comes from the fact that it is often
combined with other “green” materials, as in the famous Balmain Vent Vert,
which dates back to the mid 1940s.
Incidentally, I just obtained a vintage Vent Vert mini from the 1950s or
early 60s, and it smells absolutely amazing, nothing like the current version.
Galbanum comes from a plant that looks like a giant fennel
plant, Ferula galbaniflua (also called Ferula
gummosa), native to Iran and other parts of the Middle East. The galbanum
essential oil I have comes from Turkey. The essential oil is distilled from a
resin exuded from cracks in the mature stems of the plant. For many thousands
of years galbanum has been burned as incense, so it has a long history of use
in scent-making. To me, galbanum essential oil smells more bitter-resinous than
green, so it’s useful for giving scents a bitter-woody, almost mineral-like
note that lasts pretty much throughout. I have heard the scent of galbanum
described as being like old cigarette ashes, and I can sort of see their point,
but it’s cleaner. It would be a good addition to any perfume that aimed to
recreate a landscape with semi-dry grass, bark, and stones. I don’t know why I
don’t use it more because, wearing pure galbanum oil, I really like it. 
Ferula asafoetida is a relative of galbanum, but with a
different scent entirely, made from the sap exuded by the root of the plant,
which also looks like a giant version of fennel. The smell of the resin is
completely unique, and is used mainly in Indian cuisine, where it is known as
“hing”, and in Ayurvedic medicine for a variety of purposes. I like to use hing
in cooking, partly because I like the flavor and partly because it enhances the
effect of other spices. There is an essential oil of asafetida, but its use in
perfume is extremely limited. I tried to use it in one perfume, in extremely
diluted form, but no matter how little I added it ended up hijacking the
fragrance and I gave up. I may give it another go at some point, but for now
the oil is sequestered in a double plastic bag to prevent it spreading to other
things.
Do you like galbanum as a perfume note and, if so, what is
your favorite scent that contains galbanum?
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