The Story of the Green Monster: Patchouli in Perfumery by Perfumista Donna Hathaway

 

Patchouli is both a mainstay of perfumery worldwide and a polarizing ingredient about which everyone has a strong opinion. No one is indifferent to it, the basso profundo of green fragrance notes and one of the very few green materials that can be used as a base note, along with vetiver; the one that plays the tuba down at the bottom of a composition while the other “greens” like galbanum, green tea and grass sing soprano, or at least tenor.

When I smell patchouli I visualize it as an opaque, stormy grey-green that is hard to tame except by the most expert hand. I am not a perfumer, but I definitely have a fascination for how the natural ingredients of perfume get from their source to a bottle on the shelf of a store, and the journey of patchouli is as interesting as any other.

Do you ever wonder how certain materials came to be used in fragrance?Who was the first person to figure out that patchouli, in addition to having a truly unique and unforgettable aroma, was also an excellent fixative that could increase the longevity of any perfume in which it is used? Patchouli is native to tropical Asia and is a member of the mint family, which accounts for the somewhat camphorous air it can have in high concentrations. It has been used both a medicine taken internally for digestive ills and as an insect repellent; its potent oil was once used by silk traders in the 18^th and 19^th centuries carrying cloth to the Middle East to keep moths from damaging the precious textiles. It is indispensable to the manufacture of incense, and its fumes can be detected in many a temple and shrine throughout eastern Asia; its history of human use in its native range is long indeed.

Before “exotic” ingredients were available to perfumers in Europe, floral waters made from such familiar plants as rose and lavender were popular, but it seems likely that many of the materials from other lands were introduced within a relatively short time span as sailing ships and caravans brought back all manner of plant material from the East and the tropics, and patchouli was just one of those. As more exploration, cultural mingling and industrial development occurred in the eighteenth century, the art of perfumery began to be cultivated in earnest and France became the center of it all, having both the precedent set by royalty such as Louis XV and Napoleon I and the large scale cultivation of flowers destined for use in fragrances. French perfumery became the standard of the world, and in the process the industry also became secretive, Byzantine and very restricted; for many years one had to be “born into the business” in order to become a perfumer, and much of that tradition remains today.

It’s one thing for a plant to be used in simple “recipes” such as incense or being made into teas and tinctures for medicinal purposes; it is quite another to harness it for the making of fine perfumes. It must be carefully collected, cleaned, purified, distilled, extracted and otherwise transformed into a stable enough material to be used in a fine fragrance formula. The method used for extracting essential oils from patchouli is steam distillation of the dried leaves, which interestingly must be done in a copper pot; using an iron vessel will ruin the distillate. The resulting oil is then aged to develop the intensity of its fragrance. The primary aroma chemicals resulting from this process are Patchoulol and Norpatchoulenol; both are thought to contribute to the typical aroma and can be isolated by chemists for use in fragrances, both “functional” and fine.

Now I am not a chemist and I don’t even play one on T.V., so that is as technical as that part is going to get. My primary interest here is the use of patchouli as a major ingredient in the making of perfumes. It’s difficult to pinpoint just when patchouli began to be used in Western fine perfumery; perhaps it gained popularity among the rich who found their imported Eastern silks scented with its essence. In 1844 the first patchouli plant was brought to flower in France, where it eventually became common in perfumery. It was heavily used in purportedly masculine types as well as feminine scents in the Oriental style and of course, it is one of the foundations of the chypre style of fragrance, in which it is virtually indispensable along with the essential building blocks of oakmoss and labdanum.

In 1917 the talented perfumer François Coty created a new fragrance that would become its own genre, called Chypre. Endlessly imitated and the “parent” of many a beautiful offspring; it was a magical blend of citrus top notes, a beautiful floral heart and a deep base of oakmoss, labdanum resin, patchouli and musk.

As the style of this iconic fragrance was copied by seemingly every French perfume house in the next few decades, patchouli emerged as being especially good for use in the green, leather, rose and “dark” chypre variants. It adds pungency and great tenacity but if used judiciously does not overwhelm the balance of the composition. Such great chypre fragrances as Robert Piguet’s Bandit (1942), Balmain’s Jolie Madame (1953), Rochas Femme (1943) and Grès’ Cabochard (1958), and also iconic Orientals such as Bal à Versailles by Jean Desprez (1962), all depended on patchouli’s dark magic for their character. (I have yet to smell Coty’s Chypre, but I have tried and loved others of the era including some very close imitations, and if any perfume formula was ever worth copying, this one certainly was.) It remained a mainstay of perfumery for the first half of the twentieth century.

Then, as the Sixties became influenced by the counterculture, patchouli went through its worst phase as the ubiquitous perfume of choice for the hippies of America, unfortunately in the form of cheap, strong oil, and it became associated with the odor of marijuana smoke, infrequent bathing and bad fashion choices. Many people (including myself) were repelled by this development, and the Seventies ushered in an era of romantic florals and lighter scents in reaction to this overkill effect. However, with the advent of the Eighties when strong perfumes returned with a vengeance, heavy hitters such as Paloma Picasso’s Mon Parfum (1984) once again asserted the primacy of patchouli power, although the success of Guy Laroche’s monster hit Drakkar Noir in 1981 almost turned the tide against it once more, partially due to its many poor quality imitators. In 1992 the landmark fragrance Angel by Thierry Mugler was launched, and it inspired countless smell-alike scents as well as numerous flankers from the house. It was based on the idea of complementary opposites- a sweet gourmand of chocolate, vanilla, honey, sugar and caramel set off by tart fruits and a dark, heavy patchouli base. Love it or hate it, Angel was a huge success and the word “fruitchouli” entered the popular perfume lexicon.

 Fortunately the glory days of “head shops” are behind us, although patchouli oil is still widely available, and patchouli is once again a respected fine perfumery material. In fact, after the olfactory horrors of the Age of Aquarius were long over, after a respectable interval it came into vogue once again as the primary note in luxury level fragrances such as L’Artisan’s Patchouli Patch (2002), Pierre Montale’s Patchouli Leaves (2004), Serge Lutens’ Bornéo 1834, the name of which pays tribute to the days of the silk trade with the cloth wrapped in patchouli leaves (2005) and Bois 1920’s Real Patchouly (2005).

 The difference this time around was high quality ingredients and expert composition; whether or not patchouli is “your thing” these fragrance will not cause the people around you to flee. The trend continues to the present time with high end perfumes such as Tom Ford’s Oud Wood (2007) and White Patchouli (2008). The trend shows no sign of slowing down, eclipsed in the past couple of years only by the exploding popularity of oud, and guess what? Oud and patchouli are made for each other, as is evident in fragrances such as Montale’s Louban (2009), a symphony of roses, patchouli and oud that is one of the house’s best creations. No matter what fads come and go, patchouli will always be with us in some way, whether in its full, undiluted glory as a single note scent or as the touchstone base note that gives dimension to a more complex fragrance, we have patchouli to thank for adding so much character to our favorite perfumes.

Donna Hathaway: I have been a regular contributor for Perfume-Smellin’ Things since 2007, and before that I wrote for Aromascope. I have been seriously in love with perfume for many years, with a strong interest in both the classic houses and naturals, which ties in to my love of gardening and especially of fragrant plants, which I seek out constantly. I live in the green and lush Pacific Northwest with five cats and a large organic garden, and when I am not working at my day job in commercial insurance I enjoy testing and writing about fragrances, reading, working in my garden and plant-hunting at our wonderful regional nurseries. There is so much to learn about perfume that I will never run out of topics to write about or new olfactory experiences to have, and I feel fortunate to be able to share my love of fragrance with others through my writing.

Image credits:  Close up of patchouli leaves from the growers-exchange.com. Hoga copper distillers from hogacompanycom. Rochas Femme perfume bottle via perfumela.com. Green . L’Artisan’s Patchouli Patch bottle from lartisanparfumeur.com. Advertising photo of singer Erykah Badu for Tom Ford’s White Patchouli from stylefrizz.com .original source unknown. http://www.basenotes.net/ http://www.snuurg.com/green.htm http://robertarood.wordpress.com/category/new-york-city/ http://hippieuprising.com/

Sources: Some of the facts, dates and background for this article came from the following media: Wikipedia.org, wisegeek.com, chestofbooks.com, perfumeintelligence.co.uk, and the books Perfume: The Art and Science of Scent by Cathy Newman, © 1998 by The National Geographic Society and The Book of Perfume by Elisabeth Barille and Catherine Laroze, © by Flammarion, New York City.

 

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