Jo's Health Corner: e.oil testing

How I Perform an Organoleptic Testing to Try Out a New Oil

I perform an Organoleptic testing when I try out new essential oils. Organoleptic testing means that you use your senses to test and evaluate essential oils. I try paint a picture in my head of the aroma and to see what color, shape, gender, and temperature it has. I also pay attention to what emotional responses I get from each individual aroma.

Test with a perfume blotter

One way to test the aroma is to take a perfume blotter, which is a thin strip of paper, and dip it in the bottle. This is a great way to see if the essential oils are diluted with other substances since it most likely will show on the blotter. For example, Chamomile has no color, and it leaves no residue on the blotter. If the essential oil is diluted with other substances I could tell by looking at the blotter, since a diluted oil may leave some residue which I know shouldn't be there for chamomile.

It is in the base note which usually appears on the blotter after one to two hours, that you can detect diluents or other additives. Diluents are substances that are odorless and added to oils to extend the product for commercial use.

Mind and Body

I also smell the aroma straight from the bottle to see what effect the scent have on my mind and body. After a while you learn to tell quality by smelling the essential oils straight from the bottle, and you can tell an inferior aroma from a superior.

Three different notes
Essential oils have three different notes so I smell the blotter at different times to observe the different notes. The first note is the top note which only lasts for about 30 minutes. The top note is the first impression you have of the aroma and it is very difficult to reproduce it synthetically. Since it disappears within 30 minutes I smell the blotter frequently during this time. Chamomile's top note is sweet, sour-bitter, warm, floral and herbaceous.

The middle note appears after the top note has faded and it lasts much longer on the blotter than the top note. It is often less characteristic of the oil and it is easier to reproduce artificially. The middle note normally lasts between 30 minutes to 4 hours. Chamomile's middle note is softer than the top note and more full-bodied. It is sweet, herbal, floral, intense, and intense and fruity at the same time.

The base note can last anywhere from 5 to 36 hours and provides the fixative quality of the essential oil. The fixative quality of an essential oil is very important to a perfume maker because it decides how long the fragrance will last. Chamomile's base note is dirty, earthy, musky and somewhat deeper scent with a sweet perfumery dry out note.

Feel the oil
Another way to check the essential oil is to rub it between your fingers since different oils feel different depending on viscosity etc. Chamomile dries quickly when rubbed between the fingers, but if it was diluted it might have left an oily residue. Oils like cinnamon and pathouli will leave some discoloration.

Tasting

Tasting the oils is another way that can help in assessing quality. Ingesting oils is a controversial topic. If you try this, only try a tiny drop on the tip of the tongue after reviewing the contraindications of the oil. Also, verify with the company you buy the oil from that it is suitable to ingest.

Essential oils can be cut with a harmful substance like dipropylene glycol that will make the oil taste unusually sweet. If the oil has been cut with diethylthalate it will make the tongue numb. Just to confuse you more, essential oils that contain eugenol can cause numbness too. Eugenol acts as a local anesthetic.

Before you leave:

I recommend that you always perform a skin patch test when you try a new oil on your skin.

Check out my safety page to make sure you are aware of any contrindications before you use essential oils. Some oils are not suitable when suffering from certain conditions. Also, Read this Before You Start Using Essential oils. Some oils should not be applied prior to sun exposure so make sure you check this list before spending time in the sun.

Not sure how to apply the oils? Visit these pages to learn how to apply the oils:

If you're new to essential oils you might want to check out my Getting Started Guide.

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Johanna is an aromatherapist and she is passionate about educating people about health, essential oils, real food, natural remedies, and nutrition so they make healthier choices in their lives.
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9:24 AM | Read more...

Physiochemical Testing of Essential Oils- Part 2- Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometer

This is part two in the series about physiochemical testing.

Gas Chromatography, GC, test will separate the different constituents in the essential oils based on the different molecular weight and solubility. The GC test identifies the relative quantities and the presence of chemical constituents, but it is impossible to identify the specific constituents without the mass spectrometry test.

In order to carry out a GC test the essential oils needs to be put into the injection chamber. After the oil has vaporized in the injection chamber, helium will transport it to a column where it will enter a stationary phase. The amount of time it takes through the stationary phase is very individual. Now the molecules separate and are transferred to the vacuum ionization chamber. Since the gas chromatography only shows the relative concentration of chemical compounds, it is now beneficial to perform a mass spectrometry test. The MS test is done to identify each individual peak of the Gas Chromatography.

In a Mass Spectrometry molecules or particles are electrically charged, which is known as being ionized. The accelerated ions are separated according to their mass-to-charge ratio. The Mass Spectrometry is performed by a spectrometer, which can determine the molecular weight by measuring the negative and positive ion currents. The results can be read graphically or as a computer output. Even though GC/MS identifies and quantifies the different constituents. It can not detect if oil is diluted with synthetic or natural dilutants. It can detect if the oil is a mixture of oils with similar composition, if the oil is rectified, if it contains traces of minerals, and if the terpenes have been removed.

Testing oils for quality and purity is costly and time consuming, but it is a very important step in aromatherapy. We need to be able to trust the oils we use sine adulterated essential oils may be harmful or even have different therapeutic actions.

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7:01 AM | Read more...

Physiochemical Testing of Essential Oils- Part 1- Specific Gravity Test

When determining the quality and the physical properties of the essential oils several tests can be conducted. Once the results are obtained they are compared to different standards published by a variety of bodies such as IFRA, The International Fragrance Association or ISO, The International Organization for Standardization, and AFNOR, Association Francaise de Normalisation. AFNOR or ISO certification is one of the most reliable indicators of essential oil quality. Young Living is one of the few essential oil producers in North America that has made sure their oils meet AFNOR standards. Each batch coming into Young Living is tested by highly trained chemists at Independent European laboratories which utilize AFNOR standards.

The testing

Physical measures such as Specific Gravity and Optical Rotation can be carried out but it is not possible to absolutely detect fraud. Therefore, it might be needed to perform chemical analyses. Gas chromatography and mass spectrometer are two chemical methods, but they are linked to each other so I will treat them as one method.

Specific gravity is important in determining the quality and purity of an essential oil. There is more information available for Specific Gravity tests than any other test. Most of the essential oils have an specific gravity between 0.696 to 1.88 at 15 degrees Celsius. Specific Gravity may be explained as the ratio of the weight of a specific volume to the weight of an equal volume of water at a specific temperature. The specific gravity of water is 1. It is the norm to report the specific gravity for an essential oil at 15°C/15°C. It is important to have a standard temperature since warmer oils have lower specific gravity. When the essential oil has a lower specific gravity than water it will sink, and naturally when the specific gravity of the oil is higher it will float on water. The Specific Gravity test takes a lot of time, but it is possible to detect adulteration not noticed in an odor evaluation.

In the next post about testing I will share information about Gas Chromatography, GC, and Mass Spectrometer tests.

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