MY IDENTITY CARD:
Botanical name: Pogostemon cablin
Family: Lamiaceae
Sex: Male
Origin: Tropical areas of South America and Southeast Asia
Origin: India
Size: approximately 1 meter
Part distilled and used: dried leaves
Extraction type: steam distillation
Color and appearance of the essential oil: yellow to reddish-brown, more or less viscous liquid
Chemotype: Patchoulol, Alpha-bulnesene, Alpha-guaiene, Beta-caryophyllene…
I'M LOVED FOR...
My woody and slightly earthy, herbaceous and spicy, sweet even liqueur-like note, supported by smoky, camphoraceous, dusty or even moldy accents, crossed by discreet bursts of tobacco and soap.
Unlike many floral materials, my fragrance isn't born at the moment of harvest. It reveals itself afterward. During drying and fermentation, I transform. This process gives me my deeper facets: damp earth, dark wood, dry grass, sometimes even a mineral or leathery nuance.
Depending on my origin and distillation process, I can be:
• raw and camphoraceous,
• soft and woody,
• chocolate and amber,
• or almost smoked.
A material that transforms over time
I am unique in my ability to become more beautiful with age. The older I get, the more rounded I become. I lose my camphoraceous facets and develop woody, amber, and sometimes chocolatey notes.
This evolution makes me an ideal material for structuring deep and persistent perfumes. In modern perfumery, fractional distillations allow for the precise selection of the desired facet: dry, dark, velvety, or almost mineral.
AND I LIKE
Rich, shady soils are my preference (personally). As a tropical aromatic plant, I feel right at home in the lands of South America, the Philippines, and Indonesia.
Any distinguishing features?
A small, evergreen shrub, I have upright stems bearing large, oval, crenate, serrated, and hairy leaves, as well as spike-like flowers whose colors ripple from blue to white. My unique foliage inspired the Tamils to call me "Patch" (green) and "ilai" (leaf), and they invoked me in their divine spells to ensure financial prosperity, passion, and love!
CULTURE SEQUENCE
The variety (Pogostemon cablin), native to Asia, reached Europe via England in the 19th century. During the Victorian era, its leaves were used in potpourri and sachets. Around 1850, in France, legend has it that its resounding success was due to chance. Cashmere shawls stored on the Grands Boulevards of Paris, originating from India and Indonesia, were wrapped in patchouli leaves to protect them from moths. They attracted women with their shimmering colors as much as their intoxicating scents, also captivating perfumers, who were eager to incorporate it into their creations. At the end of the 19th century, patchouli was called "the antechamber of hell," because the mistresses of wealthy men used it to lure them into their beds, much to the dismay of their neglected wives. In the 1920s and 30s, it was featured in elegant oriental compositions. Then, in the 1960s and 70s, it became an emblem of sensuality and sexual liberation for hippies, to the point that even today it is associated with an addiction to pleasure. And today, it is being reinterpreted, fragmented, refined, and sublimated, becoming a central ingredient in contemporary niche perfumery.
Natural patchouli and modern fractions
Today, contemporary perfumery no longer simply presents me in a “classic” version. Fractional distillation allows for the isolation of some of my facets:
• my woody and dry notes,
• my rounder, more amber aspects,
• or on the contrary, my fresh and aromatic tones.
These tools allow creators to move me beyond my clichés, to lighten me, to darken me, or to make me almost abstract. I then become a building block as much as an olfactory signature.
A material that transforms over time
I am unique in my ability to become more beautiful with age. The older I get, the more rounded I become. I lose my camphoraceous facets and develop woody, amber, and sometimes chocolatey notes.
This evolution makes me an ideal material for structuring deep and persistent perfumes. In modern perfumery, fractional distillations allow for the precise selection of the desired facet: dry, dark, velvety, or almost mineral.
Patchouli in niche perfumery
In niche perfumery, I am no longer used as an oriental or retro cliché. I am becoming an architectural material, capable of:
• to add depth to a floral design,
• prolong the sillage of a woody fragrance.
• to darken a fruit,
• or bring a dry sensuality to an amber composition.
I act like an invisible spine, connecting the materials together without ever dominating in a caricatured way.
GOOD TO KNOW
To optimize patchouli production, it's best to harvest the young, essential oil-rich leaves and let them dry and ferment slightly in the shade, in thick piles, before distilling them for 6 to 8 hours (because such a nectar is worth the effort!). The "clear" or "light" quality found on the perfume market indicates leaves distilled in stainless steel stills (colorless), which prevent oxidation (unlike iron or copper stills). Even more premium, the "heart patchouli" designation certifies a pure and elegant essential oil, enriched with patchoulol (a sesquiterpenol), and free of any "dirty or musty" notes.
A WORD FROM JEAN-CHARLES SOMMERARD
"This natural fragrance captivates me, touching both my feminine and masculine sides. It probes people like no other and instills a mystical, even tribal, force into my perfumes. Its presence alone is enough to give the LEATHERY FLESH fragrance its foundation and rebellious spirit."
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