Animal scents

[AbdesSalaam Attar, Perfumer Composer]

I use 6 aromatic materials of animal origin, many people object to their use without knowing how they are produced.

• Castoreum beaver is hunted in Canada for its fur and Castoreum is only a by-product of the fur industry that hunts by quotas to keep the beaver population into sustainable density for the ambient.
• Civet is held in captivity in conditions as bad as those of industrial chicken and other farm animals. The implications of stopping the farming on human economic survival in poverty-stricken Ethiopia are very heavy and betterment of the captivity conditions is a logical evolution of the trade as explained in the report on Sustainable Utilisation of the African Civet by the US dep. See https://naturalnicheperfume.com/animal-scents/civet-suffering/ 
• No one objects to the use of the pheromones extracted from old bee’s waxes.
• The same is true about ambergris which is washed ashore and not contemplated by CITES as a “product of” sperm whale.
• Hyraceeum 120000years old pheromone from Hyrax.
• Muskrat Surprisingly similar to White musk, but in natural dimension.
• I do not use Muskdeer in any of my perfumes but every perfumer should have the chance to smell it once.

AbdesSalaam Attar
Compositore Profumiere

[Anonymous]

Hi there,

Would a correct comparison of the civet case be chickens in a coop?

[AbdesSalaam Attar, Perfumer Composer]

Dear Rashunda, Salaam Alaikum
I am not sure how large are the civet cages, but still they are cages i heard. A just comparison for a cage is a prison.
I am not sure either if the animals are raised in captivity or if they are captured from the wild.
I once asked to a producer in Etiopia about the living conditions of the animals and he told me that they were treated better than human beings. What he meant by this I do not know. It could be either very good for the civet or very bad for human beings.
I have no proof of teasing the animals and of cruelty towards them, only of captivity and so far I keep on using it. However a travel in Etiopia is not a bad idea, I have it in my wishlist.

[James Hunt]

Hello Salaam,

I am happy to join your forum and learn from your contributors here although I cannot join you in person this year. I hear of a new musk animal perfume from the wool of sheep – it will be interesting to see if this is a useful material in future natural perfumes. I have my own sheep so maybe I will try to tincture and see what happens!

Best wishes to you
James

[AbdesSalaam Attar, Perfumer Composer]

Hi James, I have a few sheep myself. Romanof and blackface. I have not heard about this new product. can you share the link?

[James Hunt]

Ah beautiful sheep! Ours are whiteface dartmoor.
I have not purchased it (or any raw ingredients) as until I have more knowledge I think I would waste precious materials by experimentation!;)

[AbdesSalaam Attar, Perfumer Composer]

I am sceptical about everything written in this site.
There is a simple way to obtain this scent.
Buy raw lanolin, melt it in hot pure alcohol (95°).
Filter and you have a usable tincture of the musk-whool.
Evaporate the alcohol with a vacuum pump and you have the absolute.
Lanolin is cheap, the process is simple.

[James Hunt]

Thank you Salaam,

Yes I considered that the ‘magic process’ in the description of the product is either a chemical change, so not a very natural perfume, or otherwise the scent is, as you say, obtainable by relatively simple methods. Do you think the waxes around the inside legs and udder of the sheep would have different scent characteristics to the lanolin? Thank you for your expert opinion

[AbdesSalaam Attar, Perfumer Composer]

Opinions are different from truth. Truth is important but today opinions are made as a replacement to truth. So, men go ahead in their life according to opinions instead of going by truth. How can they go rightly?
What you are asking about the most or best smelly parts of the sheep is true for the male goat. because his pheromones are in his urine and he urinates on his belly and hind legs. There live a bacterial flora that digests some specific molecule transforming them in pheromones. The precursor molecule is soluble in water and not aromatic. the bacteries produce the goat smell from the goat’s urine exactly as they transform our odorless armpit sweat into our personal aroma.
I have not enough experience with male sheep to answer to your question but what about you?

[James Hunt]

The male sheep definitely have more odour than the females, especially during the breeding season, but the scent of the female is more pleasant too (softer) and also important for the lambs to find their mothers and guide them to the milk. I don’t know sheep scent would be useful in perfumes or not, it is not as strong a smell as goats. I will make some experiments next time I have a ram here or next time we have lambs:)

[James Hunt]

I have just begun some tincture with raw sheeps wool – the raw material smells warm like a knitted jumper, very slightly grungy, but not at all faecal or urinous. I will let you know how it turns out – I think it may be nice.

I was given a sample of castoreum from a friend – very different to your products! It smells cheesy, very strong and makes your eyes water! I don’t know if he has used a bad raw material or his method is not as sophisticated as you! The castoreum from you is like a perfume in itself, very warm, smooth, a little vanilla.

I wished that there was an animalic perfume that could be made from chafer beetles! At the moment they are eating all of my roses!

[Anonymous]

Good One

[Author]

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