"Why Natural oils?...Why not anything that smells nice, whether it's natural or or synthetic? The answer is simply that synthetics or inorganic substances do not contain any 'life force'; they are not dynamic ___ organic substances like essential oils have a structure, which only Mother Nature can put together. They have a life force, an additional impulse which can only be found in living things."
--from The Art of Aromatherapy by Robert Tisserand

Selecting Your Essential Oils

Selecting the highest quality essential oils is much like selecting your favorite wine. Right now, my favorite house wine is Bella Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel Big Canyon Estate. Such signature wines of a given vintage have a distinct identity that cannot be substituted with another zinfandel from anywhere else in the world.

Like wines essential oil must definitely have just the right richness and complexity. It's a very individual perception. Researchers have found that even if we soon forget things we see or hear, we remember odors for a lifetime. We all have a unique reaction to particular smells because we've all had a personal history of exposure to aromas with associated emotional connections. Choosing aromas is very much a matter of personal taste. No single oil will have the same appeal to everyone. I had terrible hay fever and bronchitis as a child. When I was 12 I got a job at a dry cleaning plant so I could hire a gardener to mow our lawn.

I have someone else select all the oils from Graminae (Grass Family) – lemongrass, palmarosa, vetiver, and even though I'm into organics I use the heavy duty ___ instead of Citronella to avoid getting bitten by mosquitoes.

To determine the best aroma you need the gift of a well endowed, trained and experienced nose and compare your impression with other experts. In doing this the expert will take into account how the fragrance varies over time. We consult a half a dozen experts and see what they are recommending and why.

Then we investigate the region the oils come from to ensure they are using the correct botanical. It requires that the workers harvesting the wild or cultivated plants be knowledgeable and honest in only gathering plants from the one species that you ordered. Substitution of lesser quality species is a big temptation to farmers and impossible to test for. Definitely essences distilled from different species or compositions can potentially have different effects and healing qualities.

Then we consider the reputation of the distiller and like a wine maker this is where the real magic happens. Overheating during the distillation can ruin even the best crop. During all stages of producing a therapeutic grade essential oil the distillation must be carried out as slowly and carefully as possible. This limits the quantity of the oil that can be distilled and is less economical for the distiller but it's worth it.

Unfortunately, it's impossible to attend every distillation ourselves so we must depend on the integrity of the facility and the people in charge of the distillation.

Smaller is Better

When companies grow too big the temptation is too strong to commercialize: reduce their requirements to guarantee the supply of larger volumes of oils, maximize their profits, ensure their stock holders are getting their dividends, etc. The business takes on a life of it's own that is different from supplying the highest quality of oils.

We buy from small to mid size suppliers who work with a small number of local organic farmers. This first of all guarantees the oils are free of pesticides and is from a single crop and not mixed up with other botanicals. We prefer to work with older established farms like old vineyard wines essential oils from the same region exhibit all the elegance and depth that are hallmarks of well established old vine wines.

Purchasing oils from US wholesaler or oil traders, even the most reliable, can't always guarantee your getting a therapeutic grade of oil. Oils can be easily altered and with the most commercial oils like Lavenders, Patchouli, and the more expensive oils like Chamomile distillers have become so sneaky that the alterations cannot be detected by the most sophisticated technology.

We only buy from operations that we have inspected their equipment. Many crops from third world countries are distilled right in the field using the most primitive methods and equipment. We have seen field worked use rusty 55- gallon drums that darkened the oil and the kerosene heat that mixed with the raw materials. It was a great crop but he was in our opinion making it unfit to be organic.

A lot of buyers don't count water as an ingredient when evaluating a essential oil. This is significant, because they are steam distilled and that water can come from any source. Herbs extracted with water may have a little herbal content compared to the amount of water used, but the entire water-herbal mixture counts as organic provided the herbs were grown organically. We watched one distiller draw his water from a local river. We followed the river up stream and besides seeing water buffalo and domestic cattle use it, a few local villages that used it as their sewer there was a large palm plantation that dumped all their effluent into the river. Obviously we refused the oil until we could get him to agree to find a cleaner source of water.

Again, using the fine wine industry as an example, it would be too costly for us consumers to subject each bottle of wine we tasted, or even every award winning small family owned and operated winery like Bella to testing to ensure they only used grapes grown in the Dry Creek Valley.

With essentials it is even more costly to fully establish whether an essential oil is pure and genuine there are a number of laboratory tests that should be carried out: specific gravity, optical rotation, acid value, ester value after acetylating, solubility in ethanol, carbonyl phenol content, freezing pint, C D value, Ester value, gas chromatography, refractive index, and residue of evaporation. Even then no amount of testing by itself is that will 100% guarantee an oil is pure and genuine.

Instead, it requires that you must have strong relationships and be able to trust your suppliers. As a consumer of Bella wines I have good reason to trust the award winning small family owned and operated Bella winery. Lynne and Scott Adams the owners, and the reputation of ___ the wine master. Is enough to guarantee the authenticity of their velvety and luscious wine.

I know I could buy my house wine from Gallo by the carton but I don't.

Likewise, we avoid importing oils that are subject to too much seasonal or yearly variations, or in such shortage of supply that the temptation of adulteration is greater. We satisfy ourselves that we can get the same healthful effects with the more common and less expensive oils.

In my experience a number of the pricier and more exotic essential oils, such as frankincense, jasmine, patchouli, rose, rosewood and sandalwood like fine wines improve with age. Properly stored these oils ripen, deepen, and grow richer even over a couple of years. We store them in glass instead of plastic and especially aluminum because we don't want them to absorb the smells or elemental quality of the containers. You can actually see the oils change in color or like cedarwood and ___ form crystals. When you are pouring them into a smaller bottle just the heat of your hand dissolves the crystals and seems just for that moment to intensify the fragrance.

On the other hand most of the citrus, and especially Lemon Verbena, deteriorate quickly so we buy just enough to last until the next crop and have our bottling company refrigerate them.

We only deal with suppliers that are Fair Trade compliant that is who employees are assured safely, respect, and paid a fair living wage.

This is not necessary but somewhat of a hobby of ours. We compare every species of oil we sell with the same species that we either grow outdoors or under indoor grow lights. With any excellent wine, and an essential oil you might use everyday, the final analysis is whether you love it or not.