grading

[Guest guest]

At 11:09 PM 2/4/01 +0000, you wrote:

>If you have documented proof that there are no grades of Tea Tree Oil,

>please share it with me and I will personally take it up with the company.

>

>Your description of the 'kinds' and 'grades' of EOs is subjective at best.

>And to be honest I resent that you imply I am trying to pull the wool over

>anyone's eyes. I may not be as experienced as you in some aspects, but

>that's why I am here on this list, to learn. So please enlighten me.

Heidi, I don't think that Butch was implying that you were trying to pull

the wool over anyone's eyes... and I know I certainly wasn't. the thing

is, that the " grades " assigned by FPI to the two tea trees they offer are

purely internal...they have no relevance anywhere outside of FPI.

If a company offers more than one speciman of the " same " oil, they have to

find a way to differentiate between the two...and doing it by 'grade' is

one way. We offer two Tea Tree oils, from different distillers... one

Organic, the other Certified Demeter Biodynamic. I refer to them as " tea

tree Bio " and " tea tree Robust " because the organic has a more robust

aroma. The point is that I have to find a way to differentiate between

them, so a customer who wants to reorder more of what she had last time

won't be 'surprised' by expecting one and receiving the other. Am I saying

one is better than the other? No way! They are both lovely oils. I just

want folks to know what they are buying. I'm not claiming that one is a

" higher grade " than the other...I'm just giving all the info I have about

each, and the client can make their own decision, based on their own

taste/purposes.

Butch and I both tend to jump on the grading thing because he makes part of

his living importing and reselling essential oils...and I make all of mine

doing that. And there is a MLM company out there (who shall remain

anonymous) that preaches to it's downlinks that there are FIVE grades of

essential oils...and they, of course, only sell the highest grade, while

all the rest of the peasants around are selling the bottom grades. 'taint

true, but I guess it helps them sell more.

Butch's comments re 'commercial grade' and 'aromatherapy grade' oils are

perhaps the goal, rather than the reality at this point. I know a LOT of

folks who claim to be selling 'pure aromatherapy grade' essential oils, who

are buying from well known commercial suppliers, including FPI and other

big suppliers that love to sell to soapmakers. I'm remembering at a NAHA

convention a few years ago, a chemist who used to work for a company that

sells a LOT of EO's and flavor oils to soapers, talking about how, during a

patchouli shortage, he mixed up a biiiiiiiiiig batch of patchouli in the

lab...it's easy when you know the what the proportions are supposed to be

and have access to all the " nature identical " synthetic chemicals...they

sold a lot of that " imitation patchouli " ... 'course they didn't call it

'imitation patchouli', they called it Pogostemum cablin.

some of the 'earmarks' of an aromatherapy grade oil: number one, you

will always be told the latin nomenclature, the country of origin, the

part of the plant selected, the method of extraction (ie, steam

distillation, hydrodistillation, cold pressed, etc.) and the agricultural

method....is the plant commercially grown, with pesticides and chemical

fertilizers? Most are, after all. Or is it organically grown, or

ethically wildcrafted? This makes a difference in the final

result. At least in theory, the oil should be single

crop, single distillation... not plant material imported from all over

the world, mixed and distilled... or oils from all over the world distilled

and blended. But to insure that...you have to know the distiller.

probably more than you wanted to know.......... I just didn't want you to

take Butch's or my comments personally...I knew you were just passing along

the information you were given..... was just pointing out that the

information only had meaning within your source's own lexicon, you know?

Actually, I want to thank you for being open enough to share the source for

the oils you are cooping... that's something most folks don't do.

Your source for superb Essential Oils, Aromatherapy

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