Rose Oil, Moroccan

#### Rose Oil, Moroccan. The Moroccan rose, presumably a local variety of **Rosa Centifolia, **produces a wealth of flowers and is excellent for the extraction of perfume by solvent (see **Rose Concrète,**** ****Centifolia**). The yield of essential oil by steam or water + steam distillation is, however, rather small, and the oil has not attained much popularity among the perfumers until very recently. The production methods have been greatly improved, and it takes time for a "new" material to gain a firm foothold on the perfumer's shelf. The material is regularly available at about half the cost of the Bulgarian **"Rose Otto".** Moroccan rose oil is a pale yellow or almost colorless liquid, with a deep-sweet, rich and tenacious floral rose-odor. The peculiar "spicy" undertone found in Bulgarian oil seems to be missing or slightly weaker in the Moroccan oil. The warmth is equal to that of the Bulgarian oil. Overall, the performance of the Moroccan oil shows only a slight deficiency in power, richness and piquancy compared to that of the Bulgarian oil. But the present quality of Moroccan rose oil is a vast improvement over the oil which was occasionally produced in Morocco 20 or more years ago. The Arabs and Berbers of Morocco have known to distil roses and produce rose water since the earliest days of Arab settlement in that country (about A. D. 700). French perfume houses have invested fortunes, experience and skill in the development of this industry which may one day become the world's center of rose oil and rose extract production. Moroccan rose oil finds increasing areas of application in perfumery where its delightful fragrance adds life, depth, warm notes and naturalness to countless floral and non-floral perfumes, in addition to its use in rose and related bases. In flavors, it is used as a "rounder-off" and bouquetting material, e. g. in tobacco flavoring. It g.ves excellent and delightful undertones in plum and raspberry flavors, etc. The oil is occasionally exposed to adulteration, although this is rare since the oil is generally sold directly from the producing areas in the southeastern Morocco. The Moroccan rose oil, in turn, has served as a "cutting agent" for the Bulgarian "**Rose**** ****Otto****"**** **(see this monograph under which the Turkish "Anatolian rose" is mentioned).