Clary Sage Absolute

#### Sage (Clary) Absolute. **Clary**** ****Sage**** ****Absolute**** **is produced from **Clary**** ****Sage**** ****Concrète**. The concrète is produced from the clary sage plant (see monograph on **Sage Clary Oil**) by extraction with petroleum ether. As a rule, either flowering tops or tops whose flowers have withered and produced seed are used for extraction. Leaves and stalks are avoided if possible. This may be part of the reason for the six to eight times higher yield by extraction than by steam distillation. Another reason is that non-volatile odorous and non-odorous matter is extracted but cannot be steam distilled. Significant quantities of sage clary concrète are now produced in Morocco from locally cultivated plant material. Smaller quantities are produced in the south of France, but the author is not aware of any production of the concrète in the U.S.S.R. although that country is the world's leading producer of clary sage oil (steam distilled). **Clary Sage Concrète **is a solid mass of green to pale olive-green color and an extremely rich, delicately sweet, yet bitter-winy and somewhat herbaceous odor of great tenacity. The slightly bitter undertone is utilized with good results in ambre perfume bases, while the rich and sweet body blends extremely well with citrus colognes, lavender fougères, chypres, etc. The concrète is occasionally used as such in high grade soap perfumes, etc., where high fixative power is imperative. Although poorly soluble in alcohol, the concrète is clearly miscible with most perfume materials, and it finds increasing use in modern perfumery, e.g. for aldehydic perfumes, fougère bases, chypres, colognes, after-shave lotion perfumes, ambre bases, etc. Through the usual alcohol washing method, the concrète may be processed into an absolute. About 50 **% **of the concrète is alcohol-soluble matter. **Clary Sage Absolute **is also green, solid or paste-like, and may separate crystals on prolonged storage under uneven temperature conditions. The crystals are presumably **Sclareol**, a solid, odorless, non-distillable terpenealcohol which contributes strongly to the fixative effect of the extracted products from clary sage. It is technically possible to produce Clary Sage Concrète at about half the price of the essential oil. Consequently, the absolute can be produced at almost the same price as the steam distilled essential oil. The odor of the absolute closely resembles that of the concrète, but there is a perceptible difference in the intensity of the odor of the two materials. The absolute has a somewhat finer, less resinous odor, more balsamic-sweet than the odor of the concrète. **Clary**** ****Sage**** ****Absolute **is an extremely interesting perfume material and, since the yield is three to four times the yield of essential oil by steam distillation, the absolute can be produced at a very attractive price, and the demand for this material increases steadily. **Clary**** ****Sage**** ****Absolute**** **is an excellent modifier, fixative and natural "body" for colognes, lavender fougères, chypres, ambre bases, conifer fragrances,, forest notes and even floral notes like muguet and jasmin. It blends well with ionones, methyl eugenol, cedarwood derivatives, nitromusks, labdanum products, citrus oils, lavender and lavandin,, phenylethyl alcohol and numerous other common perfume materials. The annual production of **Clary**** ****Sage**** ****Concrète**** **is limited to less than one metric ton (1960) and the material comes mainly from Morocco. Smaller quantities are produced in France and Italy. Most of the concrète is processed further to the **Absolute**** **but increasing amounts of **Concrète**** **are now used as such in soap perfumery, etc.