Collection: MIRABILIA II - Sandalwood Treasures

Wonders for Sandalwood lovers

Sandalwood has been used and revered since the highest antiquity. Used religiously and medicinally, it has also been used to carve deities and aesthetic objects. To this day, it remains widely used for ritual purposes of all kinds all over Asia, and worldwide. It is of course a star of worldwide perfumery, and an important remedy in different medicinal systems, notably Ayurveda. 

On top of this rich cultural history that I am greatly looking forward to blog about, I also have a personal passion with sandalwood. It started gently (Sandalwood is a gentle being) when I was working an an anthropologist in India in the 90's and the interest never left me, still growing deeper by the day... to this day. I wear Sandalwood regularly, use  it medicinally, cosmetically, sensually and spiritually. I keep a box with the different samplers of sandalwood offered here at all times, and blissfully inhale a few of them every day. My loved ones tease me about my boundless love for Sandalwood. 

Seeing how difficult it is to find good, 100% pure Sandalwood it was therefore normal that I wanted to devote a bountiful collection for Sandalwood oil overs.

I try to sample Sandalwood from different producing regions, even if it will take decades to really do that fully, as Sandalwood grows in much more places than often thought (from Jammu to Vanuatu, from Lanka to Tripura, from Yunnan to Southern Japan, etc ).

Also, for the amateurs or the curious, I have assembled of a few high quality of cousin varieties to the King of history and perfumery: Santalum album : little know, often bypassed by Sandalwood aficionados, but nevertheless interesting species in themselves, well distilled and cured (S. austrocaledonicum, S. lanceolatun, S. spicatum)

Some oils are our own productions and are only available at Scentient Nature, some are co-productions, and some are bought from distillers I know personally,  always small scale and artisan produced.

The range goes from inexpensive (but small-scale manual distillation, entirely pure no less) to highly refined, to unique and exceptional (eg: 100 years + wild single tree distillations)

I cure all sandalwood oils before putting them on sale, not always as long as I would love to in an ideal world (where I wouldn't touch an oil for several years, unless for monitoring the aging), but always at least a year to a year and half after distillation, sometimes much more. I let the oil decide for me, and my nose tell me it is ready when it its.

The prices of the oils reflect the production costs (cost of the wood, length of the distillation process, type of fuel used, labor costs in country of distillation, etc.), and of course the overall quality of the final oil, but your personal favorite could be anywhere along the price range. Don't hesitate to sample different qualities.

The essence of Sandalwood has been connecting humans and transcendent realms since millennia. The names of the different oils in the collection have been chosen in those grounds. They metaphorically evoke qualities of the oil, provide narrative imagination, and connect with cultural histories where Sandalwood is an important aromatic and where the specific oils come from.