Fun with Bay EO (pimenta racemosa)

I just received a 1 oz. bottle of Bay EO (pimento racemosa) and also a small bottle of Allspice EO (pimento officiinalis) from Mountain Rose Herbs with which to play, in order to concoct a (hopefully) respectable kind of a Bay Rum or a Bay Rum-like scented aftershave for hubby. Or even a halfway respectable Bay Rumish-like scent.

I already have 3 small amber glass bottles of different brews steeping now:

Bottle 1 (my scaled-down version of the 1893 USP recipe for Bay Rum):

In a 2-oz. amber glass bottle, I added:

-11 drops Bay EO
-1 drop Orange EO 10x
-1 drop Allspice EO
-1 fl. oz. rum (I'm just using a cheapie 80-proof amber-colored rum from the grocery store) I was going to add 2 oz. of rum to the bottle, but decided to only add 1 oz. at this time to leave me some space in the bottle to make scent adjustments if needed.

Bottle 2 (my scaled-down version of Dish-member SilverDoctor's adaptation of the USP Bay Rum recipe):

In a 1-oz. amber glass bottle I added:

-6 drops Bay EO
-1 mL vegetable glycerin
-1/2 fl. oz. of the same cheapie rum I mentioned above

Bottle 3 (my own try at a kinda/sorta Bay Rum-ish blend):

To a 1 oz. glass amber bottle I added:

-3 mLs of AH/RE's Barbershop 1920's FO (a most awesome FO on it's own)
-.5 mLs of Bay EO
-1/2 fl. oz. of that same cheapie rum

I'm going to let these all steep in a dark cupboard for a few weeks or more and then check on them every so often.

As things stand right at this very moment, though- my mix of the Barbershop 1920's and Bay EO smells the best of them all, hands down. The Bay EO is doing something really nice to the FO- giving it a subtle, but pleasant, spicy kick. Me likes!

Have any of y'all made your own Bay Rum scent, or a distant cousin of a Bay Rum scent for aftershave?


IrishLass

Its on my list of things to do, so I will follow this with interest.

The only bay scented thing Ive done so far is bay EO blended with BrambleBerrys tobacco leaf FO in soap, which is really nommy.

I think I'm also going to make a little batch using whole spices to compare. I've seen several 'whole spice' recipes for Bay Rum out there on the different shaving forums. The only whole spice I don't have access to, though, is the actual racemosa bay leaves, but I'm going to check out my corner international market just in case by some miracle they have some of the dried leaves down the Jamaican/Caribbean aisle. If not, I'll just use some of my EO.


IrishLass

PS: I'm still loving the Barbershop 1920's/bay racemosa blend the best.

PPS: I should probably mention that before I received my pimenta racemosa EO the other day, I had actually never smelled a real Bay Rum fragrance, so I had no idea what to really expect. Straight OOB, I can smell a mix of warm spices against an almost bitter, medicine-y background. It's hard to pick any one distinct/individual spice that stands out above the rest, but my nose detects a balanced blend of warm spices such as clove, cinnamon, and allspice, and maybe nutmeg, too.

In my blend with the Barbershop 1920's, which is amber/musk-based, the medicine-y smell from the Bay has gone and the clove/allspice-like components of it are really popping out and giving the Barbershop scent a very pleasant spicy, and subtle tobacco-y aroma. I have a little dab of it on my arm right now and it actually reminds me a little bit of those spice-scented pinecones that lots of stores around here sell in the fall and winter, but it smells smoother, and the slight tobacco undertones that my nose is picking up make it smell all that much nicer to me overall.

The other two blends are showing slight changes, too- they both smell less medicine-y to my nose and more of the spice tones are coming out.

I'll keep you updated!

Well, I just put the following concoction together in a mason jar:

3 oz. Everclear
1 oz. cheapie rum as mentioned in my posts above
10 whole dried allspice berries, crushed in my mortar & pestle
36 drops of the Bay EO (pimento racemosa)

I was thinking of adding orange peel to it, too, but my hubby nixed that idea for me. He just wants to see how things fare with the whole allspice berries in it. So, the jar is sitting in a dark place right now to steep. When it's done steeping in a week or two, I will strain it and use it as part of my normal aftershave recipe, which will contain these other ingredients: 26 grams witch hazel, 34g aloe vera juice and 5 grams of vegetable glycerin.

I see a lot of homemade Bay Rum recipes with cloves and cinnamon added to the mix, but having smelled the real EO, I think that would be overkill. The Bay EO and the allspice already have a smell of cloves and cinnamon naturally.

Until today, I had never smelled whole allspice berries, and it's amazing how awesome they smell. I opened the package and was blown away at how strong and how uncannily similar they smell to my Bay EO. As a matter of fact, they are so close in smell that I bet they could be subbed 1:1 for each other.

I'll keep y'all updated!


IrishLass

Time for an update.

First, I want to say that if anyone is looking for a realistic Bay (pimento racemosa) scent in an FO as opposed to an EO, you need to buy the Montego Bay FO from Oregon Trails post haste. I just received a package from them this morning that included, among other things, their Bay Rum FO and their Montego Bay FO, and all I can say is WOW! Their Montego Bay FO smells exactly like the blend that I have steeping with just the Bay racemosa EO and whole crushed allspice berries. I am so excited! :-o

Their Bay Rum FO, on the other hand, is more of a mixture of Bay and other different scents that one would come up with if they were trying to make their own signature Bay Rum blend (I can definitely smell lime in there for instance, as well as some other notes that I can't quite put my finger on). It's a very pleasant scent, though, somewhat in the realm of Old Spice-ish to my nose, but different from the Old Spice that I have on hand.

I have not had time to do anything with them just yet other than to open them and smell them, but based on OOB smell alone, I'm chomping at the bit to buy bigger bottles of each, especially the Montego Bay (I only bought the 2oz sample size of each).



Now, onto my blends with the Bay EO (pimento racemosa):

My 2 top favorites that stand out above all the rest:

1) The blend that I mentioned in my last post on the 20th of September (I'll call it Bottle #4). It contains the Bay EO, the whole, crushed allspice berries, Everclear and cheapie amber rum. It smells amazing (and just like OT's Montego Bay)!

2) The blend in Bottle #3 with Barbershop 1920's and Bay EO. Depending on how you look at things, the Barbershop 1920's is giving the Bay a nice, smooth amber/vanilla edge to it. And if you look at it from the perspective of the Barbershop 1920's, the Bay is giving that a nice spicy kick.

Runner up:

Bottle #2- Silverdoctor's adaptation of the USP version of Bay Rum which contains only Bay EO, cheapie rum and glycerin. It smells really nice and very, very close to the Bay/whole, crushed allspice berry blend that I gave top billing, but the other one won out because I like what the addition of crushed allspice berries is adding to it. Even though the allspice berries smell pretty much the same as the Bay to my nose, I found that their addition to the Bay rounds thing out and gives it a subtle, smoother/sweeter edge than just using Bay EO alone. I can see now why many recipes for Bay Rum use both Bay and allspice. Good call, at least to my nose.

For whatever reason, my nose is just not liking the USP blend in Bottle #1. It's not nauseating or anything, but I just don't care for it. Maybe if I had used whole, crushed allspice berries in it instead of using the Allspice EO, I think might like it better, so I'm going to whip up another batch using whole, crushed allspice berries soon.

For what it's worth, the Allspice EO doesn't even begin to compare to the wonderful aroma that my nose is picking up from the whole, crushed berries. If any of y'all are thinking of buying the Allspice EO for your Bay Rum-making endeavors, my advice is to save your money and just use whole, crushed allspice berries instead (don't buy the already-powdered, though- crush your own). Their smell is out-of-this-world amazing!

Oh, and I have one more blend steeping that I just put together. I will call it Bottle #5:

In a 1oz bottle I added:

-10 mLs Everclear
-10 mLs cheapie rum
-1/16 teaspoon of cardamom seeds from whole green cardamom pods (the little black seeds inside)
-2 whole, crushed allspice berries
-6 drops of Bay EO
-2 drops Sandalwood Vanilla FO from TSW.

It smells really good so far!.

I'm going to continue to let all of these steep for several more weeks, and maybe adjust some as I go. I'll keep you updated!


IrishLass

Any updates?
I am looking for a good EO mixture to put in my shaving soaps. Until now i had no luck.

iorgu said:

Any updates?
I am looking for a good EO mixture to put in my shaving soaps. Until now i had no luck.

Click to expand...

For bay rum in soap, I think FO is the best option. You just need to find a bay rum FO that you like. I bought one from a supplier over here but it smells a lot different to my aftershave which I made with the bay eo, cinnamon, cloves, and rum.

Try the one in ILs post above which sounds pretty good to me

Fragrance Oil isn't an option over here. I need to but it from abroad and it is expensive. EOs i can get easily, that's why i want to use them. Stirling and OSP use EO for their bay rums, and it smells amaizing. I just need to get an ideea about the corect proportions. Although EO aren't cheap might test a little to get the right scent. Probably i can mix the oils in a little alcohol and make many variations.

Even getting them from overseas might still be cheaper - don't forget that a batch of soap will last you for a very long time, so you won't have to buy the fo that often.

iorgu said:

Any updates?
I am looking for a good EO mixture to put in my shaving soaps. Until now i had no luck.

Click to expand...

Sorry I'm so late in replying back. My favorite Bay Rum's still happen to be the top 2 favorites I mentioned a year ago on 9/25/2016:

1) The blend I made with Bay Racemosa EO, whole allspice berries, Everclear and cheapie rum.
2) The blend I made with Barbershop 1920's FO and Bay Racemosa EO, which I've dubbed Bay Rum Formula #3.

I've not used either of the blends in soap, though. I only make aftershave with them. As a matter of fact, I was just replenishing my hubby's bottle of Bay Rum #3 today and I accidentally spilled some of the undiluted oil blend on the floor, and now my kitchen smells awesome!


IrishLass

Sorry for the bump or necropost IL, but have you (or anyone else) tried these blends in CP or HP shaving soap? They sound amazing! I've been trying to find a good bay rum for shaving soap but just haven't hit on it. I think I've got about 5, all from different vendors, and none of them stick worth a darn. Most have low use rates so that doesn't help and the cured soap has such a faint, almost undetectable scent, it's not worth it. I really want a strong, traditional bay rum! (and so do the men in my life, lol)