Saturday, November 20, 2010

Outlaw Perfumes: Cannabis by Dupetit




Cannabis by Dupetit
Perfumer: Alfredo Dupetit-Bernardi
Hey bud, let’s party!” 
“That was my skull!”  
(both lines from the immortal character Jeff Spiccoli, played by Sean Penn in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High”


Cheech: "It's Dave. Lemmee in, man! I got the stuff!"
Chong: "Dave's not here, man!"

Cannabis, by dupetit, does smell like the Evil Weed. Not Humboldt County skunk, though, more like a nice homegro -- er, never mind.
Actually, this is great-smelling stuff. It’s citrusy, like grapefruit, with a smooth, rich base, redolent of tolu balsam and perhaps vanilla, although that’s not listed in the notes. At the first instant,  the “bud” note is obvious, but then it recedes and becomes one instrument in the chorus. If I was smelling this blind, I’m not sure I’d even recognize it, as such, but since I know it’s there, it’s obvious.
If you’ve been to California in the last few years, you know that, with a doctor’s prescription, one can walk into a “dispensary,” offering many different variations on cannabis, labeled as to taste, strength and effect. Without editorializing too much, this is civilized. I’m surprised that, in the recent election, the same state that put Governor Moonbeam back in office also defeated the marijuana legalization initiative, but hey, that’s California. (And I like Jerry, make no mistake.) Just imagine the tax revenue from that industry, in a state desperate for tax revenue? Well, it makes no sense, nothing does in the US at the moment, but I digress.
The perfumer, Alfredo Dupetit-Bernardi, makes a good point in his literature. He says that if this proposed IFRA no-no list goes through, instead of substances tested for thousands of years as perfume ingredients, we will instead be spreading on skin, and breathing, untested substances of unknown origin. He also likens the IFRA’s efforts to control perfume ingredients to the way cannabis became outlawed in the 20’s and 30’s, with lots of media help from the Hearst corporation (and, though he doesn’t mention this, good ol’ Harry Anslinger and the FBI) thereby ending its use for recreation, but also medically.  Interesting that medical use has gained the Evil Weed its new foothold in quasi-legality.

I’d wear this fragrance. In fact, I will wear this fragrance. Just not to the airport.

As always, the notes on the IFRA's proposed no-no list are given in red italics.
Notes:
Basil oil (holy), Bay oil (West Indian), Bergamot leaf oil, Birch tar oil, Citronella oil, Clove oil, Geranium oil, Ginger oil, Grapefruit peel oil, Jasmine Sambac absolute, Lemon peel oils, Lemon verbena absolute, Lime peel oil (expressed) Mace oil, Nutmeg oil, Orange blossom absolute, Orange leaf oil, Orange peel oil (bitter) orange peel oil (sweet), Peppermint oil, Rose absolute, Rose oil, Rue oil, Taget (marigold) absolute, Thyme oil (thymol CT) Tolu balsam extract.




6 comments:

indieperfumes said...

Isn't it fun? It's true knowing it is there you recognize the note but blended with so much citrus it becomes a real fragrance.

I think IFRA does test the chemical frag. molecules, actually, they are easy to test because they are only one or two -- naturals are sometimes hundreds of molecules for one note so the possibility of triggering someone is higher. Still, we have been using these things for so long, it's crazy.

waftbyCarol said...

HEH - HEH- you're funny Pat ....
I liked this too , really comfy drydown .

queen_cupcake said...

This sounds so complex, really interesting combination. I love the Outlaw Perfume project.

OT: Time magazine (yeah, I know. I don't buy it more than once a year)just did a big piece on medical dispensaries. Way too many quotation marks around "medical", but interesting nonetheless.

womo531 said...

You mean I shouldn't spray this on my next cross-continental flight to the US from Taiwan? =P

AbsintheDragonfly said...

Let us not forget Mr. Dow, and Mr. Dupont, of said chemical companies, and also mention that Mr. Hearst owned thousands of acres of logging interests. YOu know what it takes to make wood into paper? Lots of chemicals...To convert cannabis into paper, know what it takes? WATER. That's it. So there was a great deal of money at stake here. Also Bayer was just figuring out that you could isolate compounds in plants and use them for medicine. We don't want granny using the Cannabis tincture for her back ache when she could use Asprin now do we? Again lot's of money involved here.

What we need is some sort of campaign to scare folks into getting this banned. Because we have a lot of money invested in paper. So Mr. Hearst kindly started the era of yellow journalism, telling people about this "evil" devil weed marihuana...used by Blacks and Mexicans...whip up the hysteria and pay enough congress people off and push this legislation through in the middle of the night, (literally they passed this at Midnight) and our profit margins are safe...for another 80 years.

So IFRA...follow the money, to find out WHY all of a sudden these things are bad for us.

Lisa Abdul-Quddus said...

I think this is the one I want to try most.