Is it just me, or do homemade resin tinctures completely blow commercial absolutes out of the water?
Hey everyone,
I’ve been doing some serious side by side testing in the lab lately, and I wanted to check in with fellow DIYers here.
I recently compared a homemade Labdanum tincture (made with raw resin tears and 96% ethanol, filtered down) against a high quality commercial Labdanum absolute diluted to the same concentration.
To my absolute shock, the homemade tincture is so much more complex. The commercial absolute is nice and heavy, sure, but it feels somewhat flattened out, like it lost its spirit during the industrial extraction process. My homemade tincture, on the other hand, retained this incredible, dynamic, multidimensional character: it has the warm, ambery leather depth, but also these beautiful, slightly bright, volatile top/heart nuances that the absolute completely left behind.
It got me thinking: with raw resins (like Myrrh, Opoponax, Mastic, Frankincense) being so relatively cheap and easy to tincture at home in ethanol, is it actually worth buying expensive commercial absolutes for these specific materials? Obviously, for consistency and highly concentrated professional formulas, commercial extracts are the standard. But for small-batch, niche, or artisanal projects, I feel like tincturing raw resins at home gives the perfume a much more organic, rich, and "alive" soul.
Does anyone else here regularly tincture their own raw resins instead of buying commercial replacements? What are your experiences with maturation times, filtration, and performance/fixation?
Would love to hear your thoughts and favorite resins to work with!