Tinctured to Kill
Some things, let's face it, have a greater capacity for high ratings on the Stink Factor Scale.
I imagine animal-derived essences, especially those originating from the excretory and reproductive systems (that would be pee-pee, ca-ca and 'come thee hither' squirt), have a higher rating than say, sandalwood or rose, though both of these have some of their own urine/fecal/sex-me-up swill about them, they're just nicer about it.
One such high rater on the SFS is cumin. Pee-yoo! Another blogger piqued my curiosity about this seemingly innocuous spice with her descriptions of man-sweat, so, of course, I had to try it.
I tinctured one ounce of cumin seeds into 3 ounces of organic grape alcohol just a few days ago. When I went to give it its daily swish, I realized the cap wasn't on tightly because a bit of the juice spilled over my hand. No biggie. Until people in the house started asking if someone needed a bath. And then my daughter had an asthma attack because, she said, someone hadn't "showered after their marathon". I didn't think it smelled THAT bad. I actually thought it was pretty damned good. But maybe in smaller doses instead of a wash.
So, after careful testing, with considerable attention to feedback, I give cumin in tincture form a 9.9 on the SFS. Ten being the highest, zero being water.
The tinctured seeds are a bit more polite than the EO, in my experience ;) I have a dilution that is a single drop of the EO in a full oz of grain alcohol, that I've had for several years, and I use that by the single drop in 100 ml amounts of perfume.
ReplyDeleteSomething I learned the hard way is that cumin EO in jojoba is really really persistent. I like it myself, and in that case it was 200 ml jojoba, and not even a full drop, but just the stirring rod dipped shallow and then swished in the jojoba... Ay chihuaua, that stuff is sweaty! Hubba hubba.