Papua Sandalwood

Note Profile

Botanical

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About

Papua sandalwood is the heartwood oil of Santalum macgregorii from Papua New Guinea. It is not one smell. Fourteen GC/MS-analysed samples spread continuously between three very different compositions, so what a buyer gets varies from tree to tree.

Scent Profile

Papua sandalwood is not one smell: some trees give a creamy, sweet-smooth wood, and others give a drier, sun-warmed timber with almost none of that creaminess. A rich vanilla, balsamic sweetness runs through the creamier trees. A sweet floral top note appears here that other sandalwoods do not have, and the finish deepens into a resinous amber warmth.

ScentWheel

Breadthbroad

EnvelopeBase · ~24h lasting

Family Woody & Earthy, Sweet & Gourmand

Read off the wheel, not a label applied to the note.

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Materials That Can Make This Note

Perfumers can make Papua Sandalwood from this natural extract.

Natural extract Sandalwood oil (Santalum macgregorii)

Smell words come from published sources.

A given perfume with this note may use this material, or something else.

Origin

Santalum macgregorii F. Muell., growing between 100 and 1,500 metres in Papua New Guinea and not readily available across the region. Brophy, Goldsack, Doran and Niangu examined 14 heartwood oils by GC and GC/MS (Journal of Essential Oil Research 21:3). They found three compositional extremes: one very similar to Santalum album with large amounts of alpha- and beta-santalol, one dominated by (Z)-lanceol, and one dominated by (E,E)-farnesol and the curcumenols. Their conclusion matters more than the extremes: 'chemotypes are not present; rather, there is a continuous variation'.

Usage in Perfumery

Sold as oil by small independent suppliers and as carving wood and incense chips. Attested on 10 Parfumo perfumes across 3 brands. No fragrance house publishes a reference standard for it.