Poplar (Populus) Buds

Note Profile

Botanical 23 perfumes

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About

Poplar Bud is the absolute from the sticky resin that coats unopened poplar buds through the winter. It is a balsamic base material with one quality the other balsams do not have: a sour, fermented edge. Bees gather the same resin to make propolis, and propolis smells largely of poplar bud.

Scent Profile

Poplar Bud smells of sticky, balsamic resin, close to church incense or raw propolis. A honeyed sweetness runs underneath, cut by a distinct sour tang like aged wine lees, the trait that sets it apart from other balsams. A tobacco-and-hay depth sits below that, with a rich vanilla note in the top on some batches. It reads darker and more complex than benzoin, and less smoky than labdanum.

ScentWheel

Breadthmedium

EnvelopeBase · ~30h lasting

Family Amber · Musk · Leather, Sweet & Gourmand, Fruity

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

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Materials That Can Make This Note

Perfumers can make Poplar (Populus) Buds from this natural extract.

Natural extract Populus nigra absolute

Smell words come from published sources.

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

Origin

Solvent extraction of the resinous buds of Populus nigra, the black poplar, and Populus balsamifera, the balsam poplar. The buds are picked in early spring before they open. Sources give eastern Europe, western Europe and North America; Mountain Rose Herbs sells theirs as Populus nigra. The old name for the buds is Balm of Gilead.

Usage in Perfumery

A base note and a strong fixative. It anchors amber, balsamic, incense and tobacco accords and works in the base of chypre structures. Perfumers reach for it in place of benzoin or tolu balsam when a balsam is wanted that is not clean: the sour, fermented tang is what it adds that they cannot.