Poplar (Populus) Buds
Note Profile
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 leads with a sticky balsamic resin, read by one source as church incense and by the other as propolis. Under it sits a honeyed sweetness and, cutting across that, a distinct sour tang like aged wine lees, which is the thing that makes this material recognisable. A tobacco-and-hay depth sits below, and one supplier reports a heavy vanilla in the top. A faint boozy, fermented quality runs through all of it. It is darker and more complex than benzoin, and its sources say plainly that it is less smoky than labdanum.
ScentWheel
Read off the wheel, not a label applied to the note.
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.
Similar Notes
Perfumes featuring Poplar (Populus) Buds
A selection of reviewed perfumes where Poplar (Populus) Buds appears prominently.
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