what does bay rum smell like? I think I saw that there was rum in it, but does it smell like straight rum?
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what does bay rum smell like? I think I saw that there was rum in it, but does it smell like straight rum?
It is the single greatest scent in Shavedom....... No... really it is...... quit laughing I'm serious
Yeah I am a Bay Rum fanatic and the are several different styles of the scent, but I cant describe it in words......
As Glen said, the best scent in the world! Of course that is just my opinion. Take a clove/cinnamon-ish smell and marry it to a vanilla-ish and that is probably as close as I can do. Should give you and idea though.
I sent you a PM. Bay Rums vary quite a bit from brand to brand, but I have a sample of one I will send to you if you want!
-Rob
I've PMed you sicboater, I can't wait to try it out!
BAYRUM ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So far I've come across a two main "styles" of Bay Rum. One is more cinnomony-clovish-nutmegy, to me. The other is more...well Bay Rum - think more along the lines of bay leaves with some added spices thrown in. I much prefer the second style. When I wear the first type, I feel like a baked good. Domonica and Royall typify the type I prefer. Have at them all. Bay rum is relatively cheap.
Jordan
Hi there,Quote:
Originally Posted by redcannon
Well, at the risk of being only partially correct, I'll chime in here. No, I'm not a scentologist, nor do I play one on any shaving forum. There now.....like that disclaimer?
Seems like there's a specific bay rum EO that's extracted from a certain leaf. The West Indies Bay tree (Pimenta Racemosa) often provides the scent used as a BASE for many other bay rum products. Yep, you'll find bay rum with clove or other scents like lime added, or maybe something to give it a little sweetness. Colleen does a wonderful job when adding sweet orange oil to the bay rum EO, but it IS a blend. Oh...speaking of that, there's NO rum in the bay rum EO as far as I know.
I've sniffed multiple shaving soaps and colognes with bay rum in em, and, as mentioned earlier, there's a wide range of interpretations with that fragrance. Same thing with scents like lime or sandalwood etc.....you gotta sniff each version to see what you think.
For a straight bay rum scent in my shaving creams or soaps, I'll order the unscented soap or cream base from favorite vendors. Then, I'll add an amount of the Pimenta Racemosa EO to it, and bingo!!! Works for me, and easy to do.
I have some soft shaving soap scented with that, and I can send out a bit for you to sniff and try if you like. Pm me if you're interested. I'm pretty sure this is the true bay rum fragrance, but I'm open to corrections.....heh. Colleen or one of the other nice vendors would know a lot more than me. I know there's other bay trees types used from other places, but this one's the standard I believe.
Anyway, hope that helps,
Martin
I will get it in the mail as soon as I can. Ogallala Bay Rum is a clove, cinnamon, butter scotch smelling concotion to me. YMMV. One nice thing about it is it doesn't have tons of alcohol in it. The draw back is you have to shake the heck out of it before every use, the plus is it doesn't burn me. I'll send you a sample of the soap too!
Quote:
Originally Posted by redcannon
De Layne thanks a lot for the post, I had no idea that the scent was open to interpretation by different soap makers. So many things I am learning on this forum!
Someone around here had posted a recipe for bay rum a while back. As I recall it was pretty simple stuff, alcohol, bay leaves and a few other things and then just time and filter. No I never tried it and I don't remember what the other things were but as I recall it did contain some rum.
Here is a thread that ya might wanna check out on Bay Rums
http://straightrazorpalace.com/after...arade-atc.html
Hi,
I have just joined your wonderful forum - I hope I can be of great service to you all. I handmake my own shaving products (amongst millions of other things) for both men and women.
Bay rum was once described to me by someone as 'a rough pirate smell!!' very true actually!! it is a bit alcolholic with an aniseedy clove type smell - very christmassy!?!
I have a good range of stuff in my shop but always make special orders so if you want a shaving oil that smells of licorice allsorts - that is what you get!!!
Have a look in www.scentfromheavenonline.com and let me know what you think.
Kim
The original Bay rums were concoctions made of rum, and bay leaves. The individual makers would add whatever they had on hand that smelled good to give it something extra.
This all blossomed out of the rum trade in the 17th century.
"The shipping of molasses to make Rum in New England distilleries became part of the infamous "slavery triangle." The first leg was the shipment of molasses to New England to make Rum. The second leg was the shipment of Rum to the ports of West Africa to trade for slaves. The final leg was the passage of slave ships to the sugar plantations of the Caribbean and South America where many of the slaves were put to work in the sugar cane fields."
There are several variations to this "route", but the basic principal was that the traders at that time didn't bathe, the slaves they transported weren't allowed to use the bathroom, and things got stinky. The Bay tree was called spice tree, and sailors would often keep some because it would over power the stench of the ships. It was only a matter of time before someone decided to add it to his ration of rum.
The simplest formula for bay rum would be to add bay leaves or berries to a bottle of rum, and let it sit in a dark place for 6 to 8 weeks.
Some of the less expensive bay rums are little more than a watered down grain alcohol with bay oil and coloring added.
For a spicier bay rum, you can add cinnamon, cloves, lemongrass, citrus oils, peppercorn, nutmeg, vetiver, or any other scent of choice. I've even considered adding pine to it. :shrug:
Let it all sit, in a dark place, and experiment. You can always add more ingredients to it. when you've got the scent where you want it, add some glycerine, and you're good to go.
BTW for those of you that don't know, Mike Ratliff makes a fantastic Bay Rum himself :D
He was kind enough to send me some to sample, and I gotta say it is right up there with the best out there......
Shameless promotion of a fellow SRP members product, hey it's good stuff, what else can I say.....:y
"Hi my name is Tony and I'm addicted to Bay Rum."
When things settle down here, I may have to try making my own...would definitely be interesting, and I love Bay Rum also. I've heard that Str8razor tried making his own, maybe he'll chime in.
Mike, can you add anything to make the scent longer lasting? The homemade ones I've had so far are short-lived scent wise.
I agree that Royall makes a very good Bay Rhum. I prefer theirs over most I have tried.
use essential oils instead of natural ingredients to start with, EO's are simply more concentrated.Quote:
Originally Posted by foundlingofdollar
secondly, give it longer to absorb all of the scent into the rum. 8 weeks should be a starting point.
I allow mine to sit until I've sold almost all of the previous batch, which is often well over 8 weeks.
The addition of a carrier such as glycerine, or a tiny bit of sweet almond oil will keep the scent on your skin longer, and will act as a moisturizer.
and use a good quality rum, I prefer Bacardi Select, it just seems to work better for me.
I have a bay berry bush in my back pasture, it's a native Indiana plant, and it smells great. Do you think it may produce a similar scent to bay rum, or would be worth experimenting with?
Say if I were to buy a pint of bacardi select, take a couple pulls off of it, and then fill the remainder back up with the leaves and berries. or am I talkin' crazy talk?
possibly in the same family, but not likely as strong, you can try it...Quote:
Originally Posted by go eyeball
add a couple of sticks of cinnamon, and a spoon full of whole cloves, and you're well on your way.
however the bay oil used in true bay rum is from a very specific plant.
Pimenta racemosa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Quote:
Originally Posted by foundlingofdollar
What's your mix ratio? You can add a 2 drops of pure bay EO. Then test from there.
I'm not making it, I've just tried a few from a few straight shavers. The last one I had I believe was scented with bay leaves and did contain some glycerin. It smelled like heaven, but was almost gone in half an hour.Quote:
Originally Posted by Aurora Borealis
BAY RUM #1
16.5% Bay Leaf
16.5% Clove
33% Red Thyme
33% Allspice
BAY RUM #2
74% Bay Leaf
9% Clove
9% Sweet Orange
4% Neroli
4% ounce Allspice
BAY RUM #3
71% Bay Leaf
7% Clove
22% Orange
Here's a couple recipes I found if you're looking for EO blends. There's quite a bit of variation but they all have bay leaf and clove in common. I'm thinking about trying #2 to scent some of the cream I made, only substituting petitgrain for neroli since neroli would break me financially.
Thanks all for an interesting thread- i have only ever used bay rum as a hair dressing althoug the stuff we get here in the UK might not be as aromatic as what you all get in the USA!
Think I will have to make some for myself!!!:tu
A few points for clarity
1) Classic bay rum is not made from the same plant that provides the bay leaves used in cooking. The West Indian Bay Tree (Pimenta Racimosa) is a from a totally different genus than the Bay Leaves you find at your local grocery's spice counter.
2) The proper way to make any plant scented product is to distill out the plant essential oils and mix them with the proper carrier. In the case of bay rum after shave, this would involve distilling leaves and other materials from the West Indian Bay Tree and mixing the derived essential oil with alcohol. Most essential oils are produced via steam distillation followed by separation of the essential oils from the hydrosol (condensed water, usually containing small amounts of essential oils). You can use alcohol in place of water and go directly to the final product. You can also buy pure essential oils and eliminate the distillation step completely.
3) What you cannot do, at least if you want a top quality product, is eliminate the distillation step by going with the "mix and macerate" route (putting the plant materials in high purity alcohol and letting this mix sit for some time). This will produce a product, but the product will contain a number of compounds from the plant that would not volatilize in during proper distillation (for example tannins). These will alter the nature of the final product, and may in fact be undesirable or even harmful.
I have made bay rum both ways, and have gotten very satisfactory results in each case.
The essential oil route has more staying power. It is also more expensive.
I can't argue by adding real ingredients, you will get more than just the oils. however most of what you are adding is food... cinnamon, cloves, allspice... we eat these things.
The bay oil has antibacterial properties, and it is the most beneficial part of this equation, if you don't want to spend a fortune on EO's, the "mix and macerate" method will get you a good smelling aftershave. just buy the Bay EO, and go from there.
Yes it might have a small amount of tannins in it, but you will get much more from a slice of corned beef than you will from this aftershave.
The essential oils you buy (or at least the high quality ones) are produced by steam distillation of the relevent plant material. Thus, adding any combination of these to a high purity alcohol will produce a high quality product. The higher the alcohol purity, the more oil you can get into solution, the more essential oil you have in the solution, the more will remain on your skin after the alcohol evaporates and the longer the scent will remain. Be aware that many pure EOs including West Indian Bay Tree oil can be quite irritating so handle with appropriate care.
This is a totally different plant, actually a myrtle.Quote:
Originally Posted by go eyeball
I'm not sure exactly how tannins would get in corned beef, it is supposed to be curred in a stone or pottery crock.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike_ratliff
Wow - love the thought that's gone into this thread. Having only just started to experiment with different shaving soaps, I hadn't considered the aftershave component.
Personally, I'm pretty fond of the Bay Rum soap from MoonDance soaps, but I'm partial in that it's my wife's hobby. The Bay Rum bars she makes has cinnamon, a bay oil, and lime essential oil for a nice citrus hint. Because the soap is moisturizing, I haven't really explored aftershaves, but you guys got me thinking. Why an aftershave if the shaving soap (or creme) does its job properly? What are your favorite shaving soaps, and why?
http://shop.moondancesoaps.com/smoot...pice-p130.aspx
My daughter summed it all up. She loves my Dominica Bay Rum aftershave smell. She said, "Dad, you smell like Christmas!"
This morning I used the Bay Rum aftershave I got in the August giveaway, and I think it smells great! Used it after shaving with dark lime cream, made for a good combo.
Now that I am not getting razor burn, an alcohol based splash isn't on my "don't even think about it" list. It's nice to have some scent options.
Hi,
I'm a newbie, interested in the Bay Rum scent - any ideas of how I can get a sample to 'see' if I like it?
Many thanks
Richie
Quote:
Originally Posted by Moonshae