Thread: What exactly is Bay rum...

What is the scent of bay rum....i see it is very popular...also does it make a good aftershave or is it pretty harsh.

It is my favorite after shave. The smell is of the islands man!!!

Originally Posted by Doc

It is my favorite after shave. The smell is of the islands man!!!

That would be like Puerto Rico right? I don't think they had rum in Hawaii. Bay leaves and rum.

Rum would have typically been from the Caribbean, where sugar cane was grown.

Right on with the bit about bay leaves and rum. Other scents are sometimes added, such as orange or lime. Different companies do it differently, and there is also a DIY Bay Rum thread where you can see some of the variations that have been tried by members.

My favourite aftershave scent. Mmmm. My rotation goes out the window on september 19th when it's always bay rum soap, A/S and cologne.

It was originally made by soaking Bay leaves and a few other ingredients in rum and then straining the mix. If you are unsure whether you'll like the scent, Ogallala is offering a 2oz. sample of their Bay Rum cologne for $0.01 plus shipping.

The real question now is what is everyone's favourite brand of Bay Rum A/S?

The main ingredient is oil distilled from the Pimenta Racemosa tree (aka Bay Rum tree), native from the West Indies

Antonio is correct. This plant also grows in other countries with similar climate around the Caribbean. This "bay" is very different from what we know as bay. The leaves look and feel fairly similar to the touch to the the bay we all know (that would probably explain the name) but they do not smell anything like it. Before anyone asks, no, the bay that you buy at the grocery store would not make a good bay rum ;-) but it would make your rice (and other dishes) taste good ;-). I made bay rum once by soaking "bay" leaves in white rum with somewhat good results. I was able to extract the aroma from the leaves but at low concentrations, and of course, I did not have other scents in my infusion. I am not going to go into the specifics but using commercial rum is not the best way to make bay rum. It was a good experiment for a teenager though. I absolutely love the smell of bay rum.

Al raz.

The bay rum tree is closely related to allspice (same genus, pimenta) and also related to almond, teatree, quava and quavaberry trees (same family).