What are essential oils?
Historically alchemists in medieval time first used the term "essential oil" from the word quintessential or the fifth element corresponding to the spirit or soul. Its meaning was never meant to suggest essential to life nor is it even a real oil. Essential oils only act like oil in water making them insoluble. The modern day definition generally means the smallest most volatile parts of the aromatic plant which is thought to be the by-product of plant's metabolism that aids in its own immune system. The Plant's Body Odor!

How do essential oils work?
Essential oils enter the body in several different ways. They are absorbed through the skin passing into the circulatory system. They can also be inhaled, passing into the blood stream through the lungs or by causing signals to be transmitted through the nervous system directly into the limbic system of the brain. Smelling or diffusing the oils into the air is a basic way to transmit the oils. Massage is also a very popular method of working the oils into the body, but here a fixed oil is needed.

What are therapeutic grade essential oils?
The essential oil market is not regulated by a government agency. The quality varies tremendously from company to company. The industry has begun to self-regulate itself with pressure from consumers. Gritman was one of the first to classify their oils called the Gritman Classification Code or GCC. Go to Therapeutic grading system for more details.

How many drops come in a bottle of essential oils?
Our normal bottle size we sell is either 5 ml or 1/6 oz. and 10 ml 1/3 oz. Depending on viscosity 1/6 oz. bottle will have anywhere between 100 to 125 drops. A 10 ml bottle will have anywhere from 225 to 250 drops.

What methods are used to get essential oils out of the plant?
Distillation - The most common method for extracting essential oils is by steam distillation. You get only the volatile and water insoluble parts of a plant. Most essential oils are extracted by using this method.

Expression - A method for extracting essential oils by pressure. Citrus oils are extracted by using this method.

Solvent extraction - A method for extracting essential oils used when the oils would be damaged or destroyed using expression or distillation. Jasmine is an example. A solvent (such as hexane or heptane) is used to pull or dissolve the plant. The solvent is extracted for the creation of absolutes, concretes, and resinoids.

What should I know about purchasing and storing essential oils?
If you go into a store and all the oils are priced at $4.95, most likely they are fragrances and/or adulterated synthetically and not essential oils. Also, to help ensure that you are getting high quality oil; it is important that the bottle clearly states the botanical name (genus species). Common names can be misleading. Several different plants can have the same common name.
The country of origin is also important. The same variety of plant grown in a different country can smell differently. Take for example, Lemongrass from South American and Lemongrass from India. The Indian Lemongrass has a milder smell and is not has irritating to the skin as the Lemongrass from South America. The Gritman label gives you all this, plus, the Gritman Classification Code (GGC), which explains how it was processed and what grade or quality it is, along with the common name, scientific name, and country of origin. Most of all, it is important that you trust the company from which you purchase oils. Do they answer your questions? Do you feel comfortable with them? Can you trust them to tell you the truth?
Once you get home with your essential oils, always store essential oils out of reach and sight of children and pets. Essential oils are highly concentrated and could make them sick if they ingested an entire bottle. Essential oils are best stored in dark, airtight glass bottles, and away from light and heat. Some oils have indefinite shelf life, like Patchouli, juxtaposed to Orange which usually has a shelf life of up to 2 years.

What does adulterated essential oils mean?
Adulterating is adjusting or altering the oil in some way. It is a legitimate practice in perfumery and food processing to stretch or standardize the smell or taste of an oil. There are five different ways this is done. Stretching by adding alcohol, adding terpenes from another oil, adding a cheaper oil to an expensive oil (such as adding Lemongrass to Citronella), adding a colorless and odorless synthetic product, or by substituting an oil for another cheaper oil (such as Lavandin being sold as Lavender). These are all ways that essential oils can be adulterated.

How can you ensure that your oils are not adulterated?
Gas-Liquid chromatography, GC, and Mass spectrometry have become popular ways to test oils for purity. They will basically tell you if there are any synthetic components in the oils. Sadly, these tests are difficult to read if you are not trained properly or the machines are not calibrated correctly. Oils also can vary from growing season to growing season, so a lot of times profiles for an oil can vary from season to season. Here at gritman, we actually had a chemist tell us he could make the report say whatever he wanted to say in order to get the results he needed. So it is important to trust who tests your oils because the process is costly and drives the price of the essential oils up.

Other ways to tell an adulterated oil is through your nose. As you build experience with different oils, you will be able to tell if Lemongrass or a synthetic component was added to Citronella. Also essential oils, as with the example of citrus oils, are volatile and evaporate quickly. If you notice the oil is leaving a residue behind it is likely been adulterated with a carrier or fixed oil.

What is the difference between organic versus non-organic?
It has become very popular in aromatherapy to use only organic oils. In our experience, organic may not necessarily mean better. When oils are steam distilled, offensive or harmful pesticides are left behind. The pesticide reside is too big to pass through the distillation process. The only way pesticides could get through is if plants were newly sprayed at harvest time. The likelihood of this is slim. Also organic plants tend to be happy plants and do not have the yield(quantity) or quality of more conventionally grown essential oil plants. If a plant is steam distilled, it may not be the best idea to go organic. However, we do recommend using organic citrus essential oils. They are not distilled, but expressed, and can have pesticide residue in the oils. Ironically, citrus oils are cheap and most people will not buy the organics.

What is the difference between essential oils and fragrance oils?
Fragrances are not essential oils and some people do not like using synthetic products with fragrances, as they can create allergic reactions. Essential oils are natural products, usually steam distilled from plant material, and most people seem to be able to handle essential oils more easily.

How do you tell if an oil is natural or synthetic?
If it comes in a clear bottle, is inexpensive, with a powerful scent, and has a fruit name (apple, banana, cherry, coconut, grape, watermelon) or a floral name (lily of the valley, hyacinth, sweet pea, wisteria, honeysuckle) then it is safe to say they are fragrances. Those are dead give always that it is not an essential oil, but a fragrance (synthetic) cooked in a lab. True essential oils are always in a dark bottle with varying degrees of prices. A bottle (10ml) of true steam distilled rose oil is over $100. Then some oils can be inexpensive, like peppermint at $5. Essential oils come in a variety of scents. They can be very pleasant to smell, as well as medicinal, and there are some that do not smell good at all.

Once you have determined if you have a fragrance or an essential oil, there are a few things you need to know about the essential oil before you buy it. Usually good essential oils are sold with common and scientific names so you can identify the plant source. There should be the country of origin. This lets you know from where the oil is coming. Then there should be information on how the essential oil was processed; usually this will be through steam distillation. I would ask the supplier questions if any of this information were missing from the label.

How to do proper store and care for your essential oils?
With a little care and understanding of how oils work, you can maintain your oils for years. Keep them out of the light, heat, and moisture. Keep the lids on when not in use. Keep oils out of windows and strong light. Keep your oils cool or refrigerated. Keep your oils in dark bottles.