Reminiscent of the smoky embers of a wood fire, birch offers a blanket of warmth with distinctively leather-like notes. The tar-like, burnt leather facets of birch bark blend delectably in many masculine fragrances of woody notes, ferns and Chypres. Birch tar oil is commonly used in suede and leather tanning.
A broadleaved and deciduous hardwood tree, birch is most commonly processed across Russia and Northern Europe. To obtain essences suitable for perfumery, birch tar oil is extracted through a slow and destructive distillation process. Once the wood has been processed, the decadent birch essence is suitable for perfumery after dephonolization (alkaline processing).
The beautiful birch tree has a rather dark history: deriving from the Latin verb “batuere” (“to strike”), birch branches were traditionally used as whips to punish children. “Birching” has—rather unfortunately—been a common corporal punishment throughout our collective history. Through the Middles Ages, men would receive several strikes to their bare buttocks as punishment for petty crime.
