Post #776439 by AceExplorer on Tue, May 30, 2017 6:30 AM

Take a look at pipingrock.com. Their prices on oils are lower than other places I've found, although I haven't done more than a fairly basic search. I settled on these guys due to their quality, selection, and prices. And they offer 2-for-1 and 50% off sales at various times of the year.

The benefit of using these oils, from my experience so far, is that they are natural and they can produce very concentrated aromas. And you can blend them yourself into any mix you like.

Oils I have bought from them for my bar:
Peppermint and spearmint, cedar, lime, lemon.

I have not yet tried their vanilla, oakmoss, ginger, "creamy coconut," or pineapple. The pineapple oil is $2.89 for 15ml, or two for $5.29. You can spend quite a bit of time viewing their huge selection. And if you don't see something you're looking for, definitely use the search bar. Some oils, like pineapple, aren't shown in the main section of essential oils.

I'm guessing that oils seem to be priced by how hard or how easy it is to extract them, and how readily available raw materials are.

I have used the scent oils alone, and I have mixed a few, mostly in small quantities. For my tests, I have been using flat round cotton skin cleansing pads (from the dollar store, so don't overpay, lol) to absorb the oils and then let it evaporate naturally. This has worked decently well, but not good enough. To improve the effect, I may test a water/oil diffuser in the future when I decide to buy one. But -- I'm not convinced that water/oil in a diffuser will work the best, but that's where I'm currently at in the process of playing around. I'm leaning much more towards buying some sort of small warming device with which I can use pure oils and omit the water altogether. I have thought a little bit about the old method of using a light bulb and a dimmer, but I don't want to mess with something that gives off light and could interfere with the ambiance of the bar. I'm looking forward to eventually settling on a good way to warm the oils and using a small very low-speed fan to circulate the scents. I have seriously thought about buying a digital temp control single-burner induction hot plate and using a small 4"-5" cast iron pan to warm the oil pad. As long as I can digitally control the temp, and keep it fairly low, that might be the ultimate best way to control the scent. The 5" cast iron pan has enough room to add 3 or 4 pads. I already have and use two of these small cast iron pans when I infuse apple wood smoke into rocks glasses. They're kind of hard to find, even more so with a flat interior surface and a very low rim, but they're out there.

I think the world of real natural oils has grown dramatically since this thread was started.