Making Bay Rum

[sliverstorm]

Hello all, I'm new here!

I just wanted to ask a quick question-

I wanted to make my own bay rum aftershave, and since bay rum leaves are hard to come by, I bought a bay rum sprout! :w00t:

It's healthy, growing new leaves, in some decent dirt in a spacious pot, well watered and in as good a sunlight as I can give it (poor thing, it's really overcast right now, even though it should be sunny). I made some bay rum with some of the older leaves, and while my nose is very poor, I don't think I smell much beyond the cinnamon and allspice I also put in. I used extremely high proof alcohol (a mix of 150 proof spirits and 130 proof white Jamaican rum) and left it in the dark for 2 weeks, so oil extraction should not be a problem.

I'm wondering now, how old does the tree need to be before it starts producing the oil? Does it matter which leaves I take? (i.e. do I need to take fresh, happy leaves? Does it suck the oil out of the old drying leaves?)

[thirdeye]

Interesting question. I'd like to know more about this as well.

BTW, Welcome to B&B.

[Geordon]

Take this for what it's worth, but I'm an amateur herbalist. That means that I make my own herbal-based body-care products for personal use, not for sale.

Herbs start producing their essential oils (which is pretty much what you're after here) from day one. That being said, I would wait on plucking leaves until the plant is at least several months to a year old. That way, you don't unintentionally kill your bay rum tree by taking too many leaves from an immature plant. 1/3 of the leaves taken can end up weakening the plant a lot, so that it takes a long time to recover.

When it comes to using herbs and plant parts, fresher is ALWAYS better. Those dried-out leaves (especially dead and fallen) are a waste of your time.

This sounds like a wonderful experiment! I wish that I had the room to try it myself! Good luck, and HTH.

[sliverstorm]

I would wait on plucking leaves until the plant is at least several months to a year old. That way, you don't unintentionally kill your bay rum tree by taking too many leaves from an immature plant. 1/3 of the leaves taken can end up weakening the plant a lot, so that it takes a long time to recover.

Yeah, that's why I was taking the crummy leaves that should have been removed anyway. Little guy's only got 8 good leaves. I kind of wonder if I could help him out with a solar lamp or something, my apartment is just not a good place for sunlight right now.

I guess I'll just have to wait, and maybe buy some commercial br for now to tide me over :thumbup1:

Thanks for the info!

[rm71]

Welcome to B&B

The link below may be of help/interest to you.

http://artofmanliness.com/2010/01/21/diy-bay-rum-aftershave/