Fir Absolute (50% in Alcohol)

5 reviews for Fir Absolute (50% in Alcohol)

1. 

   5 out of 5

   Serene King – January 2, 2021

   Sweet, jammy and easy to work with.

2. 

   5 out of 5

   Scotty – January 31, 2023

   This balsam fir absolute is in fact not sweet and jammy, like typical balsam fir abs., it is quite smoky and woody and not very sweet. Could be just the batch I gave. Just note that this is not your typical balsam fir. Make no mistake though, this is beautiful stuff, but I don’t think it will fulfill the needs that a typical balsam fir abs would. But if you want a nice smoky wood with slight sweetness, this is spectacular!

3. 

   5 out of 5

   sibie – February 5, 2023

   I agree with Scotty that this is not ‘sweet and jammy,’ but being Fir, especially absolute, I was not expecting it to be…and thankfully, it isn’t! Somewhat slightly fruity, yes, but not jammy. I personally never found Fir Needle to be jammy, but I can see how some would think of the absolute in this way. This one has the delicate coniferous nuances of the Silver Fir, only deeper and more rounded by being an absolute. Think ‘Polo Green’ (the original one, not the reformulated, which by the way had fir absolute in it). That Christine offers it in a 50% solution really saves one the hassle of having to dilute it, as these kinds of absolutes can be a headache. While I am stickler for buying my materials at 100% and making my own dilutions, since I needed it at 50% for some formulas I am currently working on, I opted for this one knowing I’d get a great product with less hassle and ready to use. As usual, PSH does not disappoint in quality or availability of choices!

4. 

   5 out of 5

   Eric Valentino – July 8, 2026

   I probably have a greater interest and more expansive conifer material collection than most people you’ll encounter (I easily have 200 in my organ). It’s half the reason I was drawn to perfumery. Balsam fir absolute is a double-edged sword – it’s one of the most magical materials out there, yet it’s often impossible to find anything of standout quality. Most of the mass-produced stuff is very flat, overly jammy, and muddled. While I still suspect this is a mass-produced material from one of the Big 5, there’s a unique characteristic about this one. The dilution likely plays a roll, (as fir is often diltuted in FCO, which is a garbage carrier for ethanol-based perfumes), with the ethanol allowing for more sparkle and top-end, with a more dynamic dry-down, but there’s more to it than that. The earthy greenness and more terpenic notes that most fir absolutes lack are ever-so-slightly present here, where they tend to be absent in a lot of others, pushing them almost in a spruce absolute direction.

   I initially obtained this as an emergency placeholder for a batch of something, but after trialling with it, and comparing to a particularly unique artisan absolute from Idaho (emerald-green, translucent, almost pliable, with a gin-like sparkle), I actually found this to be an appropriate substitution in a composition where the for absolute comprises 8% of the formula. I’m also not complaining about the ethanol dilution, as neat fir abs is a nightmare to work with, especially on a larger scale.

   I did in fact try taking some neat Biolandes balsam for abs and diluting it to 50% myself, but it just wasn’t the same. I’m not sure how long this has been diluted, but it’s just more cohesive, dynamic, and greener than my own dilution.

   For certain compositions, I still prefer to hunt down artisan absolute extractions of balsam, white, silver, Siberian, and red for needles, for their incredibly unique, immersed-in-an-enchanted-forest experience, but as a general workhorse fir material, I think this has become my preferred default. It saves a ton of time not having to baine-marie the everloving life out of it, too.

   For 99% of perfumers, this material is as good or superior to anything else you’ll find on the mainstream market. Just compensate for the ethanol in your final compounding dilution. It’s good stuff!

5. 

   5 out of 5

   rbgws – July 18, 2026

   Excellent product. Really enjoyed using it!