Lab Notes
Resin keeps wanting to thicken the air.
A tiny bit too much and everything feels padded, slow.
When it’s right, the smoke threads through it without getting caught.
Noticed today that frankincense CO₂ holds a colder edge than the resinoid — need to remember that when the blend starts drifting sweet.
Both from the same tree but they don’t behave like relatives.
EO: looser, almost warm, spreads across the beaker fast.
CO₂: sits still longer, then releases this mineral breath, almost metallic.
CO₂ carries a shadow the EO can’t hold.
Maybe that’s the structure point.
Keep observing how they settle after an hour.
One absolute arrived today almost like tar.
Tried warming the glass, stirring with the metal rod, nothing.
It clings to everything it touches.
But after sitting in jojoba for half a day, it started loosening around the edges.
Not all materials want to be rushed.
Let it find its own movement.
There’s a faint mineral line that appears only when the blend cools.
Not quite metallic, not quite stone.
Feels like the air in an old room before incense is lit.
Need to track what causes that — might be the guaiac CO₂ interacting with the myrrh fraction.
Write down later once it stabilizes.
One version opened like a backyard grill.
Immediate rejection.
True incense smoke is almost hollow — full but with space in it.
Ashy, dry, lifted.
Anything that lands heavy means the balance is off somewhere deeper in the base.
Keep chasing the airy part.
It’s there.
Tested the blend on warm skin vs room temp.
Completely different behavior.
Heat pulled a hidden resin thread upward, didn’t notice it in the bottle.
Some oils hold onto notes until they’re warmed.
Need to account for that in the final structure.
Skin is the real environment — not glass.
