Pine Tar Soap Fragrances

[mdignazio]

I have a friend that needs me to make a pine tar soap for him. I have a couple of years' worth of soap making under my belt, both hot and cold process and have started selling. After researching it seems like it might be a bit easier to work with it in hot process but I'm stuck on what type of fragrance to use. I have never used pine tar soap myself... he likes masculine scents and since I've seen descriptions of smokey scent in the PT itself, would this lend itself to a nice marshmallowy campfire scent? Or should I go towards a musk or amber? What do those of you that make PT soap use? TIA!

 

[Obsidian]

While it might be a little smokey, its not a nice campfire smoke.
I don't think anything sweet would go with PT scent. I've used tea tree or a pine/spruce scent with ok results.
A stronger herbal like rosemary or thyme might work too.
I don't scent mine anymore, the PT is so strong that scents just get lost in it.

 

[DeeAnna]

I don't scent my PT soap either, and I agree with Obsidian that the PT is very likely to overwhelm any other scent.

One SMF member did share the fragrance blend he used in his PT soap with good results --

Patrick (commoncenz): "...when I add Tea Tree and Lemon Grass to a pine tar soap in a 1:1.5 ratio at .5 Oz ppo, it cures out to a nice mellow gingerbread smell. ...others who I've gifted the soap to have stated that it smells like gingerbread to them ... without my having mentioned it...."​

Pine tar soap odor --> you're sitting around a smoky campfire, the wind shifts direction, and you get a face full of smoke. It's that kind of smell. Depending on the brand, the smoke odor can have a burnt rubber tang.

I use pine tar from the Swedish Auson company and that one doesn't have a burnt rubber smell, but it's expensive and hard to find. I wouldn't use it except PT soap is my husband's all-time favorite soap. I use the Auson PT as a treat to him. The other brands I've tried do have that tang, but they're cheaper easier to find.