Attar

Attar is a perfume oil made from flower petals distilled in water using low heat and pressure. Some attars also contain exotic woods, spices, and resins. Over several weeks, the steam containing the fragrance oils is collected into a container of mild sandalwood oil. There, the oils blend together until the sandalwood is completely saturated with the fragrance of the flowers. The aging period can last from one to ten years depending on the botanicals used and the results desired. Technically attars or ittars are distillates of flowers, herbs, spices, and other natural materials such as baked soil over sandalwood oil/liquid paraffin using hydrodistillation technique with deg and bhapka (The Traditional Method of Making Attars Using Hydrodistillation). These techniques are still in use today at Kannauj in India. This is one of the oldest natural fragrant materials, nearly 5000 years old.