Cinnamon
42 fragrances with this note
Part of accords: Warm spicy, Soft spicy, Cinnamon, Spicy oriental
- Latin name
- Cinnamomum verum (Ceylon), Cinnamomum cassia (cassia)
- Family
- Laurel family (Lauraceae)
- Origin
- Sri Lanka, Madagascar; cassia — China, Vietnam, Indonesia
- Parts used
- bark (and leaves — for a separate oil)
- Raw materials
- bark essential oil, leaf essential oil, CO₂ extract
- Extraction
- steam distillation
- Olfactory group
- spicy (warm spices)
- Position in the pyramid
- heart
- Synthetic substitutes
- cinnamaldehyde, eugenol
Cinnamon is the dried inner bark of a tropical tree of the laurel family. True Ceylon cinnamon is thin and brittle, rolled into many-layered “cigars”; cassia is thicker, coarser and sharper in smell.
How it smells: a warm, sweet, fiery spice that instantly recalls baking, mulled wine and winter holidays. Bark oil is sweet and pastry-like, leaf oil drier, with a clove-like shade.
The main odour substance of cinnamon is cinnamaldehyde. It can irritate the skin, so the international perfumery safety rules (IFRA) strictly limit its amount — and in fragrances cinnamon always plays as an accent, never as a foundation.
What it pairs with: with orange and clove — “Christmas” compositions, with vanilla, tonka and rum — warm gourmands, with rose and oud — oriental fragrances, with tobacco and leather — cosy evening scents, with cardamom — masala chai.
Good to know: in antiquity cinnamon was valued almost like gold, and traders deliberately spread frightening legends about its origin — Herodotus recorded a story of giant birds building their nests from cinnamon sticks. This hid the real sources and kept the price up.
Fragrances with Cinnamon
