Not to keep extending this thread, but I just saw a response to said blog post by Dr. Pappas from his FB page. I think it's educational for everyone (and I guess I'm going to stop saying "lifeblood of the plant" LOL).
Anyway, I wanted to clarify this often misunderstood topic. Here is what I posted: "Hi, just wanted to clear up some things concerning your comments about 1st, 2nd, 3rd distillations because this is an area of misinformation that, as far as I can tell, originates from the YL reps going back quite a number of years and just never seems to die down. As an EO chemist, its like fingers on a chalkboard when I hear people speaking about the multiple distillations or 1st, 2nd and 3rd "pressings". Almost as bad as when I hear people refer to essential oils as the "life blood of the plant" LOL. Anyway, regarding peppermint (and essential oils in general for that matter), there typically is no such concept as a 1st, 2nd or 3rd distillation. To say this implies that the same botanical material is distilled, the distillation shut down, and then the used material is then distilled again at a later time. I think all the misunderstanding arises from the typical process surrounding one oil in particular and that is ylang yang oil. You see, ylang ylang is typically sold various qualities such as Extra, I, II, III and complete. The reason for these distinctions is because ylang ylang is a drastically different oil depending on when during the distillation the oil is collected. But typically even ylang ylang oil is collected, ALL GRADES, from one long distillation. To do multiple distillations would not make economic sense because there is cost involved in getting the still up to temperature in the first place. So how it works is that ylang is collected in fractions, from the same distillation. Basically the distiller will monitor the specific gravity of the oil as it comes off the still. The lightest oil comes off first and is collected within a narrow specific gravity range, this oil is called EXTRA and is regarded as the finest ylang for perfumery since it has the highest levels of the floral oxides and esters. Once the specific gravity goes higher than acceptable for EXTRA the distiller will then begin collecting the oil in a new container and this next oil is called ylang ylang I which has a characteristic specific gravity range defining it as well. As the oil continues to come over it gets thicker and less floral as the specific gravity increases. The next SG range would correspond to ylang ylang II, followed finally by ylang ylang III which is the least floral, most earthy smelling and heaviest fraction because its almost all sesquiterpenes at this point and has almost no floral components left in it. Ylang III is also the least expensive grade and each grade above it gets successively more expensive. If the producer proportionally combines all of the fractions this is sold as the ylang complete oil but a true complete should really be just one collection of all the oil in a single container during the entire distillation process rather than recombining the oil. So really, the true complete ylang is really the one most important for therapeutic use because it is the whole oil and not a chopped up version.--
As far as peppermint goes, it is also just one STEAM distillation process to obtain the oil. There is no 2nd or third "pressing" of the botanical as the MLM reps used to claim, and I guess still do. The thing about peppermint oil is that when its freshly distilled it contains very tiny amounts of some sulfurous components as well as some small aldehydes (namely isomers of isovaleraldehyde, also found in vomit) that, while minuscule in percentage, are such powerful components that you can smell them at ppm levels. The effects of these components can be minimized with age and evaporation because they are very volatile, but another way to get rid of these undesirables is to take the crude freshly distilled oil and then use a different distillation setup to fractionally vacuum distill away this tiny amount oil, thus giving the remaining oil a much better flavor, sweeter aroma and I would argue an even more therapeutically useful oil because the components that are removed are actually nauseating in pure form (and thats not just an opinion, the components have a physiologically nauseating effect). After the oil goes through the vacuum distillation to remove this very small amount of the overall volume, the oil is then classified as redistilled peppermint oil and there is no question it is the better oil than the original oil that comes fresh off the still.
Anyway, hope this helps to clear up a few things and maybe this info will actually filter down to the reps who keep these myths alive. If you have an interest in these kinds of topics be sure to LIKE my educational FaceBook page atwww.facebook.com/EssentialOilUniversity where I frequently post about issues relevant to essential oils, their production and chemistry. It is a strictly non-commercial site where advertising is not allowed.
Sincerely,
Dr. Robert S. Pappas
Essential Oil University LLC
www.essentialoils.org"
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