A SUPERIOR Superior 70 Bay Rum

[daleroller]

Gentlemen,
I have been reading through several threads about home made bay rum and the various merits of commercially bought bay rum. I am a fan of the Pinaud-Clubman Bay Rum and Superior 70 Bay Rum ($1.99 at Walgreens near my office).
I have been tempted to make my own Bay Rum but am too cheap to buy all of the ingrediants and I can bring myself to waste a drop of Rum when I could be drinking it with a Lime and Coke
As an alternative I decided to modify a bottle of Superior 70 to suit my own personal tastes. I love the smell of Superior 70, but wanted something a bit more complex. I choose Superior 70 as a base for my Bay Rum becaue A) it is really cheap, B) It has a pure, clean bay rum scent and C) it was alot quicker than ordering some bay leaves from the west indies and letting them soak in good rum for a month or two.
Using only ingrediants I could find either in my house or my mom's kitchen I took a new bottle of Superior 70 Bay Rum and added 10 drops of Lime Essential Oil, 8 cloves, and 1 whole vanilla bean that has been hiding in my mom's spice cabinet for three years now. I snapped the vanilla bean in three places to help release the oils. I then sealed the cap on the container and swirled it about 7 times counterclockwise under the light of the full moon. then stuck it the the deepest, darkest abyss of my closet for two weeks so far. It is really smelling great. I plan on adding 1 cinnamon stick and half a crushed Nutmeg to my new love potion. At the end of it fermenting cycle i will add 5 drops of glycerin to the mix. The ladies won't be able to resist.

 

[RayH]

Now that sounds interesting.

 

[Phog Allen]

And remember guys, you can buy the proper essential oil of bay rum if making your own. It should work much faster than soaking the leaves themselves. Just remember, essential oils are not to trifled with. Most of the components of Bay Rum can be quite irritating to skin. Stuff like nutmeg, clove, cinnamon, and even bay. So caution is the word if you use essential oils. You cannot just dump them in. Consult members of a soap making or perfuming forum.

Regards, Todd

 

[cswann1]

Sounds really interesting.

Please keep the thread updated when you can

 

[daleroller]

I have seen fragrance oils for sale at Michaels Crafts in the soap making section for about $2.50 a bottle. I thought about dropping some in the bay rum, but most of the scents were too "girly" for me to use.
Also another concern I have about my new Super Superior 70 is getting carried away with too many scents. I want to add Sandalwood, nutmeg, orange/neroli, coconut and possibly Pipe Tobacco.
If I add too many scents, it may turn into an indistinct aromatic mush, losing the individual characteristics of the scents I have already added to the bay Rum.
I still have another half bottle of Superiro 70 Bay Rum in my cupboard that I am not using. I may just put some Danish Pipe Tobacco in it just to see how it turns out.