Bay Rum scent question

[asurjc]

OK so here's the story:

My dear sweet girlfriend went to a fair while down visiting her parents. She happened by a vendor by the name of Coyote Cove hailing from South Pittsburg, TN selling handcrafted soap and other herbal bath and beauty products. Knowing I was interested trying bay rum, she purchased me a puck of bay rum labeled shaving soap and brought it back for me as a surprise.

When I unwrapped it from its cellophane, it smelled exactly like Big Red chewing gum (I'm not talking 'sort of' or 'kinda like' I mean spittin' olfactory image here). I vaguely remember a small shavingessentials.net sampler wedge of col. conk bay rum from awhile ago and this new soap didn't smell a thing like I remembered of bay rum.

I didn't let this slight issue turn me off. seeing how she was so proud of herself for finding this for me, I was determined to take it for a test drive on this morning's shave. Unfortunately my Big Red smell-alike shaving puck lathered just about as well as I imagine it's actual chewing gum cousin would if one were to take a shaving brush and some warm water to it. Lathering it on my face it smelled and sounded like a giant cinnamon bubble bath. I tried face lathering, bowl lathering, little to no water, lots of water...and the lather still disappeared within what seemed like seconds.

So my actual question is.....what IS bay rum supposed to smell like? I know from reading many posts, that bay rum scents are scattered all over the place but surely some musn't bring back childhood memories of sucking on red atomic fireball candy. What would be a good middle of the road bay rum to try? Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks. -Bob

 

[kingfisher]

I'm no expert but bay rum usually has a strong clove smell (more like Black Jack gum than Big Red).

 

[joto]

Some people use just Bay oil I think (QED I think, Masters A/S definitely), most others add some spiciness to it somehow. Some do-it-yourself recipies simply specify soarking bay leaves in good, dark rum. The bay oil by itself in my Master's aftershave is a very round, natural and slightly spicy scent. My Pinaud on the other hand has a very pronounced clove scent. They are different, but I live them both. I suppose it really depends on the manufacturer, but this is my experience with 'Bay Rum.'

 

[gaj90027]

I would recommend Ogallala Bay Rum - the original scent is awesome but the Bay Rum Limes & Peppercorns scent is out of this world!

 

[_JP_]

My experience with Bay Rum scents is that they can vary wildly, with some not even smelling anything like the other. My understanding is that the original Bay Rum scent came from the essential oil from the leaf of the Bay Rum tree of Jamaica.

 

[luvmysuper]

My experience with Bay Rum scents is that they can vary wildly, with some not even smelling anything like the other. My understanding is that the original Bay Rum scent came from the essential oil from the leaf of the Bay Rum tree of Jamaica.

+1 The East India Bay Tree, also known as the Bay Rum tree is related to Allspice, and has leaves that are used for cooking and for the essential oils which smells similar to cloves.
The EO is used with Dark Rum to create aftershaves and Colognes.

My homemade Bay Rum smells much more like cloves or nutmeg than it does cinnamon.