Cade Oil (Rectified)

What Cade Oil (Rectified) smells like

Cade oil, the tar of juniper wood, is described by vendor glossaries as harsher and more medicinal than birch tar, without its leathery sweetness, though another calls it softer and more resinous — less a phenolic slap than a creosote warmth. Fraterworks finds its rectified oil drier, strongly resembling a freshly extinguished campfire, ash and all. Forum perfumers describe it as smokier and more phenolic-medicinal than birch tar, with a smoked-fish nuance. Rectification removes most polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Leading note

Campfire smoke

Clear facets

Phenolic, medicinal

Supporting facets

Ash, creosote, resinous

Faint facets

Smoked fish

Character

Dry, smoky, dark

• smoky
• tarry
• leathery
• woody

What makes Cade Oil (Rectified) distinctive

A freshly extinguished campfire: dry ash and phenolic smoke rather than leather.

Where the descriptions disagree: Glossaries disagree on whether cade is harsher or softer than birch tar.

How Cade Oil (Rectified) is used

Used in traces in smoky, leather, woody and tobacco compositions; only rectified grades are used.

Typical role: modifier (used in small amounts to change the character of a blend).

How Cade Oil (Rectified) differs from similar materials

Birch Tar Oil (Rectified)*

Birch tar is the more leathery; cade is more medicinal, phenolic and ashy. (compared directly by a cited source)

Guaiacol

Guaiacol is one smoky phenol of the kind found in wood smoke; cade is the whole tar — ash, creosote and resin.

An asterisk marks a difference that a cited source states directly. The others compare the published descriptions of each material. Smell varies with grade, supplier and dilution; compare them side by side on blotters before substituting one for another.

Formulation considerations

Only rectified grades meeting the IFRA specification for cade oil should be used. Very powerful.

Identity and classification

Type

Essential oil

Origin

Natural

Odour family

Leather / Woody

Note position

Base note

Physical form at room temperature

Liquid

Also known as

Juniper tar

Botanical source

Juniperus oxycedrus

CAS number

90046-02-9

The CAS number was checked on 19 October 2026 against a PubChem substance record that gives it for this material. A natural material is a mixture, so it has no single formula; its composition varies with origin and processing.

Safety and compliance

The IFRA Standards Library lists a Standard covering Cade Oil (Rectified):

• "Cade oil" — type not stated in the library listing, 47th Amendment, published 2013-08

Limits differ by product category and are set out in the Standard itself; this page does not reproduce them. The list above reflects the library as read on 19 October 2026.

This page is general information, not a safety assessment or a specification. Confirm identity, composition, IFRA status and allergen content from your supplier's documents for the lot you hold.

Materials it works with

• Birch Tar Oil (Rectified)

  Essential oil · Leather / Woody — smoky, leathery, tarry, phenolic

• Guaiacol

  Aroma chemical · Leather / Woody — smoky, phenolic, medicinal, woody

• Labdanum Absolute

  Absolute · Amber / Leather — amber, balsamic, leathery, animalic

• Isobutyl Quinoline

  Aroma chemical · Leather / Green — leathery, earthy, green, smoky

Cade Oil (Rectified) is also suggested as a partner on the pages for 3,4-Xylenol and Syringol.

Used in formulas and accords

Used in 12 published formulas

Cade Oil (Rectified) is an ingredient in 11 perfume formulas and 1 accord in the Formula & Accord Library.

Community formulas

• Mezcal Accord

  Community Formula · Accord · listed as “Cade Oil (Rectified) 1%”, at 1%

RUŌOD House Originals

Original compositions by RUŌOD House.

• Asphalt Peony

  RUŌOD House Creation · listed as “Juniper tar 10% DPG”, at 10% in DPG

• Birch Ghost

  RUŌOD House Creation · listed as “Juniper tar 10% DPG”, at 10% in DPG

• Bitter Ferry

  RUŌOD House Original · listed as “Juniper tar 10% DPG”, at 10% in DPG

• Harbour Rope

  RUŌOD House Original · listed as “Juniper tar 10% DPG”, at 10% in DPG

• Juniper Chapel

  RUŌOD House Original · listed as “Juniper tar 10% DPG”, at 10% in DPG

• Maple Fog

  RUŌOD House Original · listed as “Juniper tar 10% DPG”, at 10% in DPG

• Pine Tar Sauna

  RUŌOD House Original · listed as “Juniper tar 10% DPG”, at 10% in DPG

• Pipe Smoke Orchard

  RUŌOD House Creation · listed as “Juniper tar 10% DPG”, at 10% in DPG

• Sage Ash

  RUŌOD House Original · listed as “Juniper tar 10% DPG”, at 10% in DPG

• Smoke & Milk

  RUŌOD House Original · listed as “Juniper tar 10% DPG”, at 10% in DPG

• Stone Nave

  RUŌOD House Original · listed as “Juniper tar 10% DPG”, at 10% in DPG

Further reading

• Building a Leather Accord

  Leather styles — smoky, green-bitter, suede, animalic — their building blocks including treated tar oils and isobutyl quinoline, and how to build one.

Questions about Cade Oil (Rectified)

Sources

• PubChem — substance 528005005, checked 19 October 2026.
• IFRA — Standards Library, read 19 October 2026.
• Fraterworks — cade oil rectified — distributor's description.
• Premiere Peau — Cade oil — published perfumery reference.
• Basenotes — Crude cade oil (forum) — published perfumery reference.
• Olfactory profile: the RUŌOD Lab team's synthesis of the published descriptions above, reviewed 21 October 2026. Evidence: more than one published description. Classification and the short description: revision 1. Descriptions of odour are judgement, not measurement.