In short
Pimento berry oil is distilled from the dried berries of allspice, Pimenta dioica. Its warm, spicy odour combines clove, pepper and cinnamon, which is how allspice got its name.
What Pimento Berry Oil smells like
Pimento berry (allspice) oil has a warm-spicy, sweet odour with a fresh, clean top note and a long-lasting sweet, balsamic-spicy body with a tea-like undertone, in Arctander's description as quoted. The Good Scents Company lists sweet, spicy, clove, phenolic, woody, nutmeg and powdery, and warm cinnamon; IFF a hot top note and a sweet, dusty balsamic drydown. A glossary finds it rounder and drier than clove bud, without its medicinal sharpness. It contains methyl eugenol, which IFRA restricts.
- Leading note
- Sweet clove-spice
- Supporting facets
- Cinnamon, nutmeg, balsamic
- Faint facets
- Tea-like
- Character
- Warm, rounded, sweet, dry
What makes Pimento Berry Oil distinctive
Several spices in one berry: clove first, with cinnamon, nutmeg and a tea-like body, rounder than clove itself.
How Pimento Berry Oil is used
Used mainly as a modifier in spicy masculine fragrances, fougères and aftershaves, and occasionally in chypre and oriental bases.
Typical role: modifier (used in small amounts to change the character of a blend).
How Pimento Berry Oil differs from similar materials
- Clove Bud Oil
- A glossary finds pimento rounder and drier than clove bud, without the medicinal sharpness, with a cinnamon warmth. (compared directly by a cited source)
- Bay Oil (West Indian)
- Bay oil, from a related tree, is fresher and more medicinal; pimento is sweeter, rounder and balsamic.
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
Contains eugenol and methyl eugenol; check the IFRA position on both.
Identity and classification
- Type
- Essential oil
- Origin
- Natural
- Odour family
- Spicy / Woody
- Note position
- Heart note
- Physical form at room temperature
- Liquid
- Also known as
- Allspice oil
- Botanical source
- Pimenta dioica
- CAS number
- 8006-77-7
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
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
-
Clove Bud Oil
Essential oil · Spicy / Floral — clove, spicy, warm, sweet
-
Black Pepper Oil
Essential oil · Spicy / Woody — peppery, spicy, woody, fresh
-
Eugenol
Aroma chemical · Spicy / Floral — clove, spicy, warm
-
Cinnamon Bark Oil
Essential oil · Spicy / Gourmand — cinnamon, spicy, sweet, hot
Used in formulas and accords
Not currently used in any published formula.
The Formula & Accord Library lists Pimento Berry Oil here as soon as a published formula, accord or base uses it.
Further reading
Questions about Pimento Berry Oil
Is Pimento Berry Oil natural or synthetic?
Pimento Berry Oil is natural. It is a volatile oil obtained from plant material by steam distillation or, for citrus peels, by cold expression.
What is the CAS number of Pimento Berry Oil?
8006-77-7, the registry number for the essential oil as a substance rather than a single molecule. It was checked against PubChem on 19 October 2026.
Sources
- PubChem — substance 135288265, checked 19 October 2026.
- Hermitage Oils — Pimento berry (quoting Arctander) — distributor's description.
- The Good Scents Company — pimento berry oil — odour database.
- Premiere Peau — Allspice — published perfumery reference.
- Olfactory profile: the RUŌOD Lab team's synthesis of the published descriptions above, reviewed 20 October 2026. Evidence: more than one published description. Classification and the short description: revision 1. Descriptions of odour are judgement, not measurement.