Cardamom oil is steam distilled from the seeds of Elettaria Cardamomum and is one of the most aromatic and useful of the spice oils in perfumery, giving useful support to citrus, floral, woody and a multitude of other types of fragrance. It is generally used in quite small amounts and so the IFRA restrictions on it’s use are not onerous.
According to Arctander: “Cardamom Oil is one of the oldest essential oils known. In the reports of Valerius Cordus dated 1540, cardamom oil is described, and its distillation is outlined”
On it’s uses “In perfumery, the oil will not only impart spiciness, but also a warm, sweet note which fits into floral bases such as muguet and rose. Cardamom oil blends well with bergamot, olibanum, ylang-ylang, labdanum products, nerol, methyl- ionones, cedarwood derivatives, etc. or with heliotropine, cassione, isoeugenol, hydroxycitronellal, etc. Coriander oil is an extremely fine modifier for cardamom oil in perfumery (and in in flavors, too!). The oil imparts warmth in Oriental perfume bases, chypres and face powder perfumes.”
He goes on to describe the oil and it’s odour: “Cardamom Oil is an almost colorless or pale yellow to light brownish liquid. It darkens when exposed to daylight. … The odor of cardamom oil is warm-spicy, aromatic (in the author’s opinion it is the most “aromatic” of all the oils from “aromatic” seeds), at first penetrating camphoraceous-cineole-like or somewhat medicinal, reminiscent of eucalyptus. Later, it becomes balsamic-woody, increasingly sweet and almost floral on the dryout. The odor is extremely tenacious with a delightful, warm spiciness and basamic-floral undertone.
The main constituents of cardamom oil are cineole, terpinylacctate, terpineol, borneol and terpenes.”