What are captives in perfumery? Do perfumers really need them?

I made a film on YouTube about captives in perfumery; here’s the written version for those who’d rather read, or are on the bus and forgot their headphones.

When I think of a captive, I imagine someone in a stone tower letting down their hair, like Rapunzel. Perfumery captives are a little different. They never let their hair down.

Why and how are captives used in perfumery?

There's a lot of fuss in perfumery about brand-new molecules. They are called captives as they are only available to the companies that invented and patented them. Their marketing teams love to shout about how groundbreaking they are and how you absolutely must have them to create modern perfumes. Except we managed just fine before they existed, didn’t we?

A captive is a molecule created and patented by a big fragrance company. You can’t patent an actual perfume, but you can patent the process that produces a specific aroma chemical, making it exclusive. Sometimes, these companies sell their captives to other perfume houses immediately, making more money from licensing than from using them in their own scents. 

More often though, they hold onto them, hoping the captive will feature in a smash-hit fragrance; one so successful that other brands will have to come knocking, desperate to include the same trendy molecule in their own creations. That’s how captives drive perfume trends.

Do we need to use captives when making perfume?

Do you need the latest captives to make perfume? No. If you can’t get hold of a captive, you do what perfumers have always done: work with what’s available and create something original. The idea that you must have the latest molecule is just marketing hype.

That said, captives do sometimes become available, often hidden inside “bases” - blends of materials that big fragrance houses sell to perfumers. Take Dreamwood, for example, it’s still a captive, but we can all buy Dreamwood Base, which contains  the captive molecule along with a few extras.

We use Dreamwood base in our North sea shore on a cold day fragrance, Saltburn Driftwood.

Some perfumers get serious FOMO over captives, but chasing them won’t necessarily make your perfume better or more original. And when they finally get released? Half the time, you smell them and think, Oh. Is that it?

If you can’t get the captive you’re after, don’t panic. Just make something new. After all, that’s what perfumery is all about.

If you’d like to know more: 

Watch our YouTube video about captives here: HELD CAPTIVE! What are captives and why can't we have them?

If you want to learn to make original perfumes with me (but without captives) you can join Scenthusiasm on Patreon, a global community for people fascinated by fragrance. If you want to get stuck in on your own, you can follow my online self-study course Scenthusiasm School.