There are a lot of new, exciting things going on at Juniper Ridge headquarters these days. In addition to our beautiful new packaging, we've just launched a new product called Trail Resin Cologne. It comes in compact tins, and the wildcrafted stuff inside will transport you from a crowded city street to your favorite mountain trail in seconds.
We sat down with Hall to find out how Train Resin Cologne is made and hear more about why he's so happy to be adding it to our permanent collection.
So what the hell is Trail Resin?
Trail Resin is an oil-based solid perfume. Our Backpacker Colognes are all alcohol-based.
What’s the difference?
Well, alcohol can capture tree pitches and saps beautifully, but oils can be a more stable form to encapsulate plants, mushrooms, and raw earth. Without getting too technical, oils can create a more real expression of place for certain kinds of plants and their fragrances. The techniques we’re using date back to Roman times. And because of that, and because we’re working with real plants and not synthetics, the medium really matters.
Why not work with synthetics?
Oh, don’t get me started, seriously. Modern perfume is like 90% synthetic, and of course it's because it’s so much cheaper to make it that way. But the thing you have to understand is that these synthetic fragrances never existed in the world until 60 years ago, and have almost nothing to do with real plants. It’s like listening to a record versus a degraded mp3—those scents are thin stuff, like crappy versions of a song you love.
The way we create fragrances, we’re getting back to the root of things, to the plants and the earth, and all those scents that we as a species have a long evolutionary connection to. It’s your favorite song, at perfect quality, played loud enough to rattle your bones.
Why call it Trail Resin? And how do you use it?
We wanted it to have a name that speaks to its purpose: everything that we’ve created in our world here at Juniper Ridge has this rough, rustic edge. Like my Danner Boots that I’m wearing right now; I wear them every day. I’m on my third pair of soles!
Now some people buy these boots because they’re fashionable. But they’re also rugged, and they’ll last forever, but more importantly they’re meant to be used. They’re meant to go out into the world and get worn out.
And to me Trail Resin is the same. It’s meant to be taken out into the world and used until it’s gone. I hope that people will take that tin and carry it around in their jeans, and use it multiple times a day. Rub it in your hair and beard and slap it on heavily! Don’t be afraid of going overboard, because you can’t....