2023-07-03 Almond Day or The Beautiful Scent of Poison
The Shave:
Good shave - I love the scent of Cella, however the soap is so-so for me in terms of slickness and protection. The aftershave salve I am using is an olive oil and beeswax product scented with orange and almond. This is not a weak scent much like Cella the marzipan calling card of bitter almond greets you almost as if you nose had a hand for it to shake.
The Almond and Cherry scent of Cella is a classic barbering scent. Read on to find out why almond and cherry go so well together along with some other darker matters...
Other Matters:
Almonds have a genetic relationship to you guessed it cherries - also apples, apricots, and peaches to name a few valuable commercial crops. Because of the botanical relationship both almond and cherry scent can be derived from almonds.
On it's own Almonds, the wild kind, are bitter and toxic due to (a cyanide compound - cyanogenic diglucoside amygdalin). Each of those plants have a cyanide compound in their pits. Around 10 - 70 bitter almonds could kill an adult human.However a naturally occurring mutation allowed for domestication that dramatically reduced the amount of the cyanide compound - resulting in sweet almonds.
Without this - human domestication for food would not have been possible.
Bitter almonds though are still though used as a scent compound in the form of essential oil. Special care and a chemical reaction must occur to remove cyanide compounds prior to use. Heat is another possible route.
With all this laid out, keep in mind, cyanide (the deadly chemical compound) actually smells like almonds.
In 1982, in Chicago, prior to tamper resistant packaging, several murders were carried out by lacing Tylenol with cyanide (specifically potassium cyanide). The easy access provided to the contents of the bottles (or any pill bottle at the time) allowed for multiple opportunities for the pills to be tampered with.
Autopsy showed asphyxiation at a metabolic level but a cause was not immediately forthcoming. A public health Nurse noticed the commonality of the Tylenol product between each death (7 dead). A Cook County investigator was able to smell the almond scent in each bottle associated with the victims.Blood tests confirmed presence of the cyanide compound. Bottles were pulled quickly. Massive amounts of radio, newsprint, and television coverage got the word out and bottles in private homes were pitched.
The fallout of the poisonings in the end did not mar Tylenol as the company (Johnson & Johnson) responded quickly for this specific incident with tamper resistant bottles and acted transparently at the time.
Other fallout included one person sent a letter to the White house demanding a ransom be paid to stop the poisonings. That person was convicted of fraud however not murder as no linkage could be proven. As a result congress passed the "Tylenol Bill" in 1983 and tampering with medicine bottles became a federal crime.
The case remains unresolved and open...
Almond scents and flavors can also be derived from: Cherry or Apricots (pits)
A little extra reading if interested - the first one is equally boring and fascinating. The article "It smells like almonds" deals with the Tylenol case. For me much more interesting (I can remember news coverage of the poisonings from when I was in elementary school)
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Take care and have a good day.
Oh! And on more thing - My best to u/RedMosquitoMM on this special day! Pleasant and enjoyable shaves always for you good soul.