is contact with oxygen bad for oud oil?

#1
i found a spray used for preserving perfumes and essential oils. you just spray into the vessel/bottle and it creates a barrier between the oil and the oxygen, with a blend of inert gasses. i asked her if it could be used with oud oils and she said they didnt sell oud so she couldnt be 100% sure. she said we never use it on sandalwood oil because the oxygen helps mature the oil. im confused now and would like to know if oxygen is the enemy or a friend?
 
#2
I believe air is beneficiary and required for freshly distilled oils. I read that the aging process can take up to 2 years and the casual opening of the bottle now and then to use facilitate in that process. i also read on BN forum a while back that for some people who are planning on saving their oils for 7 or 10 years that they store them in vacuum sealed vessels. personally, I'll be hesitant to inject the oil with that gas even if it is inert.
 
#3
According to Ensar an oil stored away from heat and light in a normal bottle with plastic stopper should last decades. His oldest oil is from 1982 and still smelling the same
 

Ensar Oud

Well-Known Member
#4
In the short term, oxygen can be termed a 'friend'. But if you befriend him long enough, all of his vices will come out and your oil will lose its original character. True, it might smell aged and look thicker than before, however its shelf life has been deeply compromised.

What the lady told you about the gas sounds paradoxical. The gas is supposed to shield an oil / perfume from oxygen by creating a barrier, yet they don't use it on sandalwood because oxygen would affect the oil? Sounds like there wouldn't be much of a barrier after all.

If an oil is left to mature without being exposed to oxygen, its aging will occur much slower than if force-oxidized. There is a fine line between aging and oxidation, which is what happens when you expose an essential oil to oxygen. The effects might smell and look similar to the unsuspecting, but there are profound chemical differences between them.

Apply the same thought process to food (like two jars of brine-fermented vegetables, for example) and you've got the difference between major health benefits in the tightly-sealed, air-protected jar, and contamination and toxic moulds in the jar with exposure to air.