Wednesday, February 1, 2012

All about Diffusers

Aroma Diffusers and Aromatherapy is becoming ever more popular and there are a growing number of aroma diffusers out there to choose from. Its hard to pick which diffuser to use for what purpose and especially difficult to get honest information and reviews about which diffusers are the best. There are hundreds of review websites for just about about every kind of product but this blog is just about the only one dedicated to reviewing and advising buyers about what units work, which ones are junk and which ones are the real deal. Here are some general tips you should know when looking to buy a diffuser. 



 In general there are Six different types of diffusers which are described below. 




1. Reed/stick 


Wick Stick or Reed diffusers tend to be the cheapest and most common form of aroma diffuser. These types typically consist of several grass or wood sticks soak directly in a glass bottle filled with oil that slowly wicks up oil and diffuse the aroma. These are mainly used for decoration and sold at many large home decor chain stores selling anywhere from $10 to $4o dollars.  As the old saying goes, you get what you pay for in these units as normally they cost and do very little. Aroma dispersion for reed diffusers is faint at best and units often sit in houses to collect dust on shelves for years as the oils oxidize, and becomes rancid, and forgotten. If your interested in decorating your home look no further, these units are fine, however if your interested in aromatherapy beyond just looks and decoration, keep reading, these are not for you. 





        
2. Candle/heat



We all know how candles work so I wont go into describing them any further except to say that smells are added to wax and you burn the candle. Heat diffusers are very simple indeed and recall an earlier age when aroma was part of the every day lifestyle when food and drink was cooked on the hearth and filled the house with warm with holiday aromas. Heat diffusers consist of a heat element, normally a candle or electric light that sit beneath a bowl of water. Oils or herbs and flowers are dropped into the water bowl which is slowly heated to release the essences. These units can be quite calming,  look nice in a dark room, and sell for between 5 and 30 dollars. These fire beauties, however,  posses a far more sinister side.  Candle based water diffusers can be incredibly dangerous if left untended especially if the user forgets to add enough water to the unit or only adds oil. Also there is always danger when letting a lit candle stay lit unattended especially with children around. It is well understood that oils transform into different chemicals when heated and this is particularly true for delicate and expensive essential oils. These units can completely destroy the medicinal aspects of essential oils that are added. Lastly oils can burn or harden on the water bowl once the water boils away or evaporates and often create a messy sticky residue of  oxidized oil residue on the surface of the bowl.  These units are possibly the most common diffussers around and are often the reason people get into aromatherapy but normally either join their Reed/Wick cousins on the dusty shelf find themselves lost in the basement graveyard junk boxes. 


3. Heat/Pad (Socket plug-in)



These little monsters are popping up everywhere especially on TV commercials by the big chemical air freshener companies. These little units come in home and car based models and both use heat to disburse the aroma like the candle units above. These units are made with one thing in mind.. replacement cartridges!!! They are designed for you to plug them in and forget they exist, mostly in stinky places like the bathroom. They release a constant flow of mystery chemical into the air and make your home smell like plastic flowers. Some more reputable and noteworthy companies supply that allow you to place your own oils in the units onto cloth pads. Car units seem to follow this method as a standard and often also tout providing air filtering abilities by creating negative ions.    A Smell that reminds me of my grandfathers cigarette smoke-filled den and directly conflicts with the affects of aromatherapy. In general these are units are the bottom of the barrel for individuals wishing to enjoy the benefits of true aromatherapy. What is in that mystery smell chemical anyway...?  


4. Water Vapor
Water vapor units are basically humidifiers that you drop essential oil into. They use a piezoelectric transducers (ultrasonic speaker) submerged under a bath of water and blow air and the "mist" upwards with a fan to produce atomized water vapor bubbles mixed with some oil smell.  Water Vapor units come in an amazing array of shapes, sizes and prices ranging from $15 to $300 dollars. Most have LEDs, some expensive ones even have Mp3 players and clocks in them. These units are all from China and are just about all made entirely of plastic except for a few that are assembled in the USA or use glass as the top cover.   What is nice about these units is that they are really simple to use. Add water, some oil, turn on, and walk away. They also produce a nice looking jet of mist for many hours and can look like swan necked lava-lamps in the dark. What is also nice about these is that they do in fact humidify while they are on and that they do not use heat to disburse essential oil aroma. Again, unfortunately, the downsides typically outweigh the benefits for most of these units with respect to actual aroma diffusing. These units are messy, often built cheaply, tend to corrode where the oil comes in contact with plastic, and do not produce much sent. They seem to induce a short lived ohh and ahh response by their new owners because of the pretty lights and nice looking jet of mist but again seem destined for a dusty life on a forgotten shelf. The overall experience of these units is that they don't work very well as oil diffusers or tend to last very long because of the nature of how electric devices don't tend react when placed in direct contact with water. 

5. Air Oil Diffusers


Air Oil Diffusers represent the luxury category of the diffuser family in both price and quality. These diffusers were designed for serious practitioners of aroma diffusing in mind.  Work by blasting small drops of pure essential oil with compressed air. The result is a "nebula" of pure essential oil mist that flows out of the reservoir bottle and into noses and lungs of people the room.  These units are all made of glass and typically sit vertically on either a wood, stone or plastic base. All of these units require a source of compressed air which is fed by a small compressor which either sits outside the unit connected by a rubber hose or inside the base of the unit. The advantages of this unit are numerous. Firstly they produce a very powerful and immediate aroma effect without heat or water. Secondly, for most brands, their core component is made of glass which means work very well, don't corrode when in contact with strong potentially corrosive essences and easy to clean. Next they typically look quite elegant however one of the earliest models, a true minimalist Frankenstein, (which still exists on the market today) consists only of a glass diffuser bottle fitted to the outside of a blue and black plastic fish tank bubbler connected by a silicon medical tube.  Most units have good quality metal components and switches and some even provide built in timers with auto shutoff and can have essential oil bottles inserted directly into them. Other units of this category  have elegant hand blown glass diffuser bottles and hand carved wood or stone bases with the compressor motors housed inside or outside the base. The only down side that these units have is that they have motors and can be a little noisy, they are made of glass which, if handled improperly can break if dropped or twisted. Units of the luxury category range in price between $80 and $180 USD but for individuals with a true passion for the art aroma diffusing,  Air Oil diffusers are the only choice.