The
year is 1778. The colonies have just established the “Articles of
Confederation,” and the United States is well on its way in developing the
Constitution, establishing itself as a free nation. After Britain is defeated
in North America, there are those in places like Boston, New York, and
Baltimore who are in desperate need of work, especially ship crewman. As trade
with England has either halted in specific industries, or even disappeared
altogether, early Americans are now looking for opportunities in other parts of
the world for trading and development. Seeing as the vast Atlantic ocean
somewhat prevents any kind of immediate trade (you try making shipments to
another nation via wind power!), American merchants and tradesmen look South
towards the Caribbean, a couple weeks journey instead of a couple months. A new
market emerges, and new trade routes are established which focus on products
from St. Thomas, Tortola, modern day Dominican Republic and Cuba, etc…coffee,
tea, sugar, spices, and many more products only grown or made in the Caribbean
are brought to American harbors, and the need for new trade ships and seamen
rises within the young nation. As thousands of willing and able bodied workers
flock to the harbors, the industry explodes.
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| Premium Bay Rum Aftershave by the Gallon |
Now,
imagine working for a shipping company that leaves from Boston and picks up
fruit and spices from Tortuga on a regular basis—you leave port on a Monday,
arrive in the Caribbean a week or two later, immediately pick up the shipment,
then return back to Boston, only to restart the process the next day. In any
given month, you are on the open sea more than land! Sure, the ocean is
romantic, as the Caribbean is a tropical paradise where the gentle wind leads
your vessel through open waters, the taste of salt water sits upon the cool
evening air, and dolphins follow the wake of your humble schooner (ahhhh…the
epitome of romanticism!), but imagine doing this for years at a time, making very little money and dealing with the
added health issues that living a life on the ocean brings. Scurvy rotted your
teeth and gums, making your breath smell like death. Your clothes always reeked
due to the hot days during the summer in the Virgin Islands. You never took a
bath because you couldn’t fit one on the ship, and they were too expensive in
port. Needless to say, you would stink BAD. Come to think of it, it’s no wonder
why young sailors would begin their life on the sea and never leave—people
wouldn’t want him back after they whiffed his breath! Good luck finding a wife
in port when your breath would kill a sow, yet alone your haggard appearance after
being on the sea for years at a time.
Yet
around the turn of the century, some sailor had a brilliant idea—instead of
sitting in stench, why not use bay leaves from the Caribbean islands to kill
the putrid smell? Bay leaves are used for cooking, as the oils in the leaves
impart a distinct flavor valued in many dishes, so why not use fresh leaves and
rub the body with them? The oils would counter any offensive smells, and
sailors soon found out that the leave’s oil also helped fight mouth and skin issues.
Now, instead of smelling like an old gym locker room met a two-week saturated
corpse (notice the theme in “rotting?”), the ship’s crew and quarters would
smell like fresh cut, sweet and savory bay leaves. Like many folk remedies
intended for common ailments and illnesses, pinning the exact date for the
topical use of bay leaves as a deodorizer and skin healer is unknown. That
being said, the actual usage of bay leaves is documented towards the end of the
1700’s, but in the beginning of the 1800’s, a drastic change takes place:
blending the leaves with alcohol.
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| Captain Black Bay Rum $14.99 |
Rum
is a liquid commodity that since its initial distillation has imbedded itself
within the world market. By distilling sugarcane byproduct, such as molasses or
syrupy reductions, and then aging the clear liquid in oak barrels, Caribbean
exporters would produce huge amounts of the sweet liquor for trade. Sailors in
early America would drink this liquor throughout the voyage, as the alcohol
content would prevent the drink from turning foul, something which occurred
frequently with teas and even water (Fun fact: the popular beer, the “Indian
Pale Ale” (IPA) was produced in similar fashion). And with the booming trade
industry between America and the Caribbean, sailors found themselves completely
stocked with enough rum to supply the Queen’s army. Now, after a few sailors
had rubbed their body down with bay leaves as a deodorizer, however
uncomfortable this might seem in a room full of young and middle aged men, yet
another brilliant seamen came up with an even better idea to get rid of the “sea-stench” and have something delicious to drink—soak the bay leaves in
Caribbean rum in order to extract the leaf’s oil (ever heard of Captain Morgan
Spiced Rum?). This gave the sailors something to actually splash on their bodies instead of rubbing bay leaves in God
forbidden places, AND drink it too! Sounds delightful, right?
Fast
forward a few years—in 1838, the Danish chemist Albert H. Riise becomes
interested in the “sailor’s cologne” and “drink of choice.” Riise takes this
folk remedy and discovers that by mixing bay leaves and spices with the finest of Virgin Island rums, he is able
to create an amazing fragrance. He continues to add cloves, citrus rinds, and cinnamon
until his formula is considered “perfect.” This very formula would come to win
the distinguished “Centennial Medal” in 1876 in New Orleans and Chicago. So
consider this—when you are using a Bay Rum aftershave or cologne, you are not
using a new product; you are actually using a formula similar, if not the same,
as manly sailors and seamen in the 1800s, continuing the tradition of
masculinity in fragrance. All you need now is a schooner and a hull full of raw
sugar cane. But in the early 1900s, something would happen which would threaten
Bay Rum from stocking American shelves: Prohibition.
Starting
in the 1920s, alcohol was outlawed in the United States. Soldiers returning
home from WW I found their beloved brews and distillations absent from stores and
restaurants. Bars and pubs, which had opened shop decades before, were now
forced to close. Distilleries and brew houses were shut down, and Bay Rum
cologne and aftershave was prohibited from entering the United States. Because
the formula used actual rum, the product was outlawed and unable to be produced
or imported. This forced the manufacturers in the Caribbean to focus on the
European market, so beginning in the early 1920s, Bay Rum could be found in
nearly every barber shop in London, Paris, Glasgow, and even Berlin. This left
Americans with an ultimatum—live without Bay Rum, or manufacture it without alcohol.
For nearly 10 years, Bay Rum products found in America used bay leaves, cloves,
citrus rinds, and cinnamon, but replaced the rum with water. It became a
watery, weakend fragrant scent rather than a strong and robust aftershave. Of
course the best example of American sentiment can be found in the very words of
Captain Jack Sparrow himself: But why is the rum gone?!
Thankfully,
Prohibition ceased and booze (legally!) filled the tavern shelves once more.
With liquor importation also returned the traditional Bay Rum cologne and
aftershave which New Yorkians and Bostonians loved, however in order to keep
costs down, certain manufacturers continued to use the “water based” formula
instead of real alcohol. This would not be an issue, except these manufacturers
continued to market their product as “traditional Bay Rum,” but with no
alcohol! See the issue? Many of the legitimate manufacturers of real Bay Rum
began permanently closing shop due to their inability to compete with those who
were making “fake Bay Rum” shortly after Prohibition ended. While there are a few manufacturers today who
produce Bay Rum products, it seems no one is producing a legitimate Bay Rum
like the great bottles of yesteryear—that is, except for MD Barber Supply.
We
recently released our turquoise-colored “Captain Black Bay Rum”, reflective of
the beautifully crystal clear waters of the Virgin Islands, which utilizes real alcohol and real fragrance derived from bay leaves, cloves, citrus rinds, and
cinnamon, keeping within the strict historic tradition of the sea-faring
sailors, merchants, Navy gunners, and drunken pirates of the great nautical age—although
you can’t drink our Captain Black (curse regulations…). However unfortunate
this may seem, here at MD Barber Supply, we decided that we would answer Jack
Sparrow’s cry—where is the rum?! Well Mr. Sparrow, we have it here at the shop,
and we have lots of it. Real, rich, strong and robust Bay Rum.
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| 7x Bay Rum Fragrance |
-Tyler
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