Volatile oils also flavor chewing gum, tobacco, and toothpaste. Most fine perfumes include fragrant oils obtained from roses and other flowers. Manufacturers use such volatile oils as lemon oil to give a scent to soaps and other cleaning products. Natural volatile oils are extracted from various parts of plants, including bark, flowers, leaves, roots, seeds, and twigs. Methods of obtaining plant oils used for their scent are described in the article.
Food processors follow similar procedures in extracting natural volatile oils for flavoring.
Manufacturers use chemical processes to make artificial volatile oils from coal, petroleum, wood, and other substances. Some artificial oils duplicate natural oils. Others differ from any substance found in nature. Such products as artificial oil of rose and artificial vanilla extract cost much less than similar natural substances. Geoffrey E. Dolbear, Ph.D., Energy Industry Consultant, G. E. Dolbear and Associates.