Hello Phoenix-
First, let me thank you for spending a great deal of time lending all of us your expertise in this area. The world of mattresses being such a surprisingly byzantine place, I truly appreciate the effort you put into what is clearly a labor of love. You provide a remarkable resource, and you are to be commended. I can’t state that strongly enough.
I’ve reviewed everything I could find about this company online (which to be honest, wasn’t much), including the information you provided in this and the other post.
My GF and I both have athletics-related chronic back injuries, and when I started doing research on new mattresses, it seemed pretty clear that a memory foam or latex mattress could be a much better option for us than a traditional spring coil, with is the only mattress type either of us have ever slept on. Recently, we decided to trek around NYC trying out different foam and latex mattresses.
One of the places we tried was Essentia. We tried all of their mattresses, and really liked the Beausommet (or whatever that one is called). Now just to be clear, the number one reason we liked it was the comfort. It seemed to provide a firmer support than other foam mattresses we tried, but also a level of enveloping “zero-G” feel that we liked. Paradoxical, I know, but of what we tried, it was definitely the Goldilocks mattress.
So that was the main point. But at the same time, I’m not going to lie, we were certainly attracted to the “green hype” (for the sake of brevity) touted by Essentia. At the very least, it made me feel better about the cost of the mattress.
Anyway, I’m a cautious buyer, and I wanted to do follow up research, which lead to this and the other related thread. You make a very convincing argument, but I want to be sure I understand it, because I am going to either get to the bottom of this with Essentia via some tough in person questions, or I’m taking my $$ elsewhere. Here is how I break it down, and I apologize in advance if I get something wrong, or am missing something:
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Taken with the corporate history and ownership structure of Essentia (which you reference here, and the absence of any other patents under the corporate name or its principals (I looked too), Essentia is using the tech described in Canadian patent 6869066 to manufacture it’s mattresses?
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Patent 6869066 appears to be based on polyurethane foam?
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Polyurethane foam is necessarily petroleum-based?
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1-3 provide strong circumstantial evidence that Essentia’s mattresses are not free of petroleum, right?
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Jason from Essentia stated that patent #6869066 refers to a technology different from that which is used in Essentia’s “natural memory foam,” but he never posted information about which (allegedly petroleum free) patent is used?
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As a product, all “Memory foam” of which you’re aware is petroleum based, and cannot be manufactured solely from naturally (i.e., rubber-tree) derived latex?
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What Essentia calls “memory foam” is really “slow release latex”?
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Can “slow release latex” be manufactured without petroleum derivatives (as far as you’re aware)?
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The law tags that yogiyoda requested and posted do not comply with the requirements set forth in the tag manual you provided, insofar as “natural latex memory foam” is not a permitted substance (per the manual)?
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The lab test linked to on the Majestic Futon site indicates that there is no evidence of the natural substances Essentia claims to use, and indicates the presence of multiple petroleum-based substances?
I would like to ask you a few more things, but since I’m already asking a lot by hitting you with 10 questions like this (apologies), I’ll wait til I hear back from you.
Thanks again.