CARNAL NATION

Exotic hardwoods are the raw materials behind Nob Essence, an “intimate sculpture” company formed in 2005 by the husband and wife team of Alicia and Jason Yoder. The couple's individual backgrounds make for an interesting combination: Alicia is a doula, child-birthing expert, and mother of six; Jason is an engineer and classical violinist who crafts his own instruments. Oh, and also a father of six!

Alicia explains the genesis of their hand-carved works of art: “Our journey started with a walk along a beach in Northern California and an interesting piece of driftwood. As a couple, we’d been exploring toys and maybe my expectations were too high, but I just hadn’t found anything that I really liked. So around the time that Jason carved the driftwood into a beautiful phallus, I started giving him specifications for my dream toy: this curve here and that bloop there. The first prototypes were handcarved from some of the lovely exotic hardwoods that we still use now and, as long they were covered with a condom, worked like a dream.”

In a 2008 article in AVN by Christopher Buttner, Alicia explained why the couple chose wood as their medium: “Wood is infused with the sun, water, earth and seasons that give it shape. If you pick up a piece of driftwood, who hasn’t gazed upon, caressed, and turned it in their hands until it’s warm and alive?” And Jason described why he feels wood works so wonderfully: “Wood is an exceptional insulator, quickly warms to the touch and retains temperature long after a heat source is removed, and wood carries vibration better than glass, metal, or silicone.”

The couple's company secret is "Lubrosity," the finish that's applied to all their toys. “We spent about two years and a lot of dollars finding the right coating for our products,” Alicia told CarnalNation. “It’s not just a coating, but a process. We knew that it needed to bond to the wood and create a waterproof barrier, but we had other specifications. I’m a very sensitive person and have suffered the after-effects of cheaper toys and lubes, so I was adamant that whatever we came up with needed to be medical grade and hypo-allergenic. Lubrosity met all our criteria: non-porous, hypo-allergenic, and both bacteria- and scent-resistant. These qualities are especially good for toys that are used anally. We’re so confident about Lubrosity’s properties that we offer a re-coat or replace policy on all our products.”

When Jason and Alicia first started their business, they ventured into unknown territory by attending the annual Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas, where they were lucky enough to meet sexuality instructor Dr. Carol Queen. “Having the opportunity to meet Carol Queen and get her feedback on some of our early carvings was invaluable,” Alicia explains. “We were delighted by her encouragement and in a short, shouted conversation at a very loud party, she confirmed our ideas on the type of coating that we needed to look for. Wood as a sex toy medium has been around forever, but we needed to find a coating that would make it waterproof. Carol confirmed that if we could find a coating that didn’t wear or wash off, we very likely would have a marketable product.” The market has proven that to be a correct assessment.