Frankincense
Dry, lemony tree resin smoke with a peppery, woody warmth.
You may know it from Frankincense incense burning in a church or meditation space
Where it comes from
Boswellia tree resin is distilled or recreated with aroma chemicals.
About frankincense
Frankincense is the hardened sap of Boswellia trees. Harvesters cut a shallow incision in the trunk or branches, or strip a patch of bark crust, and let the resin set. A tree starts yielding at about eight to ten years old and is tapped two to three times a year, with the last taps giving the best tears.
Origin matters to buyers. In Oman the trees grow in Dhofar, north of Salalah, and the fog-affected desert zone there is said to give very high-quality resin in large white clumps. In Somalia the harvest is in the northern Bari and Sanaag regions, where Boswellia frereana, called Maydi locally, is grown. Naming is not settled across sources. B. carteri was determined in the 1980s to be a synonym of B. sacra, yet trade and perfumery sources still list Omani sacra and Somali carterii as separate supplies.
Steam distillation of the resin gives an oil, and one supplier guide puts the yield at about 5 to 10%. The oil opens bright, piney and citrus-like with a herbal edge, then shows warmer, balsamic, slightly sweet facets as the volatile parts evaporate. Alpha-pinene and limonene lead in B. carteri, while one B. serrata profile lists alpha-thujene at 54 to 82% and alpha-pinene at only 4 to 8%. The resinoid is a different material. Buffalo Extracts calls it darker and smokier, and says houses often hold both, the oil for brightness and the resinoid for depth. IFF describes its own resinoid as balsamic, warm and mineral, reminiscent of church.
The smoke people associate with the word comes from burning the resin. Unburnt resin or its oil smells fresher, piney and lemony, according to The Snift Test, so a perfume that lists olibanum has not promised smoke. The Good Scents Company also lists a replacer category for the material, with an olibanum-type product from Firmenich, so a note on a label may not come from the tree at all.
Boswellia sacra is listed Near Threatened by the IUCN, with habitat loss, insects, camel overgrazing and over-tapping for trade among the threats, and heavily tapped trees produce seeds that germinate at only 16%.
Accords it shows up in
How many of the fragrances listing Frankincense in our catalogue also carry each accord. We counted this ourselves.
Often paired with
The notes that appear next to Frankincense most often in our catalogue.
Well-known fragrances with Frankincense
Fragrances that list it in their notes, most-rated first.
Houses that use it most
Ranked by how many of their well-known fragrances list Frankincense.