Cleopatra Dragon Blood resin

An invigorating resin. Cleansing mineral aroma, yet quite organic. Good for ritual use. Yes.

Date: March 2019    Score: 30

Dragon's Blood has a great name, and a compelling appearance of dusky red. It has a long history as an incense, a medicine, and various other uses. It is a legendary and almost mythical substance, with some uncertainty as to the exact original ancient source.  It comes from a variety of plants - anciently it mainly came from either dracaena cinnabari, the dragon blood tree, or dracaena draco, the Canary Islands dragon tree; modern dragon's blood mostly comes from the fruit of daemonorops draco, the dragon's blood palm, which grows in Southeast Asia. This Dragon's Blood is imported from India, though is likely to have been harvested in Vietnam or the Philippines.

The appearance is quite compelling, and is the best feature of the resin. As it burns the solid resin becomes molten and bubbles; the dusky red becomes brighter, with thinner areas turning black, and then the thicker bright red areas flow onto the black areas carrying them, so it looks exactly like hot blood in a witch's cauldron. Scents we picked up include warmth, tomato, soft fresh onion, basil, stone, mineral, herbal, cork, soft fresh leather, neutral, and some sandalwood but without the musk and the sweetness. Essentially we found it vaguely interesting, not unpleasant, but mostly neutral. I think it's an incense to burn in a blend, or for reasons other than for the scent alone.

Thomas Kinkele, the German author of  Incense And Incense Rituals, says of dragon's blood: "dark/tart somewhat gum-like burnt smelling fragrance ... indecisiveness and timidity are transformed with an intense burst of fire into strength and courage". Bought for £4.50 for 15g from Amazon - including delivery.  Cleopatra are a UK based wholesale importers and distributors of ethnic goods. 


Date: June 2018   Score:  22

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Dragon's blood

Incense by Country

Spiritual/Ritual Incense