I've been burning a lot of perfumed incense today, so I wanted something pure and natural to clear the air, and refresh the energy. So I rummaged in my resin box and came up with this old packet of loban resin that is marked Best Before Mar 2020. The bag was sealed, and from what I have read, the fragrant qualities of the resin should not diminish. However, I think it is worth noting that it is over five years beyond the time the seller, Top Op in Bedfordshire, UK, marked as best to use. Though, as Top Op mainly sell dried foods and spices, and the bag contained food warnings regarding allergies, small children choking on nuts, etc, I think that the Best Before is just a standard "we are not responsible if you die because you ate this beyond our safety warning" notice.
Though there is some powder (which I burn first), the bulk of the bag contains some very big, and hard, chunks of resin, and looks and feels more like pieces of stone or rock than resin. As the powder warms in my electric burner, it bubbles and releases some quite citric aromas. Sweet and juicy, touched with vanilla, though also kind of neutral and chalky. It is a bright, uplifting, fresh scent. Some resinous nature, though not musky. There are touches of pine and touches of stone fruits like peach and apricot. There is some sharp-sweet notes like balsamic vinegar.
I like this. I like this a lot. It has cleansed and energised the air, and has provided a subtle range of aromas that has stimulated the mind while refreshing and relaxing the body. I don't think loban is regarded as one of the great resins [following several conversations, including the one in the comments below this post, I'm noting that loban is regarded in the West as the Indian term for benzoin, or any tree tree resin, but in reality loban is a resin mix, possibly made in Malaysia or Indonesia using various guarded recipes, which Thomas Kinkele says may be termed "Calcutta block benzoin"]. It lacks sensuality and depth. But it is quite lovely, and filled the house with fresh, tingling energy. Yes, I like this a lot.
Date: Sep 2025 Score: 42
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There's some lovely Loban resins out there, but I also once bought one that ended up smelling like the cabinet in our celar, where we store varnishes, laquers and the brush cleaner in.
ReplyDeleteLoban is not pure benzoin, even if often falsly advertised that way. It's a mix of resins, with one being benzoin.
Pure benzoin has no citric or resinous notes, it is almost voilently sweet and just a little to much will make you cough.
Yiu can't trust Loban to be 100% natural.
Interesting. Chris said something similar a few years ago - that loban/sambrani he burned was never quite like benzoin, which was always vanilla sweet. Articles I've read generally indicate that loban is another name for benzoin. Though I've also read that loban can be used as a generic term for tree resin - so loban could be benzoin, or frankincense, or, as you say, a blend of resins. Cultural language variations are fascinating. I'll look deeper into the subject.
DeleteYes, it tends to be used as a general term for incense resins or synonymous to sambrani.
DeleteI asked Alok about the topic and he told me, no one knowledgeable about incense would call benzion "loban" as the word is derived from the arabic "luban", meaning frankincense.
It's one of the most confusing incense resin topics out there.
Ha ha! "no one knowledgeable about incense would call benzion "loban"! There's clearly a lot of ignorant people around!
DeleteTell Alok that he'll be surprised to learn that the word benzoin comes from Arabic lubānjāwī "incense of Java"! It goes in circles.
DeleteOOOOOHHHHH, you just provided me a missing bit of information! :D
Delete"lubānjāwī" - there's also stuff called Gawe or Jawi (and probably some other spelling variants), it's junks like loban. I never had a sample but was convinced, based on pictures and scent descriptions, that it was another variant of Loban/Sambrani but in yet another language/region.
It makes sense now! Thank you!
Do you remember where you read that?
"There's clearly a lot of ignorant people around!"
Yes, and they are all copying from each other and if you read something often enough, it starts to feel like the truth...
It will get even worse now, with the increasing amount of AI-generated, ruminated rubbish.
If you put "lubānjāwī" into Google you'll find a number of sources.
DeleteI've been reading more about loban. As with many things Indian, it's not entirely straightforward. Western sources say that loban is the Indian name for benzoin. But people with experience of India and Indian incense have told me that loban is not like benzoin.
Thomas Kinkele provides the answer. I had previously read his account of loban, but it had not fully sunk in. It has now. He says that loban is used in India as a fairly generic term for fragrant tree resin. Guggal and Indian frankincense and benzoin are sometimes sold as loban, though usually it is, as Irene (Rauchfahne) says, a mixture of benzoin and other gums and resins. He says there are several different recipes in Malaysia and Indonesia. He says it is known as "Calcutta block benzoin". If you put in a Google search for "Calcutta block benzoin", you'll generally find it is Irene posting somewhere on the internet about this issue.
So, officially loban is the Indian term for benzoin, but in reality loban is a resin mix.
Steve, Loban actually refers to frankincense. In India, though, many people with limited knowledge about gums started using the word Loban for almost any gum. The truth is, benzoin was never really a traditional smudging material here. What was commonly used was frankincense, which came from Africa through the sea routes. India also has its own variety of frankincense called Salai. But often, people confuse it with Guggal, which in fact is related to myrrh.
ReplyDeleteI also wanted to share a little about the so-called “Benzoin blocks” or manufactured Loban that are commonly sold here. These blocks are usually made with Damar Batu as the main base material. To this, a bit of inexpensive Indonesian copal and the lowest grade of Sumatra benzoin are added, along with fragrances—often with a heavy dose of vanillin for sweetness. With the right ingredients, almost anyone can make them. I’m fairly certain that real frankincense isn’t included in these blocks, as it doesn’t melt well and is usually too costly to be used.
ReplyDelete