Tree Resin Dammar Gum

 

I'm currently working my way through a box of resins and other assorted incenses that I tossed in there. Yesterday I burned some Gum Dammar sold by Goloka, which I found moderately pleasant and calming, though no more interesting or exciting than a cup of chamomile tea. Today I have picked up this packet of the same dammar tree resin, which I bought from The Scenter, which used to be run by the helpful and friendly Alan Hargreaves, who gave me lots of good advice when I experimented with selling incense on eBay some years back. The Scenter is now closed, but these loose packets of dammar resin are widely available on eBay and Etsy at low cost. I've looked back at my records, and I bought this in 2018 for £1.35. 

The resin pieces are small, much is little bigger than granulated sugar, and mostly darker than the Goloka, with occasional flecks of impurities (tree bark, etc), so this wouldn't be high grade dammar, and would have been cheaper to source than the dammar from Goloka. But, perhaps its my perverse nature - or simply that it does have more character, I like this dammar more than the Goloka. Not by much, it still remains a modest experience with a curious fragrance that is a blend of faint melting plastic and chamomile tea, along with somewhat refreshing lemon notes. 

Of course, you get what you pay for (they say), and businessmen have decided that pure white dammar is better (and so more expensive) than darker dammar. However, that is when the resin is being used as a varnish. And that makes sense. The clearer the resin, the clearer the varnish will be. When it comes to using dammar as an incense the clarity of the gum seems to be less important. Indeed, it appears from my brief experience, that the clearer the gum the less character and fragrance the incense will have. But that is my personal taste. I do like incense with character and noticeable fragrance, and your mileage may vary. However, I do think this experience points up my observations that we each have to follow our own path to discovering what incense works for us. If we follow too closely the recommendations of others, we might miss out on discovering what really works for us. What have I learned today? That the darker and cheaper dammar gum may be more to my taste than the clearer and more expensive dammar. 

Date: September 2025    Score: 29 

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Resins