RESINS: BENZOIN

It’s time to get back on track with Materials Wednesday and finish up the series on resins. I’ve written before on myrrh and mastic, but somehow missed one of the important resins, benzoin. This material is used extensively in perfume, mainly as a fixative; it is also used medicinally,  and burned as incense. In other industries, benzoin is used to enhance and fix food flavorings, especially vanilla, as a chewing-gum base, and to flavor tobacco. It is sometimes used in the manufacture of varnish.

Benzoin is the gummy resin obtained from trees in the genus Styrax, mainly Styrax tonkinensis, which grows in Southeast Asia. Benzoin is also known as “styrax” “storax” or “Siam benzoin”. The raw material is harvested in much the same way as other resins, by making cuts in the trunk of the tree, waiting until the sap runs out and solidifies, then scraping the “tears” off of the tree.

Because benzoin is an important commercial product, efforts have been made to study and improve methods for its cultivation and harvesting. There are now Styrax plantations, so benzoin is not in as much danger as some other materials that are still harvested from the wild.

The scent of benzoin resin is mildly sweet and, of course, resinous, and bears some similarity to vanilla. Because the scent is mild, it is a little hard to pick out of a perfume mix, but it does lend its own subtle signature to a blend. A lot of my perfumes contain benzoin in various concentrations.

Benzoin resin comes as a solid, which can be burned as incense or tinctured. When burned as incense, a magical transformation occurs and the smoke creates a powerful scent that is very different from the raw resin, absolute, tincture, or other preparation for use in perfumery. The beautiful, characteristic scent of benzoin used as incense is especially startling the first time you burn it, if you are used to smelling the tinctured or otherwise treated resin. It is unlike any other form of incense, and is one of my favorites.

For perfumery, benzoin can also be obtained as an “absolute”, which is generally pre-diluted with alcohol. Although this dilution makes it pourable, it is still dense and sticky, and cleanup is not fun. The hassles of working with benzoin aside, it is a useful material that I like having in my main selection of basic perfume-building blocks.

[Benzoin resin on tree trunk from Givaudan website, although it seems to be a cropped version of a photo from Accademia del Profumo, or from a website on “securing the future of benzoin in Laos”, or from some other ambiguous source. It seems to be very popular. Benzoin resin clump from an essential oil vendor’s website; Styrax trees image from an Indonesian commerce promotion website, Styrax flowers and botanical drawing from Wikipedia.]

SCENTS OF THE SEASON: WINTER 2015

It’s that time again when I have been putting together a seasonal collection for my Scents of the Season subscribers, and it’s always a challenge to pick a group of fragrances that I haven’t sent out before. At some point I suppose I’ll have to start recycling some of them, but so far I haven’t yet reached that point. My color printer stopped working when the internet went down after the last big rain- and windstorm, and I haven't gotten it back up and running so won't have the nice color box labels this time. Oh well, maybe by spring. 

This winter’s collection is mostly centered around resinous and balsamic scents, partly because of an experience I had the other day when I was mixing up a batch of concentrate that used some balsamic notes and was struck by what a subtly rich smell they had. As a limited edition extrait for the winter collection I mixed up a balsamic fragrance that I’ve been enjoying for the past few days, showcasing these types of materials. Some of the main ingredients are benzoin, tolu balsam, and liquidambar. These would typically be base notes, but they are beautiful alone.

Most people who are into perfume have probably at least heard of benzoin and tolu balsam, but Liquidambar styraciflua is the American sweetgum tree, an ancient species that has been around for at least 50 million years and is often planted as an ornamental. It grows fast, puts on a gorgeous show of orange, red, and purple leaves in the fall and drops those pesky, spiky “gumballs” that fall on the roads and sidewalk like a scattering of ball-bearings, creating a hazard for unsuspecting runners. Although not generally thought of as a source of perfume, the sweetgum tree exudes a sweet-smelling gummy resin when wounded. The resin has a unique balsamic smell and has been burned like frankincense and chewed like gum. On its own, I find that it contains an odd note that’s not entirely pleasant, but combined with other resins it enhances and deepens the richness and sweetness of the mix.

Tomorrow I’m going on a local “adventure” trip on Whidbey Island, and will be out of electronic contact for a couple of days. Before I go, I’d like to share the fact that two of my perfumes have made the 2015 “best-of” lists: White Cattleya on Cafleurebon, and Zoologist Bat on Now Smell This (NST). A big thank-you to Michelyn and Erin!

Leave a comment here on your favorite perfumes to wear in 2015 (they don’t need to have been released in 2015) and be entered to win a Scents of the Season Winter 2015 sample pack (including Bat), plus a sample of White Cattleya. The drawing will occur on Saturday, January 9. Please share info about the drawing with your perfume-loving friends and family.

[The top photo was grabbed from the local ski area webcam, the bat graphic is the one that's on the label of Zoologist Perfumes Bat, and the other two are adapted from Wikimedia. The lowest one shows Deception Pass, the gateway to Whidbey Island.]