Breu-Branco

Note Profile

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About

Amazonian incense resin. Reads as frankincense with a citrus-fresh top and a mustier, spicier body.

Scent Profile

Breu-Branco reads as frankincense, a resinous incense note with a firm, pine-like woody body underneath. A citrus brightness cuts across the top, fresher and sharper than the resin below. A warm spice note runs through the middle, and when burned it gives off a rich, fragrant smoke. Behind it all sits an earthy, musty note typical of rainforest resins.

ScentWheel

Breadthmedium

EnvelopeHeart · ~8h lasting

Family Amber · Musk · Leather, Woody & Earthy, Fresh & Citrus

Read off the wheel, not a label applied to the note.

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Materials That Can Make This Note

Perfumers can make Breu-Branco from this natural extract.

Natural extract Protium, resin

Smell words come from published sources.

A given perfume with this note may use this material, or something else.

Origin

Breu branco is the pale hardened resin of Protium heptaphyllum, a Burseraceae tree of the Brazilian Amazon. Tappers cut the trunk and collect the exuded lumps once they set. The resin is burned directly as incense or steam distilled for an essential oil. The one published composition puts the oil at roughly three quarters monoterpenes: terpinolene 28.5 per cent, limonene 16.9 per cent, alpha-phellandrene 16.7 per cent and alpha-pinene 10.5 per cent, with 3-carene and p-cymene also named. That is the same monoterpene family that drives frankincense and elemi, which is why suppliers sell it as Brazilian frankincense.

Usage in Perfumery

Used where frankincense would go but a fresher opening is wanted. The citrus and pine lift sits on top, so it can be placed higher in a composition than olibanum without losing the resin body underneath. It suits incense, woody and ceremonial accords, and it carries a musty, spicy undertone that separates it from cleaner church-incense materials. The raw lump is quiet until it is heated, so it works best where there is already warmth around it.