Breu-Branco

Note Profile

Botanical

About

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

Scent Profile

Amber_resinous leads, and every source reaches for frankincense to name it. Under that sits a firm dry_woody body, given as resineux et boise aux notes de pin by the maker and as rich woody and powerful by a second supplier. A citrus brightness cuts across the top. One supplier states it directly, fresher with a slight citrus fragrance, and the composition supports it at 16.9 per cent limonene. A warm_spice reading is named twice, as hints of spice and as with spice notes. Smoky belongs to the material as it is actually used, because this is a burning resin first: the maker gives fume, and the incense retailer says it does not exude a strong fragrance until it is burned, but it is a very fragrant smoke. An earthy mustiness runs behind all of it, described independently as somewhat musty and as that musty scent that many rainforest resins have. Below those sit a thin green and tropical-floral edge and a light sweetness, each claimed by one source only.

ScentWheel

Breadthmedium

EnvelopeHeart · ~8h lasting

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

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

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.