Gurjun balsam

Gurjun balsam comes from the tallest trees of the Asian rainforest, the dipterocarps, whose seeds spin to the ground on two long wings. Its scent sits somewhere between guaiacwood, patchouli and copaiba, balsamic and woody and faintly spiced, and it is one of the quietest and most useful base materials I know.

What gurjun balsam is

Gurjun balsam is the oleoresin of Dipterocarpus turbinatus and related species, giant trees of the forests of South and Southeast Asia. Like copaiba, the balsam is drawn from a cavity cut into the trunk, and the oil is steam distilled from it. The oil is rich in gurjunene and other sesquiterpenes that give it a smooth, woody, balsamic character with a faint spice, and it has long been used to extend and round out patchouli, guaiacwood and resinous bases.

Where gurjun balsam grows

Our formula books record the material and the tree but not a country, and so I print none. Dipterocarpus turbinatus grows across the forests of India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Southeast Asia, and the balsam is tapped in several of those countries. The house rule holds: where no origin is written down, none is claimed. What I can say is that the oil I use is the true dipterocarp balsam, with the woody, balsamic warmth that only those forest giants give.

How gurjun balsam smells

Balsamic, spicy and woody, between guaiacwood, patchouli and copaiba. It is soft and dry, with a faint sweetness and a woody depth that lasts for many hours and blends into everything around it.

Gurjun balsam in our chapters

• VIISultanat OudThe Deep Roots · in the base

  In Sultanat Oud it sits beneath the oud with sandalwood and labdanum, the balsam that rounds the deep roots.

• VIIIRoyale OudThe Taproot · in the base

  In Royale Oud it is one of the many balsams of the taproot, the quiet wood among the resins.

A note from the atelier

Gurjun is the material nobody names and everybody feels. In my two root chapters it is the mortar between the stones.

Questions about gurjun balsam