Benzoin is cheap enough that bad benzoin is rarely a fraud and usually just carelessness: old stock, dust sold as resin, or Sumatra labelled as Siam. Knowing what you are looking at is most of the battle.
First decide what you need it for
| Use | Buy |
|---|---|
| Incense, burned on charcoal or a heater | Sumatra tears or Siam siftings; whole pieces, not powder |
| Tincture for perfumery or skin | Sumatra or Siam tears, any clean grade |
| Fine perfumery, natural perfume blending | Siam absolute or resinoid; Sumatra resinoid for a spicier note |
| Church or ritual blends | Sumatra, medium grade |
| Just to smell it | A few Siam tears |
Forms
Tears / pieces. The raw resin, sorted by size. Best value and longest shelf life. Siam comes as loose tears; Sumatra as blocks that break into tears set in a darker matrix.
Powder. Ground resin. Convenient for blending incense, but it clumps, oxidizes and loses aroma within months. Buy small amounts or grind your own.
Resinoid. A solvent extract of the raw resin, thick, dark and sticky. Cheaper than absolute, with more of the raw resin’s character. Used in incense pastes, soap and heavier perfume bases. See Benzoin absolute vs resinoid.
Absolute. An alcohol-washed, filtered extract: cleaner, paler, more expensive. This is what fine perfumery uses.
“Essential oil”. There is none. Anything sold as benzoin essential oil is a resinoid or absolute, often diluted 50 % in a solvent. Not a problem if labelled; a problem when priced as if pure.
Tincture. Resin dissolved in alcohol. Buy a pharmacy tincture for skin use; make your own for perfumery.
Reading the grade
Sellers use their own terms, but the underlying scale is universal:
- Large clean tears (“almonds”): pale, uniform, no bark. Top price.
- Small tears and broken pieces: same resin, less pretty. Good value for incense.
- Siftings, dust, agglomerated lumps: mixed with bark and dirt. Fine for tincture; poor for burning.
For Siam, paler is better. For Sumatra, look for clear pale tears inside the dark mass and as little bark as possible.
Red flags
- No species or origin on the label. Honest sellers say Styrax tonkinensis / Laos or Styrax benzoin / Sumatra.
- “Siam” that is dark brown and smells of cinnamon. That is Sumatra.
- A sour, vinegary or burnt-sugar smell. Old, overheated or fermented stock.
- Powder that smells of almost nothing. Old, or cut with cheaper resin.
- Very low price for “absolute”. Probably a diluted resinoid.
- Health claims. Benzoin cures nothing. Sellers who say otherwise are guessing about the rest too.
What things cost
Prices move with harvest and currency, so treat this as ratios rather than numbers. Sumatra tears are the cheapest form, a commodity resin priced by the hundred grams. Siam tears cost roughly three to six times as much for the same weight. Resinoids cost more per gram than tears but are more concentrated. Absolutes cost an order of magnitude more than raw resin and are sold in small bottles. If a shop’s Siam costs the same as its Sumatra, one of the labels is wrong.
Where to buy
Specialist incense suppliers and natural perfumery suppliers are more reliable than general marketplaces, because they name species and grade and turn stock over quickly. Church supply houses sell good Sumatra in bulk. For absolutes, buy from perfumery raw-material dealers who publish specifications.
After you buy
Store it cool, dark and sealed, and keep it away from other resins; benzoin will scent everything in the same drawer. See How to store resins.
Frequently asked questions
Should I buy benzoin tears or powder?
Tears. Whole tears show their origin and grade, keep their scent for years, and can be ground when needed. Powder is often made from low grades, loses aroma quickly, and can be cut with cheaper resins or fillers.
How much does benzoin cost?
Prices vary with grade and origin, but as a rough guide Sumatra benzoin in tears is inexpensive per hundred grams, Siam tears cost several times more, and benzoin absolute is priced per ten grams like other perfumery absolutes.
What is 'benzoin essential oil'?
A misnomer. Benzoin cannot be steam-distilled into an essential oil; what is sold under that name is a resinoid or absolute, usually diluted in a solvent such as benzyl benzoate or dipropylene glycol. Check the label for the dilution.
Sources & further reading
- benzoin
- buying guide
- grades
