Papier d’Arménie is the most successful benzoin product ever made and one of the few incense products with a brand, a factory and a 140-year unbroken history. It is also the simplest way to smell benzoin smoke: buy a booklet, tear off a strip, light it.
Origin
In the 1880s a French businessman, Auguste Ponsot, travelled in Ottoman Armenia and noticed households burning benzoin to scent and disinfect their homes. Back in France he worked with a pharmacist, Henri Rivier, on a way to package the practice. Their answer was blotting paper impregnated with benzoin dissolved in alcohol, dried and cut into strips. “Papier d’Arménie” went on sale in 1885, was presented at the 1888 Paris Exposition, and has been made in Montrouge, south of Paris, ever since. The company is still family-run.
How it is made
Sheets of thick, absorbent paper are soaked in a benzoin tincture, historically with a saltpetre solution to help the paper smoulder evenly, then dried, cut into strips of about 40 mm by 100 mm, perforated in threes and bound into small booklets of twelve strips. The traditional version uses Siam-type benzoin for its clean sweetness; a rose version and an “Arménie” version with added fragrances came later.
How to use it
- Tear off one strip along the perforation.
- Fold it into a small accordion (a zigzag). This slows the burn.
- Place it on a heatproof dish or in the small ceramic holder sold for the purpose.
- Light one end and immediately blow out the flame so the paper smoulders rather than burns.
- Let it glow for a minute or two. The smoke is thin and sweet.
Half a strip is enough for a small room. The scent lingers for an hour or more.
What it smells like
Sweet, warm, vanillic benzoin smoke with a papery, faintly toasty edge and, in the traditional version, nothing else. It is a gentler, cleaner version of what benzoin does on charcoal, because the paper burns slowly and at low temperature. Many French people associate it with grandparents’ apartments, winter, and the bathroom after someone has smoked. It is used to deodorize rooms, cupboards and cars, and simply because it is pleasant.
The health question
Papier d’Arménie was long sold as a disinfectant and “purifier”. Benzoic acid in the smoke has some antimicrobial activity, but the burning paper also produces the same particulates and combustion products as any incense. Modern packaging is more modest and recommends ventilation. Treat it as a scent, not a sanitizer. See Benzoin safety and allergies.
Making your own
The principle is simple: blotting paper, benzoin tincture, drying. Home versions burn less evenly without the saltpetre and can flare; keep them small and use a dish. A resin tincture of Siam benzoin at about 20 % gives the closest result. See Tincture of benzoin.
Why it matters
Papier d’Arménie is proof that benzoin, alone, is a domestic scent people want. Every other incense tradition blends it; Ponsot and Rivier bottled it, or rather papered it, on its own, and a country kept buying it for fourteen decades. Guerlain’s Bois d’Arménie is the perfume tribute. See Perfumes with benzoin.
Frequently asked questions
What is Papier d'Arménie made of?
Blotting paper soaked in a solution of benzoin resin in alcohol, dried, and cut into strips bound in a small booklet. The traditional version is scented with benzoin alone; newer versions add rose or other fragrances.
How do you use Papier d'Arménie?
Tear off one strip, fold it into a small accordion, set it on a heatproof dish, light it, and blow out the flame so that it smoulders. It burns slowly for a minute or two and scents the room with sweet benzoin smoke.
Why is it called Armenian paper?
Its inventor, Auguste Ponsot, saw benzoin being burned to scent homes on a trip to Armenia in the 1880s and brought the idea back to France. The paper has always been made in France.
Sources & further reading
- papier d'armenie
- benzoin
- france
- incense paper
