Olibanum
Profumum

I haven’t smelled as many olibanum-dominant fragrances as Colbourne, but I understand his point. This is a decent scent, though for me it leans heavily toward cedarwood. As it dries down, I’m strongly reminded of Hinoki by Comme des Garçons, and I’d say they’re about 70% similar. Hinoki feels greener, with more pine, which gives it a fresher and more tranquil character. This one stays drier and more linear. Given the price on discounters, $269 CAD, it still isn't cheap and I was expecting a bit more. It’s simply not as balsamic or smoky as I had hoped.

If you don’t enjoy resins or sweetness, you may actually prefer this, since it focuses on a dry, woody cedar-sandalwood profile. Overall, it comes across as a clean myrrh supported by a woody backbone that lifts the composition, but it never fully deepens. I haven’t smelled Dirty Hinoki by Heretic, so I can’t compare directly, though enough people group these fragrances together that it seems they occupy a similar space. Personally, I appreciate the lightness and refinement of Hinoki by CDG, and I find it noticeably more complex than this scent.

I wanted to like this one more, but it falls a bit flat and lacks depth. There are more interesting options out there, such as Boswellia by Fiele Fragrances, which captures frankincense, myrrh, and sandalwood in a more compelling way. Performance is moderate. The juice is lighter in color compared to others in the line, which makes it easier to wear in spring and even on cooler summer evenings. In winter, though, I suspect it would sit too close to the skin.

At first, cedar rolls in strong. Olibanum starts with fresh pencil shavings, and then it moves in a more earthy, musty direction, a bit like the aroma of soil and wood chips.

The olibanum here is smoky (some myrrh draws out those smoky tones), with the lemony and piney facets de-emphasized. This is an outdoorsy, rustic incense, suggestive of a pleasant walk in the woods.

It's simple, straightforward stuff, and there's a lot of competition for this style (though perhaps not as much competition as there is for liturgical incense fragrances). Still, it's inarguably nice, and enjoyably casual in demeanor.

Quite cedar-forward to start for something named Olibanum, this one is great, for sure, but not as frankincense-resin forward as I hoped it would be. There's the current of olibanum resin here, but what's missing are the lemony and pine-needle fresh facets so characteristic of olibanum resin, at least that of Boswellia sacra or Boswellia serrata.

Not long after the top notes dim down a bit, Olibanum turns into Myrrh, with a supporting cast of vague conifers and something resembling cumin. It actually reminds me of a fragrance that I put my nose on recently while visiting a Bare Minerals by Heretic called Dirty Hinoki. It was something I would've flipped for several years ago, but today seems a bit too linear and one-chord.

I would argue that Olibanum, while nice, falls into that same boat. With several incenses in my arsenal such as Unum Lavs, Goutal Encens Flamboyant, Jovoy La Liturgie des Heures, that seem to capture olibanum far better, this just isn't making a very strong impression.

Quite wonderful! Olibanum skips the high-pitched lime peel notes of most renditions and focuses almost entirely on the material's rooty, medicinal sootiness. There are some very fine Omani frankincense varieties, like Hojari, that display a soft creamy-tangy orange note up top instead of the usual lime leaf, and this is what Profumum has cleverly chosen to mimic here with its brief splash of orange in the topnotes.

Rather than resin, I get the impression of dark, shiny, polished woods - an ancient armoire maybe, carved from a single trunk of pine felled in some cold North clime. It smells like what I'd imagine that that almost ebony-black wenge smells like - the hidden underbelly of wood, closest to the core, where no light penetrates. A particularly mineralic, earthy myrrh deepens this impression.

Mmmmmmmm...smelling this brings mucho pleasure and enjoyment to my nose...incense smoke flavored with myrhh blowing through a fresh pine forest...get a resin smell like sap from freshly cut pine...a tiny bit of that incense turpentine flavor...not your typical fresh and creamy sandalwood...more of a down and dirty slighty singed sandalwood...a dark gothy incense fragrance...not a churchy incense in my book...more like something in the air surrouning a circle of robed and hooded mystics sitting around a campfire in a forest performing a ritual that veers more to the dark side of things...a wonderfull member of the incense fragrance family ...me like..one strange thing I noticed is that the smoky aspect occasionaly gives me a licorice scent...a unique and enjoyable take on incensse...

Love at first sniff. Alot like Rock Crystal but just a hair better balanced, simpler. And this came first anyway. It's a beautiful light and transparent frankincense frag. Just a tiny bit of white floral to send it flying and the tiniest bit of sweetness of myrrh to help it land. Problem is I go through it too quick like water.