Olibanum

What it is

The botanical name for frankincense, resin tapped from Boswellia trees. Worth naming as frankincense in ordinary writing, since almost nobody recognises the other word.

What it smells like

Dry resinous smoke with a lemony lift at the top, cooler and sharper than myrrh. It is one of the oldest traded aromatics and still smells more like a ritual than like a fragrance.

Where it sits

Which layer of the pyramid it is listed in, across every fragrance here that carries it. A base note is one you smell for hours; a top note is usually gone within the first.

What it turns up with

How much more often than the catalogue average. 1.0x would be chance, so these are the things that genuinely travel with it rather than the things that are simply common.

When it is worn

Against the average fragrance here. The line marks that average, so a bar past it means this is worn in that season or setting more than most.

Houses that use it most

Counted across the fragrances here, which reflects what we cover as much as what a house makes.

Amouage (14), Le Labo (11), Tom Ford (7), Bvlgari (5), Byredo (4), Nishane (4).