About Amber, Amber Essence & Amber Resin

This page is dedicated to solid amber and our wholesale Amber Essence is Eden Botanicals’ trade name for fragrant amber resin, which is used as a solid perfume and to make other fragrant products with (such as amber oil, potpourris, and room, closet or drawer fresheners.

What is Amber?

The term amber generally refers to either Baltic amber or to fragrant or Indian amber resin. Baltic amber is fossilized tree resin and is used primarily in jewelry. Although it is often called "Baltic" amber it actually is found in many parts of the world. It is found in colors ranging from pale yellow to reddish, brown and green. Although it is not thought of as being fragrant, it is! In order to experience its balsamic aroma, take a piece of pure amber (not reconstituted) and shave off small pieces with a knife. This will release a faint aroma. Next take some small pieces and place them on a lit piece of charcoal. The resin will burn and release the fragrant smoke. Be sure not to burn reconstituted amber, which contains plastic polymers or synthetic resins.

The fragrant amber, such as Eden Botanicals' Amber Essence (Amber Essence is our trade name for our exclusive amber resin), is a semi-solid mass of tree resins or gums mixed with essential oils, bees wax and fragrant plant powders. Amber resin is not simply a resin that is tapped from a mysterious tree growing somewhere in the Himalayas! If it were there would be a pure amber essential oil, an amber absolute, or an amber co2 extract. Amber resin is always a blend of different ingredients from many different sources. Every manufacturer of amber, or amber oil uses a different blend of ingredients, hence the consistency and aroma varies considerably. Each amber resin maker uses his or her own, unique and secret formula.

The color of amber resin depends on the ingredients used to make it. Colors range from golden (called honey amber) to reddish, brown and near black. The consistency also varies from very soft to quite hard. Some ambers are waxier, while others contain more crystals. But perhaps it is the aroma that we are most interested in, and this varies greatly as well. There are sweet, floral ambers, and woody, musky ambers. There are also the animal ambers, meaning those which actually include animal scents or synthetic variants. Please click here to purchase Eden Botanicals Amber Essence or our Premium Dark Amber.

At this point one may question, why is amber resin called amber. We believe it is because amber resins are attempting to imitate the scent of ambergris. Ambergris means gray (gris) amber. Ambergris is a gray, black or whitish colored substance that was originally collected from the surface of the ocean by fishermen or from pieces that have washed ashore. It is thought by many to be one of the most sensuous fragrances known, and has been used in perfumery for a long time. The ambergris comes from the sperm whale, which excretes the substance from its intestinal system. For the whale, it is a substance that helps to sooth the intestines after eating cuttlefish. Because ambergris has also been collected from sperm whales that have been intentionally killed, we do not use it in any of our products. Neither do we use synthetic ambergris. True ambergris is a very rare substance.

Manufacturing Process for Amber Resin

Amber resin is manufactured primarily in India, where it was created as an Ayurvedic formula for stress reduction. (Amber resins are also manufactured in the Middle East.) In India it is called amber dhoop and is sometimes burned in shrines or applied to the forehead for its calming and meditative qualities. As we mentioned, each amber maker uses a different (and highly guarded) formula and method of manufacture. For this reason we can not give you a recipe or an exact ingredient list. However, there are some basic ingredients that are commonly used. These include a resinous base of Styrax tree resin (commonly called benzoin) from the benzoin tree (Styrax benzion or Styrax tokinensis [which is the more fragrant and finer variety]).

It is probable that the styrax resin is refined prior to making the amber. We say this because amber is less sticky than raw styrax resin and contains a greater quantity of crystals (styrax resin contains a high concentration of vanillin crystals). In addition to tree resin, bees wax is often added in the base to keep the resulting amber from crumbling. We have seen some ambers with few crystals and lots of wax, and visa versa.

We have also come across several references to storax gum sometimes called sweetgum, or Levant styrax being used in amber resin. It is a resin obtained from the liquidambar tree (Liquidambar orientalis), which is native to Asia Minor. It is an ancient incense substance which was used in the Middle East. However, after sampling different varieties of storax gum, we feel that it is unlikely that this gum is used in amber resin. The samples that we have obtained all have a rather unpleasant chemical aroma. However, when the storax gum is subsequently steam distilled, an essential oil is produced. The essential oil is typically called styrax (or liquidambar) and has a sweeter, more refined, and more amber-like aroma. This oil can be benificially used in amber oil recipes.

Please note that styrax is both a common name used for liquidambar and also the botanical name for benzoin mentioned above. Although confusing, the name styrax is used for both benzoin and liquidambar.

To the resin and wax base, the amber maker adds essential oils or fragrance oils or ambergris. The types of oils used will determine the final scent of the product. Fragrant plant powders such as sandalwood powder are also added to some ambers. The types of oils typically added include sandalwood and patchouli. Almost any other oils may be added to get the desired scent. A spicy amber may have cinnamon, cardamom or ginger added. A sweet flowery amber may have geranium, rose or a hint of ylang ylang added. Other oils that may be used in certain ambers include: vetiver (khus), spikenard (jatamansi), frankincense, myrrh, cedarwood, vanilla, ambrette musk, etc.

To learn about amber oil, please click here About Amber Oil.

We hope this information on amber has been helpful to you. If you have specific information on amber resin please email it to us so we can include it in this article.