Botanical Name: Commiphora guidotti
Origin: Ogaden, Kenya, Ethiopia
Opoponax resin, also known as Sweet Myrrh, is wild harvested by Fair Trade practice in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia, and is considered the highest quality of Opoponax because its aromatics are vastly superior when compared to others, namely Opoponax from Somalia, despite being from the same African continent. Ethiopian Opoponax is only harvested during the dry season, as rain can easily damage the resin. First, the gum of the Commiphora Guidotti tree is extracted by incising the bark. After several weeks, enough gum has oozed out where it can be collected. It is then transported to local villages where it can be further dried in the shade to form a hardened resin. The resin's aromatics are similar to Myrrh essential oil: warm, earthy, smoky, and resinous, but with a sweet amber incense note indicative of the notorious opoponax scent.
Please note we package resins by weight, not container size. Resin pieces vary in size, with most being as large as a walnut. We do not sort according to size and therefore package a mixture of sizes.