Translucent pale yellow to ivory brittle crystals (tears)
Odor Strength
High
Producing Countries
Greece (Chios), Turkey (Çeşme peninsula)
Pyramid
Heart-Base
The cleanest resin in perfumery — pale, translucent, faintly piney with a bright balsamic transparency that makes frankincense seem opaque and benzoin seem heavy.
Fresh-resinous, piney, dry-balsamic. A bright, translucent resin note — closer to pine sap than to church incense. The immediate impression is clean, almost mineral: warm stone, sun-bleached wood, a whisper of turpentine quickly resolved into something aromatic and Mediterranean. No smokiness, no sweetness. When you chew mastic gum, that first burst of clean, piney resin is the perfumery note.
Dry balsamic body, warm stone, Mediterranean herb undertone
After a few days
After a few days
Soft resinous trail, mineral-dry, clean and persistent
Grades & Aging
Indicative 2025 wholesale prices.
The Full Story
Mastic is the resin of Pistacia lentiscus var. chia, harvested almost exclusively on the Greek island of Chios, with marginal production on Turkey's Çeşme peninsula. The resin exudes as small translucent droplets — 'tears of Chios' — that harden to brittle, pale-yellow crystals with a clean, aromatic bite.
Where most resins tend toward darkness, warmth, or sweetness, mastic stands apart: fresh, faintly piney, with a dry balsamic clarity. Its volatile fraction is dominated by alpha-pinene and myrcene, while triterpenic acids (masticadienonic acid, isomasticadienonic acid) contribute to its resinous backbone. The result is a material that reads as resinous but clean — sunlight on limestone rather than smoke in a cathedral.
Harvest runs from July through October. Growers make small incisions in the bark every four to five days, then collect the hardened tears from the whitewashed ground beneath the tree. Annual production hovers around 150 tonnes, managed by the Chios Mastiha Growers Association. The know-how of cultivating mastic on Chios was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2014, and Chios mastic holds EU Protected Designation of Origin.
In perfumery, mastic supplies a resinous note without the devotional smoke of frankincense or the confectionery sweetness of benzoin. It works in Mediterranean compositions, modern chypres, and alongside citrus, lavender, and dry woods where a resinous spine is needed but heaviness is not.
This note in Première Peau. Albâtre Sépia · Simili Mirage. Sample all seven extraits in the Discovery Set.
The word 'mastic' derives from the Greek mastikhe, itself likely related to masasthai ('to chew'). Chios mastic is one of the oldest recorded aromatic resins — Hippocrates prescribed it for digestive ailments and as a breath freshener. In 2014, the know-how of cultivating mastic on Chios was inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list.
Extraction & Chemistry
Extraction method: Incisions are made in the bark of Pistacia lentiscus var. chia every 4-5 days from July to October. Resin 'tears' exude and harden over 15-20 days on calcium-carbonate-dusted ground. Essential oil is obtained by steam distillation of the crude resin; resinoid by solvent extraction (hexane or ethanol). Annual production approximately 150 tonnes, almost entirely from Chios, Greece.
Translucent pale yellow to ivory brittle crystals (tears)
Specific Gravity
0.860–0.880 @ 25°C (essential oil)
Refractive Index
1.468–1.478
In Perfumery
Heart-to-base resinous material providing fresh, dry-balsamic character without the heaviness typical of the resin family. Alpha-pinene and myrcene give it lift; triterpenic acids provide tenacity. Useful as a resinous bridge between fresh and warm registers — it can anchor a citrus-aromatic construction without dragging it into amber territory. Pairs naturally with lavender, rosemary, citrus, cistus, dry woods, and aromatic herbs. Functions in Mediterranean, aromatic-fougère, and modern chypre compositions.
