Precious woods, gathered and ground into fragrant incense, have been a trade item for thousands of years. The legendary Spice Route brought the exotic and highly-aromatic woods, barks and gums of the Orient to European thresholds. Crusaders returned from Damascus, Palestine and Byzantium with attar of rose, clove and "Arabian perfumes."
During medieval times, sumptuous compounds of sandalwood, patchouli, myrrh, olibanum, mastic and incense cedar burned alike in the cathedrals of Burgundy, the temples of Delhi and magicians' secret towers.