Kundur (Frankincense): Uses, Joint Evidence, and Why It Isn’t Loban
Kundur is frankincense: the hardened, lemon-and-pine scented resin of Boswellia trees from Oman, Yemen, Somalia and central India. In Arabic it is luban, in Ayurveda salai guggul or shallaki, and in English olibanum. One warning before anything else: the “loban” burnt in Pakistani and Indian homes is usually a different resin altogether (benzoin), so if you came here for smoke and nazar, our loban smoke guide is the page you want. This one is about the resin as a thing you chew, soak, swallow in a majoon, or dilute as an oil.
In brief
- English: frankincense, olibanum; Indian frankincense
- Local names: kundur, gond kundur, luban (Arabic), salai guggul, shallaki
- Scientific: Boswellia serrata (India); B. sacra (Oman, Yemen: hojari luban); B. carterii and B. frereana (Somalia)
- Forms: raw tears, “kundur water”, Unani compounds such as Majoon-e-Kundur, standardised Boswellia extracts for joints, essential oil
- Best evidence: standardised extracts for knee osteoarthritis, modest benefit over several weeks
- Safety flag: essential oil is never swallowed or used neat; oral Boswellia and blood thinners do not mix well
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Kundur in English, and the loban mix-up
Frankincense comes from a handful of Boswellia species, small, twisted trees that grow on dry rock. Harvesters scrape the bark; the milky sap bleeds out, hardens over two or three weeks into tears, and is scraped off and sorted. The word frankincense means “high-quality incense”; olibanum and luban share one Semitic root meaning milk, for the white sap.
Now the trap. In Arabic, luban means this frankincense. In Urdu and Hindi, kundur means frankincense too. But the everyday Pakistani and north Indian word “loban” has drifted onto benzoin, the resin of Styrax trees from Southeast Asia, which is what most dhoop and loban packets actually contain. A pansari asked for kundur will reach for a different jar than one asked for loban. If you want the resin this page describes, ask for kundur or gond kundur, and check that the tears smell of lemon and pine, not the sweet vanilla of benzoin.
Species and grades: Omani hojari vs Indian salai
Three kinds reach South Asian shops. Omani and Yemeni luban (Boswellia sacra) from the Dhofar mountains comes in large, pale tears; the clearest, greenest ones are hand-sorted as “hojari” and “royal hojari” and sold at a steep premium. Somali frankincense (B. carterii, B. frereana) is the church-incense staple. Indian salai (B. serrata) arrives as small, brownish, often sticky lumps and is the cheapest; it is also the species almost all joint supplements and clinical trials use.
All of them are the same kind of material: roughly two thirds to four fifths resin (where the boswellic acids live), about a fifth water-soluble gum, and a few per cent essential oil that carries the scent. Omani oil is dominated by alpha-pinene, the sharp pine note; Indian oil leans to other terpenes and smells rounder. Grading is done by eye and nose for colour, clarity and size, which is what incense buyers and perfumers pay for; it is not a measurement of medicine.
The grade that is pointless to pay for, and the check that works
If you are buying kundur to chew, soak, or hand to a hakeem for a majoon, the pale green “royal” grade is money spent on looks. Brown Indian salai or ordinary Omani luban is the same gum-resin for that purpose, at a fraction of the price. Spend instead on freshness and cleanliness: tears that are dry, not sticky, with no bark, sand or dust. To check what you have, warm one tear in a closed fist for a minute and then drop it into half a glass of water and stir. Real frankincense goes cloudy and turns the water milky, because a fifth of it is gum that disperses in water, and it smells of lemon and pine. Pine resin, copal and other cheap fillers stay clear and glassy in water and smell of turpentine or nothing. It is a kitchen check, not a lab result, but it catches the common substitutes.
How kundur is traditionally used
Unani texts class kundur as hot and dry, a strengthener of the stomach, memory and “the organs of urine”, used for frequent urination, bed-wetting, loose stools and weak digestion. The tears were chewed, or steeped overnight in water and the cloudy “kundur water” drunk in the morning, a habit still alive in Oman and the Gulf. Ayurveda uses shallaki for swollen joints. Majoon-e-Kundur, a sweet paste built around the resin with other hot, astringent herbs, is the shelf product most Pakistanis meet, sold for urinary complaints and general “kamzori”.
Three modern forms sit on top of that: standardised Boswellia serrata extracts with a declared boswellic acid content (the form used in joint trials), steam-distilled essential oil sold for skin and scent, and the raw tears chewed like gum, which soften, go white and crumbly and taste bitter-resinous.
How a kitchen uses it: a few tears steeped overnight in a glass of water, strained, is the traditional luban water. The amount of any extract, majoon or chewed resin taken as medicine is set by the pack or a qualified practitioner, not by a website. Allow four to eight weeks before judging a joint product; if nothing changes by then, stop. The Unani preparations explainer covers what a majoon is and what its sugar means.
Boswellia for joint pain: the honest trial picture
Reasonably supported. Knee osteoarthritis is where frankincense has real human evidence. A 2020 pooled analysis of seven randomised trials (545 patients) found Boswellia extracts reduced pain, stiffness and improved function compared with placebo, with at least four weeks needed to see an effect. A 2018 analysis of eleven trials of Boswellia and curcumin (just over a thousand patients) reached the same direction: better than placebo for pain and function, side effects no different from placebo, and the authors asking for larger, better trials before firm recommendations. The honest size of the benefit is modest, in the range of a mild painkiller for some people, and the trials are short and mostly small.
Preliminary. Asthma, ulcerative colitis, brain swelling after radiotherapy, memory: small trials or lab work only. For asthma specifically, read our dama and hakeem remedies page before trusting any resin over an inhaler.
Tradition only. Urinary strength, bed-wetting, “kamzori”, memory sharpening from chewing the tears. No human trials.
Unsupported. Any claim that frankincense shrinks tumours in people; the cell-dish studies are real, the human evidence is not there.
If you already use a roghan for your knees, our Unani pain oil guide explains what a rub can and cannot do; and guggul, the other Indian resin sold for joints, is a different tree (Commiphora) with its own page.
Frankincense oil on skin and face
The oil is pleasant, and it does nothing for wrinkles that a moisturiser does not. Used at perfume dilution (one or two drops in a tablespoon of a carrier oil such as coconut or almond) it is a scent, and a patch test on the inner arm 24 hours earlier is the rule. It is also a known skin sensitiser in some people; redness, itching or a rash means stop. Never undiluted on skin, never on babies, never in the eyes, and never swallowed, however “pure” or “therapeutic grade” the bottle says. Essential oils are concentrated chemicals, and a child drinking a bottle is a poisoning emergency.
Who should avoid kundur
Essential oil: never swallow, never neat on skin, keep locked away from children; if a child swallows any, go to hospital with the bottle. Blood thinners and antiplatelet medicines (warfarin, aspirin, clopidogrel and the newer anticoagulants): Boswellia extracts may add to bleeding risk; tell your doctor, and stop any Boswellia product before surgery or dental extraction. Pregnancy and breastfeeding: the tradition lists kundur among herbs that stir the womb, and there is no safety data; avoid medicinal amounts. Stomach: oral extracts can cause nausea, acid, diarrhoea or bloating; a case of a hard mass forming in the stomach has been recorded after swallowing large amounts of raw resin, so do not eat the tears by the handful. Children: chewing resin is a choking and dental hazard; no hard chews under 5, and the kundur water tradition is for adults. Liver: if you have liver disease or your doctor monitors liver enzymes, mention any Boswellia product. Allergy: skin reactions are the most reported side effect of Boswellia products.
Joint pain with a hot, red, swollen joint, fever, or sudden inability to bear weight is not a resin problem; it needs a doctor the same day.
Price and fakes
We could not verify current dated prices for resin or oil in Pakistan, so take this as a pattern rather than a quote. The resin price climbs with grade and origin: Indian salai lowest, Somali and ordinary Omani in the middle, hand-sorted hojari several times higher. The oil is where the cheating concentrates, because a few millilitres of true distillate are expensive and a bottle is easy to stretch with cheaper pine or synthetic terpenes. A “frankincense oil” that is cheap, smells flat or sharp like turpentine, or lists no botanical name and country is a candidate for a blend. For the resin, the water test above and a clean, dry, bark-free look are your tools; a lab is the only proof of species.
The bottom line on kundur
Known: kundur is frankincense from Boswellia trees, chemically a gum-resin, and standardised extracts give modest, real relief in knee osteoarthritis over weeks. Claimed: urinary strength, memory, kamzori, cancer. Uncertain: whether chewing raw tears or drinking kundur water does anything the trials measured, since every trial used a concentrated extract. Main safety issue: the essential oil (never swallowed, never neat) and bleeding risk with blood thinners. The smoke question belongs to the loban page; indoor smoke of any kind is ranked in our indoor air pollution guide. More honest ingredient pages are in Unani & Herbal, Decoded.
Kundur and frankincense: your questions
Kundur kya hai?
Kundur is frankincense, the hardened resin of Boswellia trees from Oman, Yemen, Somalia and India. It is chewed, soaked in water, cooked into Unani majoons and distilled into an oil.
Kundur in English?
Frankincense, also called olibanum. The Indian species is sold as Indian frankincense or salai guggul.
Is kundur the same as loban?
Not in Pakistan and north India, where “loban” usually means benzoin from Styrax trees, which smells of vanilla. Arabic luban and Urdu kundur are frankincense. Check the smell: lemon-pine is kundur, sweet vanilla is benzoin.
Kundur ke fayde?
The one well-studied benefit is modest relief of knee osteoarthritis pain and stiffness from standardised extracts over several weeks. Urinary, memory and “weakness” claims are tradition without trials.
Frankincense in Urdu?
Kundur, or gond kundur. The Arabic luban is also understood. “Loban” is usually a different resin, benzoin.
Frankincense benefits eating: can you eat the gum?
Adults can chew a tear or drink the strained water it was soaked in, as Omanis do. Do not swallow large amounts of raw resin; a stomach mass has been recorded after heavy intake, and children should not chew it.
Boswellia for joint pain: does it work?
Modestly, yes, in knee osteoarthritis. In pooled analyses of randomised trials, pain and function came out better than placebo after at least four weeks, with side effects similar to placebo. It is not a replacement for exercise, weight management or a doctor’s plan.
Majoon Kundur Hamdard uses?
Majoon-e-Kundur is a traditional Unani paste built around frankincense with other hot, astringent herbs, sold for frequent urination, bed-wetting and general weakness. These are traditional indications without clinical trials; the pack or a hakeem sets the amount, and it contains sugar.
Frankincense oil side effects?
Skin redness, itching and sensitisation when used neat or too strong; poisoning if swallowed, especially in children. Always dilute, patch test, and keep the bottle locked away.
How to tell real frankincense?
Warm a tear in your hand: it should smell of lemon and pine. Stir it in water: real frankincense clouds the water milky because part of it is water-soluble gum. Pine resin or copal stays clear and smells of turpentine. Only a laboratory can confirm species.
Frankincense oil price in Pakistan?
We could not confirm a dated price, so we will not guess. Genuine distilled oil is expensive per millilitre; a cheap bottle with no botanical name is likely a blend or synthetic.
Can I take Boswellia with blood thinners?
Only with your doctor’s knowledge. Boswellia may increase bleeding risk with warfarin, aspirin, clopidogrel and newer anticoagulants, and should be stopped before surgery.
Sources
- Yu G et al. Effectiveness of Boswellia and Boswellia extract for osteoarthritis patients: systematic review and meta-analysis, BMC Complement Med Ther 2020
- Bannuru RR et al. Efficacy of curcumin and Boswellia for knee osteoarthritis: systematic review and meta-analysis, Semin Arthritis Rheum 2018
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, About Herbs: Boswellia (adverse reactions, interactions)
- Phytochemical analysis and pharmaceutical applications of monoterpenoids in the essential oil of Boswellia sacra (Omani luban), Adv Pharmacol Pharm Sci 2025
- GBIF Backbone Taxonomy: Boswellia serrata Roxb. ex Colebr., accepted name