Luban is harvested from the gnarled Boswellia Sacra tree, which grows in abundance in the sheltered Dhofar area. Using a special technique, with a knife called a Manqaf, a cut is made in the trunk, after which the sap slowly oozes out in tear-shaped droplets. Once it hardens, it is cut from the tree bark. At the height of the Frankincense Trail in the 4th century BC, it was one of the most precious commodities in the world – made immortal, of course, in the biblical story of the three wise men gifting it to baby Jesus. At the time, Dhofar’s ancient city of Sumhuram was a hub of activity with ships setting sail across the Arabian Sea, to trade the resin in the east, in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, and in the west, in Greece and Rome.