Abstract Essential oil composition of the fruit oils of Piper chaba, P. longum and P. nigrum were investigated by GC and GC/MS. Unlike P. nigrum oil, P. chaba and P. longum oils were found to contain few monoterpene hydrocarbons, a moderate content of sesquiterpenes and high content of aliphatic hydrocarbons. The content of caryophyllene oxide (7.4%) was the highest in P. chaba and that of Î²-caryophyllene was found to be 39.7%, 10.2% and 5.2% in, P. nigrum, P. longum and P. chaba, respectively.