Smells Like Spells Idunn Beauty Spell

There is a pleasant note of sweet licorice on the cold throw scent on the stick. Warm, quite natural scent on the burn. Fairly soft and attractive. There's a feel of a rustic music festival from the Seventies - bonfires in the distance, and cannabis closer by. Some chocolate, resin, and licorice notes rounds it out nicely. I get out the document that comes with the incense (each Smells Like Smells incense comes with quite a detailed document giving details of the ingredients, the person in Norse mythology after whom the incense is named, and a ritual to perform while burning the incense), and note that the main fragrance ingredients are listed as frankincense, agarwood, and licorice. And I can see that. This is actually much softer, and more rounded, and more resin based than other Nepalese style incense I've burned. I quite like this. Much more than I expected. 

Available as a glass tube of approx five sticks from Forest Home at £7, shipping extra; or from Smells Like Spells for €8, shipping extra.  As a handy comparison - average cost per pack of Nepal/Tibet incense sold by Padma Store in Germany is around €4, with average price per five sticks working out at around €1, plus  shipping. 

Date: Jun 2026   Score:  35/50

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Smells Like Spells

Smells Like Spells

 

Smells Like Spells in a British owned retail shop in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, which sells "Norse Magic" related candles, home fragrance, and incense under the Smells Like Spells brand. The incense, as indicated on the accompanying paperwork, is made in Nepal. In discussion with the owners, Vilius and Marius, they assured me that despite all indications to the contrary, the sticks are made by their team in Lithuania under various stages of the moon, which are noted on the packaging, and not in Nepal. There is an adage that if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it is a duck. The Smells Like Spells sticks, look, walk, and quack like a Nepalese duck, and the paperwork appears to confirm this. But the owners assure me the paperwork connection to Nepal is due to Nepal having certain Norse Mythology related herbs that are not available in Lithuania. That the sticks look, burn, and smell exactly like Nepalese incense is, it seems, simply a coincidence. For those who wish to engage with the Norse Magic of Lithuanian-made incense sticks, they will need to suspend disbelief while reading this book of spells. Others may simply, and perhaps more realistically, compare these sticks to what else is available from the Himalayan region, and consider if the Lithuanian connection is worth the extra money. 

I'm not a big fan of Nepalese incense, though I have enjoyed these sticks; and I do love the imagery and packaging around them. Also, as an incense hunter, I love to see what is going on in other countries. And I'm enchanted by the Lithuanian connection as well as the references to the phases of the moon when the incense was made (true or not, I love the idea), and that they are sold in glass tubes with corked lids. So there is much about Smells Like Spells which I've enjoyed - including the incense itself. And I know there are those who do love Nepalese incense more than me, and would also be enchanted by the Norse mythology and the Lithuanian connection, so there is a market out there for Smells Like Spells incense, and I wish Vilius and Marius well for future sales and development. 

Reviews 

Smells Like Spells Idunn Beauty Spell
Jun - 2026 - Score: 35/50 

  

  Smells Like Spells Eir Healing Spell
Jun 2026 - Score: 30/50

Reviews: 3 

Top score: 

Low score: 

Average:

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Incense around the world

  

Nepalese incense

Nippon Kodo Meiko Eiju

Described by Nippon Kodo as "Spicy Sandalwood" with "various materials utilized in Chinese medicine for centuries" giving the keynotes of sandalwood and cinnamon.  Eiju, which translates as "long life", is one of Nippon Kodo's popular everyday incenses. Meiko in this context translates as "excellent" or "special", so Meiko Eiju translates as something rather prosaic like "Special Long Lasting Incense". I've seen some shops describe the scent keynotes as "Cinnamon & Amber", and Irene of Rauchfahne has reviewed a packet subtitled "Spicy Amber". 

  

There is a bright, pleasant scent on the stick which presents to me as rather like the fantasy scent amber, along with some powdery perfume notes, suggesting modern aroma chemicals, and some vague wood notes. Scent on the burn is a little rough from the sandalwood and binder wood paste. I'm not really getting much spice, though there is a general sweet warmth - quite modest, but present. Caramel notes wisp in and out, which would likely come from the cinnamon; and the cinnamon could also give an impression of amber. Given the sweetness, the general perfume quality of some of the fragrance, and the relative low cost of this Japanese incense, I suspect that the powdered cassia bark has been assisted by something like cassia oil and/or cinnamaldehyde.  On the whole a modest but pleasant everyday room freshener incense.

Available from eBay, and from Nippon Kodo. A trial pack of five sticks is available from eBay for £1.69 plus postage.

Date: Jun 2026    Score: 28/50 

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Nippon Kodo

Japanese incense

Best cinnamon incense

Reviewed in Germany

Gyokushodo Jinko Kojurin

I couldn't find a reliable website for Gyokushodo - information mostly comes from sales bling on various shop websites, so I have treated it with some caution. Many shops say the company was formed in 1804, though that appears to be the year a merchant, Sakubei II, moved his wholesale business from Hiroshima to Osaka, which has developed a reputation as a major label incense centre with companies such as Baieido and Nippon Kodo, as well as Gyokushodo. In 1804, Sakubei II was trading in Chinese herbs and ingredients for incense making, but wasn't making incense himself. It appears to be 1850 when he started making his own incense, based on knowledge he acquired from  dealing with China traders, and formed Gyokushodo. Its popular everyday line is Kojurin, which means something like "Forest Fragrance", and combines natural woods with fragrance oils. Jinko means agarwood, 

  

Pleasant gourmandy scent, a touch of roasted shallots, some dry fried fish, fragrant wood, and a general rustic, savoury, and mysterious accord. It's not a sophisticated, intelligent, or balanced accord - difficult to assume anyone has designed this. It is what it is, and you'll either like it or not. I'm OK with it, and I can see why it would be popular in Japan, though I can also see why it's a low cost everyday incense. If rustic woody scents which lean toward fairground onions rocks your world, then this may the incense for you. 

Available in several places - AtmosphereIncense in Singapore who ship worldwide, Wa-No-Kaori  in Japan, JapaneseIncense in the USA, and from Shi on eBay in the UK, who also sell a trial pack. 

Date: Jun 2026  Score: 28/50

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Japanese incense

   

Agarwood Incense

Reviewed in USA - 2009
Reviewed in USA - 2014

Shorindo Chahana / Chabana - Tea Flower / Camellia

Shorindo is based on Awaji Island, which has 14 incense makers, and has a claim to make 70% of Japan's incense. Incense making on the island started in 1850 when an islander, Tatsuzo Tanaka, copied incense production methods from the then capital of Japanese incense making, Sakai, and brought them to Awaji, where the nishi-kaze (west wind) dried the incense, and its port enabled the incense to be easily traded around Japan. The legend of agarwood washing ashore in Japan in 595 places the beach on Awaji Island, which sounds like colourful marketing by the local incense makers. Though there are claims that the Awaji incense makers were the first to make smoke-less incense, I've not found reliable evidence of that, though the island is well known for its daily incense and low-smoke incense, which is popular with modern Japanese because homes tend to be small with closed windows, so there is a preference for mild and low smoke incense.  Awaji is also known for "blending western perfumes with the eastern cultural use of incense woods", which means they use modern aroma chemicals. 

Shorino is popular in Japan for this particular incense - Chahana (or Chabana - it is translated both ways). The word translates as "Tea Flower", though "Camellia" is sometimes used as that is a tea flower. Camellia (or "tea flower") does not produce a significant scent, so modern aroma chemicals are used instead. Shorino use charcoal and makko dust which is blended into a paste with a camellia aroma chemical, and then dried in the nishi-kaze wind. 

  

茶花線香 - Cha-hana - Tea Flower

When burned this produces a soft and delicate floral aroma, mingled with some rustic wood and charcoal notes. Modestly pleasant room freshener. Though the dispersal and retention is barely significant, there is a place for such delicate floral everyday incenses. Not really my thing, but the story of Awaji Island is interesting, and this is a popular incense in Japan, so worth hunting down. 

Available in several places - AtmosphereIncense in Singapore who ship worldwide, Wa-No-Kaori  based in Japan who ship worldwide, and from Shi on eBay in the UK, who also sells a trial pack. 

Date: Jun 2026  Score: 26/50

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Japanese incense

   

Reviewed in USA - 2008

Baieido - World's Second Oldest Incense House

 

Baieido (USA website) are a well known Japanese incense producer, who promote themselves skilfully. Baieido make statements about themselves which is then copied across the internet by various traders and shops. They trace their history back to Kakuuemon Yamatoya, a wholesaler of medicinal herbs in Sakai, who named himself "Jinkoya Sakubei" (which means agarwood trader) in 1657. As such, Baieido is commercially promoted as one of the longest established incense makers in Japan. Contrary to a viable alternative claim (Nippon Kodo's claim to a 1575 founding date is bogus - they were founded in 1965, and later bought an incense shop with a date going back to 1575, which they then claimed as their own), Baieido is the world's second oldest continuous use incense house. 

Reviews

Baieido Tokusen Kobunboku
May 2025 - Score: 35/50

Baieido Kaiunko (Kai Un Koh)
May 2025 - Score: 30/50

Baieido Kobunboku Regular - Plum Blossom
Feb 2023 -Score: 29/50↓↓

Reviews: 3

Top score: 35

Bottom score: 29

Average: 31/50

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Japanese incense

Incense around the world

The Best Incense Makers

Kameyama Flower Aroma - Violet

Kameyama is a popular scented candle company founded by a carpenter in 1927 in the Japanese city of Kameyama, which has a reputation for candle making.  They expanded into incense making in 1987, and also make copies of popular perfumes such as Christian Dior and Ralph Lauren. Flower Aroma (Hanafuzei)  is their well established and popular flagship range of low cost and low smoke floral daily incense. They have a premier floral range called Flowers of the Month or Moon Flower (Tsuki no Hana). My samples came from eBay seller Shi, who sells an impressive range of Japanese incense in full box and sample sizes.

山花ふぜい 紫羅蘭線香

There is a faint aroma on the stick - soap and young shallots. There is a light and delicate smoke when burned; though, as the stick is very thin, it can barely be seen - which is possibly why it qualifies as "low smoke". The scent is extremely delicate, and is best burned very near. It is a floral scent inclining toward violets - though this is a delicate, neutral violet, without the confectionary sweetness normally associated with the fragrance. There is a dark, woody, and smoky edge to it, which gives it a pleasing depth. The lack of resonance in the scent is my main issue. If I'm not paying attention, then I am not aware of it. Which is not my notion of an everyday incense; though with several sticks burning at different locations in the room or around the house, then hints of delicate violet scent will discreetly waft around you, being softly noticed at random moments. I expect one of the important meanings of "daily incense" in Japan is that it is low cost, and at £15 for 100g on UK eBay, and roughly the same price on the international eBay, this is excellent value, and several sticks can be burned at the same time to create a subtle and delicate floral everyday room freshener. 

Date: Jun 2026  Score: 32/50

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Japanese incense

   

Violet incenses