Emporium Time & Again Scorpio Ocean Dreams (brand closed)

My son and his girlfriend came down for the weekend, and we went on the Hythe Ferry to have lunch in the Lord Nelson pub. Us lads went into the pub, while the girls dithered in the cute unicorn and fairies shop at the top of Hythe High Street. When they came out they had bought some heart shaped stones, and my wife had got this pack of incense for me - she knows I like incense, and I am a Scorpio, so it was a cute present. But the incense is by Emporium [closed in 2021], so I'm not expecting much. Sure enough on opening the pack it's a cheap and crude charcoal paste handrolled onto thin and floppy sticks, and then dipped into perfume spirit. Well, fair do, the paste has been well rolled by experienced hands - it's very smooth and even, and none of the charcoal is falling off. Also, fair do, though there is a chemical sharpness to the aroma, the actual scent is not bad - it has some acceptable mineral quality. Not the best incense in the world, but it is what it is, and it's certainly not the worse.

I've used one of my favourite incense burners in the picture. It's a hand carved coffin box. It seems to be some form of soft wood, like balsa, that's then stained to make it look like a more interesting hard wood. There's a curious hinge at each end, which is concealed in a slit in the wood. Inside the box are two small brass cups for holding codes, and there are two small holes in each end of the box for holding sticks. You have to push the sticks as far into the holes as you can - until the incense itself is almost touching the wood, otherwise the sticks tend to flop a bit and rest on the bottom of the box. If you have a particularly thick stick, it'll need to be split to get it into the hole. When the lid is closed the idea is that the smoke drifts up through the patterned holes at the top, but you have to watch the angle of the burning stick, otherwise it touches the top of the box, and you get an aroma of burning balsa wood, or the stick just goes out. My lid doesn't close properly. So there's lots of flaws with it. I put a bit of blue tack under one of the stick burning holes, as that can held hold the stick at just the right angle. But I like it because the box is so cute, and you see the progress of the smoke moving down the pattern holes at the top as the stick burns, and - mostly - the ash is kept inside the box. The open wooden incense holders may catch the ash as it burns, but the slightest breeze, and the ash is all over the place - and you have to be so careful when you pick up an open holder that has ash - particularly if you've been lazy (like me) and have burned a fair few sticks before deciding to  empty the ash! I have three of these in the house - they are attractive, and great mess savers.


Date: Feb 2017  Score: 20

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Emporium incense
(Own brand label
out of business)