Kemet Design Kyphi Incense

A little while ago I read about Egyptian incense, and in particular an incense called kapet (or kyphi in Greek).  The exact recipe is not known, and it is generally thought to be a broad type rather than a specific style. Of the documentation available, there are some common ingredients, but that would be true of most incense. As such, it appears makers are free to use their own interpretations of what kyphi would be like.

This is the first example I have bought, and I am intrigued by it, though not overwhelmed.  I bought it from Kemet Designs at £4.50 for a 50ml "jar" (actually a black plastic container).  It  does not contain some of the common ingredients as listed on Wikipedia.  It clearly does not have honey, wine, or raisins, and is in a powder form, rather than the traditional ball shape.  I get some pine and spices - when burned the nearest approximation to the scent is mild curry. There is also some burning herbs - the sort one finds on Tibetan (or Himalayan) incense. There's a hint of lemon-grass, cardamom, and coriander. I have burned this in small, medium and large sized amounts to see the differences. The scent is always fairly mild, though at its strongest when a thin powder is scattered over the burner so a lot of the incense is burned quickly at the same time. The fragrance is not consistent because the ingredients are roughly mixed, so it can give off different scents at different times.  The incense is more agreeable when it is just the powder that is burned - when there are organic pieces mixed in, there is a burning and/or scorched odour added in which I don't find pleasant. Because it is in powder form rather than a ball, even when a big mound is placed in the burner, it burns quickly, and is soon gone.

So I then mixed some of the powder with honey, and rolled it into a ball, and burned that to see what difference it made. It makes a big difference - the spices are balanced by a honey sweetness, and the whole burns a lot slower, so I got more of a chance to explore the aromas. I like it a lot more with the honey, though I am still not excited by it - more intrigued than blessed. I feel the scent is closer to spicy food than to incense, but a food that is slightly charred, and lacks the ingredients, I suppose, of the food, so it's not actually yummy. The honey helps toward it being more yummy, but there still seems to be a heart and soul missing.

Because my burners burn at different temperatures, I tried the powder in the slower burner. I found that experience slightly more pleasurable than the faster burner, but the impression was still that of food spices and curry rather than incense. It's OK stuff, and I'm keen to explore further, but it's not quite the heavenly aroma I guess I was expecting.


Score:  18

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