Prinknash Incense: Abbey blend

When I started burning resins I used charcoal discs, and I loved the aromas of the resin, but found using the discs fiddly and dirty, so I bought a burner. I liked the burner, though felt it burned a little slow, so bought another which operates at a higher temperature. I can't recall if I have enjoyed the scent of resin so much on the burners as I did on the charcoal. I do know that the last few batches of incense I have used on the burners I have not enjoyed that much. At first I thought that was done to the incense I had, either I didn't get on with it, or perhaps I had stored it too long and some of the fragrant components had evaporated.

I'm now trying out Prinknash Abbey incense. Prinknash Abbey has a good reputation for its incense. The Benedictine monks have been blending incense to their own recipe since 1906, when the community was on Caldey Island, near Tenby - they moved into Prinknash Abbey  in 1928. They claim to be the oldest and largest manufacturer of incense in Europe. This is likely to be true, as most incense in made in Asia. The German company Knox, has its cones made in India. Though there are similar resins made by the monks of Mount Athos in Greece, which are very popular in the US, and I'm not sure who has been selling resin the longest.  Here is an explanation of how the resin is blended and scented with oils.

Anyway. I'm burning this Prinknash Abbey resin in my burner. It's the blend they call Abbey, which is a blend of frankincense and essential oils. And it produces a mild scent with some awareness of frankincense, and some soft citric notes with a bit of lemon soap, and then the smoke rises, and the resin starts to blacken. Rather like the eBay resin in this guide from the founder of Legacy Icons on how he likes to burn resin on charcoal. And at this point the faint frankincense aroma fades while the soap aroma along with some scorched rubber comes to the fore. OK. Given that the blackening experience also occurs with charcoal, perhaps its not the burners that are at fault. I look back on my reviews, and in July 2017 I reviewed some frankincense resin that I'd had for a while. I note that when I had it fresh it was great, but when I tried it again after leaving it a while, it was no longer great. This Prinknash incense is also one I bought a while ago. It is a habit of mine to buy stuff I'm interested in, and then to get distracted by something else and not get around to reviewing for some months after purchase.

Hmmm. So is this my fault?  I've kept the incense in the original packaging. There is no use by warning. Hmm. Anyway. I'll set about reviewing all the resin I have got, and meanwhile purchase some fresh stuff to see how it compares (and come charcoal discs). And this time I will 100% review the resin when it arrives fresh.

Watch this space!


Date: March 2019   Score:  29