Ten Years After

 

It's been ten years since I started this blog. It looks  like it was the tenth anniversary on the 27th Feb, as that was ten years since my first review of  Satya Super Hit cones.    

I started the blog, as I mention in my post Why Start An Incense Blog?, because my local hippy shop had run out of the cheap perfume-dipped variety box I always bought, and they recommended I try Satya Nag Champa. I loved it, and got very interested when I realised there was some wonderful incense out there that I wasn't aware of. This blog was my way of keeping track of the incense I tried, and what I thought of it. It was then, and largely still is now, a personal blog in which I share my explorations, experiences, and discoveries with other people. It has, of course, grown over the years, and I have made contact with loads of really good people from all over the world. I am a little more knowledgeable about incense now than I was in 2013, though there are things that I have still to learn, and things that still puzzle me. It frustrates me that there is so little reliable information about the history and development of incense. I have bought several books, though they are mainly incense ritual texts which focus  on the spiritual aspects of certain scents. Interesting, but that is only one aspect of incense, and is not the reason I burn incense. I mainly burn incense because I like the aroma - I like the mood it can create in a room, and also its  usefulness in giving energy to a space, or simply the way it can cover up a bad smell, but mainly I like the pleasure of the scent. I have explored the various aspects of incense, and the various different types of incense, the resins, the woods, the dhoops, Japanese incense, Tibetan, Persian, etc. And some areas I intend to explore further. My backlog is immense and legendary - not helped by my curiosity to learn more, my enthusiasm to follow a suggestion, or by the (sometimes HUGE) packets of samples I am sent to review. 

So, what have I learned over the past ten years?

I have learned that incense is burned around the world, though is made commercially mostly in Asian countries. There are incenses made in North America; not much, and mostly centred on smudge sticks, though there are the regular perfumed sticks made by Apache Indians in New Mexico, Sage Spirit, which caught my attention early on. And there are some made in South America, based on Palo Santo sticks, which I want to explore when my backlog is reduced somewhat. But the bulk of incense production is based in India, then Japan, then Tibet. There are curious local customs in the way that incense is used. In Germany, there is a fascination with burning incense cones in carved wooden burners based on various characters, and the main company in Germany supplying cones for these burners is Knox.  In the Middle East they burn bukhoor, such as Al Haramain Bukhoor Al Watani, which is an area I really wanted to explore when I discovered it, then got distracted. I intend to return to bukhoor soon. I have several samples I have not yet reviewed.  In Japan they prefer subtle or mild incense, often quite dry, centred on agarwood (also known as oudh), and Japanese incense is expensive. The combination of mild, dry, and expensive has not attracted me to explore Japanese incense deeply (I like heady, rich, and reasonably priced). In the Himalayan region - Nepal, Tibet, and Bhutan, they make incense based on local plants and woods. These incenses appear to be burned mainly for spiritual or ritual purposes rather than for the aesthetics of the fragrance, and tend to smell like what they are - burning herbs, plants, and woods. This has not encouraged me to explore further, though some enthusiasts assure me that if I spend enough money I will find one that is attractive. Maybe some day, but with so much else to explore, that is an area I think I'm happy to leave for the time being. 

Along with finding out that incense is burned around the world, with production mainly focused in Asia, one of the other things I became aware of early on was that folks make a distinction between perfumed or "perfume-dipped" incense and natural or "masala" incense.  And at the same time as I became aware of this distinction I became aware of  a sneering attitude towards perfume-dipped incense as though it were something unpleasant. My research over the past ten years has indicated that perfumed incense is the world's most popular and best selling incense. Also, that the bulk of this incense is pleasant, but casual, everyday, room-freshener type incense. It is the equivalent of pale lager in the beer world. Pale lager is the world's most popular and best selling beer. Pale lager is a casual, everyday, thirst-quenching beer - sometimes termed "lawnmower beer" because it's the beer you want to drink after mowing the lawn. Something clean, simple, and refreshing. Nearly every product has its everyday version - wine you drink with an ordinary meal, versus the wine you drink on Christmas Day, or when taking your partner out for an anniversary meal; clothes you wear around the house or going to the pub, versus the clothes you wear for a job interview or for a wedding; perfume you spray on everyday versus that expensive brand you dab on when you want to impress, etc. There are things that all of us use casually on an everyday basis, and to which we pay little scholarly or aesthetic attention, but which fulfils our need at the time. But, that we use it everyday or casually doesn't mean that we want it to be a poor quality product. Each to their own on where they draw the line on quality - and some are happy to pay a little extra for their everyday product, while some prefer to go for the budget option.  And same with the special product - though we may want to spend a bit more on the special product, there will be a price limit, and also an appreciation limit. A while ago I read some good advice on buying wine. Start at a low price point, and then gradually move up the price point until you reach the stage where you can't tell the difference. If you enjoy the £20 bottle of wine the same as the £30 bottle of wine, then keep on drinking the £20 bottle of wine, and save yourself the extra £10. Quite early on I found that my main interest was actually in the everyday incense, even though it would be mostly the masala style incense that impressed me most. And that is because most of the time I want to burn incense in a casual, everyday manner. And while burning it I didn't want to spend time on appreciating it. Like, after mowing the lawn, I don't want a complex and weighty 16% abv barrel-aged imperial stout using 7 different malts, 14 different hops, and two rare yeasts, I just want something that is going to quench my thirst, and which is clean and flavoursome. So, I discovered that I like everyday incense as well as special incense, and I like them for different reasons. And, as such, I'm not prejudiced for or against either, so I explore and review both. 

More to come....