Lugnasad-Blüten is German for "flowers of Lughnasadh", a Celtic harvest festival during which it is a custom to walk up a hill or mountain while wearing flowers, and then to bury them at the top to symbolise the end of summer.
The sample stick is one of five Elbenzauber incenses sent to me by SamsaSpoon of the Rauchfahne blog. The scent on the stick is mildy woody and spicy with an element of warm wool, a hint of lavender, and some bees wax. It's sombre and pleasant, though not that personally enticing. Decent, solid, and respectable enough. Just not, for me, exciting or dreamy.
In the burn there's some prickly and ticklish raw wool, which I associate with the presence of halmaddi in the paste - a tree gum used as an ingredient binder and scent amplifier. There's a general warm, pleasant, wood and spice fragrance - nothing too specific. The scent is quite light, and can easily be overlooked.
The sample stick is one of five Elbenzauber incenses sent to me by SamsaSpoon of the Rauchfahne blog. The scent on the stick is mildy woody and spicy with an element of warm wool, a hint of lavender, and some bees wax. It's sombre and pleasant, though not that personally enticing. Decent, solid, and respectable enough. Just not, for me, exciting or dreamy.
In the burn there's some prickly and ticklish raw wool, which I associate with the presence of halmaddi in the paste - a tree gum used as an ingredient binder and scent amplifier. There's a general warm, pleasant, wood and spice fragrance - nothing too specific. The scent is quite light, and can easily be overlooked.
By "perfume-free" they mean free from synthetic scents, not free from perfume. I have noted that when talking about incense there is a tendency among some people to use the term "perfume" to mean "synthetic scent" rather than "fragrance". When writing my blog I use perfume in the normal sense, and there has been at least one person who got confused by this and thought I was insulting their favourite incense.
Samsa has written on the sample: "A deep, moody scent", and I understand that, though I'm not quite there. For me it is rather dry and minerally, with some sharp prickly notes. Not a friendly or inviting or embracing fragrance. For me, it holds itself off from engagement - remaining a little aloof. There's interesting spice notes that tempt me, but don't quite deliver on their promise. There's a suggestion of dry, powdery cinnamon and cardamom - though I feel the lack of sweetness or milkiness. And there's elements of dragon's blood, which is listed as an ingredient along with guggal and vetiver. I find it all quite worthy and decent, with an interesting selection of ingredients, but just too dry and sombre for my taste. I like it for sure; I'm just not warming to it emotionally. And aesthetically, I am unsure if the ingredients are really working to best effect. Well, for me anyway.
Date: Jan 2024 Score: 32
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| Reviewed on Rauchfahne |
This is so fascinating!
ReplyDeleteBesides the Patchouli, the other Elbenzauber incenses I sent you all have a pretty normal strength to me. Not as bold as many others, but still, say, comparable with the strength of Goloka Nagchampa.
It took me a while to warm up to Lugnasad-Blüten. I initially did not like it all too much. I think it might be the Dragon's Blood, combined with the funny sweetness of Guggal. It took me 4-5 burns until it really hit me.
What totally baffles me is "The scent is quite light, and can easily be overlooked". I wonder if this some sort of environmental effect, or really just our individual perception. - I hope a day may come, when we will be able to sit in the same room, sniffing the same incense at the same time to talk and share our thoughts about it. That would be awesome.
Now, I suspect that you will feel similar about the remaining two, and the Nag Champa will not score very high in your burn off. I'm excited to read the results nonetheless!
I paused on the last two samples and burned some other incense. I think it helps to get some perspective. And I was wondering if it was me or the incense. Also, I like variety and compare and contrast.
DeleteThe sticks I had were not producing much smoke. Of course the amount of smoke doesn't necessarily indicate or relate to the amount of aroma, but I have noticed a correlation. Sticks that produce a lot of smoke do tend to be quite hearty when it comes to volume of aroma. Sticks that are a little ghostly with their smoke tend to also be a little ghostly with the aroma.
Did (do) your sticks produce much smoke?