Incense in The Wind: Loc Thanh (Two Mountains) Vietnamese Incense Sticks

Bought from Tradewinds - priced at £3.75 for 255g. Sold in various locations in Europe, Asia, and America. Loc Thanh was founded in 2005 on the outskirts of Saigon, Vietnam (though officially called Ho Chi Min City, nobody really calls it that), and appears to only sell the one incense. The company's logo is an image of Trong Mai Island - also known as the Two Mountains, or the Kissing Rocks.

Loc Thanh say they don't use chemicals or fragrances; the paste is composed of the powdered root of "The Perfume Tree". The perfume tree, or "joy perfume tree" (named after Jean Patou’s perfume, Joy), is the magnolia champaca, which is the main ingredient in Nag Champa incense.

The sticks are just over 11 inches with around 7 inches of incense paste. The paste is dry and hard, and has been machine extruded onto the dusty rose coloured bamboo splint. There is barely any scent on the stick - which bears out the maker's assertion that no chemicals or fragrances have been used. The scent will depend on the fragrances released when the root powder is burned - as such this is a true masala: an incense stick composed of dried fragrant ingredients. There are no perfumes or fragrant oils used here, as is increasingly the case even among the most traditional Indian incense makers.

The firm white ash

The sticks burn fairly quickly, releasing very little smoke (as the maker's claim), and leaving a firm dry tail of ash which doesn't collapse. All very neat. Personally I like incense smoke. Not too much, but also not too little. This has too little smoke for me. But, importantly, it has little scent. I burned it upright, at an angle, and upside down. I didn't really notice much difference. There is hardly any scent, and what there is simply reminds me of scorched paper - which is often what happens when unperfumed wood powder is burned. Scorched paper, faint vinegar, roast beef, light floral, an association with cheap sandalwood.

I think the sticks are interesting, and certainly worth trying, but they are really not my thing. Folks who like Tibetan and/or Japanese incense may like this. Perfectly natural. Plant based. Delicate. For me there is too much association with cheap perfumed wood powder incense where the perfume has evaporated.