This is my sort of incense - heady, resinous, musky, deep, dark, herby, fresh, and feeling natural. Proper incense. On a stick. This is the original incense that the Inca Aromas company made. It is based on white breu resin, which comes from the bark of the Alma Cegueira tree, which is native to the Brazilian and Peruvian Amazon Forest. White breu is sacred to the indigenous people of the Amazon. White breu is present in all three of the Inca Aromas incense I have - though the other two have additional fragrance oils added. This relies on the white breu for the aroma. Though it contains frankincense resin, I suspect that is used more as a fixative than for its aroma.
As with most of the true incenses I have encountered, this has little aroma on the stick. There is a warm fragrance up close, but the main fragrance only gets released when lit up. The burn is when the scents are released. Aspects of these Inca Aromas sticks remind me of Indian dhoops - hearty, almost crude, direct, honest, heady incense. Uncompromising, and certainly not delicate or perfumed. A little goes a long way. This is an overpowering and inspiring incense - it's not balanced and aesthetic, it is about the power and the sacred natural beauty of this ancient and revered scent. Great stuff! One of the incenses to try before you die!!!
I'd be really curious what you think about the Frankincense sticks I sent you from that German maker, Jeomra.
ReplyDelete(The current ones are even more refined, notably different from this early ones I sent you. Just in case you are reviewing them...)
They are up in the attic at the moment. Chrissie reminded me a couple of days ago that I had boxes of incense in the attic. They were moved up there when we had a friend staying over, and we needed to clear space in the middle room, which is my office, and also our dining room. My intention at the moment is to clear away the incense that I currently have in the middle room before bringing down boxes from the attic. Looking around me I have about 30 cardboard boxes of various sizes full of incense, plus three drawers, and a pile of packets heaped up between my desk and a chest of drawers which are incenses I have reviewed this year which I would like to review at least once more before putting them out for everyday burning.
DeleteIt doesn't help that people are still sending me incense, and also I'm still occasionally buying incense when something grabs my attention for whatever reason! Sigh. I must stop....