HEM Good Health

   

Second review - scroll down for earlier

I'm not a fan of HEM, but on the whole I find them a mostly reliable everyday room-freshener incense company. Some scents I don't like, but others I love, and there's much in between that is quite acceptable as something to burn to cover up bad smells, or to quickly and unobtrusively fragrance the room.  They are easily available everywhere, and are cheap and cheerful. They are the handy and tasty fish and chips / moules frites / spaghetti and meatballs of the incense world. 

There is a somewhat off-putting soapy floral scent on the stick, it screams synthetic - like one of those plastic packs of room freshener gels you find in toilets. There's some herbs, jasmine, and rose in the accord. 

Some black smoke on lighting the stick, but that vanishes on blowing out the flame, and is replaced by a gentle grey smoke. The scent on the burn is not to my taste, and I'm picking up notes of burning hair which I sometimes experience with HEM and a few other everyday incense houses. There's some sense of the jasmine and herbs I noticed on the stick, but on the whole I'm not liking this. 

Date: Nov 2025    Score: 18

First review

Machine-made perfumed-charcoal. Volatile chemical aroma - a sharp, synthetic, perfumed fabric conditioner scent. Quite attractive. Leafy florals - mostly middle notes, softly supported by faint base notes. Top notes are mostly just sharp prickles. Difficult to pick out a specific scent - sort of winter wood florals. 

Black smoke when lit. A scorched smell initially - a bit like soot, touch of rubber. Not great. Then the scent comes through. Quite thin and old, somewhat warm, like an old wool jumper, some ancient dried sweat. Earth. Mushrooms. Not great. I'm getting more off-notes than the intended scent (at least I presume the ugly smells I'm getting are not intended!). I don't like this.  

Date: Feb 2025    Score:  16

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HEM Corporation