I've had a low opinion of Chinese incense since my first experience in 2013 with
Jin Wan Lai Wealth Offering - an expensive, beautifully packaged, incense that I got samples of at a reasonable price from eBay. Subsequent experiences over the years didn't serve to alter my opinion. Having heard from David Hardy, owner of Ancient Wisdom, about how Temu were keeping down costs by avoiding various taxes and customs fees in the way they shipped their goods as small packets, I became curious about the Temu operation, and thought I'd try it out, and explore some Chinese incense while I was at it.
The prices are low, but no more than some very decent Indian incense I'd bought directly from India (or via excellent stores in the UK, like
Popat, which serve the British Indian market). Incense can be inexpensive, yet smell good. While some ingredients can be expensive, not all pleasant smelling ingredients need be - it depends on what you want. Truffles are expensive, while button mushrooms are not. Truffles are adorable as a flavouring. Button mushrooms cooked in butter and garlic are also adorable. I don't subscribe to the view that things have to be expensive to be good or enjoyable, so "
you get what you pay for". I once read some good advice regarding wine. Start off by buying cheap wine, then gradually move up the price scale until you can't taste the difference in price - after that, if you're paying more then you're wasting your money. For everyday wine we're happy to pay £8 - £10; for a treat or special occasion we're happy to go up to £40 - £50, though rarely do I find it worthwhile to go beyond that. Sometimes, though, there's a certain pleasure and excitement to be gained from having a legendary wine - the thrill of getting and experiencing something that has a big reputation will lift the moment above the ordinary. But you have to know. You miss the thrill and the fun if you have a big reputation item, and you didn't know it had a reputation. Much pleasure is essentially in the head rather than in the senses. What matters is how we personally, as an individual, experience something. What works for one, won't necessarily work for another. A high price will actually excite a lot of people - they feel reassured by the high price. A high price, a designer label, a big reputation. These things do work to lift the experience above the ordinary. Me, I like a bargain. So I tend to get more pleasure out of something that tastes or smells great, and is low cost, than if the same thing were high cost. So I guess I'm more attuned to the possibility of something low cost giving pleasure. I am open to that idea. I am often proved wrong, but I'm proved right often enough to make the search (for me) worthwhile. And, being low lost, there is less financial risk than experimenting with high cost items.
So I tried out some cheap Chinese incense bought via Temu, and while some items did confirm that cheap Chinese incense is shit, there were plenty more items where I was pleasantly surprised. And it even got me adjusting my opinion on using wood powder as a combustible in incense. I still think that burning wood is an evil thing to do because the carbons released are destroying the ozone layer, harming the planet, and killing people now and into the future. I want us to be looking more into what Alok Pandey is doing with
Malaan Gaudhoop - using biofuel for the combustible. However, on an aesthetic front, I've come to accept that not all sandalwood powder used as the combustible in incense necessarily smells like scorching paper or garden waste being burned. I still prefer charcoal (preferably from coconut husks or manure) to be used as the combustible as it doesn't smell, so doesn't merge with the fragrance when burned. But I began to see how a small amount of sandalwood scent could support the fragrance, even a delicate fragrance, if I attuned my senses to it.
I've been told there are safety issues in buying from China. And there are plenty of loud, shouty people who have this opinion. And they will declare this opinion even though
35% of the world's products are made in China. And there is speculation that
up to 70-80% of what we buy is made in China, even though bought in our own country. And it seems that most of
our medicines are made in China. When branded and sold in our own country, we feel safe enough. When bought direct from China we get worried, and inflate the safety issues into blind, screaming, hysteria. Yes, of the billions of Chinese goods sold via Temu, a few toys have been found to use lead paint. However, we know that Perrier water has
at times contained shit, and at other times
cancer inducing benzene. We know that Johnson & Johnson's baby powder
at one point contained asbestos. Bad stuff happens in every country. None of it is deliberate or malicious. And none of it is widespread. Essentially, breathing in incense smoke is bad for you, regardless of where it is made. Always light incense in a ventilated room, and allow the scent to come to you, don't waft the smoke to your nose.
After my first low cost excursion, in which, while not encountering any heavenly incense, I was overall pleased with the experience, I went again (Temu had offered me a good deal, so I couldn't resist). I had enjoyed quite a few of the small auspicious cloud incenses I had tried first time. They look cute, and tend to have a gentle, pleasant scent. So I was happy to try a few more, especially as I found some that seemed to have a trade name - Ciqcai. There is a manufacturer name and address on the customs sheets - though when I looked into that previously, my conclusion was that the names and addresses were just for export purposes, and did not seem to consistently relate to an actual manufacturer. Same as the EU receiving address appears to be for convenience only, as the goods were flown from China to the UK in one bag, and then the bag was passed to Evri who delivered it to me. None of the goods went via any of the EU receiving addresses - those addresses are put there for the package to come under the customs limit. It is this avoidance of customs duty and local VAT that is concerning companies like Ancient Wisdom who ship in bulk to their local warehouse, and so do pay customs duty and VAT. I wouldn't like to see the customs duty threshold lowered, as that would hit small traders, but certainly there should be a way of closing the loophole that Temu and Shein and AliExpress are exploiting. Anyway - I don't trust the manufacturing address, so I'm just sticking with the trade name Ciqcai. Google translates it as "celery". Odd, but possible; though translating Chinese accurately via a machine seems a bit hit and miss.
I love the look of my Chinese incense burner. The burner is sold as a small auspicious cloud incense burner. However, I find that the incense coils go out through lack of air flow; also, after using it a few times, it accumulates tar, and ends up smelling foul. It is also hard to clean off that tar. So I used it for the photo, then put the coils into a small open bowl of incense ash, where it burned better.
How does it smell, after all that? Well, there is a light delicate touch of sweet citric florals - nothing specific, but quite pleasant. Osmanthus is described as having a "
peachy note", so that falls in line with what I smell. If I'm too close to the burn I note that it is heavily underscored by the smell of scorching wood like an electric saw going through MDF. But at a distance, and residual after the burn, is the light, delicate "peachy note".
Overall the light, delicate sweet citric fragrance is pleasant, though is way too light and weak and simple for my taste. I was somewhat charmed by these small auspicious clouds when I first encountered them, though I'm now starting to find burning them a little bit of a fiddle, and that the scents are a bit light for my taste. And in general I'm not happy burning wood. So not a big score from me.
Date: March 2025 Score: 22
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