Mystic Jade is part of Shoyeido's Jewel or Gem series - originally four scents, then increased to eight. They are widely available across the globe. Via the Shoyeido site in the US, LotusZen in the UK, and PadmaStore in the EU, for example.
The ingredients are given as sandalwood, myrrh, clove, and spices, and represents "Peace". The dusky brown grey stick smells of coriander, turmeric, school rubber, and far distant wood and vague resin. It's quite attractive, but again in a fairly neutral manner. The scent is fairly woody ash on the burn - not actually unpleasant, there are those spices to keep it interesting and moderately attractive, but rather more like a cheap Indian bamboo core joss stick than I thought I would be smelling. The usual wood powder used in everyday Japanese incense is tabunoki wood powder, which has a very low odour, so that is unlikely to be what I am picking up. The woody ash scent is probably from the sandalwood powder, which can deliver a smouldering paper aroma if there isn't much of the fragrant oil in the wood. This is definitely my least favourite so far, and I really don't want to spend more time on it, small though it is.
For some reason the Jewel line doesn't do much for me, but Jade was actually one of the few that I did like. I'm not usually much of a myrrh enthusiast, but I did appreciate it here.
ReplyDeleteThe review is actually from three years ago. I've just been tidying up and sorting out my Japanese incense reviews as I'm looking more closely this year at botanicals and Asian incense - helped by the incense you have sent me.
DeleteI'm aware that these "daily" Japanese incenses are not going to be representative of the pure Japanese or Asian incenses that sell for large sums of money. Nor of the carefully constructed botanicals that you and Irene make. But as an incense hunter I am interested in all aspects of incense -including what is representative of what most people burn.
Like you I've not found these Shoyeido daily incenses that engaging, but on the whole I found them acceptable, and I might like them more if I burned them today, as I've learned much over the past the years - especially allowing Asian incense time and space to unfold.