Incense of the Day

Justiciar Parfums said:
So one of things that concerns me about this community is the number of people complaining about sickness and various symptoms associated with their agarwood and incense usage. And I took one look at vendors and some outspoken members of the community and I was very disturbed by the number of people claiming that agarwood has health benefits with absolutely no evidence. And there's an entire sect of people who claim that agarwood has neurologic and psychological effects, which is even more terrifying to behold. How do you know what nerves you're hitting? Are you a neurologist? What research in neurology or psychiatry supports these supposed claims about agarwood? And if there is research on it, how do you know that said research applies specifically to the piece of agarwood you're trying to promote?

It's not OK to say these things about agarwood and insist they're true unless you have proper sources. Like I said, there are accounts of people here who are getting sick and at the present moment we cannot ascertain what the effect of agarwood on people's bodies are. Well, we can, in the sense that incense smoke presents a persistent danger because smoke is always dangerous no matter what it comes from. So if you burn lots of wood or incense the smoke is proven to be detrimental to the respiratory, circulatory, and central nervous system. See the links to articles in my previous post. Oud oils present a possible danger in the sense that if they contain harmful organic molecules or are otherwise contaminated with metal ions or other foreign contaminants, they will do tons of damage very fast if absorbed through the skin or ingested. Same with pure agarwood when you burn it or eat it. Hypothetically, a piece of kyara could literally be alpha-radioactive and it could be the best kyara in the world and the moment you burn it and inhale it or eat it you get radiation sickness and die. And you wouldn't know just by looking at the appearance of the kyara. My point is not that we should examine agarwood with Geiger counters; that was just a ridiculous example. My point is that we simply don't know or have any standards of quality control for agarwood especially from small dealers. Basically, people we don't know or really trust are picking up random pieces of agarwood from a jungle and selling it to us with no safety tests at all, and we're burning by the pound or eating it! Does that sound safe and healthy to you?
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Some common sense, and moderation can fix much of humanities issues.

Excess has become a part of modern culture. From consumption to thought. Sometimes it is difficult to step outside the consequences of such culture as it is so overreaching outwardly and intrusive inwardly. As a result we may at times go to certain extremes in trying to prevent the harms of the excessive norm, and we may apply the restrictions even on what is moderate and not harmful as we have become so used to protecting ourselves from the excess. If you are protecting yourself from excess you are from the lucky ones. But the inward intrusive side effect just means we are at times over applying our defence mechanisms.

From a historical perspective man kind has drawn comfort from the benefits of wood and fire, from sitting around it to cooking over it since time memorial. There is a level of awareness and evolution of thought and skill around it, and centuries of data with all aspects of it. Yet we still fall into its harms when we go into excess.

My real concern is not so much around things that we have centuries of evolution of thought, knowledge and data around, but the things that are being developed so fast, without any Organic development of thought, process and definitely not enough data. Yet it is marketed to us, with excessive marketing signals and from our only sources of data, what is beamed to our HD screens, and yet we comfortably consume it in excess and feel good doing so.

That is messing with the body, soul and heart.
 
So in a nutshell, one should limit smoke exposure and chemical exposure and oud isn’t magical. Seems like common sense we can all agree on.
 
I generally burn incense while I take a bath, so I've been taking baths more frequently - 3x a week. It's a nice way for extra relaxation, and play some music via a bluetooth speaker.
Tonight I was burning Tigerwood by Craft Incense. I like these sticks - all of the ones I've bought actually, but having 2g per 'box' means you get like 8 sticks max, depending on their thickness. So, I've been breaking them into thirds - problem here is that they're burned after 5-7mins. Not bad though.
(I shower every day btw - just in case it sounds like I wash myself only a few times a week 😅)
 
I very much like shoyeido’s approach with the pricier sticks. I wish I knew a little bit more about their methods.
 
Super relaxing bath where I probably got the water ever just too warm where it was slightly uncomfortable, listening to Anderson Paak & burning KohKonoe by Kyara Zen. Smells divine!! No idea how to describe these but the smell right under my nose as I took the burning incense upstairs to the bathroom was fantastic. (I light them downstairs, place it in my incense holder thing and then put that on the toilet seat haha)

I like these sticks too, they're 3g which is still very small but the sticks themselves are pretty thin - feels like you get a lot more sticks than 'Craft Incense', so I feel less wasteful about burning them, just due to the quantity. I know it's 3g vs 2g but it feels more than 1.5x the quantity
I'm such a hoarder lol, I've got so much incense that finishing off a packet shouldn't mean anything! Shouldn't have such a scarcity mentality.

but the packaging on the KZ sticks is really good, except for the tab to actually open the packet. I managed to rip both of them, so am keeping them half-open (or half closed?!)
Think I'm gonna buy some of the Shoyeido ones that Ed's mentioned above
 
LaoShan Monkoh 2014 - RPP. The best Mysore stick I’ve burnt yet. It smells like a very high quality wood was used for this batch. Buttery, powdery, softly woody. Leaves a beautiful rich aroma in the air.
Excellent for clearing the mind after yet another day of insanity at work!
 
I enjoy king’s aroma. Relatively affordable and has a definite shoyeido herb/spice masala vibe. Don’t smell much if any “expensive woods” and if they are there they are used with discretion as a member of a chorus and not as divas. I like this and wonder if anyone else here has smelled it and has any insight into composition.
 
I was planning to burn some sandalwood but my heater(MHP30) is broken. 😑
user fault or just a poor build quality, I'm not sure.

Yamadamatsu - Oubai
herbal and sweet.
probably spikenard and Asian mint.

I like this simplicity.
 
Try the tea light burners from Etsy! Get one with a wood handle somewhere on it and a mesh insert. Very nice way to heat wood gently or intensely.
 
Taesik Yun said:
Ah, why didn't I think about that? 🤣
thank you, I'll try to get one.
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Those candles go quickly so be sure to get a big bag of them. I think a member here mentioned there are some longer burn tea lights out there.
 
Nankin from Shoyeido
Tried a different stick from another vendor first but it just didn’t do for the same as the Shoyeido . Not in projection or aroma even though it’s larger in size.
I’m satisfied with my new Shoyeido addition without any regrets
 
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