Just finished my first Misho (Gentle Smile) stick by Shoyeido's premium range. This was really something else. If you dont concentrate heard enough a lot of the aloeswood can be similar to the aloeswood in the horin range, but when I was really in that meditative, focused and intentioned mindset, it was no longer just a "sweet higher end aloeswood stick". I could smell the nuances of berries, slight camphor and some other things that are hard to remember, but the main note as soon as lit was pure aloeswood resin, then when I went in and out of quiet to loud inner thought, the scent went back to just sweet resin but higher quality than the rest of pure Shoyeido's Aloeswood, and ten when I went into a quiet, intended state of mind that I was really focusing on the stick, called, "listening", I was able to pick out other notes that resembled FANTASTIC aloeswood. I got that creamy woody smell, with some berries (not sure if the aloeswood used would have been Cambodian or Vietnamese that way), camphor way in the back, and that was about it, but I am 100% sure there are other notes, EVEN IN THE HORIN RANGE that I have had for ages, it's just that with these sticks they require full attention, in order to get the nuance in the stick instead of just sweet resin.
Really beautiful stick, just like Pride of Kyoto, but with more complexity. Pride of Kyoto is easier to sense the good nice aloeswood notes without having to focus too much.
