Incense of the Day

[Mr.P]

Minorien Fu-In Aloeswood

Nice neutral Oud-y smelling incense. The minorien signature “damp/wet” scent really shines through here. It has a slight sweetness, but not as much as the kyara stick, nor does it have the beautiful florals found in that one.

I think I prefer both the Fu-In sandalwood sticks and the kyara ones. Still, this is a solid balanced Aloeswood stick that gives you the Aloeswood scent without any spices or perfumes overpowering it. Don’t regret the buy, but I think I will stick to the other options in the Fu-In line, and look for alternative Aloeswood sticks once I finish this small box.

After burning plenty of sticks from each of the Fu-In lineup, I think it is a great entry point into Japanese incense and it will be my reference as I compare to other brands.

i found the fu-in aloeswood sticks to have a pretty clear vetiver note - I always assumed they had a little bit of Vetiver oil mixed in. I like them but that signature note is too dominant for my liking. I found it very charming at first, but after a box kind of lost its charm.

 

[Kolalid]

i found the fu-in aloeswood sticks to have a pretty clear vetiver note - I always assumed they had a little bit of Vetiver oil mixed in. I like them but that signature note is too dominant for my liking. I found it very charming at first, but after a box kind of lost its charm.

This is interesting. I am not knowledgeable enough about vetiver to confidently pick out such a note.

 

[-Renton-]

Old Stock Tenpyo, Peaceful Sky by Shoyeido when they actually had Kyara in them, and a nice amount too, feels like just a pure kyara stick but of course, I think, there is some higher end aloeswood in there as well and the new stock has a lesser aloeswood, sadly.

I get similar notes each stick I use, but the RAW SCENT of the notes, even if described in the same way as, xyz, they smell different each time, sometimes more beautiful (like this time) sometimes less but still amazing.

Starts off with an aloeswood red berry resin note, a minute into the stick being lit you get a nice mintiness and florals (these two notes are what I was talking about, especially the florals, I always get these notes but it's just "different" and this time better, it was actually kinda like powdery florals and florals that I have never smelled in my entire life) that stay there the whole burn changing and morphing into different levels of quality and scent. I then got notes of a juicy fruitiness that stayed there as well along with the nice, soft mintiness, with a powdery florals that change and shift into this just beautiful, harmonic dance. Not much "traditional" woody, woodiness, it was almost as if the stick was pure gloopy Kyara + Aloeswood resin, but when I really think back, the wood note was just in the background and you could tell that the stick had some sort of woody facet. A little bit of salt notes, but they were quite fleeting, not much sourness but it was kind of there sometimes.

I absolutely love these sticks. The new ones are just complete and utter garbage in comparison!!! Either Shoyeido is running out of kyara (decent to high end), or they are just gonna keep it to auctions in very small quantities, or something? Maybe keeping it for Japanese nobles? Who knows. It just seems they have stripped the Kyara from all of their sticks 3-5+ years ago, and have replaced it with decent to good aloeswood (and possibly low on good aloeswood since people have said that their aloeswood sticks used to be better on the premium range too).

 

[Maunamoku]

Mipham Gyatso’s Formula by Kathok Monastery. Very thin sticks for Tibetan incense. Regal aroma, medicinal and musky, with many layers. Purple notes engulfed by silver clouds. Powerful sticks, I immediately cast aside my task at hand and fell into a deep meditation.

 

[-Renton-]

Saidaikoh from the traditional range of Gyokushodo.

Sweet notes, accompanied by a semi-sweet, sour aloeswood note, red berry note, VERY woody, very earthy throughout, a mild spice (yellow, imagine "korma") curry note of reiryokoh, musky spikenard notes, then all of a sudden an exquisite sandalwood note, that develops into a slight then to a moderate creamy note, with a hint of butteriness (that gets stronger as the stick burns) dancing around the aloeswood (imagine the aloeswood in the inner circle, and the sandalwood is the outer circle of the stick). More resinous aloeswood coming in near the end with all these notes coming in and out of the background with the aloeswood that has a more resinous touch, surrounded by the sandalwood notes until the very. last. wisp.

Beautiful.

Side comment: The aloeswood used is referred to as "Vietnamese Tani" if anyone can put what that means into simple terms, that would be great. I have had people say it is Indonesian wood (it is definitely Indo wood as the Japanese call Indonesian wood "Tani") with Vietnam like notes, or even profiles (which I dont believe it has strict Vietnam PROFILE, maybe some notes though). What is the most accurate answer to this question? I think iori kind of answered it but I forget what he said and trying to find a small post again can be hard here on Ouddict, IME. EDIT: Someone said it could possibly be Indonesian Crassna, giving it those Vietnamese and Indonesian vibes (as we all know that the same species growing elsewhere will smell similar but also different, potentially giving it a mix of Indo profile and Viet profile)?

 

[FreeSoul]

Bright mirror from Dr.Incense. a lovely plump oudy creaminess with an enlifting floral. Lovely effect on the soul!

 

[Oudamberlove]

Kyukyodo Haru no Yama

Agarwood and an uplifting scent with a little spice. Instead of Borneol, the vaporous ingredient smells a bit like Wintergreen.

 

[-Renton-]

Minorien Fu-in, "Kyara". This definitely has some level of entry grade Kyara I suspect, but it is very basic but very nice.
I put 2 sticks into the same, double hole holder, doing some Monkoh session with it this way as 1 is very lackluster as I bought the small 20 stick 2.2inch box. Anyway, notes were very nice, very, very, "blue" florals at the start and all the way through with colours of (blue, white, pink and maybe purple). A nice oudiness too from the good aloeswood used. The florals were the dominating note as well as the woodiness, then notes of fresh clean linen on a warm summers day (not too hot not too cold, perfect), getting hung up outside the back of the house, a "freshness", also cooling, refreshing effects and the mintiness started building up and up and up, then it got to the point where there was a nice soft, kinamic mintiness, but only very subtly (IME/IMO) which was nice, then at the end before nearly going out it had a nice, clean, fresh, uplifting aloeswood resin note.

Nice sticks, but I dont think I will buy the bigger boxes or this box again anytime soon, maybe one day. I feel I got all I could get out of this one 20, 2.2inch stick box, that has lasted months. Very nice, but quite basic.

 

[Taesik Yun]

Hi all, wish you guys were doing well.

burned Dr.Incense's processed Cambodi today.
the Yemini Sidr honey enhances and tames down the intense sweetness of Cambodi agarwood.
it feels warm like benzoin and vanilla. there's thick white floral as well.

it's nice to get to enjoy agarwood again. 😌

 

[-Renton-]

BTW: You dont need to read this: Had these for a while now, just didnt feel comfortable posting a description since I have no reference to someone that has ever had their hands on the actual wood, I think this is the closest I will get or maybe anyone else, since I think this type of material is super rare.

Hoi An Black Soil 4.1 (4.13) inch sticks from KyaraShrine. These are definitely made with her own stock of Hoi An black soil as I asked her if she could make me 20-25sticks since I love these so much, sadly I got the last tube out of the only 3 tubes in existence.

These are absolutely beautiful sticks, definitely Vietnamese black soil being used here. I was lying in bed fully awake just before I got up this afternoon to go into the living room on my PC with 1 of these sticks burning right beside me in a bowl with the incense holder in the bowl.

(NOTE: These are Aloeswood only sticks, no herbs, no spices, hardly any binder, a tiny bit more than KZ's sticks and nearly as fragile, so all these notes will be attributed to the aloeswood).

The notes started off with a nice aloeswood very lovely, sweet resin note, as if you were burning 0.25-0.5+ grams of the aloeswood used to make these masterpieces, the resin has this sort of relaxing feel to it, as if it is giving you warmth and embrace, this was the backbone, the base of the stick. A clear aloeswood note, and a clear earthy, soil note, that was sweet, notes of a gentle fruitiness like red fruit, maybe red berries but not 100% sure, some sort of red fruit anyway. Beautiful florals of different types, a kinamic vibe to the aroma too, sometimes powdery too. A very nice vanillic note would show up as well, and intermingle (in a nice, not overly sweet, but just right) with the sweetness of the aloeswood, some lovely (aloeswood) creamy notes that were a real front man in this stick and some muskiness. The near end of the burn, I was getting big strong, heavy notes of beautiful florals of different kinds getting releasing and popping out of the aloeswood resin.

The stick did feel like I was burning just pure agarwood, and now I do know what old stock Hoi An province of Vietnam black soil aloes/agarwood smells like.

These sticks are a true beauty, that I don't think we will ever see anytime soon. Although, I hope we do!!!

 

[-Renton-]

Hi all, wish you guys were doing well.

burned Dr.Incense's processed Cambodi today.
the Yemini Sidr honey enhances and tames down the intense sweetness of Cambodi agarwood.
it feels warm like benzoin and vanilla. there's thick white floral as well.

it's nice to get to enjoy agarwood again. 😌

What aromatic have you been using other than agarwood? Sandalwood or resins like Boswellia resin or others?

 

[Taesik Yun]

What aromatic have you been using other than agarwood? Sandalwood or resins like Boswellia resin or others?

not much, honestly. I seldom used aromatics because I feel it's wasteful to use aromatics when I can't give'em good attention and appreciation.

 

[Olfactory Nomad]

Shoyeido Beckoning Spring. Such a nice incense this one. Perfect blend of everything. Also goes well with the Oud on my wrist.😁

 

[FreeSoul]

Synonyms for Nirvana from craft incense. Earthy, bit of spice, resinous oud, hint of sweetness, deep but not sleepy. Enjoying this one!

 

[-Renton-]

Old Stock Tenpyo, Peaceful Sky. Shoyeido, Horin Range (although their new Peaceful Sky is completely different, they are no where near the same caliber as old stock and are kinda iffy, but acceptable for an aloeswood stick for Monkoh still).

I swear, and I know I am right, but each time I burn a stick of these, they have the same basic notes, but sometimes with a new one, or (nearly every time) the NOTES are the same but the perceived scent is much different, this is most likely a small part to do with me but more to do with the sticks composition of Kyara and Aloeswood.

Started off with a nice aloeswood, sweet, red berry resin note (as if a chip was bubbling), then almost instantly after I got a good strength, but also quite soft, kinamic mintiness that played the whole way through the stick, then florals and FRUITS showed up, mainly watermelon, with peach as well, I am sure it was these fruits, mainly an orange watermelon and a small amount of peachiness (these notes have never shown up before, unless I have missed them, but I try and listen to the stick as much as possible, in a meditative way, even when I start thinking about other things I open my eyes recollect and go back into Monkoh). Powderiness would appear every so often with the florals, but not a constant note, same with a type of caramel. Sweet notes mixing with some strange ethereal feeling of sourness that would pop up and go away. It definitely has an overall kinamic vibe (wild) to the sweet notes too, everything about these old stock sticks is a very basic wild Kynam with an aloeswood bass player.

All in all, a nice Monkoh session with these amazing, beautiful, simple, but elegant Kyara + aloeswood sticks.

- RANT - I am sad they changed the whole recipe because I do believe it wasn't the most complex Kyara they used and definitely wasn't their highest grade, but it had, if I were to guess, a good amount of that material in them (which was a nice scent, one of my favourite sticks ever), around 25-40% (perhaps at the lowest around 10%, I would say 10-15% is more realistic, but it could still be in the 20s or 40s just a rather, very basic wild Kinam wood used) if I was to guess, most people would have rather paid an extra £15-25 for the recipe to stay the same, rather than changing it to a non kyara, less % aloeswood stick, especially people looking in this range as these are sticks to be used for Monkoh not background scents. So people looking for these sticks would want them to be of a good quality like they were as they would be been people like me and this forum, for example, oh well. I also (IMO) think that the Kyara used in these sticks are made with a Kynam not as complex as Seijudo's, "Kyara Enju". Which can actually be quite nice and less threatening. Kyara Enju is quite complex as a stick, and sometimes the notes are too nuanced and to be appreciated often, very much a "now and then" stick with Enju.

 

[Olfactory Nomad]

Old Stock Tenpyo, Peaceful Sky. Shoyeido, Horin Range (although their new Peaceful Sky is completely different, they are no where near the same caliber as old stock and are kinda iffy, but acceptable for an aloeswood stick for Monkoh still).

I swear, and I know I am right, but each time I burn a stick of these, they have the same basic notes, but sometimes with a new one, or (nearly every time) the NOTES are the same but the perceived scent is much different, this is most likely a small part to do with me but more to do with the sticks composition of Kyara and Aloeswood.

Started off with a nice aloeswood, sweet, red berry resin note (as if a chip was bubbling), then almost instantly after I got a good strength, but also quite soft, kinamic mintiness that played the whole way through the stick, then florals and FRUITS showed up, mainly watermelon, with peach as well, I am sure it was these fruits, mainly an orange watermelon and a small amount of peachiness (these notes have never shown up before, unless I have missed them, but I try and listen to the stick as much as possible, in a meditative way, even when I start thinking about other things I open my eyes recollect and go back into Monkoh). Powderiness would appear every so often with the florals, but not a constant note, same with a type of caramel. Sweet notes mixing with some strange ethereal feeling of sourness that would pop up and go away. It definitely has an overall kinamic vibe (wild) to the sweet notes too, everything about these old stock sticks is a very basic wild Kynam with an aloeswood bass player.

All in all, a nice Monkoh session with these amazing, beautiful, simple, but elegant Kyara + aloeswood sticks.

- RANT - I am sad they changed the whole recipe because I do believe it wasn't the most complex Kyara they used and definitely wasn't their highest grade, but it had, if I were to guess, a good amount of that material in them (which was a nice scent, one of my favourite sticks ever), around 25-40% (perhaps at the lowest around 10%, I would say 10-15% is more realistic, but it could still be in the 20s or 40s just a rather, very basic wild Kinam wood used) if I was to guess, most people would have rather paid an extra £15-25 for the recipe to stay the same, rather than changing it to a non kyara, less % aloeswood stick, especially people looking in this range as these are sticks to be used for Monkoh not background scents. So people looking for these sticks would want them to be of a good quality like they were as they would be been people like me and this forum, for example, oh well. I also (IMO) think that the Kyara used in these sticks are made with a Kynam not as complex as Seijudo's, "Kyara Enju". Which can actually be quite nice and less threatening. Kyara Enju is quite complex as a stick, and sometimes the notes are too nuanced and to be appreciated often, very much a "now and then" stick with Enju.

I mean I agree with you totally but they clearly had their reasons. I was burning one last night and without having known what the old stock smelled like I'm not too concerened with what the new stock smell like because they're still a very nice stick to burn and enjoy. You don't know what you don't know.

 

[Olfactory Nomad]

Synonyms for Nirvana from craft incense. Earthy, bit of spice, resinous oud, hint of sweetness, deep but not sleepy. Enjoying this one!

I see he has a new lot out today! They all look so good but doubt I'll ever try any as the shipping to AU is prohibitive. A $35 roll of incense suddenly costs $70.

 

[-Renton-]

I mean I agree with you totally but they clearly had their reasons. I was burning one last night and without having known what the old stock smelled like I'm not too concerened with what the new stock smell like because they're still a very nice stick to burn and enjoy. You don't know what you don't know.

Sure they had their reasons which was money, either that or one of the biggest (if not THE biggest) Japanese incense houses turned full on international company, is running out of the most basic of wild Kyara's? I do not think so. They could have kept the same ingredients and all of us could have enjoyed this stick as a nice, gentle, wild Kyara + aloeswood stick and just raised the price, I got 20 of these sticks for £34, if they raised the price to £55 (it is a premium stick after all), they, most likely, could have kept the ingredients the same. Btw I am not bashing on the new sticks, they are acceptable for Monkoh, but I have also heard that Muromachi actually has better Aloeswood in it now (with a sweet caramel facet and none of this smokiness that 100% is in the new stock of Tenpyo, although it does not last very long when it appears thank God) than the new Peaceful Sky and its cheaper. Also, they could have came out with a new stick with the ingredients that are in the new Peaceful Sky, no?

EDIT: Do not take what I said about Muromachi as gospel, I have just heard this about the stick. And I dont see them changing this stick like they did with Tenpyo as Muromachi wasn't a Kyara stick, so the Muromachi of 2008-09 is (highly likely) the Muromachi of today. And of course they are very nice when you haven't smelled the old stock, apart of me wishes I didn't smell it AHAH, but a rare gem is always welcomed, just treat it with respect and not overdo it. I can still burn the new Tenpyo but now it just feels "flat". I might see what Muromachi is actually like myself and report back and if it is better than new stock Tenpyo I will tell everyone lol.

 

[Olfactory Nomad]

Sure they had their reasons which was money, either that or one of the biggest (if not THE biggest) Japanese incense houses turned full on international company, is running out of the most basic of wild Kyara's? I do not think so. They could have kept the same ingredients and all of us could have enjoyed this stick as a nice, gentle, wild Kyara + aloeswood stick and just raised the price, I got 20 of these sticks for £34, if they raised the price to £55 (it is a premium stick after all), they, most likely, could have kept the ingredients the same. Btw I am not bashing on the new sticks, they are acceptable for Monkoh, but I have also heard that Muromachi actually has better Aloeswood in it now (with a sweet caramel facet and none of this smokiness that 100% is in the new stock of Tenpyo, although it does not last very long when it appears thank God) than the new Peaceful Sky and its cheaper. Also, they could have came out with a new stick with the ingredients that are in the new Peaceful Sky, no?

EDIT: Do not take what I said about Muromachi as gospel, I have just heard this about the stick. And I dont see them changing this stick like they did with Tenpyo as Muromachi wasn't a Kyara stick, so the Muromachi of 2008-09 is (highly likely) the Muromachi of today. And of course they are very nice when you haven't smelled the old stock, apart of me wishes I didn't smell it AHAH, but a rare gem is always welcomed, just treat it with respect and not overdo it. I can still burn the new Tenpyo but now it just feels "flat". I might see what Muromachi is actually like myself and report back and if it is better than new stock Tenpyo I will tell everyone lol.

Yeah, I mean it's all just speculation really. They could have created a whole new stick and called it something else for sure. That's what I mean by "you don't know what you don't know". You do now know and as much as it creates a new appreciation there is a loss as well. I've also been wondering about the Muromachi as I don't think I've seen anyone mention them before so will also be getting a box soon. I've found a company that does a gift set of all the Horin range for an excellent price (exc Peacful Sky) and will be getting that very soon.

 

[FreeSoul]

I see he has a new lot out today! They all look so good but doubt I'll ever try any as the shipping to AU is prohibitive. A $35 roll of incense suddenly costs $70.

I am upset for you brother, I have been trying half sticks of some of his floral sticks including a sample of
White ginger lily and They are tasty! You feel like you are almost in a field of flowers! At least you save some money as it is always to tempting to get more then budget allows!