what do we mean by “incense”?

Rasoul S

Well-Known Member
#1
Hello friends

we read it all the time. this oil is very incense. the drydown is all incense. what is the incensiest oil you have tried? what do we mean though? i have come to believe that we are not all on the same page. when i was starting out, for a while i thought i knew what it meant as the given oils that were described as such had a certain similarity to them, but then i started scratching my head when i would read oil xyz referred to as super incensy...

so lets take the guess work out and lets find out "exactly" what is meant by it. For the sake of everyone and educating the entire community, whoever is participating in this thread, i would appreciate if you can be as detailed as possible and give a list of oils that you find most incense, to least to non-existent.

is incense something picked up on the opening note? on drydown? all? does it tend to belong to a certain species, geographical area or method of distilling? grade of wood? lets learn!
 

Philip

Well-Known Member
#3
I don't own wood, nor do I burn any. But for me, I imagine "incense" to be what people routinely qualify as "heating/burning on very low, gentle heat" - so it's a smoke but without much of the charred/burnt qualities. Dramatic different between the two. I think of Kinamatan - full incense which I readily pick up in the opening and heart notes. Dry down, I forget - will have to re-apply.
 

~A Coburn

Well-Known Member
#4
@Rasoul S awesome! Thanks for taking this initiative, I think we will all benefit from sharing our perspectives on this ambiguous term.

Just like describing anything sensory we use comparisons as a frame of reference because our minds cannot fathom something new.

For example not everyone can pick up on the subtle notes of leather, hay, dried fruits, and honey that interplay within Assam Organic... With lack of references most lump it all together as 'animalic' or 'barnyard.'

Our olfactory memory can only categorize scent based on what we know, rather than what it is. When smelling something for the first time, one can only compare it to what one knows and so impressions like "bug spray" and "goats" come from the Indian profiles with aspects of citrus, leather, hay, moist soil, fermenting fruits and honey.... That's a bit off topic, but I believe the same is happening when most describe their oud by the term 'incense.'

I agree with @Oudamberlove in that there are many variations of 'incense,' many of which contain agarwood within their compositions, so maybe we should be asking which agarwood region does this incense smell like underneath the cinnamon, cloves and all too often the binder, makko if you're lucky! o_O

I'd love to hear @Thomas S. thoughts on this topic!

That said, I personally visualize oud profiles with colors and I consider an oud incensey if it gives off a particular hue, a deeper rendition of the color about halfway to the center of the color wheel below:

color wheel1.jpg

I believe that there is an incense hue for every profile, although that hue hasn't been produced for every region, I haven't experienced a full blown incense from the Indian region for example, although Mustapha No 7 certainly has it during the dry-down.

I feel the incense tone can occur during the dry-down. Jing Shen Lu, Oud Haroon, Pursat 2005, Suriranka Senkoh are all evidence of that, although Aroha Kyaku, Oud Dhul Q, and Kinamantan are all ouds that blast their inner incense from start to finish!

With Kinamantan you don't even have to open the bottle to experience it, especially during the warmer months!
 

Rasoul S

Well-Known Member
#5
@Rasoul S awesome! Thanks for taking this initiative, I think we will all benefit from sharing our perspectives on this ambiguous term.

Just like describing anything sensory we use comparisons as a frame of reference because our minds cannot fathom something new.

For example not everyone can pick up on the subtle notes of leather, hay, dried fruits, and honey that interplay within Assam Organic... With lack of references most lump it all together as 'animalic' or 'barnyard.'

Our olfactory memory can only categorize scent based on what we know, rather than what it is. When smelling something for the first time, one can only compare it to what one knows and so impressions like "bug spray" and "goats" come from the Indian profiles with aspects of citrus, leather, hay, moist soil, fermenting fruits and honey.... That's a bit off topic, but I believe the same is happening when most describe their oud by the term 'incense.'

I agree with @Oudamberlove in that there are many variations of 'incense,' many of which contain agarwood within their compositions, so maybe we should be asking which agarwood region does this incense smell like underneath the cinnamon, cloves and all too often the binder, makko if you're lucky! o_O

I'd love to hear @Thomas S. thoughts on this topic!

That said, I personally visualize oud profiles with colors and I consider an oud incensey if it gives off a particular hue, a deeper rendition of the color about halfway to the center of the color wheel below:

View attachment 969

I believe that there is an incense hue for every profile, although that hue hasn't been produced for every region, I haven't experienced a full blown incense from the Indian region for example, although Mustapha No 7 certainly has it during the dry-down.

I feel the incense tone can occur during the dry-down. Jing Shen Lu, Oud Haroon, Pursat 2005, Suriranka Senkoh are all evidence of that, although Aroha Kyaku, Oud Dhul Q, and Kinamantan are all ouds that blast their inner incense from start to finish!

With Kinamantan you don't even have to open the bottle to experience it, especially during the warmer months!
Ty adam. @Ensar i would love to hear from you as I recall reading it in your product descriptions. Iirc orsl was described as incensiest Sri Lankan to date.
 

Ensar Oud

Well-Known Member
#7
There are two kinds of incense in the world, my friend: The ones made into sticks, and the ones burned on charcoal. Oils that are classed as incensey that resemble incense sticks: Aroha Kyaku, Dhul Q, etc. Oils that resemble oud chips on charcoal: Qi Nam Khmer, etc.

If you move the incense from a coal to a low-heat electrical device, you start to get all sorts of other notes that wouldn't appear if you were using charcoal. Oils like ORSL are closer to this category of oils that resemble the coutry of origin's agarwood on low heat.

There are oils that simply don't smell like incense no matter how you heat it, unless you're referring to plum incense or otherwise flavored varieties: Oud Yusuf, most Thai "fruity" oils, and all fermented oils fall under this category.
 

Rasoul S

Well-Known Member
#8
There are two kinds of incense in the world, my friend: The ones made into sticks, and the ones burned on charcoal. Oils that are classed as incensey that resemble incense sticks: Aroha Kyaku, Dhul Q, etc. Oils that resemble oud chips on charcoal: Qi Nam Khmer, etc.

If you move the incense from a coal to a low-heat electrical device, you start to get all sorts of other notes that wouldn't appear if you were using charcoal. Oils like ORSL are closer to this category of oils that resemble the coutry of origin's agarwood on low heat.

There are oils that simply don't smell like incense no matter how you heat it, unless you're referring to plum incense or otherwise flavored varieties: Oud Yusuf, most Thai "fruity" oils, and all fermented oils fall under this category.
brilliant. i can totally relate. the issue is people seem to be using the term incense as yet another umbrella term. it would be nice if we started using the various oud aroma descriptors more accurately. such vastly different quality to wood on low heat, on charcoal and incense sticks.

ORSL is totally scent of the wood bubling away on a subitism type heater. i get both low to medium and a flash of medium+ heat note on it. aroha is totally incense stick, while duhl Q for me is a bit more charcoal note, although with a good layer of ash formed on it.
 

Thomas S.

Active Member
#9
Thanks @A. Coburn for the challenge... :)

I gave this question some thought, and my train of thought is like this:
Since I come from a certain spiritual background, incense was always present in my life - in one form or another - for more than twenty-five years now.
For me, incense can take the form of Olibanum Sacra (think Royal Hougary) slowly melting on a hot ash-covered coal in the fumigation of a Temple, or the form of a stick hailing from some remote monastery in Tibet slowly releasing its scent in my meditation corner.

For me, all incenses share two things, the first being a certain airiness. By that I mean that, to my nose, incense is diffusive - it diffuses into the air and projects away from its source.
So one quality is the low "density" of the scent (as the aromatiic molecules are distributed into the surrounding air). It goes without saying that the size of a given room / space has an influence on how we perceive this quality.
Nevertheless even with a low density an incense can be quite "loud" (depending on the notes contained witihin - think musk).

The second quality all incenses share is a certain amount of smokiness. Since we have some organic matter which is oxidized through heat, we also have that "burning carbon" part in the incense´s scent. This quality is naturally higher if we burn a stick incense, or straight-up wood.
The term "smokiness" also signifies a certain degree of warmth or heat. Why is it important to say this? Because we will never find a true "wet" smell in an incense. Chinese Exclusive, Ensar´s Legendary oil, was always described as "wet-smelling". One reviewer wriote "It is damp basement, waterfall, heavy rain, wet earth, moist timber beams, dripping cave walls (...)". Show me that in an incense (or incense-y drydown), and I will show you an oil.
So we can safely state that "incense" denotes these two qualities: the diffusiveness and the "warm" smokiness. And then maybe some camphoric notes, as in Japanese incense stcks.
And layered within the airiness and smokiness we may find whatever notes: fruit, wood, resin, florals. Basically, we might experience all the notes we have in an oil in an incense too- but filtered through the two qualities I described.
I once made an incense mixture from ground Olibanum, Sandalwood, dried Orange peel and Cinnamon. Believe me, it was a "warm" fruity, spicy, resinous and sligthly camphoric scent, and since there was wood and resin present, it not only projected well, it also had the smokiness in it.

Just my two cents,
Thomas S.

@Rasoul S awesome! Thanks for taking this initiative, I think we will all benefit from sharing our perspectives on this ambiguous term.

Just like describing anything sensory we use comparisons as a frame of reference because our minds cannot fathom something new.

For example not everyone can pick up on the subtle notes of leather, hay, dried fruits, and honey that interplay within Assam Organic... With lack of references most lump it all together as 'animalic' or 'barnyard.'

Our olfactory memory can only categorize scent based on what we know, rather than what it is. When smelling something for the first time, one can only compare it to what one knows and so impressions like "bug spray" and "goats" come from the Indian profiles with aspects of citrus, leather, hay, moist soil, fermenting fruits and honey.... That's a bit off topic, but I believe the same is happening when most describe their oud by the term 'incense.'

I agree with @Oudamberlove in that there are many variations of 'incense,' many of which contain agarwood within their compositions, so maybe we should be asking which agarwood region does this incense smell like underneath the cinnamon, cloves and all too often the binder, makko if you're lucky! o_O

I'd love to hear @Thomas S. thoughts on this topic!

That said, I personally visualize oud profiles with colors and I consider an oud incensey if it gives off a particular hue, a deeper rendition of the color about halfway to the center of the color wheel below:

View attachment 969

I believe that there is an incense hue for every profile, although that hue hasn't been produced for every region, I haven't experienced a full blown incense from the Indian region for example, although Mustapha No 7 certainly has it during the dry-down.

I feel the incense tone can occur during the dry-down. Jing Shen Lu, Oud Haroon, Pursat 2005, Suriranka Senkoh are all evidence of that, although Aroha Kyaku, Oud Dhul Q, and Kinamantan are all ouds that blast their inner incense from start to finish!

With Kinamantan you don't even have to open the bottle to experience it, especially during the warmer months!
 
Last edited:

Rasoul S

Well-Known Member
#10
Thanks @A. Coburn for the challenge... :)

I gave this question some thought, and my train of thought is like this:
Since I come from a certain spiritual background, incense was always present in my life - in one form or another - for more than twenty-five years now.
For me, incense can take the form of Olibanum Sacra (think Royal Hougary) slowly melting on a hot ash-covered coal in the fumigation of a Temple, or the form of a stick hailing from some remote monastery in Tibet slowly releasing its scent in my meditation corner.

For me, all incenses share two things, the first being a certain airiness. By that I mean that, to my nose, incense is diffusive - it diffuses into the air and projects away from its source.
So one quality is the low "density" of the scent (as the aromatiic molecules are distributed into the surrounding air). It goes without saying that the size of a given room / space has in influence on how we perceive this quality.

The second quality all incenses share is a certain amount of smokiness. Since we have some organic matter which is oxidized through heat, we also have that "burning carbon" part in the incense´s scent. This quality is naturally higher if we burn a stick incense, or straight-up wood.
The term "smokiness" also signifies a certain degree of warmth or heat. Why is it important to say this? Because we will never find a true "wet" smell in an incense. Chinese Exclusive, Ensar´s Legendary oil, was always described as "wet-smelling". One reviewer wriote "It is damp basement, waterfall, heavy rain, wet earth, moist timber beams, dripping cave walls (...)". Show me that in an incense (or incense-y drydown), and I will show you an oil.
So we can safely state that "incense" denotes these two qualities: the diffusiveness and the "warm" smokiness. And then maybe some camphoric notes, as in Japanese incense stcks.
And layered within the airiness and smokiness we may find whatever notes: fruit, wood, resin, florals. Basically, we might experience all the notes we have in an oil in an incense too- but filtered through the two qualities I described.
I once made an incense mixture from ground Olibanum, Sandalwood, dried Orange peel and Cinnamon. Believe me, it was a "warm" fruity, spicy, resinous and sligthly camphoric scent, and since there was wood and resin present, it not only projected well, it also had the smokiness in it.

Just my two cents,
Thomas S.
Thnx Thomas. Read you loud and clear.