Revisiting Sweet Agarwood, and a Bonus Quiz

My last attempt at a sweet agarwood stick was okay but, as I noted, there was room for improvement. My goals with the original build were to create a decent amount of agarwood fragrance, while mitigating the harsh note that comes with cheaper wood. Following my notes from the old build, my new objectives are to increase the amount of agarwood fragrance, reduce sweetness, and add complexity.

The Build

First of all, I included S. album and S. spicatum this time. I was curious to try Indian sandalwood in this version, but I also wanted to use at least a little of my superfine Australian sandalwood powder because of how it helps to make a smooth, easily extruded dough.

Results

Rather than extruding sticks right away, I decided to burn the powder as an incense-seal to trial it. Once again, the incense is very sweet. Adding a heaping helping of S. album surely didn’t help this, but I think it may be time to consider forgoing the benzoin altogether. I’m not sure I like musk root with benzoin either.

The spices are there but, as everything is muddied by the excessive sweetness, it’s hard to form an opinion on the spice levels. That said, this attempt is definitely missing something. I think I may include anise in a future iteration.

I like the level of camphor; the coolness is close to something like Yamadamatsu’s Suifu , although I will have to wait and see how I like it without the benzoin. One thing I do miss from Suifu is that rich, sort of dried-fruit note. My guess is that this comes from using a better quality agarwood.

I am happier with the quantity of agarwood this time. There is still a harshness to the agarwood fragrance when the incense is burning nearby, but with a little distance everything mellows out significantly. The agarwood is pretty distinctly sour, which I’m not the biggest fan of, but I don’t think there’s much I can do about that as it seems to be a characteristic of the wood I’m using. So although I’m not a great fan of this particular wood in combustible incense, it’s showing up and doing what it’s supposed to, and I’m just going to have to be content with that.

Bonus: take the incense ingredient quiz!

After building the quiz feature something like a year ago, I have finally gotten around to making another quiz! This time, it’s a test of your whole-botanical incense ingredient knowledge. So if you think you know your lavender from your labdanum, why not test your mettle and give it a shot?