How to choose a traditional smoke incense

Traditional incense makes real smoke, and that is the point. The smoke carries the scent further, holds it in the room longer and gives the deeper, drier character that low smoke incense trades away. If you want the smell of a temple rather than a clean modern fragrance, this is the range.

Start with why you are burning it

For meditation or a quiet moment: sandalwood and plum, premium aloeswood, frankincense. The oldest scents in Japanese incense, and the most serious.

For clearing a space: white sage and sandalwood, palo santo, juniper.

For calm and the outdoors: hinoki cypress and Japanese cedar, the forest scents.

For something warmer: cinnamon, patchouli, osmanthus, sandalwood and rose.

Sets, and 20 g or 40 g

A single box comes in 40 g, or 20 g if you want to try a scent first. The scent sets (Forest, Temple, Purification, Reflection, Harmony, Sacred) are two 20 g boxes of a matched pair, which works out a little less than buying the two separately. The gift sets pair incense with a ceramic holder, so there is nothing else to buy.

One thing people forget

Traditional smoke needs more air than low smoke. In a small room, crack a window, or choose from our low smoke range instead. And Japanese incense has no bamboo core, so the sticks are around 2.7 mm thick: a holder made for thicker Indian incense will hold them loosely.