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Today I am reviewing: Shoyeido Amethyst Incense Sticks
This particular incense from Shoyeido is from their ‘Jewel’ series. Their Jewel series has proven to be quite popular and the Amethyst variety the most popular.
The item description says:
A silky combination of sandalwood and cinnamon – great to use anytime.
The main ingredients in Shoyeido’s Amethyst incense are: Sandalwood, Cinnamon, Saussurea, and spices
The addition of saussurea seems interesting. Saussurea is also known as the snow lotus and has a deep history throughout Asia, including Indian medicine and Chinese martial arts.
Review
So, I’ve burnt through over half of this stick so far while I was writing and sorting the text for this review. Upon lighting it, immediately I notice sandalwood and cinnamon. It seems to be a sweet type of cinnamon, so I’m not sure if it is Ceylon Cinnamon or Cassia.
I don’t have a lot of experience with saussurea in regards to incense, but I can definitely tell there is something else in the fragrance profile. I assume this is the saussurea, and the smell is interesting. The scent is strangely charming. It has a rather balanced scent which isn’t annoyingly sweet or overwhelming. The scent seems airy and wispy in a way.
The fragrance profile is not as complex as many of Shoyeido’s other incense formulations. It seems rather basic, but what it is, this is a quality incense stick. Taking the price into consideration, I can see why this incense is so popular.
Supposedly the full-length sticks burn for about 30 minutes, but my half stick sampler seemed to only burn for 10minutes or so. This leads to to think that this incense may burn faster then some of Shoyeido’s other varieties.
