Incense: Kumo no Sho (Clouds)
Company: Gyokushodo
Main Ingredients: Aloeswood, Sandalwood, Clove, Cinnamon, Camphor, Musk, and Others
This is another incense stick which came in one of their sampler assortment packs.
It contains 13 incense sticks, of 6 different varieties, including:
- Circle – En no Sho (Kyara Blend) – 1 Stick
- Wind – Kaze no Sho (Aloeswood Blend) – 2 Sticks
- Clouds – Kumo no Sho (Aloeswood Blend – 2 Sticks
- Wave – Nami no Sho (Aloeswood Blend) – 2 Sticks
- Woodland – Mori no Sho (Aloeswood Blend) – 3 Sticks
- Bloom – Hana no Sho (Sandalwood Blend) – 3 Sticks
It is my birthday today, so I thought I would have a cup of green tea and enjoy some lovely agarwood incense. So, I made my cup of white silver needle tea with honey and sat down to burn this incense stick.
Review
It took a few moments before I noticed anything. Then it hits me. A wonderfully bitter Vietnamese agarwood fragrance. Exactly what I was looking for. The other ingredients are noticeable but the agarwood notes shine through clear as day.
The sandalwood and spices mellows out any harsh overtones which might have been present in the agarwood before blending. The Musk gives a certain base note which allows the agarwood to climb out of the fragrance like a vine.
There is a certain sweetness to this incense. I believe this to be the cinnamon, but there may be something else at play as well.
I don’t personally sense to much camphor in this blend, but I’m sure it’s in the background playing it’s part. The thing about camphor in incense is that it can act as many roles. Some scents such as Shoyeido’s Beckoning Spring make the camphor a prominent note, which gives Beckoning Spring a sort of sinus clearing effect. This particular incense is different. There is just enough camphor to ‘guide’ the fragrance a certain way.
In many ways this reminds of Shoyeido’s Five Clouds incense, but without the dark kyara notes. I’m not sure if ‘Clouds’ if some sort of ancient agarwood incense style or what, but it really does smell similar to me. If you like that incense, then you would probably love this one.
