u/Bird-Jaguar

After some request, here’s my first impressions of two of the four incense types that I got at the Peace incense store in Shanghai. I’m not an expert in any way so happy to learn more through your comments.

Sandalwood: I got this one as a sort of benchmark test for the brand, especially since I couldn’t smell it properly at the store. After using it a couple of times I find it’s a nice, relatively straightforward sandalwood blend. It smells quite “clean” to me, and leans towards a more delicate and “savoury” aroma when compared to Japanese sandalwood blends such as Horikawa or Nijo. So, it’s nice but I don’t find it that special.

Pine: this one was my favorite at the store and after a couple more times at home I have confirmed that I love it. The smell of pine trees for me is particularly nostalgic since my dad comes from a village by a pine tree forest, and I find this incense has a delicate but very precise pine aroma without being overly resinous. There’s also a savoury note, not unlike the one in the sandalwood, perhaps it’s something of a signature of the brand? Overall this incense reminds me of walking through the forest in the middle of summer or sitting by a pinewood fire. I find it very original and would recommend anyone trying it.

Let me know what you think, especially if you have also tried any of these!

Today in Shanghai I visited the perfume store DOCUMENTS and also its newly-released incense line, PEACE incense. I still haven’t burned these at home, but I liked some of what I tried at the store. Their sandalwood wasn’t too interesting so I just got a free sample, but I really loved their pine incense, very resinous and cooling, really reminded me of walking through a pine forest in summer. I also got their agarwood blend, which I found very delicate. They have many “modern-style” incense sticks which are quite light and fresh. I got the osmanthus (their best-seller), which had a nice floral note, as well as the jujube, which I found had a very soothing sticky rice note. Of the others, I found the lavander and the mint ones interesting, but not necessarily what I want to burn at home. Others had some aroma when raw but lost it entirely when burning.
The in-store experience was quite nice. They also had a very cute stick holder that looks like a turtle holding a fishing rod, but I prefer to use my porcelain censer.
Have any of you tried these? What do you think?
I can share more notes after I’ve been using them at home.