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Home / SmellyBlog / Tagged: Incense

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Incense & Chocolate

Chocolate Smoke

The sensual world connects between the physical and the spiritual. It is with mindful observation of sight, touch, taste, sound and scent that we are able to connect to the world's divine beauty and discover the divinity that lies within us and pulsates through the universe.

Incense & Chocolate is a perfume that combines elements of two ancient rituals of offerings - burning of incense, and drinking a sacred beverage (hot cocoa, consecrated wine, etc.) as offering to the gods. In ancient Mexico, where chocolate originated, it used to be only the king who was allowed to drink cocoa, and otherwise it was offered to Quetzalcoatl, the god of cacao.

In our modern life, those little rituals that are often viewed as over-indulgences and are immersed in guilt, self criticism or worries about being judged by others - might in fact just be our little gesture towards our ancestors who were wiser than us with their choice of daily routines (for example: burn incense and meditate in the morning before checking their email... oh, wait, there was no email then!) and our way to connect to earth and ground ourselves in the modern world where almost everything turned virtual and disconnected reality.

Incense & Chocolate is a perfume that combines elements of two ancient rituals of offerings - burning of incense, and drinking a sacred beverage (hot cocoa, consecrated wine, etc.) as offering to the gods. I created it this summer, inspired by the two daily rituals I noticed have become important little moments each day: burning Japanese incense, which seems to calm me down and centre me, and savouring dark chocolate - that literally nourished my body, as well as my soul. I know it sounds very dramatic, but I really don't think I would have survived this summer without chocolate...

So exhale all your worries, uncork this bottle of magic and breath in the aroma of dark chocolate, olibanum, prehistoric fossilized amber resin and oud.

Incense & Chocolate is a One Of A Kind perfume - I created only one bottle of it, and the person who picks it first will be the only person I will create it for again in the future. It is bottled in our new EDP splash/spray bottles.

Snow & Incense


Snow, originally uploaded by homer250.

Greeting the cold air after Pilates class held a surprise for me - glittering snowflakes that kissed my face as I dashed home. Through an entire block of Bute, a thick scent emerged and kept changing, though remained true to the theme of smoldering incense.
Woodstove smoke -- hot candle wax -- incense -- burnt cedarwood -- overheated vintage perfume that was left too close to the central heating -- more incense smoke.
I live for moments of contrasts like this.And just to make things better, I crept out of bed in my nightgown and furry neck warmer to roll my first ball of fresh snow that piled up on my balcony.

Fall Escapism: Champaca, Kyphi, Hiking and Chai

I'm burning Kyphi incense tonight, and it seems particularly befitting for the season. I've been "getting back to my roots" so to speak this week as I was teaching my intensive, week-long perfumery course focusing on the Oriental fragrance family. Kyphi is the most ancient perfume in the form of incense pellets - it combines about 16 different resins, spices and herbs, which are bound together with honey, raisins and wine. I made this incense three years ago (in September, actually...). It was burnt in ancient Egyptian temple in the evening, to "banish the worries of the day". And it does just that!

Now that my busiest season has began, I'm already finding it essential to keep my life balanced. Fall's transitions into the school year are exciting but also taxing. And with the market season beginning, I must take good care for not falling into stress-mode because this is going to last nearly 4 months and I am hardly going to have a single weekend off in the coming weeks!

I began making perfumes 9 years ago, when I was a full-time student in an intensive program, and also a very new single-mother. Stress was inevitable, and just as inevitable was me waking up at 5am every morning so that I can get a few moments to myself to burn incense and meditate. It seems like things are coming full circle now and I will be needing to go a similar route: wake up early and make sure my day does not begin with answering emails, or even making breakfast... But with thanking for and paying attention to my breathing. And what better way than burning incense to become aware of one's breath and deepen it?


Hiking or simple long walks in the neighborhood (the West End is surrounded by water in 3 directions, as well as a nearly-natural rainforest of Stanley Park). Morning visits to Coal Harbour always make my day seem promising and exciting, and the water always pops new ideas into my head! And in the evening, a long stroll along the seawall all the way to Lost Lagoon, Beaver Lake or the Rose Garden are a good finale to a day - usually with a companion that can share the beauty of the scenery and reflect on the day that just gone by.

And than, of course, there is tea to warm my hands on that early morning stroll, or lift up my spirits just before the workday is over. Chai tea is special in that it has to be actually cooked in a pot with all the spices and milk - something I hardly ever do on a week day, but reserve for weekends and guests... Or when I decide to go to the Indian restaurant to get lunch instead of cook it myself... Fortunately, there is a really good one right next door and it feels like home there (sort of, except for the giant Bollywood marathon on their big-screen TV).


Champaca Chai, originally uploaded by Ayala Moriel.

And last but not least - here's a one-of-a-kind perfume that is especially appropriate for today: Champaca Chai. The fantasy of this perfume encompasses both the hiking, chai and smoky components that seem to save my mundane life from total disaster... It speaks to my fantasy of an outdoorsy tea ritual, preferably after a long hike on the mountains, and has a soothing milkiness to go with its rustic smoky surroundings. I also find the essence of champaca flower, with its complexity and fruitiness, to be reminiscent of Kyphi.

Top notes:
Ginger, Nutmeg, Mace, Cardamom, Fennel, Caraway

Heart notes:
Champaca, Jasmine, Coconut, Honey

Base notes:
Black Tea, Budhawood, Clove bud, Tonka bean

Making Incense Cones


Yesterday I tried to make incense cones for the first time. It was fun and exciting but I can't say I've neither mastered the technique of shaping the cones and determining their size, nor did I nail down the formula for what I envisioned for my first cone incense.

Just for fun, I'm sharing here photos of the process and the materials.

The ingredients: dry woods (i.e.: sandalwood, agarwood, cedarwood), leaves (patchouli) berries (juniper) roots (vetiver) and mix them with makko powder or another combustible binding agent that allows for thorough, even burning incense and also binds all the materials together.

Mix the ingredients thoroughly together, and add water or hydrosol to bind the ingredients together and allow for shaping the incense.


Kneading the incense mixture into a paste that will be shaped into cones, sticks, spirals, etc. Sticks are pressed out of a machine (kind of like noodles in a factory), while cones are hand shaped. Joss sticks are made differently - the paste is rolled onto a thin wooden or bamboo stick.


Shaping the cone is done by hands alone.

The cones lay flat on a tray to dry. This can be done outdoors in the sun as well (but make sure the incense does not get dew on it or wet if it rains!).

The incense may take up to a week to dry. It's been very hot and dry here last night so I was able to have a preliminary testing for this cone today. The bottom and centre was not dry enough so it did not burn all the way down.

Mandarin Oranges & Sandalwood Incense



Tangerines & Sandalwood, originally uploaded by Ayala Moriel.
These two cute tangerines were given to me by Monique at my holiday soiree (they were fresher and brighter a week ago, I can assure you, but I procrastinated on this photoshoot) and they got me thinking again about the sandalwood-mandarin duo. As a result, I’m inspired to build something around this accord, or more likely - re-visit my ginger & amber perfume and add a sandalwood element to it.

I haven’t started working on this mod yet (scheduled to be mod #6). This week I was too busy baking cookies and entertaining as a way to cope with the snow and the extremely low temperatures (-8 during the day at times, which is very unusual for Vancouver at any given time). I still have to work on mod #5 with magnolia lily and jasmine to flesh out the heart and give the perfume more body. It sure is interesting to see how this perfume develops in teeny-tiny steps every time.

In the meantime, I’m using a shortcut and wearing some Obsession eau de toilette and resisting the temptation of taking advantage of the Boxing day specials and finally get myself the parfum extrait.
The large tangerines, by the way, were the best ones I’ve ever found in Vancouver in my 10+ years of living here. They turned out so great that I used them in a new ginger wafers recipe and it made it quite amazing really. I will post my recipe here soon, promise.
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