u/Brilliant_Lab2451
▲ 26 r/Incense
For like two years I burned these cheap "sandalwood" sticks from the corner shop. $2 a box. My girlfriend would come over and cough. I thought she had allergies.
Then at a friend's place I smelled actual incense. Not perfume. Not smoke. Just... warmth. Like someone had been burning something nice an hour ago and the room remembered it.
I asked what it was. He handed me a single stick — no brand, no packaging, just brown paste on a bamboo sliver. Didn't even smell like anything in my hand. I lit it.
That was the moment. No headache after. No chemical taste in my throat. The smoke didn't chase me out of the room. My cat didn't leave.
I went home and threw out my entire collection. Every single box. Felt dramatic. Felt correct.
Been slowly rebuilding since. Mostly small producers, mostly oud and sandalwood. Spending more per stick but burning less — I light one maybe twice a week now instead of chain-burning cheap ones daily. Somehow it means more.
Anyway just wanted to share. Nobody in my real life cares about this stuff.
What was your "oh I've been doing this wrong" moment? Or are you wiser than me and started right from the jump?
u/Brilliant_Lab2451 — 8 days ago