Which incense should I buy?

Buy incense by smell: pick a scent family you already love, check that the scent is in the stick rather than dipped on, and try four scents in small amounts before you buy a full box. Looshi is artisanal incense from Richa's family, who have made incense since 1972: grounding scents from across the world, rolled by hand with real ingredients by women artisans in Bangalore.

1. Start with a smell you already know.
2. Check what the stick is made of.
3. Decide how strong you want it.
4. Try a few before a full box.
5. Burn it well.

Start with a smell you already know

The safest first pick is a scent family you already love in a candle, a perfume or a walk outside, because you can't smell incense through a screen.

Sort what you like into one of four families. Earthy is wet soil and old wood, warm is dark resin, vanilla and amber, floral is white flowers or rose, and fresh is lavender, citrus and dry cedar.

Next, read the notes, the few ingredients a scent is built around. Each scent's page in the All Incense collection names three notes, so you can match your family to a stick.

If warm is your family, the guide to warm and woody incense narrows it to a scent.

Check what the stick is made of

Read what a stick is made of before you buy, because its base and the way its scent goes in are two separate choices.

Wikipedia describes direct-burning incense, the sticks and cones you light, as either a paste formed around a bamboo stick or a paste extruded into a stick or cone shape. The same entry names two bases that predominate commercially: charcoal or wood powder with an oxidizer such as sodium nitrate or potassium nitrate, or plant gums such as gum arabic that bind the mixture together.

So ask one question of any box: is the scent in the paste, or dipped on afterwards? In the sticks Richa's family makes, the scent is in the paste they're rolled from, never in a coating or a dip, with no synthetic fragrance. The paste is made with wild honey, natural resins and aromatic woods, and the stick burns on upcycled coconut shell, not coal.

The two methods are compared in hand-rolled or dipped incense, what's the difference.

Decide how strong you want it

Buy incense only if you want a scent you can smell across the room, because a stick works by burning.

Wikipedia defines incense as an aromatic biotic material that releases fragrant smoke when burnt.

Scents differ too, so read how each page describes its scent, in words like quiet, soft, rich or full.

If you're very sensitive to home fragrances, or you want a scent as faint as a reed diffuser's, Looshi isn't for you.

Try a few before a full box

Smell four scents in your own room before you commit to a full box, because a scent you've only read about is still a guess.

The Looshi Discovery Set answers which incense to buy: eight scents, choose four, two sticks of each, so you can light every one twice.

There's more on sampling in the guide to trying incense without buying eight boxes.

If you already know incense and want the full experience, start with the Looshi Forest Edit instead: Vivacity, Rewild and Calm, one fresh, one earthy and one warm scent.

Burn it well

Burn your first stick in an open, well-ventilated room, in a corner, and let the scent come to you.

Always secure the stick in a holder, and never leave it burning unattended.

The Incense Holders collection has two ceramic holders, the round Ring Of Serenity and the long Wave Of Senses.

If earthy is the family you picked in step one, the incense to buy next is Looshi Rewild, which smells like standing in a deep forest just after rain.

Frequently asked questions

What is incense used for?

Incense is used for aesthetic reasons, religious worship, aromatherapy, meditation and ceremonial reasons, according to Wikipedia's entry on incense. At home, the simplest of those is the aesthetic one: a room that smells of a scent you chose. Knowing which use you have in mind makes the first box easier to pick.

Should I buy incense sticks, cones or resin?

Sticks and cones are the simpler first buy, because Wikipedia describes resins as indirect-burning incense, which requires a separate heat source. A stick needs only a flame and a holder. Wikipedia also notes that preference for one form over another varies with culture, tradition and personal taste, so resin can wait until you know what you like.

Do I need an incense holder?

You need something that holds a burning stick secure, and a holder is the simplest choice. Without one, stand the stick upright in something heatproof with a plate to catch the ash. Looshi's two holders, the Ring Of Serenity and the Wave Of Senses, are food-grade ceramic, made to catch ash, though a draught can carry ash past any holder.

What if I don't like the incense I chose?

If you bought from Looshi and don't love it, you can swap it for a different scent or have a full refund within 30 days of your purchase. Anywhere else, check the return terms before you order, since you can't smell incense online. Note what put you off, too sweet or too smoky, to narrow your next pick.

Which incense should I buy if I like earthy scents?

Start with Looshi Rewild, an earthy, quiet scent of wet earth and old redwood that's never smoky or sharp. If you like wood with more light in it, Create sets smooth teakwood against bright mandarin and soft iris. For a creamy wood, Clarify is sandalwood brightened by jasmine, with a golden edge of saffron.