What is a good gift for a coworker?

The Looshi Forest Edit is a good gift for a coworker because its three scents, a bright morning hillside, rain-soaked woods and the warm gold of dusk, make a set that feels chosen for anyone who likes the outdoors, and a smaller duo suits a lighter budget. Looshi is artisanal incense, rolled by hand by women artisans in Bangalore with real ingredients, with grounding scents from across the world.

The Forest Edit is the coworker gift that feels chosen

The Forest Edit feels chosen because it gives your coworker a whole day in the forest in three scents, so you aren't betting on one. For a gift, Looshi's advice is to start with the Forest Edit, its three best scents in one set.

Inside are three boxes of 20 hand rolled sticks. Vivacity is fresh and awake, a heart of lavender lifted by petitgrain and grounded by cedar, like a morning walk on a cedar trail. Rewild is earthy and quiet, vetiver and musk set against redwood, wet earth and old trees like a forest after rain. Calm is warm and enveloping, labdanum and vanilla wrapped in amber, a dim room at the end of the day.

Your coworker lights them one at a time, in any order, and every stick is made with wild honey, natural resins and aromatic woods and burns on upcycled coconut shell, not coal.

Which one to give, by who they are

The right gift follows what your coworker already loves: the outdoors, their apartment, the room they work in, or anything warm and cozy.

Two Looshi duos suit people who care about a room. The Apartment Edit pairs Calm and Rewild for the coworker who's always talking about their place. The Studio Edit pairs Create and Rewild for the corner they work in, and Create is fresh and woody, bright citrus and soft powder set against teakwood.

If they love	Try	Why
The outdoors	The Forest Edit	A bright morning hillside, rain-soaked woods and the warm gold of dusk in one set
Their apartment	The Apartment Edit	Calm and Rewild, warm and cozy or deep and earthy as the day calls for
The room they work in	The Studio Edit	Create and Rewild, for the corner, the chair and the light they set up
Warm, cozy scents	Calm Incense Set	Calm is warm and enveloping, and a ring to hold it comes in the set

A smaller gift is a duo or one box with its ring

A smaller gift feels just as chosen when it's two boxes that suit the person, or one box of Calm with a ring so it's ready to light.

The Looshi Calm Incense Set is a box of Calm and a ring to hold it, which suits a Secret Santa where all you know is that they like warm, cozy things. Light a stick of Calm and the room turns into a warm, lantern-lit riad.

A duo gives two scents where the Forest Edit gives three. The Apartment Edit is two boxes of 20 hand rolled sticks, Calm and Rewild, and the bundles collection holds the other duos, edits and sets to give.

Giving incense at the office

Incense works as a Christmas or Secret Santa gift at the office because your coworker takes it home and lights it there.

Looshi is for anyone, of any faith or none: it is never incense for one religion.

Each box is 9.5 inches long, 2.1 inches wide and 0.7 inches high, so it slips into a desk drawer or a work bag until they head home. Our guide to how to burn an incense stick covers setting one up once it's there.

Skip incense for a coworker who's very sensitive to home fragrances, and choose a gift with no scent at all.

Not sure what they like?

The Discovery Set is the fallback for a coworker whose taste you can't guess, and it comes last because it's a sampler rather than a full gift.

It holds four scents, which you choose from eight at checkout, two sticks of each, so your coworker can light every one twice. The person who receives it can't choose their own, so pick the four from what you know of them.

For a coworker who seems to own everything already, what to give someone who has everything has more picks.

If they love being outside, though, the gift to wrap is The Forest Edit.

Frequently asked questions

Is incense a good gift for a coworker?

Incense is a good gift for a coworker who likes a home that smells good, because it's something they take home and light for themselves. Hand-rolled incense made with real ingredients feels chosen in a way a novelty mug doesn't. Skip it for someone very sensitive to home fragrances, since the scent in the room is the whole gift.

Is incense an all right Christmas gift for a coworker who doesn't celebrate it?

Incense makes a good Christmas gift for a coworker who doesn't celebrate it, because a scent for the home belongs to no holiday. Hand-rolled incense made for anyone, of any faith or none, is described by how it smells, from fresh herbs to wet earth and warm amber. Wrapped plainly, it's an easy Secret Santa pick.

Where should my coworker light it?

Your coworker should light it at home, in an open, well-ventilated room, with the stick in a corner so the scent comes to them. The stick always needs to be secure, in a holder or upright in something heatproof, with a plate under it to catch the ash.

What if I don't know their taste?

If you don't know their taste, The Forest Edit is still the surest gift, because its three scents run from fresh herbs and dry wood to wet earth and warm amber. If you can't guess at all, the Discovery Set, four scents you choose yourself, is the fallback, though a full set reads more like a gift.

Do they need a holder?

Your coworker needs something to hold the burning stick secure: a holder, or something heatproof that keeps it upright. The Calm Incense Set comes with a ring to hold the stick, so it suits someone who owns nothing to burn incense in. Keep a plate or heatproof surface under any holder to catch the ash.