Jiri & Friends – Copal Cinnamon
Jiri & Friends incense sticks cost between €8.50 and €9.95 per pack. One pack contains 15 incense sticks, approximately 15g.
Ingredients: copal resin, cinnamon, tree bark, bamboo sticks.
I received these 4 sticks from an incense exchange.
Copal Cinnamon have a very natural, authentic smell. By “authentic” I mean that they really smell like it would if you burned the ingredients listed. (In fact, they remind me of one of my first attempts at incense stick making and let me look at them differently and possibly re-evaluate them. I had more or less rejected the recipe because the smell was too smoky and the aroma too subtle.)
The smell is a bit smoky, but not really unpleasant, there is no pungent or acrid smell of smoke. I think I can pick out some of the base/binder material, which is noted as “tree bark” in the ingredients list. It’s probably Lidsaea glutinosa or something similar.
The cinnamon smell is woody, spicy and has a subtle, natural sweetness that is present in cinnamon in the form of coumarin.
Unfortunately, Jiri and his friends do not reveal (even when asked) which copal it is or which cinnamon they use. Maybe they mean “real cinnamon” so Ceylon (Cinnamonum verum), but it could as well be a mixture of this and cassia (Cinnamonum cassia).
My exchange partner told me that he had asked them a long time ago about the copal and was told that it was Copal Blanco (Brusera bipinnata). I reached out to the Jiri & Friends Shop, and they only referred to the company’s secrecy.
I hardly smell any of the copal, only sporadically the idea of a resinous note flashes, at the end of the second stick I even noticed a citrus note for a moment, maybe it just takes time to fathom the composition.
The sticks don’t suit my personal taste, but they are well-made and recommended for anyone looking for truly natural masala incense sticks, especially if you don’t want to have essential oils or charcoal used as an ingredient.
Rating: 2.5