HEM – Masala – MYRRH

I’m not sure if there is an official name for this line. HEM has another 5 scents with similar packaging design (Amber, Cinnamon, Frankincense, Musk and Patchouli), but also other incense sticks classified as masala in their range.

I’ve always stayed away from HEM. I knew them primarily as a manufacturer of very inexpensive dipped incense sticks. A category that I don’t fundamentally reject, but I also have no ambition to spend money to find the pearls in the mud when I can buy masala, which has a significantly higher hit rate for me.

Masala MYRRH was recommended on Reddit by user u/Chris_Burns and others, and some of his other recommendations are among my favourites. So I thought, why not?
I bought it for €1.45 from Ephra. The pack contains 12 decently thick sticks, the price is 0.12ct per stick. The burn time is given as 35–45 minutes, I’d say they might burn even longer.

For me, the smell of HEM – Masala Myrrh has two variants, depending on how much air and space you give them and where you are in relation to them:
If I have it burning in my living room, I find the smell significantly sweeter, and it reminds me of white chocolate. It is pleasant, creamy, warm and not too strong. It has a darker tone in the background, but overall, it doesn’t seem very complex.
But if I light it in the hallway and allow the smoke to spread through the rooms, it unfolds and shows considerable complexity.
The sweetness reminiscent of white chocolate is still present, but there are also deeper, balsamic notes; a musky tone that is very pleasant and some tart, aromatic notes from the background come to the fore and take on more character. Only then I can find something in the smell that I would describe as myrrh-like.
Now and then a fresh aspect comes along, which can take on all sorts of forms. Today it is bright, fresh and rather green, like wintergreen or birch essential oil.
The afterscent is very persistent. I burned about 1/3 stick last night and this morning the room still smelled of the creamy sweetness. A few hours later, the scent came closer to a myrrh aroma.

I really have to say that these are well done masala sticks. Not necessarily close to the smell of the raw material that it’s named after, but really nice.
I have never had such a peculiar association with white chocolate before, which gives these sticks a certain unique selling point. However, it’s nothing I have a craving for often.
I’m now also curious to try one or two of the other HEM masalas (from this, as well as possibly other lines).

Rating: 3.3