Aromandise – Seeds of Transformation
At some point as a teenager, I went to a large Christmas market with my school. I lingered at a stall selling a type of incense stick I had never seen before: thin, long, and without a bamboo core. They were EXPENSIVE, but I fell so deeply in love with one of the scents that I spent 39.95DM – almost all my pocket money – to buy a pack: Seeds of Transformation.
I treated them like a sacred object, frequently sniffing the box and only rarely burning a stick. The scent was a mystery to me. I found it so astonishing and captivating, almost otherworldly.
It must have been around 2018/19 when I was sorting out the contents of the old drawer where I kept my collection. I hadn’t used incense sticks in ages.
I gave many of the other incense sticks in there (mainly BERK) to an old friend I had just reconnected with. He was the one who reminded me that I still had incense sticks. When I came across Seeds of Transformation while clearing out, I again immediately felt like I was holding a treasure. I opened the lid, and they still smelled just as fascinating as back then.
From then on, I couldn’t get them out of my mind. I started taking them out occasionally and began researching. Eventually, I found a supplier who had them in stock, and in 2020 I bought another box for €23.29. Nowadays, they cost around €28. My new box contains about 75 sticks. (The stated numbers vary. My old box said around 65 sticks. Somewhere I read the specification of about 52g. There are also significant discrepancies regarding the burning time.)
Seeds of Transformation is a composition of essential lily oil and a base of sandalwood. It also contains clove oil and coumarin. Some shops also mention cinnamon.
Seeds of Transformation has a sweet, floral scent that is remarkably soft and slightly powdery. I can detect the clove in it, but it is in no way the overpowering scent I know from essential clove oil. It is spicy in a cooling way, but blends incredibly well with the floral-sweet scent, making it complex. This composition is one of those examples in which the whole is more than the sum of its parts. The combination creates something new, something unique. I must admit that I don’t actually smell the sandalwood, although there is a vague sense of it. I am sure, however, that it contributes to the softness of the scent.
Seeds of Transformation are very special to me and probably are my favourite Japanese incense sticks. Although it’s hard to say, given how much nostalgia is attached to them. I’m glad I spent so much money on them in my youthful recklessness because otherwise, I might have never tried them.
In closing, a few additional pieces of information:
Seeds of Transformation (en); Saatzeit (de); Semailles (fr); Uesaku (jp).
It is made by Kunjudo for Aromandise.
Anyone who wants to delve deeper into Seeds of Transformation, Aromandise, and the connection to Kunjudo and other companies can do so on the pages of the Olfactory Rescue Service.