Green Tree – Mayan Proohecies
A 15g box, bought from Ephra World for €1.45, which results in a price of €0,10 per stick. The burning time is specified as 35-40 minutes.
The description at Ephra World reads as follows: “A South American fragrance experience with the power to invigorate the spirit […] copal, palo santo, guaiacum wood (Guaiacum sanctum), and vanilla were also popular with the Incas and Mayans.”
That sounded like a damn interesting blend, I thought to myself. Which type of copal was used is questionable since it is a collective term. Palo santo is a wood with a very distinctive, unique scent; fresh like menthol, sweet like coconut, and highly aromatic. Guaiac wood is balsamic sweet, with a vanilla-like note.
Mayan Prophecies has an extremely dark, deep woody scent that also smells dry and earthy. I find something almost musty in it; it’s not a wet, mushroomy mustiness, but one of dried, rotten wood.
This dry woody scent is a note that can be found in some stereotypically masculine perfumes. However, the scent is too flat for me to really perceive it as perfumey.
Additionally, a distinctly resinous aspect builds up relatively quickly, which again appears dry. For example, I find colophony to have a similarly dry scent. I can’t detect any sweetness in the composition. Nor any aroma that would remind me of vanilla or guaiacum.
The second time I tried these incense sticks, I had a strange olfactory experience:
Along with the resinous scent, a pungent sour note developed, eventually resembling acetic acid. I can perceive a hint of this acidity in the raw scent of the incense sticks. I found the smell absolutely unbearable and extinguished the stick after a short time.
I just burned the rest of this stick to write this review. This time, the note is not, or hardly, present. However, it appears again as a hint in the after-smell. Therefore, this extreme sensory impression must have been due to either my nose or some external influence. I’ve made it a habit to note down the temperature and humidity if possible. The only notable difference is that the humidity was 70% back then and today, with nearly the same temperature, it’s only 54%. Whether that’s the actual cause cannot be said with certainty, but temperature and humidity often have a significant impact on the perception of scents.
Mayan Prophecies – I’m not sure what to make of this scent. I can definitely say that I don’t like it. However, I can imagine that some might find it good. The scent is ‘interesting’, very different, especially in the realm of Indian incense. I will keep them to try them again occasionally or possibly compare them with other scents. I will likely also give a few samples to friends to see what they think.