Jiri & Friends – Green Cedar

I received these four Jiri & Friends incense sticks as part of an incense exchange at the beginning of 2023. They cost between €7.90 and €9.95 per pack. A pack contains 15 incense sticks, about 15g. On average, that’s about €0.60 per stick. I couldn’t find any information on the burning time.

Ingredients: Green cedar from sustainable wild collection, tree bark, bamboo stick.

I suspect that ‘green cedar’ refers to the leaves of the California incense cedar. In English, several trees are called ‘cedars’ that are botanically not actually cedars, and this is also the case here. Calocedrus decurrens, native to the Pacific West of the USA and parts of Mexico, belongs to the cypress family and is therefore closer related to thuja, commonly used as a hedge in our area. True cedars belong to the pine family.

Anyone who has ever walked past a freshly cut thuja hedge can get a rough idea of the aroma of these incense sticks. It is exactly that special green smell; in the case of Green Cedar, underlaid with a very subtle sweetness, woodiness, and a bit of the general “burnt herbs” note that many green plant parts produce when burned. In the green aspect, there is a mineral note that gives the scent some additional freshness.
As with the other incense sticks from this brand, the scent of Green Cedar is rather subtle and unobtrusive.

Whether you like Green Cedar or not is highly dependent on your preferences. Some people love this scent, for others it tends to be unpleasant. Do you like the smell of thuja hedges and aromatic wood smoke? Then Green Cedar might be for you. Otherwise, these incense sticks will probably smell to you like a neighbour burning their hedge trimmings.