Incensum – Myrrh + Frankincense

Incensum seems to be a dead brand, but you can still occasionally find packs of it in stores, for example on Etsy or Ebay. I received this pack as a gift with my second order from this eBay dealer; it only contained 7 sticks. Please see the note below for details about my experience with this dealer.
An approximate burn time of one hour is stated on the back of the packaging.

What attracted me to Incensum was the simple packaging design, which features a picture and the botanical name of the plant that is the main ingredient. On the Incensum page stored in the web.archive, you will find the following information: 
“For Incensum Incense, a fine blend of Myrrh and Frankincense resins are ground into our masala mixture, which also contains a local Indian resin from the tree Olibanum (Boswellia Serrata) which is a close relative of Frankincense (Boswellia Carteri). Both these plants produce resins with very similar components. Myrrh being a softer fragrance is dominating the fragrance combination while Frankincense gives the base notes, sweetened a bit by the Indian resin Olibanum, resulting in a soft & toned down sweet balsamic fragrance.”
The designation of B. serrata (Indian frankincense) as an olibanum tree and B. carterii as frankincense is highly misleading: Olibanum is the Latin word for frankincense. They are synonyms. B. carterii is A frankincense, not THE frankincense.

Unfortunately, Myrrh + Frankincense doesn’t convince me at all in terms of smell. They start out smelling a little smoky, but that goes away. The smell remains rather flat and very reserved. I smell a very vague freshness that is rather vaguely resiny, and certainly not what I expect from an incense of that name. 
After burning for a little longer, a mild, very subliminally sweet balsamic note appears and a slightly bitter smell is added. This goes with myrrh, but I’m not sure if I could identify it as such without context.
Up close, I smell a very faint note of burning rubber.
The general aroma is not bad per se. It is powdery, almost dry at times, but quite soft. However, I just can’t get over wondering whether that’s really the smell they were aiming for, or whether these incense sticks have already seen their best days.
Resin is an incredibly long-lasting aromatic substance; many resins can even act as a fixative for other scents. So it can’t contain a lot of it in the first place.
The after-smell reminds me of the smell that would be stuck to a room the next day after a party where a few people smoked cigarillos.

Note regarding the shop:
When I first ordered to try out the shop, I ordered 3 packs:  Patchouli, Musk and Amber. I got Patchouli and 2x Musk. After I contacted them, I was refunded €3 which I didn’t even ask for, more or less without comment.
I placed another order. The second time I ordered 3x Patchouli, 1x Patchouli+Bergamot, 1x Amber and 1x Benzoin.
I didn’t get Patchouli+Bergamot, but I did get 4x Patchouli, 2x Amber, 1x Benzoin and a pack of Myrrh+Frankincnese (which doesn’t appear in their online shop), labelled “sample”. These changes were also handwritten on the delivery note, but without any explanation.
When I asked, I was told that their actual inventory did not match the data in their system. The discrepancy could only be explained by shoplifting. They wanted to “compensate for the missing package with small gifts and not write back and forth so much.” I was then offered the opportunity to return the goods and keep the gifts.
I hope the shop took this as an opportunity to do an inventory. If you want to risk ordering, be prepared for surprises. ⇑