Hikali Koh – Japanese Garden – Tosui (Joy of The Heart)

I bought this roll second-hand along with a few others on Kleinanzeigen. The regular price for a roll, containing around 28 sticks of 13 cm length, is €5-6. The burn time is listed as 25 minutes.

Ingredients: Cassia, spikenard, barks and woods

Unfortunately, Tosui aren’t particularly potent. To achieve a scent intensity that I find pleasant, I need to burn two sticks at once.

Tosui have a dark, deep fragrance, characterized by an intensely woody aroma. The scent reminds me of pine bark, which inherits earthy and subtly sweet notes.
Beyond the woodiness, I detect a spicy aspect that can verge on piercing, but the fragrance also has a soft component that tempers this and creates an interesting duality.
The scent evokes images of forest floors but also of a fireplace. In my mind, it transports me to a simple wooden cabin in the middle of a shadowy forest; it’s pitch-black outside, but in the sparsely furnished cabin, a fireplace burns, radiating safety and cosiness.

I wish Tosui were a bit more intense; nonetheless, I find them to have character, and I like them.