Or you could ignore the people who find it more trouble to just skip a thread on a topic that doesn’t interest them than to spend 15 minutes typing out WHY they hate the topic of your thread and what they prefer instead.
I don’t mind incense, but scented candles are more my thing for covering up the smell of dust bunnies and burnt popcorn that are so pervasive in my house. What can I tell you - I have dogs, and they’re not so good with the microwave.
Thank you Jerri (and all) - at least I knew I wasn’t totally losing my mind and that there were others out there who understood where I was coming from. Hindsight is great too, using a provocative title and calling myself an incense freak probably gives people the wrong impression.
I mean, I dig it, I have a lot of varieties, but I don’t burn it in mass quantities, or permeate the entire house with it, and I don’t do it on a daily basis either. If you ask me, there’s nothing abnormal about my behavior and I’m not going to explain or defend it to others any longer.
I like your approach too, and will consider it, my wife does like scented candles for instance (the simpler kinds, like vanilla ones, the others can be overpowering for her too). It would be a way to get a little more variety and indulge my fondness for intense scents.
Finit.
You know you don’t actually get to pull the plug on threads, right? In any case, it seems like you are puzzled by the direction this thread took. With that in mind, let’s have a mid-mortem analysis here, and I think the threadnext to it (that went in a completely different direction) at the moment will prove useful as a point of contrast. Note: your mileage and conclusions may vary.
“Am I…” as the topic. Immediately the focus is on you as a incense fetishist, rather than the item itself. This is a common way of setting up a post on a place like reddit where people upvote or downvote reflexively based on emotional response, or in forums where the emotional connection is the most important aspect regardless of the topic. Despite all appearances and a lot of nice people, Qt3 is not one of those places. Observe the majestic simplicity of “Business cards”, and how it goes about its business without distractions.
You immediately began by defending yourself and your tastes. Observe the difference with the business card thread: he cuts to the chase, frontloads only crucial information knowing he can follow up later, and then ends with the humorous flourish rather than making it the heart of his post. This sets the tone for the thread, especially as he acknowledges unhelpful joke responses without confronting them or weaving passive-aggressive sagas around them.
He gets what he needs (or in many cases, won’t at all) but simply walks away without attempting to control the ultimate end of the thread. The original post is yours, but everything else is a product of where the forum community takes it. Had it gone to shit right away, as a seasoned veteran he probably would have just walked away for a while and eventually a normal person would stop by and pick up the thread (or not). It’s fine if you want to engage red herrings and new directions for the thread, of course, but you have to remain on task and cut your losses if you’re not getting anything out of it.
I typically only wander into everything else when I’ve exhausted the forum sections I actually have a stake in, and usually just to look at B&N or other established threads that have inexplicably remained useful. Incense is something that inspires no strong feelings in me. And yet that third aspect was significant enough to stop me from merely enjoying your discomfort passively and moving on, going so far as to write this useless primer. You can’t do much about the fact that things like me are still present in this forum, at the moment, but there’s a lot you can do to preempt these situations altogether.
This made me lol
Just for a whiff of something that isn’t meta-meta-criticism of some other poster. Oops, I guess that failed :)
Anyhow too much thick incense smoke sickens me, but a little sandalwood or pine isn’t bad. Or when the smoke soaks into a room where it’s not actually burning right now, that’s not bad either, like when the right kind of tobacco has been smoked someplace for a long time.
My wife and I both really like Nag Champa. No, we’re not inclined in the Demon G. Sides sort of way.
Like probably everyone, my strongest memories are triggered by my sense of smell, and incense is keyed to a lot of crappy adolescent memories that I’d rather keep repressed.
Let’s just say this is a generalization Jerri! (focus on the word overall)
At other times, it’s hypnotic, like watching a side of beef inside a blender full of piranha.
I just figure, being an admirer of most people here when they are acting civilized (to give credit, that’s most of the time), I’d rather stay on good terms. Trust me, there were times in my past life where the way I behaved and treated other people was reprehensible. I’ve changed a lot, and letting others rent space in my head over stupid, or silly mierda isn’t a behavior I engage in often, or for very long.
I like burning incense! Before someone else mentions it, yes, I also smoke the pot, but it’s actually quite rare that I attempt to use it to cover up the scent. Usually I just feel like assaulting my senses with something different. Also when other people have tried that and I have entered their housesI have always been able to smell the pot through the incense, so I call shenanigans on that rumor.
Anyway, it has always surprised me how cheap incense is. Granted it has got to be cheap to produce one stick, but is it really that profitable?
Cosmic Hippo, my observation has been that, generally, you are right, incense seems to come in many varieties and doesn’t seem that expensive.
However, I was shopping a few years ago up in Door County WI of all places, in a Himalayan shop (of all places for one to be) and noted quite a few varieties of what I think were very expensive Japanese incenses. I’m kind of a tightwad, so, was unwilling to spend $50 USD or whatever the prices were without having some idea of what the distinction was between what is ordinarily inexpensive and quite expensive. I mean, who knows, perhaps it would have put me instantly into a state of nirvana, for those prices there must be a distinct difference in the quality, scent, etc.
I did a little google fu just to be able to show folks there are some very expensive varieties out there. I don’t know about you, but I can’t see myself dropping $1,800 USD for 90 sticks ($20 a stick) for what is said here to be the most expensive incense in the world (! ? )
The most expensive or at least the most unobtainable incense has to be the incense wood relic owned by the Japanese Emperor. I think it’s got a gash where Oda Nobunaga, the universal JRPG villain, took a chunk for himself…
This year at CES I stayed at the Venettian. Probably the biggest room in the swankiest hotel I’ve ever stayed more than a night in.
But by God, that perfumed scent they were pumping almost everywhere (not the rooms, thank God) were sickening and nasty. The constant barrage of Phantom of the Opera in the elevators I could live with, but the scent. Blerrrgh!
Now I’m weighing pro and con for going again. Because of then location I could probably argue for my company paying a bit over our standard rates for the Venetian again, but I’m seriously thinking about a lesser hotel further from the convention centers simply to not have that sickly sweet smell for a whole week again.
This is exactly why I am unable to engage in a conversation about incense.
I do however assume the role of chief candle burner in the house. She buys them , I burn them.
Appart from a nice strong peppermint scent, I don’t nessecarily like the baked food based scents that seem to be taking over the ubiquitous Yankee Candle (McYankdles?, Yankbucks?).
I do like the Citrus and Sage scent they put out and even though it is a little strong in car spray form the Garden Sweet Pea is really pleasant.
I hate incense because it’s for HIPPIES and I’m a PUNK ROCKER
Also, I think it can’t be good for us to breathe the smoke in.
I’m a huge fan of Sandalwood. I really like the scent of it when it burns, and it also scents the house nicely for a while afterwards. No one has ever complained about it when they come visit either, because if you use good quality stuff their high dudgeon isn’t activated.
I’ve tried Nag Champa, but it’s always way too strong for me, and I find there’s a sour “aftersmell” that it develops a few days later. Nothing terrible, just not pleasant.
If I’m looking to cover something up, and lets’ be honest, if you cook that’s going to happen from time to time, I’d rather use a scented candle as it seems to “burn out” the bad scents a lot more effectively. With candles I’m more inclined to fruit flavors than perfumes, especially coconut, which again seems to leave a nice “flavor” behind.
I like vanilla scented candles. Or anything that smells like vanilla.
JMJ - I ain’t no hippy and I like punk music and I still like incense too. Also, I’m more concerned about my XBox health than mine (somewhere in those instructions it tells you not to have them around any kind of smoke). I figure I quit smoking cigarettes 28 years ago, I don’t think a little incense smoke is going to finish me, or the 360 off. So far it hasn’t, it’s run fine for the last few years.
It just seems to be one of those polarizing issues, either you like it, or you don’t. I should have known this already since my wife gets pissed at me when I burn it. My current plan is to win her over a bit more by following some of the suggestions you all had about scented candles (she can handle vanilla) so there’s more balance and she doesn’t get bothered too much when I burn some incense.
I think I do have some Nag Champa around here somewhere, I’ll give it a try someday when she is out of the house.
Secretly, I do want to find out what some of the more expensive varieties are like, maybe I will get a chance at some point in my life, who knows?
I definitely prefer scented candles to incense. Seems to be more variety there, and the smell of melted wax itself is pleasant.
I like incense, not just because I like the smells but certain ones remind me of the Far East.
I tend to buy Coco mango, Black Coconut and Night Queen from Camden Market, they come in foil and I’ve only seen them there. I also buy Nag Champa and some Chinese ones.
I also like the Jo Malone grapefruit candle (which, it must be noted, always go down well as gifts). I also have a raspberry scented giant jelly belly bean in the car that needs replacing, but was great when first used. Although I’m not so sure my mum would like one of those for Christmas.
One time I bought a car from my brother in law and my wife and I drove it up to Seattle from California. We lit up a stick of some goddamn incense because my wife said it was a native American tradition to cleanse away any lingering evil spirits, but we did it on I5 at 80mph plus and it was a totally fucked up experience. I basically had to throw this entire burning mass of sticks and shit out the fucking window while frantically waving my hand in front of my face. Fortunately I5 is pretty goddamn predictable. I don’t suggest you to try this at home kiddies.