Exactly, at best you get a quick blurb. BTW, I'm similarly supsicious of some of their claims on the website about how "natural/vegan" they are.

No prob! It is tough to know what to buy based on the brand's descriptions sometimes. Shoyeido is really bad for this; IIRC their website doesn't even tell you that three of their Horin line are agarwood based.

Thanks for the reviews, brands like these are hard to parse for me so reviews essential. Think I'll try picking up that King of Loban and maybe a few of their Oudhs just to try.

i doubt it; it's edgewater in chicago... LOTS of gays here.

Lol that might have something to do with it depending on the neighborhood.

the rejection she unconsciously displays when she pushes her children behind her whenever i'm around suggests that there's a hill that i would have to overcome to try; i strongly suspect it's because of the harnesses i wear when i go out.

Lol you should make friends and try to angle for an invitation

the downstairs neighbor takes care of the desire for pleasant smells; everything she cooks makes me hungry and i envy her children for it. lol

Huh. Well I hope you don't have a gas stove! Honestly, I would ignore it anyway, but if you're not so inclined, simmer-pots and electric heaters can be really nice.

i envy you. i too live in chicago and my lease -- as all my leases have done -- explicitly states no open flames and i'm not in a large tower.

fortunately, there's nothing about cooking strong spices because those smells are delightful and have become a makeshift incense for me. lol

I have never seen this. I also don't see a ban on incense and candles being very popular with a large percentage of prospective tenants. Wouldn't this also effectively ban people from doing puja and other religious ceremonies in their own homes?

I can imagine this being included for large towers; we're not allowed any flames in my office, for example, but there was no mention of this in my last three Chicago leases, and Chicago is well known for its fire safety measures for historical reasons.

If I were to encounter this in a normal house / apartment, I'd assume it was some racist clause like "no cooking with strong spices" used by bigoted landlords to try to keep POC out.

they're considered "open flames" and you're lucky if your lease doesn't mention it.

Really? I've never once seen or heard incense mentioned when renting. In any case, unless you are absolutely fogging the place out every day with no ventilation, they'll never know. They probably wouldn't even know what a censer was if they saw it.

most american landlords won't allow you to use them, so be sure to be a homeowner so you won't get in trouble.

Oh, I see. It's a traditional Chinese method of burning incense. If you search "incense seal" on aliexpress, you can find censers, tools, and ash for it. You can buy incense powder, make your own, or just burn plain aromatic wood powders. It's a really nice, clean method of burning incense when done properly using good material. It's also great for testing formulas if you make your own incense sticks.

Gotcha, thanks. I was unfamiliar with incense power and molds so that's what mostly piqued my interest.

Check the link in the description; I was trying out incense powder from Wild Berry.

Curious to know more about what's going on here.

That's pretty cool, gives me a lot of ideas like an incense mandala.

This is a Chinese method of burning incense powder formed into a "seal" with a stencil on top of a layer of ash. I made the incense powder myself.

What type of incense is this? I havent seen this kind before.

Oh awesome- I will check them out!!

The same people also distill an oil from it. They sell hydrosol too.

this is the best kind IMHO; i know there are many types of frankincense but i got a hold of some of this Omani green stuff and it was otherworldly, i'm trying to dissolve it into ethanol so i can wear it as a fragrance

That looks so good.