Buying Guide to Morning Star Incense

Since my first encounter with it as a kid, I’ve always loved incense. There’s something beautiful and calming about lighting the flame, watching it catch and then blowing it out; the ember remains and begins to send forth coils of scented smoke. But much of the incense that’s easiest to find in the U.S. (Nag Champa, for instance) is sweet and heavy, and it often lasts far longer than desired.

Several years ago I discovered Morning Star incense, made by the Nippon Kodo Co., Ltd. of Tokyo, Japan. The sticks are rather small and are composed entirely of compressed incense, rather than packed around a central wooden skewer. This means that the entire stick, except the small segment at the very bottom protected by the burner, is consumed when the incense is lit. The sticks burn for approximately 25 minutes, and their fragrance is subtle and natural.

Morning Star incense is available through several online retailers and can be found in many Japanese food and housewares stores. A box of 50 sticks sells for $2-3; a box of 200 sells for $5-6. Each box also contains a small incense burner suitable for use with Morning Star. The burner is essentially a small tile of pale blue porcelain with a hole in the center in which to prop the unlit end of the incense.

Morning Star incense comes in twelve scents. My favorites are cedarwood and sandalwood, though I’m curious to try both pine and green tea. The other available scents are rose, cinnamon, patchouli, amber, lavender, musk, vanilla, and jasmine.

What I like best about the sandalwood and cedarwood incense is their aroma of wood rather than flowers or sweet resins. Wood fires are illegal in New York City, but sometimes on a crisp winter evening, strolling down the street, one can catch a whiff of fragrant wood smoke in the air. These two incenses evoke that smell.

The small size of each stick of Morning Star incense makes it versatile. In small spaces, or in situations where a lot of incense isn’t desirable, one small stick will do. If more smoke is wanted to fill a larger space, a stick can be placed at each end of a room to distribute it more evenly than a single large stick or cone of incense would. By the same token, you can mix scents: place a stick of cedarwood at one end of the room and a stick of sandalwood at the other, and the space in the middle will smell of a lovely blend of the two.

This is just basic common sense, but always take precautions when burning incense. Place a plate or some other non-flammable object beneath the burner while your incense is lit. Don’t burn incense in drafty places or anywhere it is likely to be knocked over. Avoid burning incense where small children or pets can reach it. Make sure there are no loose papers, scraps of fabric, facial tissues, or other flammable debris that might become airborne and catch fire by brushing against the incense. Never leave incense burning unattended.

Morning Star incense makes a great gift. The 200 count box is a nice size for a small gift on its own, while the 50 count box is perfect for slipping into a larger gift basket. Do make sure, however, to find out first whether the intended recipient likes incense (as some people have intense aversions or even allergies to it), and to get some idea of what type of scent is preferred.

For its convenient size and its variety of natural fragrances, Morning Star is by far my favorite brand of incense.