Do you remember the glut of perfumes and colognes in the late 70′s that featured “musk” in the title or as a primary ingredient?  If you do then congratulations, you have too much trivia in your head just like I do.  My point is that the very ancient scent of musk had something of a renaissance during that period.  Then it faded back into the background of perfumes and colognes where it still lurks just as it always has.  Musk as a perfume is old, very old.  There is a very good reason why our ancestors valued it so highly.  The scent can be animalistic, sensual, spicy, warm, earthy and other adjectives as well.

Nippon-Kodo features a musk scent in their Morning Star line and right out of the box it is an intriguing scent.  It is spicy, sensual, warm and yet with a brighter herbal note as well.  I am personally not looking forward to lighting this stick and attempting to give any sort of accurate description of it because musk can be complex and cause a wide variety of reactions amongst people.

My first impression when the swirl of smoke made it to my nose was one of perfume.  Slightly powdery, spicy, warm, and soft.  It doesn’t have much of an edge to it and it shouldn’t.  Musk isn’t supposed to tear up your sinus passages in search of a smell receptor to kick around.  Instead it should be complex, very faintly sweet, spicy, and definitely warm and sensual.  I think this stick does a reasonable job of capturing a scent that complex and that comes from someone who isn’t a big fan of musk to begin with.

Overall it is pleasant, not overpowering and just complex enough to be a bit mysterious.

You can delve into the mysteries of it here.