When I think of dragons, I am likely to think of brimstone, burning wood, charred peasants and the smell of the pet snake I had several years ago. I am not likely to think of sweet, sultry, sensual scents. Unless of course we are talking about the Fuolornis Fire Dragon as made famous by Douglas Adams and The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy. But I digress.

Frankincense. Sister Anne’s favorite incense. With that I am betraying my Catholic childhood, but it is a point worth mentioning because it means I was exposed to a lot of frankincense as a child. Despite the mental association of stern nuns with rulers, I still enjoy frankincense now and then and especially around Christmas when the story of the three wise men is told.

Lavender is one of the few floral scents that I enjoy. I use it regularly to relax with, to settle down to get ready to go to sleep with and when meditating. I have tried virtually every lavender incense and fragrance under the sun so I feel pretty confident that I can recognize a good version when it comes across my desk.

Let me start by saying that I love the smell of patchouli. A good patchouli is warm, earthy, slightly musky and rich. A bad patchouli has sharp notes, is overly perfume-like or on occasion, bitter. Genieco has knocked my socks off in the past with their Extra Rich Sandalwood.

Ah the confusion of the nose with dipped incense as opposed to hand rolled incense. Such is the case with Gonesh Nag Champa Extra Rich. Fresh from the package it barely smells like champa flower at all. It isn’t sweet enough to be honest. It is a bit too sharp.

Cherries, peaches, apples, honeysuckle and other scents make this a positively wonderful smelling incense straight out of the package. Among my first mental reactions were, “candy” “fruit” and “food”. I am not usually a fan of sweet incense scents and I am dubious of any and all incense marketed as “cherry” or “banana” or whatever.

The first impression I had when removing this stick from the package was “sweet”. Not “sweet” like in being presented with a Martin D-30 as a surprise gift, but “sweet” as in incredibly floral. Sometimes it drives me to distraction that you have to guess at the ingredients in Genieco’s Gonesh incense sticks.

The name on Gonesh No. 2 Oils and Spices is better suited to this stick. Fresh from the package I smelled notes of patchouli, sandalwood, sage and something sharply floral, like holly or bayberry. Let me start off by saying that I love the way this stick smells unlit