The holidays is a happy but busy and stressful time, whether it be Thanksgiving, Christmas, Lunar New Year, or another festive occasion. We enjoy the gathering of families and friends, we eat delicious food, drink great drinks, and of course we all love the gifts. But... it can be overwhelming.

Incense is a dependable go-to during these times. It can help you with creating an ambient, welcoming setting for hosting, and at the same time, incense soothes and relaxes, and keeps everyone sane, especially you. Incense helps you feel actually rested and refreshed during the holidays, instead of leaving you feeling like you need a vacation to recover from the holidays.

Incense for Hosting - Setting a Welcoming Mood for Guests

The holidays is a time when we have many gatherings, and we want our guests to feel warm and welcome in our home. Scent is often an important part of these special occasions. Scientifically, we know that our sense of smell is one of our most primal senses. It holds surprising sway over our cognition and emotions, and can conjure up deep-seated feelings and memories. Have you ever walked past a particular flower, or a particular restaurant, and be unexpectedly taken back to a childhood moment with a sudden smell? That’s the power of scent.

For the holidays, combine incense with other holiday decorations, such as festive lights and ornaments, to create a truly magical atmosphere. All of our recommended incense are handmade, ensuring high quality and traditional craftsmanship. Here are several of our top picks for hosting:

1. A Touch of Jupi Incense Sticks

A Touch of Jupi has a warm, inviting scent that is truly wonderful for fall and winter. The classic sandalwood and aloeswood base is accented by the jupi (also known as chenpi in Chinese), aged tangerine peel.

Jupi is commonly found in Asian households, and is used for everything from stews to teas to traditional Chinese Medicine. As it ages, the crisp, acidic flavor of the tangerine peel matures into a warm citrus scent, refreshing yet nourishing at the same time. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, jupi is used to aid a range of digestive and respiratory problems.

Light up one of these incense sticks in your entry hallway, or where guests are gathered before dinner (or lunch). Guests will feel welcome as they breathe in the smell while chatting, aiding them to settle into the mood of the evening.

2. Nha Trang Aloeswood Incense Sticks

Aloeswood, also known as agarwood, jinkoh in Japanese, and oud in Arabic, is a classic scent worldwide. It is the darling of the incense world. It has a smell that is complex, nourishing, warm yet not overly so all at the same time.

There is no better time to light one of these up than when you’re in a celebratory occasion with friends and family, either before the meal or after, maybe setting the mood for sitting by the fireplace or enjoying a holiday movie. It is one of those scents where once you light it up, the room will smell great, and everyone won’t quite know why.

3. Mysore Sandalwood Ready-made Incense Seals (Part of a Mix Set)

Sandalwood is one of the most widely used and recognized incense ingredients in the world. And India's Mysore sandalwood has always been the most sought after sandalwood due to its complex, gentle and long lasting aroma. Its high concentration of active ingredients α- and β-santalols have been scientifically proven to reduce nervous tension and stabilize mood.

The Mysore sandalwood we use to make these incense seals comes from a sustainable source, and is the byproduct of sandalwood used for essential oil extraction. As the sandalwood used for oil extraction has such high initial oil content, the residual wood is still extremely fragrant, and eco-friendly.

We are one of the first studios to offer these ready-made incense seals for sale, so they are not commonly found, and burning one of these for your guests is bound to be a conversation starter. They can visually follow the burning trail along on the ash - something of a visual spectacle. The extremely long burn time (90min) makes it doubly suitable for gatherings - light one up as guests arrive, and enjoy the scent long into your gathering. Guests can see the final burnt trail at the end.

Incense for Staying In - Creating a Calm and Relaxing Atmosphere for Yourself

Away from the fun and franticness of big gatherings and dinners, incense is also the perfect accompaniment for some quiet, alone time where you can rest and rewind.

Here are our top picks of the best incense for those solitary moments to promote quiet and calm:

1. Four Masters Incense Sticks

The Four Masters is a truly classic blend and a classic scent. The warm complexity of the aloeswood, the refreshing milkiness of the sandalwood, the gentle coolness of the camphor, rounded off with the smoothness of the musk – it all co-exists in perfect harmony.

This is a great incense to light up when you have that precious night in with a book or a movie, or when you’re just hanging out at home for the afternoon. You’ll feel not only relaxed, but nourished.

2. Palace Rituals Backflow Incense Cones

Our backflow incense cones not only have the same wonderful smell as the incense sticks, they also have the dramatic visual effect of the backflowing incense plumes. Light one up when you’re alone, and enjoy a mindful moment as you watch the incense smoke as it dances and flows down the incense burner.

Palace Rituals is a blend derived from an ancient Chinese incense recipe book, and is based on one of the many blends used in the Chinese palace.

It has a base of sandalwood and aloeswood, a rich overlay of native Chinese roots and flowers, rounded off with unguis odoratus – the powder of a marine shell dating back to Babylonian incense recipes. The result is a distinctive warm, earthy scent with a cool, sweet tinge, luring you slowly yet surely into its embrace.

3. A Touch of Jupi Incense Powder (Part of Mix Set)

A Touch of Jupi incense powder has the same cozy, homely feel as the incense sticks, but the process of using incense powder - a practice that dates over 1000 years - has an amazing added meditative effect.

The ritual of flattening ash and creating an incense seal from incense powder is the perfect way to spend 10 minutes to set the mood for an afternoon or evening. You can then spend a mindful moment watching the incense trail burn, or set the incense burner aside while you do another activity.

Benefits of Using Incense

We have written extensively about the benefits of using incense on our website - everything ranging from relaxation, to fighting inflammation, and purifying the air. We'd love to invite you to read more about these and discover the incredible world of incense if you haven't already.

A Final Note: Choosing the Perfect Holiday Incense

• Look for high-quality incense, natural ingredients is a must

• Stock up! Don't run out of your favorite incense cones before the holidays end

• Experiment with different scents and fragrances to find what you like the best