Selling incense on the internet is not as easy as it sounds.  If you want music, you can listen to the CD online before you buy it. If you're looking for a book, you can often read excerpts and reviews before purchasing it.  But incense? Well, of course, you'd like to smell it first...

  I started dealing incense in 1991. Since that time, in search of the world's best, I have managed to sample as many varieties as possible and still do.  In the same way that nobody wants to eat the same food at every meal, no one who appreciates the Gandharva arts wants to burn the same incense or listen to the same music all the time. Like music, a good variety is essential to most folks who burn at all.  At any given time, you can walk into my little rural bookstore and choose from over 100 different kinds. The ones in the lists you will find below represent a well-rounded sampling of the very best offerings of Indian, Tibetan and Japanese incense available in the world today.  So until they develop click-and-smell software, here are my impressionistic renderings. Have fun reading the descriptions; as will become obvious, this list is the result of kilos and kilos of experimentation.
 

Redolent Links

the power of smell

smell myths

smell theme page

smell and memory

smelling in stereo

vivid world of odors

the olfactory system

    Gandharvas are ethereal beings who are believed to influence the possession of wealth and luxuries.  In one sense, they are akin to the Muse of the Arts as they grant expertise in poetry, the telling of stories and the transmission of epics.  Like elves and faerie folk, Gandharvas are said to have a great fondness for dancing, singing and making music.  Also, they find endless pleasure in  the creation of incense and perfumes, garlands and flowers.

Gandharvas are full of passion. . .