Shoyeido's Five Hills Incense, 450 Sticks - Gozan

Like other reviewers have stated, I detected a difference between the long sticks and this bulk 450 pack which is being reviewed here. It is important to note that the sticks in the 450 pack are blue and in the long pack they are brown - without added color.Personally, I prefer the long sticks. As noted by others, the long sticks have more depth. The short sticks are not bad incense, in fact it is an excellent value and still very pleasant. But to clear up the matter I decided to call Shoyeido directly and inquire. I felt that I was either noting a difference between them where none existed, or I had received a stale package.Shoyeido states that the long package was actually created for the USA market specifically. Because incense is not as widely accepted in the US, the primary retail market is health food stores. The new wave of health-minded citizens in the US tend to be against “artificial” colors. And so Shoyeido created the long stick version of Five Hills - and their other daily lines without adding color, which is actually preferred by the people of Japan.So interestingly enough, the colored version in the 450 pack is the Japanese version and the long stick version is the USA-marketed version. While Shoyeido does not share their specific methods, it is likely that this difference results in different scents.Further, it should be noted that almost all Japanese incense is hand made in batches. As such, there will almost always be slight variations between packages and sometimes even between sticks in the same package. This is normal and actually quite nice that no two sticks are perfectly alike.

Love this stuff!

A couple days after writing the review below, I ran into remnants of the long-stick (8") version of this incense and was surprised to see that they're different colors and that the short version (reviewed below) is neither as intense or "deep" as the long sticks. The packaging is identical (except for size) for both versions : there's a word for this practice, but it escapes me at the moment. Nevertheless, my initial review stands (with the caveat that the more-expensive long sticks are more intense than the short sticks reviewed below).A dry, "austere," incense with no hints of the perfumey/floral sweetness most westerners associate with incense.It burns cleanly, with none of the itch-in-the-throat that I experience with the popular, cheap, synthetic incenses that are manufactured by otherwise reputable producers for the western market. Unlike those "soda pop" incenses, Shoyeido's Five Hills can't be judged (especially if one is not familiar with this "serious" style of incense) on the basis of just one or two sticks.

Everything Shoyeido makes I have not had a single problem with; The incense are easy to live with day to day. the aroma's they give off are Strong, but easy to be around (not overpowering like cheaper incense). the use of higher quality materials in production are very clear. (beware, the stem style is different from traditional incense; No little wooden stem on bottom, all incense, for all of Shoyeido's products.. Compensate for that before hand and you will love it.)I personally have over 15 different products from Shoyeido and I can say; whether you burn them individually; or try pairing certain ones; they just plain work.

Shoyeido Gozan koh Five Hills incense is an interesting scent. I've seen other reviews that talk about 'Grown-up' incense. All of the Shoyeido scents I have bought so far I also regard as 'Grown-up' incense.Clove is very distinct. This incense is less subtle than other Shoyeido scents, but isn't harsh or perfumey. It is a little more expensive than other incense I've bought from Amazon so far, but you can't go wrong with this product.