Ze Li Monastery Incense

September 12, 2021 at 5:05 am (Agarwood / Aloeswood / Eaglewood, Cardamom, Lilac, Mike, Red Sandalwood, Saffron, Sandalwood, Spice (Cinnamon Clove Nutmeg etc.), Ze Li Monastery)

It is great to see that incense-traditions.ca continues to expand their inventory to include the incenses from newly found monasteries as with every new monastery in the line up there’s a new treasure to check out. Ze Li Monastery incense is one of these new additions to the catalog, it contains white and red sandalwoods, cardamom, lilac, cloves, saffron and agarwood. It’s described as a milder incense, which is definitely fair in my book as it seems to have a very light wood base to it that I tend to find more in common with Nepali incenses. There’s a little bit of musk in it which I mostly notice due to the way it interacts with the cardamom and cloves mix. The agarwood is mixed in in a similar proportion to how you might find it in a relaxing or soothing blend (like Agar 31), which I often think is the point, it feels whether its low or high grade wood there is something that really kind of plugs into the calming side. There’s a light saltiness that you tend to find in a lot of monastery incenses and although not listed, it feels like there’s some cedar and juniper in the mix too. Maybe the closest scent I can think of might be Ganden Monastery’s main line incense since both have a similar level of strength, although Ganden might be a bit more deluxe than Ze Li. But what they both have in common is the way they can take a large ingredient profile and make that consonant as one incense. And like Ganden this incense has the ability to surprise you with the occasional subnote you may have missed. I keep noticing something subtle like licorice pop out at times even if I don’t always notice it.

Leave a Comment