« J'éprouve que, pour gagner les hommes, il n'est point de meilleure voie que de se parer à leurs yeux de leurs inclinations, que de donner dans leurs maximes, encenser leurs défauts et applaudir à ce qu'ils font. »

The French verb “encenser” used in this quote from Molière's “L’Avare” witnesses the purifying function associated with incense, known for its anti-smell power.

For thousands of years, men have been fumigating to honor the gods and increase their level of consciousness. Incense (or "oliban") comes from the resins of the Boswellia resins, a shrub tree native to Dhofar, on the border between Oman and Yemen. Today, these trees grow only in some regions of Sudan, Ethiopia, Yemen and Somalia.

There are different types of incense: the one in granules, mainly consisting of pure aromatic resins; bamboo sticks impregnated with a dried aromatic mixture; finally, the cones, which has the particularity of releasing an intense fragrance in a very short time.

Incense associates the human with the divinity, the finite with infinite, the mortal with the immortal. There is not so much difference, in this sense, between the smoke of the funeral pyre, the one of the Mayan copal, Christian incense and tobacco smokes among Native Americans.

In the Christian religion, the burning of incense symbolizes prayer: when the smoke of incense rises to the sky, it reminds us that our intention must be directed towards it. In Ancient Egypt, oliban was used to treat pulmonary and hepatic diseases. In addition, resin incense has been used medically for centuries in Egypt, China and Greece for its healing and anti-inflammatory properties.

In the East, a whole culture has developed over the centuries around the incense and its rituals. In Japan, the "incense path" (“kodo” in Japanese) is not only associated with an olfactory pleasure, but also with an aesthetic and spiritual experience allowing to achieve the state of supreme inner peace.