Is Luxury Incense Blending Worth $301? I Tested It for 6 Weeks

Week three, 7:34 PM, and I'm no longer choosing which incense to burn - I'm composing.

My hand reaches for sandalwood, then patchouli, without thinking. I light both sticks, watch them catch, blow them out. The day is shedding off me, and this five-minute ritual is how I mark the threshold between productivity and the part of the evening that's actually mine.

This is what the POJ Studio Takiawase Set teaches you, though at $301, it demands you take the question seriously: Is learning to blend your own incense worth this kind of investment?

After six weeks of nightly practice, consulting with a kōdō practitioner, and discovering POJ Studio's more accessible alternative, here's what you need to know.

What $301 Actually Gets You

The Takiawase Set isn't just expensive incense - it's an education in kōdō, the Japanese Way of Incense, where you don't smell fragrance, you "listen" to it.

Made by Kunjudo, a 130-year-old incense house on Awaji Island (the birthplace of Japanese incense culture), you receive both the Mori (forest) and Miyabi (elegance) sets: ten different scents total, each in hand-rolled sticks so delicate they feel like they might break if you breathe too hard.

The packaging alone justifies some of the cost, washi paper wrapping, zero plastic, the kind of presentation that feels like opening correspondence from Kyoto.

Inside: sandalwood, patchouli, agarwood, borneol, benzoin, clove. Premium ingredients. Artisan craftsmanship. Genuine lineage.

POJ Studio founder Tina Koyama left Silicon Valley to bridge dying Japanese crafts with people who'd appreciate them as practices, not just products. The Takiawase Set embodies this completely - you're not buying finished goods, you're buying apprenticeship.

$301 - Takiawase set, POJ STUDIO

What Actually Happens: Six Weeks of Testing

I tested both sets nightly and consulted with Michiko Nakamura, a kōdō practitioner with 20+ years of Kyoto training. The transformation was real.

Best blends:

• Sandalwood + Patchouli: Warm, grounding, became my evening signature. The way they merge as they burn taught me what "listening" to incense actually means.

• Agarwood + Sandalwood: Sophisticated, complex. This smells expensive because it is - agarwood alone justifies part of the premium.

• Borneol + Patchouli: Fresh and earthy. I skipped the recommended benzoin and found my own combination.

By week four, my hand reaches for blends without conscious thought. The five minutes became non-negotiable. Not because I'm disciplined, but because I genuinely miss it when I skip. It marks the end of work-mode and the beginning of the evening being mine, not my inbox's.

Friends notice. "Your house smells different, what is that?" It's not the scent exactly. It's that you're present enough to compose it.

Was it worth $301? For me, yes. But let's be honest about who that's true for.

$301 - Takiawase set, POJ Studio

Here's what POJ Studio doesn't advertise prominently enough: they offer an Incense Assortment that gives you the practice without the $301 commitment.

The Assortment includes curated selections of their incense in smaller quantities. Enough to learn whether this ritual clicks for you before investing in the full Takiawase experience. You still get Kunjudo's quality, POJ Studio's curation, and the opportunity to experiment with blending. You just don't get every scent variation and the full ceremonial packaging.

Think of it as the difference between buying the complete Le Creuset collection versus starting with one essential pot.

If you fall in love, you upgrade. If it doesn't stick, you haven't spent $301 discovering that.

The honest recommendation: Unless you already have an established incense practice or you're certain this is your entry point to slow living, start with the Assortment. Test whether five nightly minutes of composition actually becomes non-negotiable for you. If it does, the Takiawase Set will still be there.

$81 - Incense Assortment, POJ Studio

Who Needs Which One

Get the $301 Takiawase Set if:

• You already practice kōdō or have an established meditation ritual

• You're treating this as an education, not just nice scent

• The craftsmanship story matters as much as the product itself

• You want the complete experience, all ten scents, both curated sets, the full range

Start with the Incense Assortment if:

• You're incense-curious but not incense-committed

• $301 feels like a leap rather than an investment

• You want to test whether this ritual actually sticks for you

• You prefer to upgrade based on experience, not aspiration

Skip POJ Studio entirely if:

• You want instant ambiance without the learning curve (get a candle)

• You don't actually have five minutes daily to decompress

• "Slow living" is an aesthetic you admire but don't practice

The Verdict

Six weeks later, the Mori set is half-gone and I've already reordered. Not because I need more incense - because I need the five minutes where the evening becomes mine, not an extension of the day.

But here's what I wish someone had told me: You don't need to spend $301 to find out if this practice chooses you back. The Incense Assortment will tell you that for significantly less. And if it does choose you - if week three arrives and you're composing instead of choosing—then the Takiawase Set becomes an investment in something you know you'll use, not something you hope you'll become.

The best rituals choose you back. Start small. Upgrade when you're sure.

We've become very good at consuming experiences.
We've forgotten how to compose them. The difference between the two is where you find yourself again.