Aromatherapy: Essential Oils, Dried Botanicals and Incense

The first decision isn't which scent, it's which format. Oils, dried botanicals and incense all live in this corner of the Zamnesia Smartshop, but they need different gear and they behave completely differently once you get them home.

Concentrated Oils, Dried Flowers by the Bag, or Actual Smoke

Essential oils are the concentrated route. Fifteen of them, each distilled from one botanical: Rose with its honey-like sweetness, Frankincense and Sandalwood on the resinous, woody side, Jasmine, Gardenia, Frangipani, Cempaka, Ylang-Ylang, Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) and Sakura at the floral end, Geranium, Lemongrass and Mint for the sharp green scents, plus Rosewood and Chamomile. Three to five drops in the water bowl of an oil burner scents a room in minutes, and the same amount goes into the water of an aroma diffuser you already own, or into a spray bottle of water to mist a room, a surface or fabric. Extra drops don't improve anything, they just make the air heavy and empty the bottle faster. If you have read about carrier oil and dilution ratio, that belongs to massage and cosmetic blending rather than to these bottles, so we quote no percentage. These oils aren't for eating or for skin, and both liquid and vapour are flammable, so keep the bottle away from the tea light flame.

Dried botanicals are the quieter option, sold by weight: Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) in 50g, then 20g bags of Eucalyptus globulus, Lavender, Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis), Rosemary and Blue Lotus, plus shredded Wild Lettuce (Lactuca virosa). One honest note, because people ask: Wild Lettuce here is dried leaf, not an oil, and we don't stock a wild lettuce essential oil at all. Chamomile flowers are the mildest scent on the shelf, while Wild Lettuce reads bitter and earthy, thanks to the milky lactucaria in the leaf.

Incense is the smoke route. Palo Santo Incense Sticks and loose Palo Santo wood, Sagrada Madre Natural Incense, Incense Powder, the 7 Chakra Incense pack (sticks burn around 50 minutes, the smudge bombs 8-10), Californian White Sage loose or bundled, Incense Smudge Sticks, and a Dragon's Blood Smudge Stick from TRIBE. That pack is named after the seven chakras of the tradition it comes from, not after anything the sticks do. Loose powders and resins won't stay lit on their own, which is what the Purifying Charcoal Discs are for: light a disc in a heatproof holder and sprinkle powder on top. A smudge stick is a tight bundle of dried leaf that you light, blow out, and let smoulder. The Abalone Shell is a rest for a smouldering bundle, not a burner. Palo santo and white sage have been burned in ceremony for generations in the Americas. One search worth answering plainly: nag champa oil isn't in this range. The nearest things here are Sagrada Madre Natural Incense, Palo Santo sticks and loose palo santo, and Incense Powder on a charcoal disc.

Blue Lotus (Nymphaea caerulea), Available Two Ways

Blue Lotus comes as dried flowers by weight and as a 15x tincture, the concentrated form of the same flower. It's the water lily painted across Egyptian tomb walls, and it turns up in ritual imagery going back thousands of years. Next to a 20g bag of Lavender it's the more unusual buy on the botanical shelf.

What We'd Buy First, Second and Fifth

Ranked, from a standing start to a shelf you keep restocking:

• One essential oil. Frankincense if you like resin and wood, Rose if you want the full floral hit.
• The Elephant Essential Oil Burner. Water in the top, tea light underneath, three to five drops in.
• The Salt Stone Tea Light Holder. Holds the candle you're using anyway, in pink Himalayan salt.
• Palo Santo Incense Sticks. The easiest smoke to start with, since they light straight off a match.
• Purifying Charcoal Discs plus Incense Powder. Once sticks feel too tidy and you want loose resin.
• The Abalone Shell. A rest for smouldering bundles, and the Fair Trade Gemstone Soap by Spiru rounds out a gift set.

Already own a burner? Skip to the sticks and the loose Palo Santo. Buying for someone else? Chamomile 50g and the gemstone soap are the safest pair in the range.