When I first was exposed to Ken’s unadorned approach to presenting agarwood, I was kind of miffed, surprised, confused. I was used to the approach almost all incense makers have toward making high end agarwood sticks, in blends with other exotic ingredients which mask an undercurrent sourness I sense in sticks from Ken, like Brunei, Sundaland, and Borderlands. It reminds me of when I first tasted Talisker, an extremely smoky and peaty brand of scotch after only being exposed to the sweet ones like Balvenie. I grew to prefer smokey and peaty scotch in a few years. My education with Ken’s agarwood only took a few months. Sometimes only incense like Borderlands will do.
