Dragon’s Blood Incense Cones.

A darkened room, a single candle, and a thread of smoke that smells of amber and spice. Dragon's blood brings that old-world hush to an evening: warm, sweet and faintly spiced, closer to amber than to anything floral.

These small cones are hand-rolled and bound with true dragon's blood resin, the deep crimson sap of Dracaena and Daemonorops trees. No creature of legend is involved; the name is a market invention centuries old, and it has stuck. Each cone is dense and dark red-brown, rolled and dried in small batches rather than machine-pressed.

The resin has colored varnish, dyed cloth and scented incense since Roman times, when it was already traded across the Mediterranean under names that hinted at exotic, slightly dangerous origins. Folklore in several traditions holds that it carries a potency of its own, and it was often added to charms, inks and candles believed to need extra strength behind them.

How to use

Light the tip until it catches, then set the cone in a heatproof dish or on a bed of sand or ash to burn down slowly on its own. Each is small enough to burn one at a time without overwhelming a room.

Details

• 20 hand-rolled incense cones, boxed together
• Sold as a curiosity, for its scent and its history; no medical or scientific claims are made

For the evenings that want a little mystery in the air.