---
title: "Incense Review: Hippy Hug, Lavender Française, and White Sage Mage by The World Makes Scents"
description: "Reviewing Hippy Hug, Lavender Française, and White Sage Mage from The World Makes Scents"
date: 2026-04-26
tags:
  - Incense
  - Incense Review
synopsis: "Reviewing Hippy Hug, Lavender Française, and White Sage Mage from The World Makes Scents."
imageURL: /img/TWMS2026/the-world-makes-scents-incense.webp
imageAlt: "A closeup of The World Makes Scents' new incense packaging with a few loose cones."
mastodon_id: "116474428801255815"
---
In the interest of transparency: as readers may recall, I
[paid Dave a visit](/blog/visiting-chicago-incense-maker-dave-of-the-world-makes-scents/)
at the company's workshop in 2024. Since then, I've been back several times and
we remain friends, trading ingredients, incense, and knowledge. I also received
this incense for free. Despite this, as always, I will do my best to be
objective.

[![A closeup of The World Makes Scents' new incense packaging with a few loose cones.](/img/TWMS2026/the-world-makes-scents-incense.webp "The new packaging is fun, don't you think?")](/img/TWMS2026/the-world-makes-scents-incense.webp)

## Hippy Hug Sticks

First of all I'd like to point out that TWMS has updated their packaging. It's
vibrant, colorful, and fun. The illustration on the *Hippy Hug* packaging is,
however, clearly AI generated, which [I have some feelings about](ai/), but the
overall effect is playful and creative, which I find refreshing.

The 12 thick sticks are wrapped in colorful paper inside TWMS' trademark
jewelry box—an improvement on the synthetic batting material which would
sometimes cling to the sticks. I'm struck right away, as I was with each
variety in today's selection, by the strength of fragrance from the unlit
incense. With *Hippy Hug*, I get a lovely hit of clove and patchouli. The sticks
are about 4mm in diameter, and dark brown, with a rather coarse texture.
They're also solid, with little give and no crumbling or breakage in the
package.

On lighting smoky, patchouli, and sweet vanillic notes emerge. Clove follows as
the initial burst of smoke recedes into a surprisingly gentle stream from the
large stick. If you're familiar with sweet patchoui fragrances, such as
*Patchouli* from Shoyeido's *Overtones* collection, *Hippy* *Hug* doesn't quite
match this profile. While the sweetness is clear, this stick somehow leans dry,
leaving room for the clove to mingle with what I assume is a wood binder
(binders no longer appear to be listed on the ingredients) to make a
spicy/smoky effect.

The patchouli seems to have been used judiciously: just enough to make the
composition work. There is undoubtedly a 'campfire' aspect to this stick,
but it comes across as more woodsmoke than that riproaring, herbaceous
burning-vegetation note that you get when you overdose anything leafy. In
addition to patchouli, sandalwood, benzoin, and clove, the ingredients also
note the inclusion of frankincense. When I look for it, I think I may be able
to identify something of a resin-note in the fragrance, but it's certainly not
jumping out at me. The sandalwood is also a background player here.

I'd really been looking forward to trying this latest take on patchouli from
TWMS since I learned that the team was revising and upgrading some of their old
single-note formulas. I wasn't disappointed. As perhaps reflected by the name
change, while still a patchouli fragrance, the new iteration has evolved from a
single-note stick into an honest-to-god composition, and I'm here for it.

## Lavender Française

The fragrance of the unlit cones is lovely; a juicy lavender note with a hint
of Australian sandalwood. This is a markedly less complex fragrance than *Hippy
Hug,* but what it lacks in complexity is makes up for in clarity. It's
impressively lavender-forward while somehow avoiding much of the harshness that can
come from lavender flowers. A pleasant benzoin sweetness underscores the floral
note. I don't notice much of a sandalwood fragrance in the burn.

Like any wood-based cone, you won't want to sit right next to this incense, but
then again you don't need to. Even in my large office, with relatively little
airflow, the fragrance traverses the distance from the incense table to the
computer desk with little trouble. Giving this cone some room to breathe nets a
relatively clean, room-filling fragrance. There does seem to be a wood binder
note that somewhat muddies the waters, but it's not terribly obtrusive.

The fragrance naturally becomes a little rough around the edges as the diameter
increases near the base of the cone, and the formerly modest smoke production
ramps up quite seriously. That said, the formula seems to handle the change in
diameter well. As the ember travels down the cone, the lavender begins to
exchange its juicy, fruity character for a more herbal, camphoraceous scent.
The fragrance also becomes more smoky, as is to be expected. In contrast to
some of the cheap wood-and-synthetic-fragrance based cones I've tried, the
effect here is more that of an evolving fragrance than a devolving one. I think
I'd still prefer a stick, but I'd be lying if I said that I didn't enjoy this
experience.

## White Sage Mage

The fragrance of the unlit cones is a pleasant sage note. I don't get any
sandalwood this time for whatever reason. The fragrance immediately after
lighting is sage forward, herbaceous, and a touch smoky, although significantly
less so than burning a sage bundle. I never could understand why people insist
on burning sage bundles for fragrance. The result of such a large amount of
herbs burning at once is, for me, overwhelmingly rough and unpleasant. I much
prefer this format: carefully processed sage included in a combustible incense
as part of a well considered formula. It's cleaner, and as sage happens to be a
very potent herb, it still offers more than enough of a sage fragrance. In
fact, like *Lavender Française*, the star botanical almost entirely comprises
the fragrance here.

The inclusion of a little lavender in these cones is a nice addition—the floral
note lifts the fragrance from poultry-seasoning territory (always a risk with
sage). The ingredients also note the inclusion of frankincense, but I couldn't
pick it out; I suspect it may have been included to regulate the burn
temperature somewhat. Again, the fragrance has no trouble filling the room.
This cone is also subject to the pitfalls of the format, but it handles them
fairly well.

## Conclusion

After experiencing this selection, I remain impressed at the quality of
fragrance that The World Makes Scents is able to produce with carefully
processed whole botanicals. As one of the very few incense brands on the market
that you can be sure uses no synthetics or concentrates, it remains my go-to
recommendation for people seeking an entirely natural combustible incense in
the U.S.A.

While the brand's cones are, in my opinion, some of the better examples of the
format, I still do recommend that people nab a
[censer](https://shoyeido.com/products/incense-holder-bowl), some
[ash](https://shoyeido.com/products/accessory-miyakohai-ash), and buy sticks
where possible.[^1]


[^1]: Unfortunately, when I made my order almost all of the sticks
were out of stock on the [website](https://theworldmakesscents.com/), and I am
trying to wean myself off of Amazon
[for](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Amazon)
[ethical](https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/retailers/ten-reasons-avoid-amazon)
[reasons](https://socialjusticebooks.org/about/why-boycott-amazon/).