1 X 72 Balsam Logs - Paine's Fir Balsam Incense

Items lit remind me of Christmas past. Pine smell fills the house without causing breathing problems to those in the house with those problems.

I first discovered the balsam fir smell after a long day of hiking to the top of Cadillac Mountain and the extremely short trees had this wonderful smell. Then going into the gift shop they had pillows full of balsam fir and the store was intensely filled with the smell. It was at that point that I was hooked. These incense give off a smell as if you had a fire going of the stuff, which is different than the raw. I'm a big fan of incense and perhaps love this one the most! Yes they are tough to light, but it is a fun art to master. I do find myself liking Paine's moose box of 15 more than this box of 72. I'm not sure if batches vary among each or if the box of 15 is truly a different product than the box of 72. I will order another box of each and post an update of my experience. It smells like I have a fireplace! I will be getting raw balsam fir as well so that my apartment can really smell like the gift shop at the summit of Cadillac Mountain or Mt. Washington. Some of my friends thought the incense does smell a bit like something illegal, but much better than that.

These smell amazing. Sure they take a little longer to light than incense but nothing crazy. They take the same effort as a cone. They smell a little like campfire but not too much. Just the right amount. ❤️

The smell more like a wet campfire than balsam when you try to start them. Had a difficult time getting one to start, and it still never finished burning. Sorry, but not the quality I would expect from a Maine company.

After looking at reviews by most recent to oldest I noticed these get steadily lower reviews over summer and better over the holidays when it comes to odor strength and quality. I'm guessing they make most of their product around christmas time and then it sits the rest of the year slowly drying out. I had hoped it was late enough in the year some fresh ones might be getting sold but sadly these are barely noticeable odor. You have too light enough of them to make the house smokey before it starts to have any coniferous tree smell. I had no issues lighting them and keeping them lit but the fact they dried out so much and lost much of their scented oils may have made it easier. Make sure the end is sufficiently hot before blowing out any remaining flame and most incense products besides actual pieces of wood will generally keep burning. Higher oil or resin content wood and incense items have more trouble staying lit so you often trade off scent quality for ease of burning. You can solve that problem and any issues with the amount of smoke by setting solid incense items like this (not sticks) on incense charcoals that burn clean. The charcoal will heat enough to turn it to ash and release odor but quality incense or hookah charcoals produce no noticeable smoke themselves and remains very, very hot despite never seeing any flame. I found lining up 3 faded incense blocks or logs like these on a large charcoal disk can heat it enough to release the odor without as much smoke.

I’ve had a little cedar house for burning balsam incense since I moved out on my own 20 years ago. I grew up smelling this every year at Christmas time, and my dad continued to burn it every year when my siblings & I went to his house on Christmas Eve before he passed away last year. This scent is part of my Christmas tradition. I’ve used the same box for many years now, which I originally got from Wicks ’n Sticks, which has since gone out of business. I knew that box was going to run out this year, so I started searching everywhere for the same ones, to no avail. I ordered these hoping that they would be the same. The scent is the same, but these are smaller, which means they don’t fit correctly in the base incense holder I have inside the cedar house, they’re slightly more difficult to light, and they don’t burn as long (because they’re not as big). They will do, since having this scent during the holidays in any form is way more important to me than having the right size, it’s just an annoyance. As to those people complaining that they don’t light or stay lit, incense like this is not as easy to burn as the more common stick incense. It does take some time and persistence to get it lit and keep it lit. You have to actually hold the flame to the top of it for quite a while, stopping occasionally to see if the edge glows red. You don’t want to stop doing this until the entire edge of the circle is lit (glows red). If you stop while only part of it is burning, it will end up going out. So just a tip on that.

Been buying these for many years. Always buy multiple boxes at a time. They smell like a burning Christmas tree. My mother burned these same incense growing up especially around the holidays so for me its kind of brings me back home. Back then we didn't have Amazon so my mother would travel 1hr to some store in North Jersey just to buy these balsam fir incense. Had to be Paine's or she wouldn't buy. I Lost mom to cancer 4 years ago too so keeps that memory alive for me. I will say I never had any issues with Paines Fir Balsam incense but the last 6 boxes I bought in same order only burned half way down. I tried couple from each box and same results. I'm guessing that batch wasn't dried out 100%. I still recommend buying them but if they only burn half way down then might want to reach out to Paines let them know which I still need to do but buy from Paines...all America company based out of Auburn, Maine.

While the scent of balsam fir is often associated with the holiday season, for me, it goes much further. As a child, my family would go hiking and backpacking in the Adirondack Mountains of NY. Nothing can exactly reproduce the experience of hiking through a balsam fir forest in the Adirondack Mountains, but when I burn a Paine's Balsam Fir Incense log, I can close my eyes and imagine that I am standing next to a fir tree, breaking open a few green needles, immersed in the sweet aroma of balsam fir. Paine's is the best, hands down. I will never buy anything else. For those who are worried about these logs not lighting, you might consider letting a handful of logs air dry before lighting. Otherwise, be sure you have a nice ember crown to the log before enjoying. This is the real stuff, not some dried out artificial balsam. It's going to have some residual moisture after growing up in the forest! :)