Smoky & Earthy

Harshness is the acrid, almost burning sensation you experience when inhaling smoke from a freshly extinguished candle—sharp, slightly metallic, with an underlying bitterness. Imagine the charred edges of burnt toast, the metallic tang of iron filings warming on a stove, combined with the peppery bite of black smoke curling through cold air. It's deliberately unpolished, confrontational even, lacking the smooth sweetness of other smoky notes. There's an almost medicinal quality, like antiseptic meeting ash.

Woody

Virginia Cedar smells like walking into a freshly built wooden cabin on a crisp autumn morning. It's dry and warm, with pencil-shaving brightness—that distinctive scent you get when you sharpen a cedar pencil. Beneath lies a subtle spiciness and mild camphoraceous coolness, almost minty. There's a hint of resin and burnt wood smoke, tinged with earthiness. It's woody without being heavy, clean without being sharp—imagine aged timber that's been lightly sanded and left in dry air.