An icy mist floats over the ornate facade of the Winter Palace. Light of the rising sun illuminates the stucco and rich gilding of the interior ballrooms through its grand, tall windows. The air is laden with the scent of the tsarinas, an ambrosial blend of musky patchouli and delicious white florals.

Astier de Villatte incense is hand-made in Japan on the small island of Awaji, off the coast of Kobe. The incense is created using the world's oldest incense tradition, a thousand year old craft handed down from father to son. The Koh-shis Masters are experts in the four different steps of creating incense; mixing, rolling, drying and cutting. Throughout the drying process, the incense is exposed to the Western winds which carry a higher content of iodine, giving the incense a delicate and distinct scent.

The packaging is printed in letter-press and type-set by the last Master Printer in Paris.
Each box contains 125 sticks with a burn time of approximately 30 minutes per stick.