God's Smile is an incense blend made by the monks of the Coptic desert monasteries in Egypt. The recipe has not changed since their foundation in 350 A.D. and even then, it was an ancient formula based on the sacred incense described in the Book of Exodus. "And the Lord said to Moses: Take unto thee spices, stacte, and onycha, galbanum of sweet savour, and the clearest frankincense, all shall be of equal weight. And thou shalt make incense compounded by the work of the perfumer, well tempered together, and pure, and most worthy of sanctification."

In ancient times, God’s Smile was called Ketoret (which translates to “incense”) in the Jewish faith. It has a fascinating history.

According to oral tradition, a single family, the Avtinas, was blessed with the knowledge of the sacred incense recipe, which was burned twice a day as an offering. The recipe, as outlined in the Book of Exodus was a closely guarded secret and not shared outside the Avtinas family.

The temple’s sages attempted to duplicate the recipe by hiring specialists from Alexandria to recreate the incense. But they could not, as they could not discern the ingredient which allowed the smoke to rise in a single column like the Atvinas’ incense. The temple was forced to hire back the Avtinas, at twice their previous salary! The recipe remained a family secret, despite repeated demands from the sages, until the last surviving Avtinas member trusted a Rabbinic sage with a scroll containing the recipe.

The latest batch has come in a bit stickier than usual. You may want to pop it into the freezer for a few minutes for easier handling.

Medical Disclaimer: Our expertise lies in incense making and fragrance. Information contained on these pages is solely for your enjoyment. We can not provide medical advice or recipes as we are not health professionals. Before ingesting anything that is not food, we strongly suggest seeking counsel from a licensed health practitioner.

Out of stock indefinitely. But check out some of our other gorgeous blends, like Temple of Solomon or Kyphi.

God's Smile by Scents of Earth is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.