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PRESS ROUNDUP NOVEMBER 2013
UPDATE:
OZO & Moto Oud Eau De AS SEXY GIFTS - COMPLEX MEDIA
READ MORE ON COMPLEX MEDIA
BLACKBIRD INCENSE NOW AT SUPER A MARKET
WHAT IS FRANKINCENSE?
Frankincense, a precious resin obtained from several different trees of the Boswellia genus, sometimes goes by the name olibanum from Arabic al-luban meaning "that which results from milking". It is most popularly known in Western culture as one of the three gifts brought by wise men for Jesus at his birth, but its history goes way further back (trading of frankincense has been recorded for more than 8000 years) and the ingredient is still a precious and widely used commodity today. Some of the best frankincense comes from Yemen and Somalia, where much incense used in Catholic mass is produced, and much frankincense also comes from Ethiopia. Dhofar, a region of Oman, is known for producing the best frankincense in the world.
Boswellia Sacra, translating loosely to religious or sacred Boswellia, is commonly known as the frankincense or olibanum tree and is known for its ability to grow in uncommonly unforgiving territory, even occasionally known to sprout from solid rock. Attaching to these rocks helps the tree stay planted during tumultuous storms. The trees grow abundantly in Oman and southern Yemen, and they typically reach a height of 2 to 8 meters with one or more trunks. The trees don't actually begin producing resin until they are about 8 to 10 years old.
Frankincense is available in four different grades depending on when the harvest happens. It is accessed by making an incision on the trunk or branches of the Boswellia trees and removing a narrow strip of bark, letting the resin bleed out as a milky substance and become hard upon contact with air, creating frankincense "tears." This process is then repeated making a deeper incision until enough frankincense has been produced at the right consistency, usually over a three month period. The best quality comes from the 2nd or 3rd annual bleeding of the tree, and generally speaking the more opaque resins are higher quality. Silver and Hojari are generally the highest grades of incense, and there is some dispute as to which type is better. The highest quality of frankincense from Oman is purchased by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, the ruler of Oman, and is almost impossible for western buyers to identify and purchase.
Frankincense comes from the Old French word, "franc encens," meaning high quality incense. The greeks and romans, babylonians and assyrians used frankincense in religious ceremony to make offerings to the gods, and it was very popular for this use, but it was also used in state and domestic affairs. Egyptian women used crushed, burnt frankincense like eyeliner to paint their eyelids, although it was also used to scent rooms in the colder months, served as insect repellent, salves for wounds and sores, and was used as a key ingredient in the embalming process.
Frankincense resin is edible and is sometimes used as medicine for digestion and healthy skin. For internal consumption, only translucent frankincense is recommended, with no black or brown impurities. It is often light yellow with a very slight greenish tint and it is often chewed like gum, but it is stickier. Indian frankincense, commonly called dhoop, has been used for hundreds of years for treating arthritis, healing wounds, strengthening the female hormone system, and purifying the air. It is suggested that burning frankincense daily in the house brings good health. Frankincense smoke has been shown in some preliminary studies to relieve depression and anxiety, and consumption of the extract has been shown in some preliminary studies to improve arthritis in as little as seven days. In 2009 it was reported that Frankincense oil appears to distinguish cancerous cells from normal bladder cells and suppress cancer cell viability. In antiquity it has been known to be used for leprosy, and toothaches, and more recently it has been proven to possess antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties. Frankincense has also been investigated as a potential treatment for ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, anxiety and asthma.
Recently a component of frankincense, AKBA, shown to kill cancer cells in brain tumors and particular cells affected by leukemia or colon cancer, has been successfully isolated. That said, the component has not yet been tested on humans and the claims of the Omani media that a cure for cancer has been found have been denied by the researchers behind the project.
Unfortunately, like so many important pieces of plant and animal life, frankincense is at risk of becoming significantly less prevalent (decreasing by 90%) due to over harvesting. When a frankincense tree is milked, it produces less seeds, and because of the world's high demand for frankincense, a huge number of these trees are being milked several times a year and as a result they are not reproducing as much as they would naturally. If we don't adopt more sustainable harvesting methods, we may not have frankincense for very much longer (tear).
Frankincense smells balsamic-spicy-sweet, with a slightly lemon-like fragrance of incense and a conifer-like undertone. As a perfume ingredient, frankincense is one of our absolute favorite materials to work with due to its incredibly rich, unique, and pleasant fragrance, but we have also employed the ingredient in our products for some of its other beneficial traits. You can try frankincense today in the following Blackbird products:
FRIENDS IN PLACES: PRISM
PRISM
5208 BALLARD AVE NW
SEATTLE, WA 98107
THANK YOU AIMEE & JOEL!
PRESS ROUNDUP OCT 2013
This month we saw a lot of love for the Blackbird Incense, which makes sense since we're moving into the ultimate time of year for incense burning. Take a look at the latest Blackbird gossip.
We met The Goodsmellas back at Elements and we've been buddies ever since. They put together this recently surfaced interview with one of our Blackbird product masters, Liz, who does an awesome job explaining what we do. We also talked a little bit about Seattle-based perfume line Olympic Orchids. Thanks to Carlos and all of the Goodsmellas!
Ape to Gentleman, one of the clear leaders in the men's grooming blogosphere, gave an excellent write-up for our Blackbird Incense. They remembered that we were not the first to create incense ("incense has been burned since the new stone age, in c.10,000 BC"), but remarked that we are "leading the evolution." For the record, only Ex-Blackbird employees have ended up on the Darwin awards.
Lottie and Doof, based in Chicago, burned Blood Countess on Halloween. Honestly it doesn't smell as scary as it sounds.
The Grooming Guru is on the same page as us, sharing our penchant for fire and burning things. The incense is especially perfect for lending a fitting fragrance to your sterile marble citadel, but as a bonus design feature pointed out by Lee, will also effectively cover up for your smelly cat.
Remodelista featured our May 18th Soap as part of their 10 Favorites: The Best of Black Soap. No, it won't stain your bath tub.
Cool Material pretty much nailed it on guys and soap. I've known several that shampoo with Ivory (bar soap). As they point out, you can now forego the trip to Duane Reade / Walgreens and take care of your soap requirement with the click of a button thanks to our May 18th Soap. Plus, the May 18th Soap smells and feels spectacular.
Welcome to Movember! Beast.com spotted our Beard Oil and now's the time for it guys. Say goodbye to itchy beard face.
Baxtton in France covered our Black Licorice Hand Soap and even captured a little bit of our history in the process. Pictured in their post is our old bottle, but the graphic and idea is the same.
THANK YOU!
WHAT IS DRAGON'S BLOOD?
Dragon's Blood is rad for many reasons, one of which being that it actually looks like how you might expect "Dragon's Blood" to look. The resin was named after its red appearance that when heated or used as incense, bubbles and boils red like blood, and was accompanied by a common belief that Dragon's Blood actually came from the blood of elephants and dragons who had died in combat.
Dragon's Blood is a bright red resin that is produced by several different species of trees that's use has been documented as far back as the 15th century. One type of Dragon's Blood tree produces a berry about the size of a cherry and when ripe, they are covered with a reddish, resinous substance. Other types of Dragon's Blood trees produce Dragon's Blood resin directly through their sap. These trees have been known to grow in the Canary Islands, Morocco, Sumatra, and other locations, and Dragon's Blood made its way into Europe largely by the Incense Road.
It has been implemented throughout history for a surprising number of uses, including being used to make varnish for violinmakers, dye, toothpaste, ink for posters in China, as well as to make medicines because of its large list of perceived health benefits and in witchcraft, shamansim, and folk magic for its "magical properties."
On top of all of the various uses listed above, the most important piece of information to us is the scent of dragon's blood. Dragon's Blood smells sweet and soft, slightly amber-like but more natural and less sticky/sweet smelling than common amber. It is extremely rich and does an excellent job setting a calming mood to a space.
Try Dragon's Blood today in our Blood Countess Incense, and let us know what you think!
Or you can bathe in Dragon's Blood with our new Australian red reef clay Blood Countess Square Soap.
BLACKBIRD IS NOW AT NIVEN & JOSHUA
By offering one of the most extensive collections of men's grooming advice alongside some of the best men's grooming products available in an environment that feels comfortable and cool, Niven & Joshua has established themselves as the premier online grooming destination for men. As one of our long-time favorite websites, we couldn't be happier that Niven & Joshua recently added our Blackbird Incense to their assortment of exceptional products.
We want you to be aware of Niven & Joshua not only as a website you can use to purchase your favorite grooming products, but also as an invaluable resource for all things men's grooming related. Take a look at these guides to get an idea of what we're talking about:
If you think those are helpful, its just the tip of the iceberg. You can also check out the complete Niven & Joshua Grooming Guide or their assortment of Men's Grooming Concerns presented next to several functional remedies to make sure you get the best treatment you deserve.
Enjoy, and thank you to Niven & Joshua for the expertise!
PINTEREST?
Back in the day, Pinterest's official policy was that businesses were not allowed to use the tool to promote their goods. We followed this rule and never checked back, until recently. You will now find Blackbird on Pinterest. We're just getting started.
One of the features our menswear customers might like is that we're hoping to post tons of old product shots here from your favorite collections and our past creations.
Enjoy!
http://www.pinterest.com/blackbirdhello
WHAT IS TAMANU OIL?
What's Tamanu Oil? We know it as a wonder-ingredient used in our Shaving Oil to help protect and rejuvenate your skin after and throughout the process of shaving, but this stuff has an ancient history of being used for a seemingly endless list of benefits, and shaving oil was definitely not the first treatment to contain it.
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Try Tamanu Oil in our brand-new Blackbird Shaving Oil for a smoother, more comfortable, and healthier shave.
FRIENDS IN PLACES: ALOHA SUNDAY
Blackbird products stocked: Incense, Aftershave, Shaving Oil, May 18th Soap Sets, Black Licorice Hand Soap (bathroom exclusive)
ALOHA SUNDAY
3118 UNIVERSITY AVE
SAN DIEGO, CA 92104
(619) 269-9838
THANKS KAHANA & MIKE!
HESSLE AUDIO SHOWCASE @ DECIBEL FESTIVAL
Decibel Festival Recap - Hessle Audio Showcase
So, wow. Pangaea, Ben UFO, and Pearson Sound pretty much tag-teamed all-night starting at 2:00 AM. I haven’t been following the output of the holy trinity as steadily as I did back in the Down With You days, and honestly I was expecting a lot more broken beat tracks to make up the set, and they dropped their fair share of these, but the predominant theme of the evening / early morning was techno.
Like I said I haven’t been following Hessle’s output as much as I should (shame) and I had no idea this is the s**t these dudes were into these days. The linked track, Power Drumsss, is Pearson Sound’s own production and as you can hear it’s very much in the forward bass camp, but track’s like Power Drumsss were only dropped in the set one out of every five songs and the other four were techno.
I should clarify, as techno is a mutt of a genre. Hessle Audio techno is somewhere in between house and techno but it absolutely not tech-house. It’s like, you take the idea of minimal, pounding techno and throw in a ton of drum machine percussion and sparingly implement some obscure sample or unsettling distorted minimal chords / keys and you’re getting kind of close to what they were dropping. For lack of a better term it’s like subtle, jacking techno that you can simultaneously rage to groove to without losing your cool. Definitely not jam-packed with mid-range noise, and definitely not conventional drippy dub, spacey, or dark techno.
Moral of the story is that the set banged. Definitely helped me to understand that techno can be pretty accessible if you carefully blend it with house concepts, vs. the pounding death knell that conventional techno exudes that it’s very easy for normies to turn up their noses to.
Thanks Ben, Pearson, and Pangy.
PS: Ben UFO referred to Pangaea’s techno contribution as “the best” “oingy boingy” techno out there. So I guess the industry term for their type of techno is “oingy boingy.” Use it in conversation and people will think you are SUPER in-the-know.
This post was originally featured on Life Crushed
Written by Aaron
PRESS ROUNDUP SEPT 2013
EXTRA EXTRA
Wonderzine in Russia covered our May 18th Soap Sets:
Part of me wants to say good old boys, part of me wants to say bad guys, so I'll meet myself in the middle and say the consistent writers over at Thrillist covered our Beard Oil as part of their "September's 8 Essential Toiletries" feature:
NYLON GUYS covered our May 18th Soap Set:
Kempt mentioned us in their "Weekend Sales Report Card" and gave us a B+, which is cool by us:
good2b in Spain covered our new Aftershave, Shaving Oil, and Black Licorice Hand Soap:
Thebedstuydandy recommended our Beard Oil in his excellent article on bearding or not bearding:
Myself Magazine in Germany covered our Beard Oil as one of their 100 Wanna Haves for October:
and fashion/design news leader HYPEBEAST covered our new Aftershave, Shaving Oil, and Black Licorice Hand Soap:
Thanks everybody! We really appreciate it.
BACK IN BLACK: MAY 18TH BLACK SOAP SET
MAY 18TH BLACK SOAP
- Set includes two 2.5" x 2.5" cubes (1 lb approx. wt.)
- Detoxifies and removes impurities
- Lightly exfoliates
- Smells fantastic
- $28 set of two bars in box
- ORDER HERE
BLACKBIRD SKINCARE PRODUCTS ON EXAMINER
BLACKBIRD SHAVING & SOAP PRODUCTS - HYPEBEAST
HELLO BLACKBIRD
Here we are. After a bunch of years on our old website and with the change in business model we thought it was time to upgrade our look and feel. In Blackbird tradition, we kept it simple but added just the right amount of functionality. Enjoy and be careful.
Always,
Nicole, Aaron, Adam, Liz and Emilie
ROHELINE IN D MAGAZINE
MIZUCHI REVIEW ON WHAT THE SMELL
Here's what they had to say about our ink, paper and tobacco perfume Mizuchi:
"Holy shit, Blackbird. This is totally addicting. First, hard-hitting synthetic latex like popping open a fresh can of wall paint. Then a sinister slither into more organic territory. I simply cannot stop smelling its lustful yet lithe oriental accord of amber incense over leather like a censer-cleansed abattoir oozing through an ozonic aperture.
I don't know what prompted that psychedelic eruption or, frankly, where it was going. Maybe it's something in this smell.
You know bacon. And when you smell bacon, you want bacon. All the pleasure centers in your brain light up with the sense-stimulating effect of sizzling lard. When I smell Mizuchi, I want more Mizuchi.
This defies everything I thought I liked about perfume. With a stroke of lazy brilliance, doesn't try too hard dismissing complex accords and arty ingredients. If fragrance could have autism, this would be the poster child of savant hyperfocus. A fascinating kid in the corner of the loft party, it talks to no one. Because it's too weird? Or because it's too cool?"
READ MORE ON WHAT THE SMELL
EAUMG HOLIDAY 2012 GIFT GUIDE - FEATURING ROHELINE
Number one on her list was Roheline!
Blackbird Incense Pyres in Roheline – Seattle-based Blackbird clothing store has been keeping Seattle gentleman hip and looking more like Copenhagen urban gentleman than geeky tech employees. They have now branched out with some house brand fragrances in their Apothecary. Roheline is a green tomato leaf incense cone. What? You haven't heard of tomato leaf incense before?
READ MORE ON EAUMG