Perfection Does Not Exist: Lessons from Incense Making

Two recent problems—incense sticks broken in transit and a richer formula that did not always stay lit—made me think again about perfection.

They were different problems. But both showed me the same thing: in incense making, improving one quality can change another. The work is not to reach a final state where nothing ever goes wrong. It is to notice, understand and keep adjusting.

The first problem: broken incense in transit

A few customers received sticks that had snapped during delivery.

The incense we make uses natural plant-based binders, and the finished sticks are relatively slender and fragile. Inside the tube, there is inevitably some space between them. If a parcel receives a hard impact during transport, the sticks can collide and break.

Some parcels arrived perfectly. Some did not.

A delicate structure helps us make the kind of incense we want, but it can also be more vulnerable on the journey to a customer. That is a real cost of the choice—and a problem we still have to solve.

The second problem: a better scent, but a less stable burn

The second problem came from AUTUMN HILLS · PLUM.

I had felt that an earlier version was slightly dry and heavy. After I spoke with our incense maker, Mr. Xu, he adjusted the formula. The new version was noticeably better to me: its woody and plum-like character became fuller and clearer, and the dryness I had noticed was largely gone.

But the improvement created another problem.

The adjusted formula contained more oily and resinous material, and some sticks began to go out during burning.

Our current working understanding is that the richer composition changed the way the stick sustains combustion. This is still a hypothesis we are testing, rather than a conclusion that one kind of material alone caused the problem.

A stable burn depends on relationships between the formula, particle size, binder, moisture and physical structure. That is why we are trying to preserve what became better in the scent while recovering a reliable burn.

For a closer look at those relationships, read why an ingredient list cannot predict the final scent, and why incense dough is kneaded, pounded and rested.

Two problems, one question about balance

A more delicate incense structure may give us the scent character we want, but it can also be more vulnerable in shipping.

A richer formula may make a scent fuller and smoother, but it can also make stable burning harder to achieve.

When we gain something in one place, something else may become more difficult somewhere else.

What the Tao Te Ching says about balance

Chapter 77 of the Tao Te Ching says:

“The Way of Heaven reduces what is excessive and supplements what is lacking.”

My own understanding of this line is about balance.

There may simply be no completely perfect thing. Every choice gives something shape, but every choice also has a cost. The important question is not whether limits exist. It is whether we are willing to see them clearly and continue working with them.

Accepting limits does not mean avoiding problems

This does not mean that every problem should simply be accepted.

Quite the opposite.

Once the incense began breaking in transit, we started testing better internal protection, reducing movement inside the package, working with the courier, and adjusting the thickness and straightness of the sticks.

With AUTUMN HILLS · PLUM, we are continuing to work on particle size, structure and the formula itself—trying to keep what became better without losing a reliable burn.

Maybe another problem will appear after these are solved.

That would not surprise me anymore.

Making means continuing to adjust

Making things seems to work this way.

You improve one part. Something else changes. Then you observe and adjust again.

So I no longer think the goal is to find a final state in which nothing can ever go wrong.

Perhaps perfection does not exist.

But we can still pursue something as far as we can—if we are willing to understand and accept the cost of every choice.

Accepting those limits does not mean avoiding problems. It means continuing to work with them.

Sources

• Tao Te Ching, Chapter 77, Chinese Text Project.