Alyssa Severeid
14 episodes listed below
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Burning incense is a practice embraced by nearly every single culture throughout history. It is both spiritual and medicinal as well as one of life's most profoundly simple pleasures. Grounded in ritual, yet unpretentious and accessible to everyone. Journey with us as we explore the history, culture, plants, medicine and everything in between this sacred yet simplistic pastime.
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Incense Explorer connects aromatic craft to the ecological knowledge, labor, trade, and cultural practices behind every burned resin or stick.
Alyssa Severide follows incense from the plant itself to the people who harvest, trade, blend, and burn it. Incense Explorer usually takes the form of an informed guest conversation, with Severide asking direct questions that keep botanical detail connected to cultural practice…
Frankincense gets a species check and a supply-chain audit; your nose may never shop the same way.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A careful look at incense sourcing, ecology, and supply-chain pressures around frankincense and myrrh.
The episode follows incense from the tree to the trade route, where species names, country labels, and harvesting realities do not always align neatly.
A patient, scent-rich conversation that turns incense into place, memory, and craft.
Alyssa Severide treats incense as more than fragrance, tracing it through land, memory, ritual, and the hands that make it. The discussion stays close to the material world, moving from wild harvesting and city foraging to tree resin, and to the habit of noticing plants and bark…
Frankincense is framed as history, sacrament, and stewardship under pressure.
This episode treats frankincense as more than a fragrant material. It connects the resin to ancient use, sacrament, sustainability, and the people who still live with and manage the trees.
A patient, sensory conversation that turns incense into history, craft, and lived ritual.
Bonnie Kerr's conversation with Alyssa Severide treats incense as a living practice, with plants, smoke, lore, medicine, sacrament, and sensory pleasure held in the same frame.
A thoughtful Season 1 wrap-up that ties incense pleasure to health, transparency, and sustainability.
Alyssa Severide closes Season 1 with a reflective wrap-up that treats incense as more than a pleasant smell. The discussion moves through ingredients, transparency, health, and the plants behind the smoke, with a clear contrast between synthetic fragrance and natural incense…
Multi-part dramatized retellings of scandals like OceanGate's Titan and the Lehman Brothers collapse.
A season-by-season history show pairing dramatized Rasputin and Salem narratives with historian interviews.
Greg Young and Tom Meyers explain how New York City's streets took shape.
Fashion historians April Callahan and Cassidy Zachary dig into garments, letters, and the people who wore them.
Alyssa Severide, the host of Incense Explorer, reveals the hidden problems with mainstream incense: synthetic formulations with undisclosed chemical fragrance, and natural options sourced from over-harvested endangered plants.
Incense Explorer Season 2 Episode 10 features Dr.
Steven Johnson, founder of Fair Source Botanicals, discusses building transparent frankincense supply chains using blockchain and mobile money to support East African harvesters while ensuring ecosystem sustainability.
Alyssa Severide closes a season of Incense Explorer by talking with Dave and Rack Smai Schultz, the couple behind The World Makes Sense, a Chicago-based incense business rooted in Smai’s childhood in Cambodia.
Alyssa Severide interviews Bonnie Kerr, an herbalist, incense maker, perfumer, and founder of Esprit de la Nature, about heated incense, whole botanicals, and the boreal forest plants she wild-harvests in Quebec.