I play many instruments, (strings and woodwinds) and this ocarina has the purest, most lovely tone of any instrument that I own. I tried two cheaper ocarinas before this one, and the difference in sound is night and day. Almost as a bonus, this ocarina is beautiful! It has a good weight, the holes are sized and spaced perfectly, (a bigger deal than it seems) and you can just feel the quality of the instrument in your hands. I haven't had it long enough to know how long the finish holds up, but right now I could not recommend this ocarina any more enthusiastically! If you are on the fence, BUY THIS ONE! You won't regret it.

As a lover of instrumental music I can say this is one of the most beautiful instruments to play in my opinion! Mine came lighter in color than the photo suggested but that's fine with me. I had the idea of purchasing this ocarina after remembering my parents buying one for me from Mexico when I was a child. I didn't know how to use it then, but I wanted to try again. Long story short... I already know how to play Scarborough Fair after two days of practice! Anyways, mine didn't smell that bad as others stated, so I guess that's another plus. I take this with me in my truck to play at long lights and whenever I am parked somewhere. It is very addicting to play once you know at least one song! I chose to go without the bead string that can be attached to the ocarina only by preference not quality. I would definitely buy again from this seller if mine breaks in the future. There is a songbook that is pretty useful in teaching you the basics so you can run with it after you get it down. My only struggle is my right pinky finding the hole. I can find something that I can use a permanent fix to help with that (no issues). All I can say is thank you guys for contributing to my music addiction! :D Oh, and last but not least, I found that the lowest of the tones seem to be more airy than the higher tones requiring less volume. After searching online, I read that this is fixed by using an ocarina in the key of "G" or "F" which plays the lower tones with better volume.

Very impressed with this Ocarina. Just recently have I started playing this instrument, but I am familiar with the clarinet (somewhat of a background in music/musical theory), I got my very first one at the Renaissance festival for 60$ and it doesn't even come close in quality to the Forest Whisper.
First of all its a great size for medium to large hands, and very comfortable to play. The tone has very crisp distinct high notes and warm soothing low notes. The look of it is breathtaking, each with its own unique burnt woodland grain look, medium shine with the smoke finish. All of the holes were finished giving it a very professional appearance even looking closely at it. It is reasonably lightweight easily held for hours. The smell is there for a short while being that it is smoked, but it does go away very quickly (which really wasn't an issue at all because the taste is good in my opinion but it is worth mention). It comes packaged nicely in a amazon bubble wrapped line package, then a cardboard case, and then inside the Velcro holster.
At first going through some of the earlier reviews I was extremely skeptical about how this product was going to actually be, I also thought I shouldn't expect much being that It remains to be 30$. So I was blown out of the water to find that this was in fact a much higher standard and quality that I could have ever imagined.

100/100 Product

Notes were not true. Holes were crusty and unfinished on the inner sides. Hard to pull off certain notes. All in all a bad purchase. Go for a more expensive brand if you're going ceramic.

This ocarina sounds great! This is my first ocarina (I know, I'm sorry), but I have a history of playing a few other wind instruments. I mention this because I want to give some pointers in case you are doubting how good this instrument is from negative reviews/ already bought this and aren't satisfied. I'll address how to adjust the pitch and tone to get the most out of this little instrument in case you are new to wind instruments:

In general, it's basically impossible for it to be out of tune since you can adjust the pitch of the note by changing how you blow. To make the note sharper all you have to do is raise the front of your tongue so that it sits higher in your mouth (think blowing while making a "th" sort of position) and narrows the air coming through. To make it flatter, lower your tongue.

As for the tone of the instrument- if you don't feel like it's sounding good (if it sounds like a cheap recorder), you have to adjust the shape of your mouth and throat. If you are blowing with a literal "doo" sound, it's going to sound bad. Opening the back of your throat is the most important part!! Basically, I'm saying you should be playing and blowing air as if you were saying "ah" (same sound a doctor will tell you to say when they look in your mouth). This is literally the MOST IMPORTANT aspect of tone. As you play low notes, you want to be exaggerating and opening as much as possible. The air you are blowing should be full. As you get to the higher notes, you can't have the exact same method and have to close the back of your throat some (and raise your tongue a bit) so that the air will blow through faster (think "eee"). The higher notes aren't harder to play at all, the air is just moving faster.

IN SUMMARY:
Adjust the back of your throat for tone and adjust your tongue for pitch! This instrument looks great and sounds wonderful just picking it up so I can't wait to see how good it sounds once I master it!