Not sure who dreamed Shambala Incense up, but this is a very vibrant Nepali-style Tibetan with a high ratio of good quality ingredients to base. There seems to be some juniper berry content as well as sandalwood, which puts this in very traditional red stick territory, however the good ingredients give this some interesting subnotes including one foresty and another slightly resinous. For this style, this isn’t a bad place to start at all, it’s very smooth and comes in two sizes.
Shambala Incense
September 29, 2011 at 7:13 am (Evergreen/Forest, Incense, Juniper, Mike, Nepal, Sandalwood)
Shechen / Red, Blue, Riwo Sangchoe, Surpo
February 10, 2011 at 8:33 am (Juniper, Mike, Nepal, Red Sandalwood, Sandalwood, Shechen)
Shechen monasteries are apparently located in Tibet, India and Bhutan but it seems their incenses hail from Nepal, based on recipes from Mindroling monastery. Essence of the Ages carries four scents from Shechen, two in boxes indicated by their color, and two roll incenses. By price the two boxes seem to be the most premium items.
The Red box incense is slightly the premium of the two colored boxed and it’s actually no surprise that the recipe originally came from Mindroling as the incense here is very similar to Mindroling’s Grade 3 incense. It has that almost common mix of woods and berry found in many Nepalese incenses with some musky/dusty tones that are similar to the Mindroling, but I suspect the difference here is that Shechen probably uses herbal ingredients to get this layering. Overall this is a very common type of incense, but more or less a superior form of it, so well worth starting with here if you haven’t tried it.
If you have the Red it’s unlikely you’ll need the Blue which definitely seems to be sort of a Grade 2 version of the Red with a little more in the way of that filler wood/campfire scent. Given that the two boxes are only separated by less than $1, there’s really no reason to not go for the Red. The Blue’s rather nice on its own merits, but since the musky sorts of tones are more subdued (by replacing some of the red sandalwood content with juniper) it’s less interesting as a result.
The two roll incenses are much less impressive, both have very heavy amounts of cheap wood and little in the way of character, in fact both seem more ceremonial based than aromatic. The Riwo Sangchoe states the inclusion of red and white sandalwood on the wrapper, but I find it difficult to detect either. It does have maybe some slight musky/musty tones that are reminiscent of the Red and Blue boxes, but these tones leaven the rather dull woodiness very little. The Surpo isn’t much different, mostly made from filler wood material (probably cedar and juniper) but having some slight floral notes in the mix. The wrapper mentions ingredients like yoghurt, milk, butter, molasses, honey and sugar but I couldn’t really tell where any of these sat in the aroma.
There’s really not a lot new here if you’re already well stocked in Tibetan incense. I think I liked the Shechen Red more when I first purchased it, over time, it’s struck me as fairly static, but it’s a nice incense (although I’d guess you might find something similar in, say, the Stupa line at a more inexpensive price. Unfortunately the two rolls aren’t likely to do much more than irritate your sinuses.
Unknown / Heritage, Pilgrim
October 2, 2008 at 9:47 am (Beddelium, Cardomom, Incense, Juniper, Mike, Nepal, Sandalwood, Spice (Cinnamon Clove Nutmeg etc.), Valerian / Sugandhabal)
Readers of ORS will likely be familiar with Yog Sadhana incense, a site Hall of Fame pick (be sure to scroll down and read the comments on this page for more info) and one of Nepal’s best incenses. Unfortunately little seems to be known about the company who makes this incense, there appears to be little information on the wrappers. However, we do know by the way the “series” looks that there are two more incenses in the same line, a deep red stick called Heritage and a green one called Pilgrim. While Yog Sadhana is certainly the crowning achievement of the line, the maker’s other two incenses are worthy of attention.
My favorite of the two is the deep red Heritage. You could easily see this as an analog to the Mandala Trading Himalayan Herbal incense, as it strikes the same sort of heavy clove and cinnamon based spice stick mixed with a tangy, herbal nature. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if this aroma was partially made with essential oils or extracts as the spice nature is very strong. It’s not quite the polyherbal masterwork the Himalayan Herbal is, with a much more consonant blend of spice and funk and less complexity, but it’s also a little more ancient and mysterious. It’s also quite a bit less smoky than Yog Sadhana.
Pilgrim is an incense in what appears to be a very common Tibetan style, a thick and evergreen stick based on sandalwood. The closest analog I can think of off hand is the Mandala Arts Green Tara, although Pilgrim is slightly less distinctive and refined. The description has this incense as spicy and floral, although it’s the least spicy of the three sticks in the line and the floral nature is quite restrained. Mostly it strikes me as a sweet and very Himalayan wood incense. While it’s not the sort of incense I’d be compelled to burn often, it’s still very pleasant and friendly, with some slight resin content, a bit of herbal musk and even some slight oceanic hints. Like Yog Sadhana it’s possible much more will be revealed as I continue to use it.
All in all the three incenses that make up this unknown line are all very high quality for the price, with ingredients that give the blends an uncommon richness. However, it should be noted that given the thickness of the sticks, the count will be a little bit lower in a package, although most of these are well suited to breaking 2-3 inch fragments.
Kuenzang Chodtin Tibetan Incense
September 18, 2008 at 1:51 pm (Incense, Juniper, Kuenzang Chodtin, Mike, Musk, Pangolin Scales / Nagi, Red Sandalwood, Saffron, Sandalwood, Spice (Cinnamon Clove Nutmeg etc.), Tibet (Unspecific))
[This incense has either been discontinued or repackaged.]
Having had so much success with various high end Tibetans costing anywhere from the teens to the 40s, I thought, like Japanese incense, that you’d generally be safe with anything relatively expensive. While price is still often a good indicator of an incense worth buying, Kuenzang Chodtin (scroll down, second from bottom) incense appears to be one of those land mines worth detouring around.
There are a number of Tibetan incenses that use aromatics that Westerners are likely going to identify with tire rubber or other acrid and/or bitter offnotes. Despite a number of herbs and ingredients that give the impression that Kuenzang Chodtin incense is likely to be superb and an initially positive first two or three seconds for the light, my experience was blindsided when after relighting the stick later, a strange black bubbling tar erupted from part of the incense leaving a strange, ashy foamy deposit on the incense. The smell at this point was so chemical that it evoked for me those incense urban legends of companies who say a particular incense is made of natural ingredients, but aren’t actually giving full disclosure. It’s as if the the resins were switched out with asphalt.
Stickwise, Kuenzang Chodtin is pink in a similar manner to the higher grade Nado Poizokhang sticks. I didn’t have quite the same experience with subsequent KC sticks, but the incense has a number of ingredients that will largely be unpleasant to the Western nose, and I don’t mean that in an acquired taste sense. It’s possible the incense was meant to be a more floral Tibetan derivative in that some of the incense’s top notes seem to have a very harsh, almost Indian masala-like rose scent, which when mixed with the incense’s noxious base gives off very harsh notes.
It’s strange because there seem to be some pleasant elements. That richness when nagi is involved seems to be there in the top, but the base overwhelms this quickly. Sometimes the bitterness is so penetrating it’s like the aroma from a bottle of cheap, charcoal filtered vodka. I did some labwork in an organic chemistry lab a decade ago or so, and that’s always the smell chemicals like this evoke for me. There are incenses that are dull and average, not worth picking up because they have little to offer. Kuenzang Chodtin goes past this to where burning a stick is actually fairly unpleasant at times. Less a pleasant aroma than a chemistry experiment.
Mandala Trading / Ribo Sangtsheo, The Earth, Tibetan Peace
September 17, 2008 at 10:58 am (Aloeswood, Basil / Tulsi, Beddelium, Cardomom, Incense, Juniper, Kusum, Mandala Trading, Mike, Nepal, Resins, Saffron, Sandalwood, Spice (Cinnamon Clove Nutmeg etc.))
Nepalese company Mandala Trading are the creators of two of the finest and most accessible Tibetan incenses on the market, their long stick Tibetan Monastery and Himalayan Herbal blends, the former an unparalleled spice blend, the latter a minty evergreen breeze. If you haven’t had a chance to check these excellent and affordable incenses out I highly recommend doing so before tackling the three, shorter incenses (all five MT incenses are on this page mixed in with others, the three in review are down the page a ways) in question here. While they’re certainly nice incenses, the three in this review aren’t quite in the same league.
As with the two previously mentioned incenses, these three under consideration also have their ingredients lists listed on the inner wrapper. Ribo Sangtsheo is comprised of Spike Nard (Jattamansi) 20%, Other Medicinal Herbs 20%, Natural Glue (Lac) 20%, Sandal Wood 10%, Agarwood 10%, Spices (Clove, Cinamon, Cardamon) 10%, Beddelium (Gokul Dhoop) 5%, and Ambergriss (Sal Dhoop) 5%. Of the three incenses in question here, Ribo Sangtsheo is the most similar incense to the Tibetan Monastery and Himalayan Herbal blends, although not quite as complex. Ribo Sangtsheo has a very unusual, coppery vibe for an incense. For one thing, it’s one of the few blends that is comprised of this much spikenard and it’s a fairly noticeable element overall, although unlike Japanese incenses that accentuate the sweetness, Ribo Sangtsheo also brings out more of the herbal and muskier notes. The agarwood, while not at the Japanese levels, actually does add something of a contour to the scent, preventing the incense from becoming too sweet or spicy by its obvious woody note. The entire blend has a slight fruitiness to it reminiscent of wine, but overall it’s that sort of dry, coppery vibe that sets it apart from the rest of the incenses in the line. If you’re over the moon with the HH and TM blends, this one is probably worth checking out even if it’s not quite up to those aromatic heights.
The Earth is comprised of Beddelium (Gokul Dhoop) 20%, Natural Glue (Lac) 20%, Holy Basil (Tulsi) 15%, Other Medicinal Herbs 15%, Juniper (Dhupi) 10%, Valeriana (Suganhaval) 10%, Spices (Cinamon, Safron) 10%, and Mugwort (Tittepati) 5%. Strangely this and the next incense actually add up to 105%, which implies some rounding up. The Earth absolutely does what it says on the package, it’s one of the most rough, gravelly and earthy incenses imaginable and not only earth in the soil sense, but this one reminds me of granite and the like. As such it’s not a friendly incense by Western standards, with the juniper being accentuated. Strangely enough for an incense that lists its first ingredient as a resin, it’s not a big feature of this aroma, which is often very “campfire” like with off woody hints of rubber, tire and such. With each stick, I do tend to get a little closer to liking this one mostly because it really is earthy in all of its characteristics and it’s quite grounding.
Tibetan Peace (note: this is the first of two on the above linked page) is created from Sandalwood 25%, Other Medicinal Herbs 20%, Natural Glue (Lac) 20%, Anthopogon (Soonpati) 15%, Roopkeshar 5%, Kusum Flower 5%, Spices (Cloves, Safron) 5%, Holy Basil (Tulsi) 5%, and Calmus (Bojho) 5%. Overall it strikes a fairly common blend in Tibetan incenses, a slightly sweet and very thick sandalwood-based stick that’s colored green with some variation. It’s very similar to the Green Tara on this page, if not quite as thick or refined, and as such it’s an incense that’s pleasant, inoffensive and maybe a little boring at times, not terribly far from the Himalayan Herbal incense without all the potent spices. If you can think of something like Dzongsar or White Pigeon being at the more difficult end of an axis, Tibetan Peace lies at the other.
Unlike Tibetan Monastery and Himalayan Herbal incenses, none of these three are likely to make you stock deeply, but those who do like them may get some mileage, particularly out of the unusual Ribo Sangtsheo, which is different enough from the usuals to be worth a sample. At the same time, all are affordable enough to make the risk a low one. However you’re likely to find similar but friendlier incenses than The Earth in the Dhoop Factory line and I’d recommend the above Green Tara before Tibetan Peace.
Nu Essence Resin Mixes Part 1 (Neptune, Pluto, Moon, Uranus)
August 21, 2008 at 10:20 pm (Amber, Ambergris, Artemisia, Benzoin, Bitter Almond, Borneol/Camphor, Floral, Frankincense, Incense, Jasmine, Juniper, Karaya, Musk, Nu Essence, Resins, Rose, Ross, Sandalwood, Spice (Cinnamon Clove Nutmeg etc.), United States, Wormwood)
The Nu Essence Resin Mixes are completely unlike the Japanese loose mixtures I reviewed last week. They are based on a combination of ancient magical formulas as well as great scent combination’s. I have a feeling many of our readers (not to mention Mike 
) might know much more then I about the esoteric aspects involved here. It is obvious that a lot of testing and study have gone into these blends. The musk, ambergris and civet are based on high quality synthetics that, unlike most synthetics seem to work well when heated. This could be because they are also pretty much surrounded in essential oils!
These mixes come in small metal tines. About an ounce’s worth of some very powerful scent. I used, at most, 1/8 teaspoons worth in a foil square on my heaters to try them out. Actually the first time I used one I piled it on and was pretty much overwhelmed. Really, these are very potent blends using natural herbs, resins and essential oils. Some of them use so much oil that they seem moist when opening the tin. One tin will last quite a while; it is a very good deal.There are over twenty (at the moment) different blends from this company. For this review I picked four of the planetary mixes. They use a great many different components, many of which I have not experienced before this. This, for me, makes it even more fun and interesting. I will be doing at least two more reviews on this line.
They seem to work best being gently heated, plus they will last longer that way also
Neptune:
Tonquin musk, benzoin, sandalwood, and rose.
Very deep, sultry rose and musk scent. Everything about this is powerful, almost overpowering. The sandalwood is like a low frequency carrier note way in the back round, the benzoin’s sweetness drifting through to catch your attention and then, once again, you are surrounded by the rose infused musk hues. This is not a light scent; there is almost, at times, a bite to it. This would, to me, be something to scent or flavor a room, as opposed to say taking a deep, close in, breath. It is very potent and takes the rose floral thyme into very sultry depths.
Pluto:
Sandalwood, benzoin, ambergris, amber, and bitter almond.
Upon heating gently one is immediately greeted with the sandalwood, closely followed by the bitter almond. The benzoin/amber/ambergris combination present themselves as a sort of soft yet potent ambery wave to my nose. There is a certain “stone” quality at work here (perhaps the amber is the actual crushed mineral rather then the resin spice blend usually found).
Again, not a light scent, a bit less forceful then the Neptune, but still for doing up an environment, not a Koh ceremony. The bitter almond adds many interesting, and to me, new scent qualities to the mix. The “bitter” aspect playing off the ambers and sandalwood/benzoin mixes. Great fun. I find myself more drawn to this one just because it is a bit more playful.
Moon:
Karaya gum, frankincense, wormwood, sandalwood, camphor, jasmine, and artemisia.
Spicy, camphorus, yet with a light floral (the jasmine) note. I guess uplifting or vibrant would be a good overall description. Not as strong scented as the two above but at the same time it holds its own in a very different manner.. As you heat it up and experience all the camphor tones the jasmine and frankincense keep drifting in. This would be great to set a very uplifting and at the same time, mellow vibe in a room. There almost seem to be many contradictions at play here as it shifts from an almost bitter( but not harsh) to sweet scent with the camphor tones playing through the middle. I am sure the other components play some subtle parts in this but I do not know them and the mix is so well combined that it is hard to separate things out. I could feel my head clearing up when this is going and at the same time a certain inner clearing going on also, which, given the wormwood and Artemisia, makes sense.
Uranus:
Jasmine, juniper, sandalwood, cinnamon, and benzoin.
At first heat the jasmine and cinnamon immediately start to drift up. This is a very interesting combination that somehow works really well. Alchemy in action! Think jasmine with a kick. The woods seem fairly muted at first, while the benzoin adds a little sweetness as a base note. As the upper notes fade into the back round the woods and benzoin come more into play and stay for quite awhile lending a certain grounded quality to the overall mix. I find myself very attracted to this one, probably because the jasmine and cinnamon blend really works for me. This is great to scent a room with just for the upbeat ambiance it gives. Very nice.
These are available at many of the Incense Suppliers we have listed in the side bar to the left.
Enjoy and Happy heating…Ross
Mermade Magickal Arts / Earth Church, Heart Beat, Dark Goddess, Babylon
July 26, 2008 at 7:24 pm (Aloeswood, Benzoin, Cedar, Copal, Elemi, Evergreen/Forest, Floral, Frankincense, Hougary/Premium, Incense, Juniper, Mermade Magickal Arts, Opoponax / Opopanax, Pine / Pinon, Resins, Rose, Ross, Sandalwood, Sweetgrass, United States, Woods)
These are new offerings from Mermade Magickal Arts. They all come in glass veils with cork stoppers sealed with beeswax. There is enough incense in them for easily 10-12 large burnings( really, you will find you get more then this) except for the Earth Church which has six large “wands”. I am quite sure by this point that these people are very fanatical about the quality of the ingredients and how they are made and there is a lot of R & D involved i each scent. Plus the price for what you are getting is extremely good.
Earth Church
These are thick sticks, about a ¼ inch wide by 2 ½ long. They are composed of finally ground woods and plants that together produce a lot of fairly sweet smelling smoke. Given the thickness of the stick you can count on quite a long burning time. It’s prefect for setting the up the energy or vib in an environment for metaphysical work or perhaps just to clean up the scent in a room. I am reminded of very sweet smelling campfires or of walking into a wood shop where many different types of woods have recently been cut. It’s a very fresh clean scent.
Heart Beat
As the name suggests, this is a very upbeat, vibrant and spicy incense. It is a sort of brick or chunk of material and needs to be heated up slowly, either on coal or in a heater.
It has a whole lot of resins and such: Oman and Hougary Frankincense, Rain Forest Elemi , Copals , Benzoin, Juniper EO, Sweet Grass EO, Cedar EO and wild crafted tips, Opopanax and Pinon Pine resin. It is really very lively and rich and the scent tend to change up as different parts ignite. It is packaged in a glass vial with extra ingredients surrounding the bricks. What this means is that you can heat just the bricks, the extra powders or any combination thereof. It’s great fun to experiment with. All in all, this is a very uplifting and rich incense which I find myself using quite a lot, Also, when used in the heater it does not produce smoke, or very little, which opens up possibilities for more people to enjoy the scent.
Dark Goddess
Another loose incense for coals or heater. The woods in this mix really stand out at first with a fresh forest scent. Then all the resins kick in and the scent gets much deeper and earthy. There are a lot of different aspects to this incense that keep it interesting, a huge play of different smells interacting with each other as well as the environment you are in. One of its ingredients is Salupati which is supposed to have “psychoactive properties”. I have not noticed anything of this nature but experimentation is still in progress . Again, like the Heart Beat mentioned above, not much smoke is generated on the heater but quite a lot of great scent is. A small amount ( ¼ teaspoon) will pretty much give a very nice scent to a standard bedroom. This one is woods and earth tones as opposed to the spices and resins in Heart Beat.
Babylon
A Bakhoor style incense, Quite possibly one of the, if not the best, rose incense ever. I kid you not. This stuff is a light, clean, uplifting rose scent that gets help from the Aloeswood and Sandalwoods in the mix. I believe they help to lift the scent up and give it some exotic overtones. I have not been a big fan of the florals but this one opened up whole new vista’s to me. There are none of the off or synthetic scents that so many of the floral scents seem to come with. Really, it’s just a huge pure river of rose scent that just keeps coming. Plus one bottle will last quite a while; it does not take very much and you will find yourself gravitating back to it for that floral hit. Well, at least I do and I am generally an Aloeswood kind of guy !
If you do not yet have a heater you can put these next to a coal on a bit of foil and you are in business!
-Ross
Drepung Loseling Monastery / Gold Seal, Zin-Poe
July 21, 2008 at 8:47 am (Cedar, Conch / Marine Snail / Operculum, Drepung Loseling, Incense, Juniper, Mike, Musk, Red Sandalwood, Sandalwood, Tibet (Unspecific), Woods)
Drepung Loseling is a Tibetan monastery based in Karnataka State, South India, established there after the Chinese government forced many monasteries out of Tibet in 1959. Previously it had existed near Lhasa, where it was established in the 15th Century. Among several small cottage industries that support the students of the monastery is a small incense making project that produces these two exports, Gold Seal and Zin-Poe.
Both incenses are made from similar ingredients, over 40 different substances that include saffron, white and red sandalwood, juniper, cedar, fragrant arborescent and medicinal plants, ground conch and musk. Like many Tibetan incenses, the use of faunal ingredients may clash with Western ecological philosophies, although in the case of the Drepung Loseling incenses, the ingredients do tend to be leavened by the woody bases of the incense, meaning that the overt aromas these elements bring are quite mild. Despite the $16 price on the boxes, both contain enough sticks of incense to last you for a long time – in fact I’d say nearly every corner of each box was full with the reddish tones of the incenses.
Like other Tibetan incenses with grades, one gets the impression that the Gold Seal incense is Drepung Loseling’s A grade. The color of the stick is a darker, burgundy-ish red and the sticks are definitely quite thin. The aroma is more concentrated, tarter, crisper and more on the cherry or berry side. It’s a surprisingly gentle incense for a Tibetan high ender, definitely pleasant but not replete with the types of complex notes high enders often have. It’s even difficult with the ingredients list to call which notes are more in evidence.
On the other hand, Zin-Poe almost seems like a more leavened version of the same incense. It seems clear there’s a greater content of cedar and/or juniper wood along with the rest of the ingredients, not only are the sticks thicker but the color is definitely pinker and not quite as dense. The aroma is definitely quite a bit lighter and not terribly distinctive, although the red berry notes are still the dominant scent. In particular, the black ash left ofter does seem rather typical of incenses that have high quantities of cedar. However there are some interesting notes that comes out, including slight tobacco/herbaceous hints and a little bit of caramel (spikenard?). Overall it seems a bit watered down (I’d suggest starting with the Gold Seal) but it’s quite sweet and pleasant and not at all a difficult incense.
Tibetan incenses do generally become quite impressive when the prices start closing in on the $20 mark, however the price here also seems to reflect the quantity of incense in the box, which is quite considerable. For example Zin-Poe contains 50 10″ sticks, but it’s likely that is the count on the unbroken sticks; you’re as likely to get a number of extra sticks or fragments as well, given how full the boxes are.
