Happy Hari / King of Frankincense, King of Myrrh, Queen of Roses, King of Saffron, King of Vrindavan

March 22, 2012 at 8:02 am (Floral, Frankincense, Happy Hari, Incense, India, Mike, Myrrh, Rose, Saffron)

This line, which makes me feel awfully sorry for the one queen, includes three incenses previously reviewed here before under different names. Royal Amber is now King of Amber, the Corpulent Amber has been renamed Emperor of Amber, and King Sandal gets an “of.” The question here is if we’re looking at a line that claims to be the “kings” of incense, do we increase the standards to which they should be compared?

Like the other emerging Happy Hari lines, we’ve got a wide diversity of styles here. I think this is generally a very good thing because it should mean almost anyone will find something they like. I also find it highly unlikely the whole range will go over with everyone, in particular I think there’s at least one surprising divergence from the usual high quality standards.

So let’s get the bad news out of the way first. King of Frankincense just doesn’t hold up. The first stick of this was almost painfully astringent to my nose and eyes, with the rough, bitter smoke of it building up into a choking cloud. Now generally speaking I don’t think you’re usually going to get a great Indian frankincense, mostly because the style of the stick is almost tailor made to add to whatever resin is being used. But even compared to a standard like Triloka’s Frankincense, this is very poor (the closest equivalent would probably be the Vinason’s masala) with way too many of the additives veiling an unremarkable Frankincense resin.

Fortunately the rest of the line has no such issues. King of Frankincense’s twin King of Myrrh presents a stick format you wonder why the Frankincense wasn’t in, a thick champa style stick that allows a reasonable aroma of Myrrh to waft from it. This is actually fairly similar to the King of Amber in that the overall stick is warm and mellow, but instead of having a strong oil presence, the natural ingredients here allow you to get the sweet and spicy gumminess of a champa. The myrrh middle is more gently evergreen, like a good benzoin mix. Cooling overall, this is a nice and somewhat original entry into the series.

The Queen of Roses presents a very good alternative to Pure Incense’s Connoisseur Rose, with a similarly colored stick and an aroma that mostly changes due to the quality of the oil. It’s not a perfect “rose” stick so to speak, in that most incenses at this price level couldn’t possibly be pure anyway but with that aspect causing most roses to be quite poor, this is quite the successful floral. There’s a touch of lemon in the middle of the genuine floral perfume and the results are quite pretty. What surprised me over time, was that this was an incense that would get my attention when my mind was something else, which is about one of the highest compliments I could pay an incense.

The King of Saffron will be of no surprise to anyone having some experience with Indian incense, as this yellow dusted, thin masala is common in other lines as Saffron or Saffron Sandalwood. I would mention that there’s a slight freshness and clarity to this version that might make it the one to start with. In many ways it’s a “classic” Indian scent and one I might put in a starter set.

King of Vrindavan might be the best incense I’ve ever sampled with the V word in it and it’s even better than those with it in the Pure Incense line. This is a thick, heavily perfumed champa with that floral mix that really can only be experienced rather than described. This type of scent really should have earned this Queen status, as this is lovely and feminine, like a mixture of flowers and that sweet scent you get from valentine’s day heart candies. While this doesn’t quite have the subtlety of Dhuni’s Frangipani, it’s roughly in the same category and lovers of this kind of scent will definitely want both.

Overall this is a really superb line with only one bad spot. Whether one thinks most of these are really the kings of their given scents will be up to the user, but at least for the most part there’ s a lot of contenders here.

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Mystic Temple / Agarwood, Cedarwood, Chandan Champa, Frankincense, Patchouli Champa

September 28, 2011 at 10:44 am (Aloeswood, Champa, Frankincense, Incense, India, Mike, Mystic Temple, Patchouli, Sandalwood)

The first time I tried Mystic Temple Cedarwood was just after purchasing some at a store of Haight Ashbury in the 90s. At the time this line was by far the best incense I’d ever gotten to try and I spent months doing my best to stock up on all the great scents they had. But like all great incense companies, the change in ingredients meant that all the recipes slowly drifted and changed until a great deal of the Mystic Temple line is more on the same level as, say, the Nitiraj Aromatherapy incenses. Of course Mystic Temple’s line is much larger so there are still plenty of really great incenses to check out, but I’m always hesitant in reviewing them because I feel like the recipes could have changed since my batch. This sampling of five incenses really only relates to what I still have and haven’t reviewed yet.

Agarwood is a comparatively newer scent, and it’s so close in aroma to the Pure Incense Absolute Agarwood that one might assume the Mystic Temple is also Madhavadas family sourced. In fact it’s so exact, I’ll just refer you to that review. I’d only add the caveat that it might not be quite at the Absolute level (some of those faint and neat camphorish touches aren’t in this one), but it’s still quite close.

The Cedarwood of a decade or so ago was a green stick, the current version is brown. Where the old version had a bewitching, sweet and Himalayan cedarwood oil, much higher quality than any current cedarwood I could mention, this version is dull, more in the pencil wood direction, and rough, like it has a lot of cheap benzoin in it. In fact it’s almost more loban-like than cedar-like. It’s not unpleasant but if you want this style check out Pure-Incense in this case.

The Chandan Champa really surprised me upon revisiting it, my previous impression was that it was fairly generic. It has a superb sandalwood oil on top and it makes the incense. It had the crystally high end scent of old mountain wood on top of a basic champa aroma and it works nicely. Curious to see if this is the same as it has been a while since I bought this (and it’s aged really nicely, something I can say for several MT incenses). Anyway this is well worth investing in, in fact I can’t think of another sandalwood heavy champa with so true an oil. But beware, as times have changed.

Mystic Temple’s Frankincense is the standard Indian frankincense masala, also possibly Madhavadas sources. So this review is still close enough to be true. It has the usual cocoa/chocolate notes this type of masala usually exhibits and a frankincense that’s nice but not quite like the resin itself. Anyway this is virtually interchangeable with Triloka, the Pure Incense and others I’m not remembering at the moment.

The Patchouli Champa used to be a very distinctive champa but for some reason it also has been switched out with a lesser incense in the last decade or so. The scent used to have a really strong patchouli component with a slightly burned-like tinge to it. Here it seems missing or fading and it exhibits that almost crayon-like scent some synthetic champa incenses have. There even seems to be little in the way of patchouli in it at all, unless they were going for a lighter scent. Unfortunately there’s something off about this one now, the smoke seems astringent, as if synthetic elements are at work, and the aroma has little personality.

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Ramakrishnanda / Bala Krishna, Govardhana, Madhurya Rasa, Shringara

July 28, 2011 at 8:53 am (Almond, Benzoin, Citronella / Lemongrass, Coconut, Frankincense, Geranium, India, Mike, Patchouli, Ramakrishnanda, Saffron, Sandalwood, Vetivert / Khus)

Ramakrishnanda Part 1
Ramakrishnanda Part 2
Ramakrishnanda Part 3
Ramakrishnanda Part 4

My relationship with Ramakrishnanda incense has kind of hopped all over the place. I first encountered their line when it first came out in a local new age shop and was immediately impressed by the quality of scents based on how the incenses had almost permeated the whole store. But I found out quickly via the sampler packs that there were some incenses that were almost atrociously bad as well, and I also found out that much of the amazing aromatic qualities of the incenses had largely faded after six months (which is fairly typical of most Indian incenses). So in a year I went from thinking they were one of the better incenses lines on the market to somewhere in the middle.

There was also a small batch released about a year ago (covered in the Part 4 link above) that I found somewhat average, especially to what Shroff and Mothers were starting to release at the time and this sort of cemented my opinion that Rama were not quite as good as the new premium incenses coming out, but they were certainly better than the Satyas and Nitirajs. And with this new group of four incenses, I think the brand has brought the quality up a little, especially on (at least) two of these which are well worth checking out.

Ramakrishnanda’s Bala Krishna is not really a new incense as much as an old one in a new package. Sublabeled as saffron and frankincense, Bala Krishna is the classic dry saffron sandalwood masala (Mystic Temple has a version for example), the thin yellow stick with a mix of sandalwood and camphorous qualities with a nice saffron spice on top. Personally I find it pretty hard to even locate where frankincense might be in this one, as it’s never come to mind with this aroma, but I’ve always liked this one as it has a sort of “chandan” sandalwood type of scent to it that merges nicely with the saffron. It’s not really a surprise this one keeps popping up, it’s quite dependable and varies little from company to company.

As traditional as the Bala Krishna is, the Govardhana is nice little innovation in the world of champas with loban and coconut featured as the two main ingredients. I can’t even think of another incense that’s tried this combination before and I usually find coconut incenses to be almost disastrous, especially when they evoke cheap suntan lotions. The results here are impressively complex and inexpressibly beautiful. The loban isn’t anything like the gravelly benzoin scent you get in other sticks or resins, here it’s nice and cooling, even a  touch fruity without being overbearing. Well worth checking out this one, the subnotes even create some nice vetivert and/or patchouli associations.

Where Govardhana was a complete success, the combination of the khus and almond in the Madhurya Rasa blend doesn’t work at all. There’s something in the perfume that kills an essential part of the khus aroma and a part of the base that adds too much biutterness to the mix. This is very typical of the other incenses in the Ramakrishnanda line that don’t work, there’s an obvious clash at work. Even the almond isn’t particularly identifiable, which is quite disappointing, especially when you do think a combination like this could work.

There’s one more success in this new group, the combination of citronella, patchouli and geranium in the Shringara. I burned a stick of this late last night which caused me to bump this review a ways up on the list just to get the word out on this and the Govardhana. This is a big red colored champa that seems to have quite a bit of spice in the mix as well to go with the very interesting combination of three oils. One wonders if the same perfumers who create clashes like with the Madhurya Rasa also create the alchemic wonder of something like this, where the more cloying aspects of citronella are balanced so nicely by the patchouli and geranium. Perhaps the only issue with this stick might be that because the oils are so intense, I can imagine they’re probably going to fade quite a bit at some point. But if a cherry red, loud, brash scent amplified by lemongrass and patchouli sound up your alley, it’s well worth a look.

Anyway even if there’s one failure in this group, I still love the fact Ramakrishnanda are still up for experimenting with formulas and trying new things, because they can add two successes to their list.

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Krishna Store / Agarwood, Everest, Frankincense, Jasmine Natural

July 26, 2011 at 10:30 am (Aloeswood, Frankincense, Incense, India, Jasmine, Krishna Store, Mike)

The Krishna Store offers one of the most unusual lines of Indian incenses, along with all sorts of books, videos, CDs, beads and the like. The first time I looked at the store, it seemed that they only offered single aromas at 250g packages, but unless my eyes deceived me then, they do seem to carry smaller packages now. They have also packaged 16 of these aromas as a sampler bundle, which is what I purchased maybe about a year ago. The sampler bundle, does change, however, but in checking I could only find one of the 16 that doesn’t seem to be available anymore. Some of these incenses are not in that bundle anymore, but should still be available.

Let’s face it, Krishna Store is selling mostly incredibly inferior product. The florals in this line (the packages seem to hail from 2-3 different companies including one called Gopala) are what I’d call disasters, not only do some of the scents not even remotely resemble what they’re trying for, but the results remind me of the potent and stomach turning smells that used to leak out of chemistry labs in college. However, there appears to be one decent incense in every four or five, including one in this first batch of reviews.

Krishna’s Agarwood smells nothing like agarwood at all, in fact it’s far closer to lemon furniture polish. It smells remotely what it would be like to combine a cola or other soft drink with a champa. Ramakrishnanda’s Rasa Lila is a roughly similar analog but this isn’t nearly up to that quality level. The perfume oil on top is instantly cloying and a bit sour and gets worse as it goes. It seems artificial in some way, particularly so when it’s impossible to guess what the creators were trying for. And unfortunately the spice note present on the fresh stick is missing during the burn.

If one was to take the bitterness of Tibetan “campfire” incenses and turn it into an Indian champa, you might get this Everest blend. It’s also kind of a rough step off the Mystic Temple Patchouli Champa. Unfortunately this is very astringent and unpleasant stuff with that heavy sense of burnt rubber in the background. It’s very indicative of the way these incenses are made, where there’s a roughly decent base dipped in some horribly synthetic perfume.

Krishna’s Frankincense (this package had the company Vaikuntha on it) is a rather standard frankincense masala, with what smells like a lot of inexpensive benzoin as well, making it smell like a catholic resin mix. You’d be lucky to find a less refined frankincense stick and it doesn’t help there appear to be some oils in the mix as well, destracting from the authenticity and giving the bouquet a much more static and shallow scent than necessary. Similar to Vinason’s Frankincense.

The one winner in this bunch is the Jasmine Natural (I think this is the same incense sold just as Jasmine), a very nice, big, thick, almost flora sized durbar with a spicy floral mix. It’s Jasmine-ish rather than authentic, but the aroma is still quite pleasant, very gentle and slightly honeyed. It’s not in a Shroff or Dhuni league but it’s worth picking out as a minor gem in the catalog. But be warned, it’s still slightly shallow as if the aroma doesn’t carry very far, and I wouldn’t doubt at all that this was created synthetically.

There are three more installments coming up down the line, but my guess is I’m a month or two away from getting to the next one, so stay tuned.

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Nitiraj / Classic / Amber, Divine, Frankincense, Musk, Myrrh, Nagchampa, Rajchampa, Sandalwood

July 14, 2011 at 9:33 am (Amber, Champa, Frankincense, Incense, India, Mike, Musk, Myrrh, Nitiraj, Sandalwood)

NOTE: This line has been discontinued

Nitiraj is an incense company with a very expansive catalog, not only do they have several lines under their own imprint, but they’re also responsible for the large Atmosphere series of incenses. Like Shrinivas Sugandhalaya, Nitiraj isn’t really producing high quality incense, it’s more as if they’re covering the inexpensive, passable midrange of Indian incense. For example if you were to take a number of Nitiraj champas and mixed them in with the Atmosphere range, I think it would be very difficult to tell some of the incenses apart. This is the same issue with Satya incenses, the recipe changes have led to many of their incenses losing distinct personalities. In fact I think it’s instructive to take a Nitiraj or Satya stick and compare them next to something from Shroff or Dhuni.

Nitiraj’s Classic line is akin to something like Triloka’s main range or in some cases Madhavadas/Primo. What you’re basically getting are average examples of all the sort of standard incenses you’ll find in many common Indian incense ranges. Here you get the pink amber style, a flora, several masalas and a couple of champas, but unfortunate most, if not all of these fall under standard quality. I’m not sure if my packages are just too old at this point (it does seem, for instance, that the Atmosphere range is superior), but there’s not really a lot to be impressed with here so keep that in mind if you want to keep reading.

It’s rare to find a bad Amber incense, but Nitiraj have managed one, although in this case it’s because the scent is far more like some horrible synthetic floral than anything remotely resembling an amber. At the light it just smacks you with shallow bitterness and a number of off basal subnotes. In many ways this stick is a picture perfect example of why ORS exists, so you can be pointed to alternatives for this kind of thing (in this case almost anything else with the amber label on it). Your incense should not have to smell like a chem lab accident.

Divine is Nitiraj’s Sai Flora equivalent, but with a bit of glitter in the stick and a much flatter scent. The brassiness you’ll find in Sai Flora overtakes the base too much and very little of the earthy, almost manure-like undertones exist in the Divine, which isn’t actually a good thing in that it leaves the result too generic. Maybe it’s because I’ve been burning better fluxos and floras, but this is way too much of a one-note incense to be comfortable in this thick stick category. Divine isn’t as bad as the Amber, but since Sai Flora, Mystic Temple Golden Champa and many others are so much better, there’s no point in this version. An incense that reminds you of better versions isn’t really what you want.

Nitiraj’s Frankincense is as strange and offputting as the amber, as far from the Madhavadas frankincense style as it is from real frankincense. It seems to have a more “resin blend” smell, rather than resembling pure frankincense and as such it seems like there’s enough benzoin in the mix to make it church blend like. But despite it’s individuality, Nitiraj Frankincense just doesn’t measure up to any other Indian frankincense I can think of.

Nitiraj’s Musk is a reasonable herbal masala musk, obviously trying to imitate the French musk scent and at least creating the imitation without any overt unpleasantness. But we’re also so far from the real thing that it suffers from the comparison. It actually reminds me a little of the NK aloeswood sticks, but with sandalwood mixed in instead.

The Myrrh is a brutally bad, sour and perfumed incense that doesn’t smell as much like myrrh as it does some sort of industrial gravel mix. This is the type of incense that gives the whole paradigm a bad name, I’d be surprised to hear anyone find this even remotely pleasant. It’s hard to imagine the quality department signing off on this.

Nitiraj’s Nagchampa will remind you pretty quickly of what the blue box Satya version turned into over the last decade and is very typical of what the modern scent was like until some of the newer premium outfits started restoring the incense’s reputation. Without halmaddi (or with very little of it) the bouquet has to be largely carried by the base. However, this isn’t particularly terrible, but only if you don’t compare it to the versions on the market now, which show this up for its lack of authenticity.

The Rajchampa doesn’t resemble most champas of any kind, it’s a masala with a tatty kind of perfume oil, a mix of Chandan sandalwood and an odd floral/orange-ish mix. It blares its message a bit loud and doesn’t do it with any sort of real quality, so its bouquet seems kind of cheap. It’s not on the bottom rung like the Myrrh, but it’s not one you’d run out for either.

Like the amber and frankincense, Nitiraj Sandalwood is both totally and not so totally reminiscent of the Madhavadas family version. What I mean by this is it seems the construction of the incense is similar (such as the base), but the directions they go are very different. Like the Madhavadas sandalwoods, this is a highly perfumed masala, but it doesn’t share the same vanilla and buttery sandalwood overtones (which is actually a good thing in my book). Stickwise it seems to be a bit loud and the overall bouquet belies the complexity of the wood, but essentially it’s a passable version.

Fortunately at this point, I can at least say I’ve covered Nitiraj’s least impressive line and while there’s no drastic improvement in the other ranges, at least in nearly all cases everything left over is champa style. The next batch will be Nitiraj’s line of color/aromatherapy scents. Essence of the Ages has confirmed for me that this range has been discontinued, but it seems most of these incenses are still available if you look around (including a few at discount prices at Essence).

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Huitong / Cure Disease, Taizhen, Solemn, Golden Light, Plum Blossom, Sky Dragon, Yun Hui Incense Powder

June 1, 2011 at 9:45 am (Aloeswood, Basil / Tulsi, Benzoin, China, Cypress, Frankincense, Galangal, Galbanum, Huitong, Incense, Mike, Rhubarb, Rosewood, Saffron, Sandalwood, Spice (Cinnamon Clove Nutmeg etc.), Spikenard, Storax, Valerian / Sugandhabal)

While we do see a lot of incenses coming in from the Tibetan region within the political boundaries of China, Huitong is the first Chinese incense company we’ve been in contact with. In many ways Huitong might be considered the Chinese analog of Baieido in that all of their incenses seem to be made without the use of perfumes and oils, using only ecologically sound ingredients. What this means is that it’s been very difficult to do their incenses justice as to even pick up on their subtleties means you have to approach them like you do with Baieidos and “listen” to them.

This is essentially sort of a hybrid style, using extruded Japanese-like sticks to format what are essentially very Tibetan-like scents. So the most obvious comparison would be to Bosen’s Tibetan traditionals or even some of the Korean incenses, except as already mentioned that Huitong doesn’t use oils as Bosen does and the scents will be friendlier to Western noses than many of the Korean incenses. But one thing most of the scents have in common is they all have multiple ingredients and thus often don’t have the dominant sandalwood or aloeswood notes that tend to make categorizing Japanese incenses a little easier.

Cure Disease is described as a “kind of historic incense, which is mainly used for cure disease and health preserving. It was originated from Song Dynasty (960-1279 A.D.) and recorded in ancient books that burning this incense regularly could help to strengthen us both emotionally and physically.” The ingredients are listen as figwort root, spikenard, cypress seed, rhubarb, aloeswood, storax and clove.  As such, this type of mix reminds me a lot of some of the sweeter TDHF Tibetan ropes with a bit of fruitiness  in a much more refined format. Like with most mainland incenses, the aloeswood is quiet and mixed in but it works quite well to give the incense some heft. The results are quite pleasant, especially as the scent builds, almost like a mix of woods and grape.

Taizhen incense is the second of three Huitong incenses packaged in beautiful cardboard rolls. The incense “originated from Imperial Consort Yang of Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.) Consort Yang known briefly by the Taoist nun name Taizhen, was one of the four beauties of ancient China, she was the beloved consort of Emperor Xuanzong for many years. According to legend, Consort Yang treasured this incense very much and named it by her own Taoist nun name. Taizhen Incense is made from various famous and precious Chinese traditional materials according to the ancient spice formula.” The ingredients listed are sandalwood, Chinese eaglewood (aloeswood), saffron, cloves, jave amonum fruit, saussurea involucrata, rue, cogongrass etc. In this case the sandalwood is noticeably up front in a sort of freshly cut wood way. The other ingredients sweeten this base scent up in the same way they do in wood powder heavy Tibetan ropes. The Chinese Eaglewood gives the aroma a bit of roundedness and the front has a fruitiness not dissimilar to the Cure Disease, In some ways it’s like a nice, smooth low wned aloeswood crossed with Tibetan-style spices.

“Solemn Incense is one of the previous Buddhist incense. It was originated from Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.) when Buddhism was popular in the society. According to legend, when burning this incense, all the gods will pray to Buddha all together. It is usually used for practice Buddhism or reading at the home.” Like the previous two incenses, this is packaged in a cardboard roll. It contains sandalwood, aloeswood, mastiche, galbanum, and saruma henryi among other ingredients. It’s a very light sandalwood and aloeswood blend, with a slight fruitiness akin to the Taizhen (one wonder if this roll series might have some thematic similarities). It’s quite pleasant, again largely due to the fresh wood powder scent at the center. It seems like the galbanum might give the scent the fruity subnote. Like all good meditation incenses, it also has a slight ineffable quality about it. Solemn may not be as rich as the previous two incenses but in a way it’s the most successful.

Golden Light moves the packaging format to boxes and presents another tradional Buddhist formula from the Tang Dynasty, its name originating from the Golden Light Sutra. The ingredients are given as sandalwood, frankincense, basil and cypress seed and the incense definitely smells like a variation on a combination of those first two ingredients. As such it’s not terribly far from, say, a less refined Kyukyodo Yumemachi as if it was done as a Tibetan stick. This puts the incense in the general catgeory of the “daily incense” in that the ingredients here have less luster than in the other sticks. For the most part this is a woodshop sort of scent and as such it is also similar to the Incienso de Santa Fe bricks.

I’m about 95% sure the next incense I’m reviewing is Huitong’s Plum Blossom. Although the box wasn’t clearly labelled, the graphics seem to match the story which goes like this. “Plum Blossom Incense was created by Princess Shouyang, the daughter of Emperor Wu in the Nan Dynasty’s Song Era. Princess Shouyang was a plum blossom lover, according to the legend, one day when she slept beneath a tree, a plum blossom fell on her forehead, leaving a floral imprint. With the imprint, she looked much more beautiful. Soon, all the ladies followed her to paste plum blossom shaped ornaments on their foreheads. It was then called Plum Blossom Makeup. Hence, Princess Shouyang was crowned Goddess of Plum Blossom and this incense was also name Plum Blossom incense.” Plum Blossom is a coil incense (the coils are the same shape and size as many mainland aloeswood coils) and is made from spikenard, aloeswood, radix angelicae dahuricae, cortex moutan, clove bark and sandalwood. It’s interesting to see spikenard listed first as I didn’t sense it taking up a lot of the scent. Instead you seem to have the mainland take on something like Baieido Kobunboku done Tibetan style. That is the incense itself is centrally woody but it supports a sort of light floral mix that creates the plum blossom aroma and does so without the off scents one would expect with inexpensive perfume. It’s not spectacular so much as understated and like all the Huitongs, nicely done given the boundaries.

“Sky Dragon is a kind of precious Chinese traditional incense. It was originated from Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.) when Buddhism was popular in the society. According to traditional recipes, the incense requires several days of cellaring during production process.” Sky Dragon has a huge list of ingredients: rosewood heartwood, cloves, sandalwood, valeriana jatamansi, cogongrass, rue, frankincense, benzoin, ageratum, galangal root and cypress powder. The rosewood appears to be the central ingredient and the mix gives this stick a very different bent from the previous incenses which all have a substantive sandalwood component. It makes for a nice change, slightly anyway, because the rosewood doesn’t have quite the depth to carry it completely. Even the spices mixed in the other scents are missing here, leaving this one with a sort of campfire scent.

I didn’t receive any information with the last incense here, Yun Hui incense powder. This seems to be the deluxe item in the batch, as the powder has an intense richness that none of the sticks quite approach. Even fresh out of the box the spicy, fruity blend pops out of its small ceramic interior container. And maybe it starts with that container but it makes the whole incense reminiscent of Japanese kneaded incenses mixed in with the woody and powdery elements of Tibetan powders and ropes. This scent seems highest in good aloeswood content with subnotes of tea, caramel and butter on the heater. In order to get this review up in even a remotely reasonable time, I had to forego a sample of it on a charcoal burner but I may come back and add that. Needless to say, this is very good powder, reminiscent to some of the better Tibetan powders and I’m hoping to be able to get to know it better.

We’ll have some more Huitong incenses up for review somewhere down the line. Overall what reviewing these did for me, is really question the idea of what effects perfumes and oils have on an incense’s immediacy, because without them one’s work is a lot more difficult in trying to describe a scent as all of these, with perhaps the exception of the powder, are very quiet and gentle scents which will make you stretch to understand. Which is not at all a bad thing in my book. I’m actually overall very impressed with the sheer class and visual impression of Huitong. However, there’s one disclaimer and that these incenses aren’t easy to get at the moment, at least in the US and as I finish this up I realize I don’t have a URL. So I’m going to first direct you to Frankie’s blog where I assume one can leave a comment if you’re interested in purchasing, and I should be back in a few days with something a bit more direct.

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Unknown / Pure Frank Incense, Pure Aromatic Jasmine, Pure Aromatic Pine, Pure Aromatic Vetivert

February 9, 2011 at 9:21 am (Cedar, Frankincense, Jasmine, Mike, Nepal, Pine / Pinon, Vetivert / Khus)

In terms of unfavorable reviews this one’s going to be in nuclear territory, so if you don’t like them I’d skip this one. These are four incenses out of a total of at least 30 different kinds that all fall under the “Pure” appelation and nowhere on the wrappers of these four is any indication who’s responsible for these, in fact my guess is they wouldn’t want to own up to it. In fact it’s already problematic at the wrapper stage, these incenses are bound so tight that to get them out you nearly have to destroy the packaging.

In many previous reviews related to Nepali incenses and those Tibetan monasteries now in India, I’ve often compared them to poorer incenses, well these are a really good example of the poorest of the poor. Quite frankly these incenses seem designed to get rid of large quantities of cedarwood, by adding a dash of “flavor” to each one. My guess the cost to make these is almost negligible. In fact each individual scent is barely worth discussing on its own. The Frank Incense is perhaps the strongest of the group in terms of the individual scent, but the reason for that seems to be the perfumey nature of what ever frankincense oil or synthetic they happen to be using that ends up covering up some of the wood. The Jasmine is even more cloying, there’s no way such a gentle floral should ever smell this awful, it smells like a bad soap. I can’t even really detect pine in the Pine, it mostly smells like burning pencil shavings. The Vetivert is at least somewhat detectable but overall it’s little different from the Pine in terms of getting a noseful of cheap burning wood.

Based on the these four, I wouldn’t touch the others in the line, especially since Nepali incenses are all roughly in the same price range where you can easily find much better incenses (like from the Dhoop Factory). I should also mention that I did these reviews based on maybe a stick at the most of each one, it’s really all I could bear.

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Top Ten for January 2011

January 31, 2011 at 11:42 pm (Al Haramain, Anne, Chagdud Gonpa Foundation, Direct Help Foundation, Hougary/Premium, Lotus, Mermade Magickal Arts, Mother's India Fragrances, Nepal, Shunkodo, Sitar Dorje Unsurpassable Healing Incense, Tibetan Medical College)

Happy New Year, everyone! May 2011 be a good one for you, bringing health and happiness, and lots of great incense!

It’s my turn up at bat for the Top Ten for Jan 2011. The top ten can be difficult at times due to the sheer amount of great incense out on the market, and the many personal faves that I have. However, for this month, I’ve decided that the following ten incenses are my favorite this January. In no particular order, they are:

-The Direct Help Foundation Eternal Maiya incense. A lovely blend of sandalwood and patchouli, where the sandalwood provides the expected woody note and the patchouli a light airiness that is both earthy and slightly sweet.

-The Direct Help Foundation Oum Pure Sandalwood incense.  Sandalwood incense done up Tibetan style that has sandalwood and sandalwood oil. The sandalwood and the sandalwood oil are a one- two punch combo that makes this superior incense, one with a truly delightful sandalwood aroma.  This is not high end incense like Shroff’s natural sandal that runs north of $150 USD. This is much more modest incense, but one that still manages to be quite good.

-From Chagdud Gonpa Foundation, Sitar Dorje’s Unsurpassable Healing Incense (P’hul-Jung Men-Po).  This is absolutely lovely incense that ranks right up there with Dzongchen Monastery and Holy Land, in my opinion. Unsurpassable Healing Incense is like a first cousin to both, having similarities to Dzongchen and Holy Land, but is still different enough and with its own character that make it unique. This is another earthy, resiny, floral, musky blend. It’s an “all rounder”, hitting all those aforementioned bases, and has that special mojo that is both calming and uplifting at the same time. Some of the ingredients are aloeswood, white and red sandalwood, frankincense, saffron, valerian, magnolia, musk…etc. The scent itself manages to be both fresh and floral, with a darker resinier base and herbaceous endnotes with a touch of musk.

-Holy Land Grade 1. Well, I finally bit the bullet and bought this once it was back in stock over at EOTA. I’m glad I did, though, as that it is definitely a worthy purchase. I won’t write too much about this one due to the fact that it’s been covered extensively here on the ORS. Suffice to say that this incense that as Mike might say, “has mighty mojo that borders on being mystical.” The scent is darker, muskier, and less floral than either Dzongchen or Unsurpassable Healing Incense. If Holy Land incense was a food product, I’d say that it’s more savory than sweet (if that helps any in getting an idea of its scent and description).

-Mother’s Fragrances Lotus Incense. A singular and linear incense and scent, where there’s no complexity but dang if this isn’t a good one. Slightly sweet, and of course floral, this is incense that is very calming and is a good room scent. It’s one to use when having guests over as that it gently perfumes the room but isn’t overwhelming perfumey or ostentatiously showy.

-Mother’s Fragrances Atma Incense. The Mother’s incense catalog is simply superb, with their Nag Champa line being quite a standout. One of my favorites from their Nag Champa collection is Atma. A delirious blend of various ingredients, with floral notes and sweetness from halmaddi and honey. This is a tough one to describe because so many things are going on, and it’s all going on at the same time, the ingredients are working together and not against one another. It’s a symphony of scent, with lead violin being performed by the lavender, the cello is geranium, piano is vetiver, and the triangle is clove with halmaddi as the composer, and honey is the conducter.

-Hougary frankincense resins. A hold over from last month’s Frankincense and Myrrh review, but when incense is this good, it’s going to pop up continually in a lot of people’s “best of” lists. Bright, citrusy, fresh and fragrant, this is frankincense royalty. If you like frankincense at all, do yourself a favor and get some hougary.

-Duggatl al Oud Wardh Taifi. My favorite rose incense of all time, and one that provides an astonishing authentic fresh rose scent. There are many rose incenses out in the market, but this one stands head and shoulders over them all, in my opinion. Simply gorgeous and a must try for rose lovers.

-Mermade Magickal Arts Faery Call. I don’t know about you, but in the midst of winter, I often dream about and long for spring. This incense brings a touch of freshness and brightness and evokes spring and summer in appearance and scent. Literally garnished with dried flowers of marigold petals, rose petals, and lavender buds, and deliciously scented with neroli and other top notch ingredients, this incense is sure to put you in a cheerier mood and drive away the winter blues.

Shunkodo Haru no Kaori. The name of this incense translated into English means ‘smell of spring.’ Can you tell that I’m tired of winter? :)  This is great incense, more subtle than Faery Call, but equally good in its own way. As to be expected, it’s more refined being Japanese incense, with a less in your face scent bouquet. There’s the added touch of aloeswood, which adds that certain “je ne sais quoi” quality, that extra special touch that puts this incense into the category of wonderful.

The above incenses can be found at various retailers on the net. The Faery Call incense can be purchased from Mermade Magickal Arts, and the Sitar Dorje’s Unsurpassable Healing Incense from http://www.tibetantreasures.com/tthtml/ttmerch/incense.htm. Incidentally Tibetan Treasures will be going offline from February 7th to March 7th for a site renovation, and will return on March 8th. As such, if you want to purchase the Unsurpassable Healing incense, I recommend that you do it soon to avoid delays in processing and shipping.

What are the incenses that you have been burning lately? Are there any that are your “go to” ones to beat the winter blahs? Chime in and share your thoughts!

20 Comments

Tis the season for some Frankincense Frenzy and a little bit of Myrrh Madness…

December 15, 2010 at 6:34 am (Anne, Frankincense, Hougary/Premium, Kyukyodo, Minorien, Myrrh, Pure-Incense, Tennendo)

Season’s Greetings and Happy Holidays to all our ORS readers! In the spirit of the season, I will be reviewing some frankincense and myrrh incenses. As many of you likely know, frankincense and myrrh were two of the gifts given to baby Jesus by the Magi (three wise men or three kings) with the third gift being gold. According to some interpretations by biblical scholars, the frankincense represented Jesus’s spirituality and his connection to the divine, the myrrh represented his human mortality and prophesized his mortal death, and the gold represented his royal power and influence.

To my mind, frankincense and myrrh are like the peanut butter and jelly of the incense world. Each is good on its own, but teamed together, they achieve greatness.  The following incense reviews lean more to frankincense then to myrrh. This is a reflection of my own bias; though I like myrrh, I love frankincense. Also, some of these incenses were already reviewed previously, but are included again because they fall into the theme and to act as a reminder of what’s available. Though of course, there are so many more frankincense and myrrh incenses out in the market.  However, I do believe the below are a good representative sampling of some of the better ones.

Fusoos frankincense resins: We’ve talked a lot about Hougari frankincense here at the ORS – and rightly so, it’s amazing frankincense, with its bright and lovely citrusy top notes followed by an earthy balsamic endnote. However, it’s time to give Fusoos, Hougari’s sibling, some consideration as well. Fusoos is a type of frankincense from Oman (which incidentally is the birthplace for the best frankincense resins) and differs from Hougari in that it’s less citrusy with a drier scent and is slightly earthier.  Incidentally, the Omani people consider Fusoos to be superior to Hougari.

Yemeni Myrrh: Those that love myrrh really should try and obtain the resin from Yemen. This Middle Eastern country produces the best myrrh, with a darkly resinous edge, one with depth and a scent that lingers for a long time.

Minorien frankincense: This provides good frankincense aroma with a woody undertone; alas there is no citrusy top notes though.  Nonetheless, Minorien as a company has provided consistently good work, and their rendition of frankincense is a good one, one that is more subtle.

Tennendo frankincense:  Tennendo uses frankincense resins from Oman. Whether or not Tennendo utilizes hougari resins is unknown. Regardless, don’t expect the citrusy top notes that are often found in Hougari frankincense, but instead a slightly sweet, slightly fruity honeydew melon top note. The frankincense scent itself is earthy. I’m quite fond of this incense, but I know others don’t care for the fruity sweetness, and prefer a darker more straight up frankincense scent.

Kyukyodo Shirohato White Dove: This is an interesting mix of frankincense, sandalwood, and a touch of floral. This is not a sweet scent like Tennendo’s frankincense. This is a warmer, woodier aroma. The frankincense and floral scents are accent notes.

Pure Incense Connoisseur Frankincense:  This is a sweet and foody type of frankincense scent. Due to the vanilla powder and other ingredients in the base, there are touches of cocoa and caramel notes to this incense. The frankincense scent is an endnote and muted as well. Those that would prefer a less candy like scent and more frankincense should look elsewhere. However, those of you that like the sweet scents are likely to be over the moon for this incense.

Fred Soll Classic Frankincense: The name says it all; this is a classic frankincense scent. This is smoky and resiny goodness in a stick form.

Fred Soll Frankincense and Cedar: This is a mix of frankincense, cedar, and pinon herbs. This is an unusual blend that is slightly musky. This incense does not have the bright citrusy notes of Hougari (boswellia sacra), which isn’t surprising because Fred uses resins from boswellia thurifera, another type of frankincense tree from Somalia. Nonetheless, this is still a good frankincense scent, and due to the addition of cedar, has a warm woody note.

Fred Soll Frankincense and Patchouli: A nice mix of frankincense, patchouli, and pinon. The frankincense and patchouli are the more prominent scents, and work surprising well together with the earthy sweet patchouli blending well with the resiny frankincense.

Fred Soll Frankincense Jasmine and Roses: Due to the jasmine and rose notes, this is more of a floral than frankincense aroma. Top notes are jasmine, followed by rose, and the frankincense is the end note. The frankincense is muted here, so for those that prefer more dominant frankincense, you should consider going with another incense. Though this is still a very good incense blend, and those that are looking for a new floral twist on frankincense may enjoy this particular blending.

Fred Soll Frankincense and Myrrh: Fred’s rendition on the classic pairing of these two incense resins. The myrrh is not very strong, which may appeal to those that aren’t myrrh aficionados. Frankincense is the more dominant scent, with myrrh being muted and the end note. This is still nice incense, and is a good choice for people that want an easy accessible stick with these scents but don’t want to bother with the real resins.

Ancient Forest Frankincense and Myrrh: An excellent blend of frankincense and myrrh, with a nice even balance between the two resins. The myrrh is readily apparent but not overwhelming. These short little incense sticks once lit are very smoky. Though like Fred Soll sticks, they do have a tendency to be difficult to light or stay lit.

Orthodox Incense Myrrh: About a year ago, I wrote this about orthodox myrrh – “The athonite style myrrh, blended in with floral oils, is a nice change of pace. The top notes are of a fine floral bouquet, the scent of various flowers blended in together, which then give way to the bitter resinous edge of myrrh. The two play off each other very well, the soft sweet florals give way to a sharper, dry, resiny myrrh earthiness. However, the floral notes still linger, and so the edge that myrrh brings isn’t completely overwhelming. It’s an interesting contrast, as if this is the olfactory version of balancing sweet with sour/bitter in a culinary dish. That said, I think that those that don’t normally take to myrrh would like this athonite style of it. However, hardcore myrrh lovers and traditionalists could literally turn their noses up at this, believing that the florals are too soft, too sweet, and detract from the lovely bitter edge that myrrh is known for. The floral bouquet in this athonite style is myrrh is very hard to pin down. I can’t say definitively what floral oils are in it, but I think I’m detecting honeysuckle, lily, lilac, perhaps lily of the valley, and the merest whisper of rose.” I recently revisited this incense and all of the above remains true, though the myrrh scent is now a bit more muted, having lost some of its potency. Nonetheless, this is still lovely incense, and one that I recommend.

Omani Frankincense sticks: This is an incense stick that I discovered a while back, one that is made in Oman and which uses genuine Omani frankincense resins. The aroma is bright, sharp, and penetrating, and very fragrant. This is an excellent frankincense stick, one that provides a very authentic frankincense aroma. It doesn’t state so on the package, but it’s quite likely that hougari frankincense are used in these sticks. The citrusy and balsamic notes associated with hougari are present in these sticks. Regardless of whether Hougari is used or not, this is a superior frankincense incense stick, and might just be the best in the market for those looking for a pure unadulterated frankincense scent without having to use the actual resins. This incense stick is about eight and half inches in length, with six inches of it being burnable, and the remaining two and half inches being the handle. This is very smoky, and burn time duration is about an hour and a half.

Incidentally, note that the Orthodox athonite myrrh resins are available from OrthodoxIncense.com. The Omani frankincense sticks are available from Ibn Saif Trading in Oman (see my review of this incense retailer in the Review Your Retailer section). The other incenses mentioned in this article can be found at various retailers on the internet.

So what are you burning this December? Are you veering toward the traditional frankincense and myrrh due to the holiday/seasonal associations? Or are you burning whatever suits your fancy? Perhaps something calming and relaxing to sooth raging emotions caused by holiday stress and madness? Chime in and let us know!

35 Comments

Triloka / Cones / Amber Sun, Angelic Frankincense, Arabian Jasmine, Dream Rose, Green Patchouli, Musk, Royal Sandalwood, Sandalwood Fire; Ropes (4 unnamed)

October 14, 2010 at 10:08 am (Amber, Cones, Floral, Frankincense, Incense, India, Jasmine, Mike, Musk, Patchouli, Rose, Ross, Sandalwood, Triloka)

In the Indian incense field some very heavy players have emerged onto the field in the last year or two. They appear to be using quality ingredients and some very well thought out combinations of herbs, spices, oils and resins to produce stellar results at very affordable prices (the fantasy of being able to buy 10 sticks of quality Japanese Aloewoods or Sandalwoods for under $5 makes me glassy eyed : o ) ). So the expectations for quality in the Indian incense market have been raised a great deal. This has resulted in making the selection much bigger and at the same time somewhat harder to deal with from both the consumer and the manufacturer point of view.

A couple things that Triloka has going for it are the quality of ingredients and their pricing. Plus I am sure they have a lot of established fans, having been around for decades at this point. We’ve covered some of the company’s sticks in the past so will be covering a series of cones and ropes in this write up. Mike’s reviews are noted by asterix, the rest, including the intro is by Ross.

In most of these cases the base used to create these cones can come off fairly harsh, particularly when the main ingredients don’t work so homogenously together. In Amber Sun‘s* case the cone appears to be going for a similar scent to the honey amber wax/resin combos. Due to the combo of base and aromatics the mix is fairly soapy and a little rough, but not at all unpleasant. Given the sun in the name, it seems appropriate for this to be a little on the hot side (almost like the scent of granite in the summer).

The Angelic Frankincense* also seems about half “cone blend” and half frankincense scent and if it wasn’t for all the deluxe frankincense resins that have been coming out way of late, I might rate this higher. At least this does what it sets out to do and unlike a lot of Indian incenses (including Triloka’s stick frankincense), this has a distinct if mid-quality, resinous scent with a tough of lemon. Like all the cones here, the binder might irritate the sinuses, so expect it to be a little hot.

The base of the Arabian Jasmine* isn’t quite as strong here, so I’m not sure if the make up is different due to the red color here (as opposed to the previous two cones’ tan color). Unsurprisingly, this is a very perfumed cone. Fortunately, even if it’s obviously not a premium jasmine scent at this price, it’s still fairly dry and not too cloying, a touch fruity even, like a strawberry synthetic. Not amazing, but not offputting either, for the price it’s quite well balanced.

The Dream Rose* is an interesting floral cone to be sure, only roughly approximating (or dancing around) a mix of dry petals, fruity and perfume scents. There’s rarely ever a rose incense that hits it right at this cost level and overall this is a bit on the cloying side, particularly by the end of the cone.

There is a sort of classic sweet Patchuli note in the Green Patchouli that is married up to a “green” spicy note. For me this does not work, but I could see how it would for others. The two main notes seem to be trying to act as a balance between each other but for me it is more like being pulled back and forth.

In the Musk, a somewhat balsamic floral musk quality is hampered by the wood. This might really work well if the quality of the wood had been higher. The actual musk scent is at least in the ball park (given how wide the variations seem to be). I would guess it is herb/spice based and it works. The burning wood scent tends to get in the way of the musk tones, which is too bad as they are well done.

The Royal Sandalwood has a somewhat floral note with a semi sweet quality to it. It smells like it is made without synthetic based oils, which is a relief. It does not have a particularly noticeable sandalwood scent to it but is overall a pleasant floral based scent. The floral quality may be the “Royal” part of the name. I could see a lot of people liking this. It is a cone so it will put out a lot of smoke and scent very quickly to scent a room.

The Sandalwood Fire has a much more pronounced sandalwood scent to it; it also has a very dry overall character, not at all floral or spicy. It is rather surprising in that respect. I generally expect to find a deeper oil based sandalwood scent in Indian incense so if that is your goal then this is most likely not your incense. However, if you were looking for something to break up the traditional heavy oil approach then this might work for you.

The Triloka rope sampler we received contains four different rope incenses only identified by the colored tips, so we’ve indicated the color for each incense.

Like a lot of Tibetan rope incenses, the overall bouquet in the Blue Tip* is like a mixture of herbs, the smell of juice powder mix and spice, so it not only has a wood base but a wide variety of combustibles that make for an unusual and very smoky blend. This has tints of sandalwood, citrus, the tannin like scent from seeds (like in wine), grapefruit, hints of evergreen (juniper, maybe cypress), and a mixed fruit scent that makes this quite pleasant through the final rope loop.

The Green Tip* rope is a much woodier and less fruitier blend than the Blue Tip and subsequently a lot more generic, with there being more of a cedarwood presence than the softer woods in the previous rope. There’s a slight tinge of orange peel but mostly a lot of BBQ, cardamom, clove or spice. An average rope, pleasant, but not arresting.

There is a certain sweet floralish quality to the Red Tip mixed into a herbal note that is very interesting. There are no oil notes present and little of woods. So what you are getting is pretty much herbs, spices, resins and whatever flowers are in the mix. I do not recognize any of the notes but do find the overall mix to be interesting and pleasant. I could see this working in a prayer or alter setting quite well.

When the Yellow Tip is lit, a pervasive juniper-like note comes on very strong followed by a very clean burning herb note. The overall feeling here seems to be cleanliness or purification. There might also be something along the lines of sage in the mix. Probably not something you are going to use all the time but in the right context it would work fine.

Triloka incense is quite widespread in the US so should be found at many stores. You can also find a wide array of Triloka products through Sensia.

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