Pushkar Temple / 100g 1 of 3
Pushkar Temple / 100g 2 of 3
Pushkar Temple / 100g 3 of 3
Pushkar Temple / 50g 1 of 6
Pushkar Temple / 50g 2 of 6
Pushkar Temple / 50g 3 of 6
This is the fourth group of six in the Pushkar Temple 50g series of incenses and is the first of three miscellaneous categories, although in this group at least some of the names hint at what the incenses are aiming for.
The first one up has the only actual identifiable musk (kasturi) in the catalog. I’ve said this before but I am not entirely convinced unless it comes from the company itself that they’re using animal musk or plant-based musk, and even then there are reasons for not drawing attention to it. I say this because real animal musk is likely at a high price point these days and plant-based musk is probably more common in incenses these days. With that said I’ll leave it at that, except to say that I do notice some importers who ensure their incenses don’t harm animals often don’t have as many musk incenses in their catalogs either. My experience with real animal musk, especially in quantity is it tends to leave the same kind of space that say a skunk spray or horse barn would, it’s the kind of scent that will play with the lizard brain a little and so if you’re not experiencing something like that in an incense I’d guess it’s probably plant-based musk or at least a very small amount of animal musk.
Kasturi musks are usually quite sweet and probably less animalic than say something like civet and so they’re used in perfumes, unfortunately too frequently (although less so with increasing ecological awareness/scarcity over the years). I think a good example of an actual kasturi musk might be the Kourindo Jyakourin Musk incense. It has that sweet note that verges noticeably animalic. Musk is supposedly in Absolute Bliss’ imported Forbidden Fruit, in the sense that it’s an incense that matches up with almost a dozen Vedic Vaani incenses, some of which are labeled Kasturi. I don’t sense much in the way of an animalic note in this incense, so it’s likely just a touch or it’s plant-based. Anyway, I ramble a bit to set up the context for the Pushkar Temple Amber Kasturi. This is a very nice incense, but I would guess right off this is likely a plant-based musk and/or used in small quantities because it doesn’t have much of a wallop to it. It is otherwise similar enough to other Amber musk mixes I have tried, almost all of which I enjoy immensely (add heena and it’s perfection). However, this doesn’t have a super well-defined musk or amber note, it’s more like a mix of the characteristics. So definitely nice, but not, say, on the level of Gokula’s Musk and Amber, this is a lot milder overall. Keep in mind, that exporters’ lack of willingness to identify musk in their incenses for the most part leaves us to guess a lot, but I do think animalic musks tend to hit really hard in incenses, and in a way are very unmistakable. No such wallop here.
Kohinoor may have well gone fine with the last two installments where the names of incenses tend to be more conceptual than revealing. It ended up here for no real reason. This is basically referring to one of the largest cut diamonds in the world, which really tells you nothing about the scent. It feels floral to me, but not obviously so, the oil is also sort of tangy with maybe a light touch of licorice. I’m not sure the balance works all that well, it feels somewhat astringent at times. Whatever floral is front facing escapes me largely because of all these extra subnotes. It reminds me a little of the Tulsi below in that there’s some unnamed herbal content in it as well. And tying all these things together is a kind of sweet, quasi-champa base as well. So it’s sort of like this big mix I don’t find working for me, but your mileage may vary.
The Pushkar Temple Opium is simply fabulous. It’s quite a bit different to the Madhavadas sourced Opium, although there are some similarities (the Madhavadas just off the top of my head is a bit more tart and oil rich). I can’t admit to having ever had the actual Opium experience but it’s a name also used as a perfume which probably complicates what it is supposed to smell like in some way (flower? drug? perfume?). Not to mention the mainstream Opium incenses that don’t do much more than irritate and provide headaches. But simply on the face of it, the Pushkar Temple version is a very attractive incense and maybe somewhat analogous to the Tuberose in that it has a similar base but the floral mix is just one of a kind and not anything I can compare to. The perfume here seems extremely multifaceted, with all sorts of things going on with it and it’s endlessly fascinating and interesting. The mix does smell like a perfume but its base is so tasteful that the overall effect is just marvelous, absolutely zero harsh floral notes. I’d definitely pick this one up, I’m not sure there’s anything quite like it that wouldn’t have faults along with it, it’s really one of the best floral incenses I’ve ever tried.
I almost lost Ruhe Patchouli in the pile, it sort of missed being in my first round of photos, but it seemed best placed here with the mostly descriptive, miscellaneous incenses. Like I mentioned in the previous installment that had a couple of “Ruhe” incenses, it’s difficult to tell if there’s any material reason that ties the three incenses together, but all of them seem like reasonable/quality takes on their main ingredient. I’ve talked a LOT about patchouli in recent installments and am probably running out of things to say about it, but this mix is still a little different from what I usually note as patchouli leaf or oil. It’s much more stylized with a feeling like there’s a perfume that overlies the patchouli scent. It means it’s a little sweeter than most patchoulis you’ll try and also a bit more regal and polished. Whether that’s a good thing probably depends on your taste. But here I think it mixes fairly well into an incense that’s just a little more than the rote stuff you normally find, it’s also probably one of the least earthiest patchoulis I’ve tried.
It’s probably near impossible to beat the Temple of Incense Tulsi, which as I mentioned in the review has been stylized into something sweeter and fruitier. Here I think the Pushkar Temple Tulsi is probably closer to the real thing but then that means you’re getting something of an herbal basil incense. I’m good with basil in a pesto or other types of cooking, but am pretty sure I don’t need an incense of it. Fortunately it’s not all of the way in that direction (not to mention Tulsi doesn’t smell a whole lot like the basil we use in cooking based on its incenses), the PT version is also sweetened up and feels a bit champa-esque, but ultimately there is definitely an herbal note in front. It is however a completely different incense to the TOI, the two really have little in common. This has some sort of minty subnotes to it and some level of mild spice to it that may come from the tulsi or the base, all of this sort of mixes up the final incense. I’m not bowled over by this, it it may just be a taste thing, it’s unlikely to be all that similar to anything you’ve tried before, so if you don’t mind an herbal sort of champa type, you might indeed go for this.
Two more installments to go, virtually all incenses with names that don’t really hint at the scent…
The first of the five incenses in this collection, Division By Zero, is described as a Vietnamese agarwood, sandalwood and spice blend with some oil work. Usually with Japanese incenses (or in this case Japanese-styled incenses), we tend to check if they’re predominantly agarwood or sandalwood based. In this case it really is a blend of both woods with a rather equal amount of spices. The mix, which I’d guess must contain a bit of cinnamon and clove, or a similar mix, imparts an almost applesauce-spice like element to the entirely, one that seems an equal to the woods. The aloeswood and the sandalwood sort of blend together where the crystalline nature of the latter seems more topped with the regal elements of the former. One notes as with all of the Dimension 5 incenses that there seems an almost painstaking attention to getting the balance right which allows all of the elements to shine in their own right. In this case it feels like the aloeswood is being used more for the top aspects than for any middle or base. The surprise is that it feels somewhat resinous, although that isn’t listed in the ingredients, but it’s a quality a lot of fine wood tends to impart on its own. In reviewing this on two occasions it was the first stick I burned in the morning and it seemed quite fit for that time of the day.
Sandstorm is Dimension 5’s most sandalwood-fronted incense, although it includes quite a bit of Indian and New Guinea aloeswood in it as well; however, the presence of sandalwood oil in the mix tends to mean the aloeswood is included to contour what is indeed a storm of sand(alwood). I tried an early version of this before this current refinement and was immediately amazed by it. I tend to prefer good Indian sandalwoods by a long margin usually because Japanese incenses seem to mostly center on certain qualities in the wood that have long been diminishing in quality due to shortages. Sandstorm does a better job of dialing the volume up on the overall scent a bit without losing those more heartwood like qualities. As a comparison, while I was reviewing this stick I also had the Kotonoha Indian Sandalwood blend out so decided to burn a stick of it to compare it. As a comparison, Sandstorm does appear to use quite a bit more aloeswood, as the edges of the scent tend to have agarwood qualities that are a bit deeper than what you’d usually find in a sandalwood-based stick. But these notes also maintain a bit more of that central sandalwood note in Sandstorm that the Kotonoha stick basically just hints at. Sandstorm adds what are some neatly complex aspects to what is a surprisingly involved blend for this type of wood. It’s a sandalwood to contemplate and even so just a bit more than that. 
Yume No Supaisu is described as “A dry, woods, resins and spices incense with musk, kaiko, and others. An advanced incense connoisseur stick – the least immediate of the collection, tremendous depth, a highly complex incense for the blackbelt afficionado to learn over time. Old school Japanese with whispers of Tibet.” It has a very large list of ingredients: red soil Vietnamese agarwood, New Guinea agarwood, Indonesian agarwood, Tongan and Mysore sandalwood, spices, resins, musk, operculum of sea snail, and others. So where to start reviewing such an elaborate stick? There are really a ton of varying notes that come off this one. In front it feels almost like some sort of tangy fruit or plum, but this front really gives way to a mix of sandalwood and agarwood qualities that are quite startling. With so many different kinds in use, you are treated to a fairly wide range of aspects, but they all sort of hang together as one and that’s before the other elements outside of the woods pop out to tickle your nose. Once again that feeling of the unity giving way to a multiplex of sensations and then back again really arrests your attention. Truly a beautiful aroma and almost hard to believe it was possible to take this big a step up from the first two classics, but I’d dare say this is Josh’s masterpiece to date. There are depths in this one that you don’t reach except at the higher levels of Japanese woods. And the “whispers of Tibet” seem very real on this as well, there’s a note that pops up that feels a bit more swankily herbal than you would normally find in a Japanese stick. It’s a touch on this one I really enjoy.
Josh provides a longer and detailed explanation for his Borneo LTD blend, which gives a window on a creator’s thinking about how they go about crafting their incenses. Josh uses a number of different types of aloeswoods for his blends, but this one focuses on a particular island’s resinous woods. This is somewhat edited but you can request the full explanations directly from Josh if you want to read more: “My apex Borneo island wood blend, featuring 4 different types of top-shelf Borneo agarwood and 2 primo Borneo island Ensar ouds, blended with resins and spices. If you’ve had very high quality Borneo agarwood on an electric heater then you’re familiar with those lovely “green mint honey” types notes and the deep woodiness … I spent a great deal of time balancing the ratios of the different Borneo agarwoods and Borneo ouds, and also balancing those elements with the resins and spices blend – the goal was to highlight those gloriously green, woody, somewhat austere type notes of Borneo agarwood while eliminating the acrid, harsh type notes that can so easily arise from such wood. Is there a sweetness in there? Maybe, but, more this is focused on the pleasure of bitterness. May have a learning curve..”
And finally we have the long-awaited Dimension 5 high-ender, Cosmika Flamboya. Josh says “This one pulls out all the stops. By far the most elaborate oil work of any of my sticks. A decadent mĂ©lange of agarwood, sandalwood, spices, oils, oud, resins, musk, and others. Stack it against any kyara incense in terms of wow factor.” It includes Vietnamese agarwood, Malaysian agarwood, sandalwood, oud, musk, operculum of sea snail, resins and others. So you could literally write an essay on exactly what kyara is but rather than being explicit that there is kyara in here, I think you can definitely describe this as least as a kyara-like incense. It has the kind of notes you might find in some of the real kyara incenses such as the sadly depleted Kourindo Kourindkyarai where caramel-ish tones meet a much deeper wood scent with that almost definitely kyara blend sweetness in the mix as well as a touch of that sort of minty-menthol-green note you find more in the less blended kyaras. But much of this plays on top of those deeper turpentine-like notes you only tend to find in the more expensive aloeswoods. A lot of these aspects seem matched with the other notes in order to bring out the woodiness, but there’s a rather dank musk note floating on top and some level of acridity that may come from the operculum. It’s all quite fascinating and gives you this feeling there’s so much more to learn from it once the stick has been used up.
Olfactory Rescue Service 
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