Dimension 5 / Calculus, Paradox F

March 3, 2024 at 10:06 am (Agarwood / Aloeswood / Eaglewood, Birch, Castoreum, Cypress, Dimension 5, Hemlock (Conifer), Incense, Kyara, Mike, Oakmoss (Lichen), Oud, Patchouli, Spice (Cinnamon Clove Nutmeg etc.), United States)

Josh Matthews is back from the labs with two more kyara-fronted incenses, both that I think are musts for fans of deep aloeswood incenses. These two are slightly contrasting as well in that Calculus presents a very complex and involved kyara incense that ricochets off of different ingredients, while Paradox F keeps it largely to just the woods and exerts its complexity from within. Both are different but with equally inspiring results.

Calculus, as one can tell from the name, is a very complex formula – it really earns its name. I would say Josh threw the whole textbook at it, but that would imply it’s not as measured and calculated as it is. It’s an incense that will really keep one busy and intrigued with a broad and rare pallet of ingredients, starting with kyara and using “Oud Royale 1985,” “Maroke LTD,“ and “Maroke Sultan Qaboos,” all ouds from Ensar Oud. Added to these wood-based sources are patchouli, oakmoss, black hemlock, Chinese weeping cypress, castoreum and clove, all mixing together into a bewildering plethora of combinate effects. Even upon lighting this it throws a bunch of variables at you and dares you to solve the equation (OK I’ll try to stop). Most of these ingredients feel like they go a long way to pulling out the various kyara and oud notes in unique, clever, and attention-grabbing ways, merging, battling, intertwining, and, most importantly, fascinating. Of the two incenses featured here, Paradox F (below) might have the most “visible” kyara note, here the similar kyara front is more affected by its neighbors, almost playing with your expectations of the way other elements can affect that main note. There’s all sorts of wilder scents, the heavy musk of hidden fauna, deep earthy soil and loam, exotic flora (this really emerges from the conglomerate of ingredients and the highlighting of the ouds and woods) and a real sense of stratified age. But then it doesn’t lack for polish, with some purple like tones that remind me of the better, discontinued Shoyeido classics. Josh seems to be using some mighty fine patchouli to get some of the earthiness and there’s a lot of x factor going with the hemlock and cypress, or at least there are notes that feel fresh and interesting that I’d imagine have something to do with these ingredients.

What I find fascinating about this is that although at base it’s a Japanese style of incense, this goes out into territory I wouldn’t quite imagine in that style normally. Ever want a high-quality incense with less of that aristocratic restraint designed by someone who also understands it? Then this should pique your interest in a major way, but keep in mind that this is so intricate and mercurial that even though there is a final composite that will flash here and there, the incense’s playfulness tends to direct you away from it. It’s actually one of the most difficult incenses I’ve had to review in that in the end only experiencing it will do it justice. In the end Calculus will be integral (ouch!) to any aloeswood connoisseur’s collection.

In many ways a very different incense than Calculus, Paradox F is a combination of a kyara front with what I would call, perhaps very, high end agarwood (and ouds). I’ve probably mentioned a few times in these pages that a lot of times I actually prefer the top end woods tht aren’t kyara because they tend to have some of the darkest and richest notes in aloeswood without the greenish kyara addition that pushes things into different territory, and sometimes that is what I want. Here you really get both. The list of ingredients is fairly simple: kyara, King Super Malaysian agarwood, “Sultan Abdul Hamit” and “Sultan Qaboos” ouds from Ensar Oud, and aged birch oil. While there are probably some secrets in here as well, the list reflects that we are dealing with a few very high-end woods and oils and letting those speak for themselves. Since my first agarwood experiences, I’ve always experienced great agarwood in its highest resolution as similar to something like a finely made, wood-based grandfather clock, something polished up so you can see every whorl and line in the wood. This is a really fine example of something like that, a really cohesive incense that has an absolutely wonderful green kyara note at the top, while every layer below it speaks of memory-triggering dark woods, with a focus on black resin. It is an absolute feast for the wood connoisseur, and I should absolutely underline that Josh is getting better and better at this with every release, this one even reminding me of expensive Japanese classics like Baieido Kyara Kokoh or Kourindo KourindaiKyara. Josh has also configured these sticks to burn a bit longer than some previous Dimension 5 goodies, allowing one to have a rich, indulgent experience. Keep in mind that even with a simple list of ingredients, high level woods have many notes of their own and this one spins them out with every second of the burn. The kyara notes are lofty and immense with the sort of forest meets cooling green end of that spectrum moving slightly into grapefruit/citrus areas. The other woods and ouds bring a touch of caramel and a nice sense of spice to the middle, all of which merge well with the wonderful charry sorts of black notes.

Both incenses fall under different collections, but released simultaneously they speak of a yin/yang to approach which is very instructive. They’re both brilliant and if they meet your budget I absolutely would not wait on these. And better yet, do note that for a limited time these two kyaras will be going for a lower price, and not only that but this run has been formulated to be extra thick for even more kyara goodness. If interested in purchasing, contact Josh at dimension5incense@gmail.com for pricing and information. Josh also talks about his incenses at www.instagram.com/dimension_5_incense.

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Epika Earth / Celebration of Life (stick), Gentle Beast, Sacred Amber, Stormfire Tea, and some thoughts on a few backflow cones

February 23, 2024 at 10:30 am (Agarwood / Aloeswood / Eaglewood, Amber, Benzoin (Loban), Bergamot, Birch, Calendula, Cedar, Cistus (Rock Rose), Coconut, Cones, Copal, Cypress, Dragon's Blood, Epika Earth, Frankincense, Helichrysum, Incense, Jasmine, Juniper, Lavender, Mike, Musk, Myrrh, Oakmoss (Lichen), Palo Santo, Patchouli, Pepper, Pink Pepper, Rhubarb, Rose, Sandalwood, Spice (Cinnamon Clove Nutmeg etc.), Styrax Liquidambar, Tea, Tonka, United States, Vetivert / Khus)

Epika Earth / Rare Terra
Epika Earth / Artisan

This is the final installment for the most recent batch of Epika Earth incenses I received in my most recent Etsy order. They have so, so many more sticks and other goodies at their actual website and I am absolutely sure I liked most of their offerings enough to go for another order again in the future. There is something really warm and comforting about a lot of them. Perhaps its because so many of their incenses are essential oil mixes, but I like how these often create almost mythical libations, like you’re holding some amazing drink in your hand. The last group of these incenses are a couple that look like they are part of a Sacred line, a couple that are not part of any line and look like standards, and then a few backflow cones were also sent which are a bit more difficult to talk about as I don’t like the format while on the other hand these would likely be tremendously good cones if they weren’t.

So first of all we have the Celebration of Life stick (part of the Sacred line), which is different but obviously related in an aromatic way to the Celebration of Life dhoop that I discussed in the previous installment. The stick, naturally, is a much simpler blend but what I really love about it is it’s almost like some sort of mystical root beer or sarsaparilla in scent. Or add in cream soda, ginger ale or a plain old “suicide.” It’s a concoction reminiscent of all these things and maybe none of them. So maybe just mystical soda. However, when I looked this up to link on the Etsy site it was gone, and seemingly “replaced” by a 1 year aged version of the same blend. So while I don’t have the ingredients list on the original, I would imagine they would be like the aged version: frankincense, myrrh, cistus, benzoin resinoid, styrax resinoid, cinnamon, rose petals, helichrysum flowers, golden copal, white copal, Rose Bulgaria, agarwood, and sandalwood. And like in previous incenses you can see the styrax and copal which have often helped to give Epika Earth incenses this concoction like feel. I would imagine aging this would work in a similar way to the Cocoa Pods incense in the line, which certainly broadens the complexity of their incense, so it’s not hard to imagine this would improve and it’s already good thing. In the original I also got touches of chocolate, the rose and some apricot (which had me leaning more towards jasmine until I look at the contents). It wasn’t as spicy as the dhoop but they both share the wonderful brown sugar note that helps sweeten up the “soda.”

Gentle Beast appears to be one of Epika Earth’s standard line (or perhaps Artisan) and an incense a bit closer to those I usually associate with the dipped style, although we’re still not in territory where inferior or synthetic oils are used thankfully. However, this does appear to be a mix of a lot of different things, it’s both somewhat amber-like, herbal and having a noticeable vanilla note (see the tonka bean below), all of which is blended with a strong fruity mix that at different times smells like berries, apples, pineapple, mango or pears (seriously, all in my notes!) Among this mix are somewhat combinate reminders of anything from sage to patchouli and agave cactus. One of the reasons I mention all of these things is that the ingredients list looks a lot different (the incense was sent as an addition to my order from the company). Those are listed as: organic calendula, organic lavender, white copal, styrax resin, golden copal, dragon’s blood, sweet coconut milk, bergamot, pink pepper, cinnamon leaf, jasmine, tonka bean, blue cypress, cedarwood atlas and musk. I was considering a different incense the morning I typed this, in the sense that lavender can often be a bit of a sneak ingredient in all sorts of sticks as it can vary in intensity or style, but fronting resins isn’t an unknown method to get a fruity effect. I’d imagine the bergamot and other resins probably don’t hurt (I’m reminded of the apple in dragon’s blood sticks as well) either. Anyway, as you might imagine you might have a bit of fun trying to pick things out from what is basically an herbal-laced fruit concoction. And this is better than a lot of those, if perhaps as lacking in distinction as other fruity dipped mixes, although the herbal feel prevents that from going too far. [Note that the page I linked to describes this as a Rare Terra incense, so this may a case similar to the Celebration of Life where there’s a formula upgrade, but I ended up with an original. So keep this in mind with the link.]

The Sacred Amber is a quiet but familiar amber incense. It still has the concoction-like mix of most of the incenses in the Epika Earth catalog I have tried. The issue of course is that I would not normally describe amber in the context of essential oils in at least that so many amber incenses or notes often could be considered dry, powdery or otherwise (often even if perfumes are reaching for this). But with that said this does have a noticeable amber note. I wondered if this might have been an older stock as there is a slight charcoal note that peaks through that must be from the base. And hey when you look at the ingredients (rock rose extract, patchouli, vetiver, sandalwood, frankincense, myrrh, liquidamber, cedarwood, amber resin, black pepper) you can see that the amber scents do lean in the concoction direction. The positives of this one is that it’s a very gentle scent but I think that allows some of the ingredients to maybe push away from the amber a bit. All of that is OK, it’s more saying that while this is a nice incense, I’d describe it more as an amber variant, than something purer than that. But we’re still talking about a scent pretty close to familiar dipped incenses rather than the more breathtaking experiments we’ve discussed previously.

Stormfire Tea has the concoction idea right at the forefront. It is sort of in the same direction as the Shoyeido Xiang-Do (red) Tea, although this does not have the same sort of tea leaf resolution that the Shoyeido stick has. In some ways it’s not all that far from the Sacred Amber. The reddish color hints more at an herbal spiced tea and like the Sacred Amber it has a mild spicy middle to it. Interestingly, the ingredients include organic lavender flowers, organic white tea, cedar, birch tar resinoid, golden copal, styrax and sandalwood, and so the incense’s spicy notes don’t seem to come from the usual suspects as much, although I’d guess the woods probably provide some of these things. The cedar is pretty obvious in the mix, providing something of a southwestern note to the incense and the copal and styrax obviously help with pushing this over to an actual tea scent. It’s probably not my favorite of the Epika Earth incenses that remind me of drinks, but they still always do a good job with them and this will likely be found comforting and warming.

Epika Earth were also kind enough to send no less than three different kinds of backflow cones. As I offered to review their incenses prior to their seeing the information on our website, I thought I’d use this opportunity to talk about these types of cones first as they’ve grown in popularity since they started showing up however many years back. The simple idea for a backflow cone is a hole is drilled down the center and “something” is added to the mix in order to make the smoke heavy enough to come down through the hole and drift slowly down any number of artistically designed backflow holders. It’s absolutely understandable why people would think this is cool, as smoke pouring from a ceramic chimney or dragon’s mouth is a neat effect. I even bought a cool dragon backflow holder which I managed to break in the middle of these reviews, chipping off just the right spot (one of the dragon wings) that should have held the smoke in. But the thing is, even in practice you have to do a lot of shifting and have a lot of patience for the smoke of a burning backflow cone to make it all the way down to the bottom of a cascade. For me the smoke never got farther than the first slide after the dragon’s mouth and I think I got one cone to get all the way down to the bottom once.

Whatever is the case, information on backflow cones seems pretty confusing on the internet. There are lots of claims of these types of cones that they don’t use any chemicals and yet there has to be a difference between smoke that rises and smoke that sinks (and usually stinks). I would imagine this is just chemistry and physics. There also has to be some sort of reasoning for the abominable smells during and left after the burning of some of these cones on a backflow burner. The ones that came with my burner were absolutely awful and I even tried a Tibetan backflow cone which had the exact same issue. And then you can read on internet, recipes for these cones that are made no differently from a regular cone, at least as far as I can tell. My experience with backflow cones is not widespread but I can tell you I’ve never smelled one that didn’t have some sort of additive, whatever it may be.

And that’s no different for these three Epika Earth cones, although I will say I didn’t notice the same sort of foulness left from them that I did with the burner samples or the Tibetan incense I mentioned above. What I felt was disappointed simply because the mixes were actually really nice on these, but there seemed to be something in the mix that I associated with the sort of alcohol scent you can get with some of the oils except quite a bit stronger. For like the tip of the cone you’re good but then once it gets, I assume, to where the drilled hole goes down each cone, it started to get a bit too much for my tastes. Now I’ll be fair I’ve had this happen with a lot of non-backflow cones as well. I’ve never thought the cone was a satisfying format for an incense and it often felt this way perhaps because you need more makko or binder so the cone keeps its shape, or at least nearly every cone I’ve used gets irritating by the time it’s wide and down to the base. So I am probably not a cone’s intended audience.

And so reviewing three or four cones of these is not fully possible, both because there is a strength here that overwhelms any subtleties but also because that strength overwhelms me as well (and let me remind you I am usually OK with some of the loudest Indian incenses on the market). It is a strange experience going from wow that’s a really lovely scent to throat irritation and stinging eyes all in one cone burn, but that’s what each one of these does. The Angel Blood (dragon’s blood, styrax and patchouli) cones were first and I honestly absolutely loved the sort of dragon’s blood and styrax sweet “candy” mixed with some earthier patchouli. At first I was like wow someone made a backflow cone I really like, but then it ended at the first dragon slide and I got overwhelmed. I then broke the burner and had to sample the Rhubarb Berry and Oakmoss cone on one of my ash burners. Again at first I was really impressed, as all three (?) scents (the aroma profile is described as agave covered berries, rhubarb and black plum with highlights of fir needle and oakmoss) in a wonderful mix were really clear. Perhaps burning it away from a backflow burner helped mitigate the strength as it wound down but I was still sensing a lot of heavy alcohol and some sort of unknown scent towards the end that wasn’t agreeing with me. Saved for last since I don’t normally go for palo santo was the Winter Juniper & Palo Santo cone. This aroma profile is described as palo santo wood and juniper berries freshly thawed after a winter freeze. Triple coated with palo santo wood powder, sandalwood powder, golden copal resin and sweet myrrh. Strangely though on this one I don’t really get juniper or palo santo at all, which struck me as odd as the ingredients list on an Epika Earth incense can usually easily be identified. But again it started quite pleasant and was literally stinging my eyes by the end of it.

So to sum this up, these last three cones are obviously for people who love backflow cones and in that context they’re certainly better than nearly every other cone I’ve tried in the style, they’re clearly artisan and made with love. And of course I’d reiterate that I really enjoyed nearly every stick and dhoop I reviewed in all three installments, enough that I made an exception to my no dipped incense reviews rule. Epika Earth have certainly carved out a unique space in the incense community and I look forward to trying more of their scents. If you have tried any other of their incenses and wish to contribute, please post in the thread below!

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Epika Earth / Artisan / Ataraxia, Celestial Opium, Jaz Mocha, Celebration of Life (dhoop)

February 14, 2024 at 8:29 am (Agarwood / Aloeswood / Eaglewood, Agave, Balsam, Benzoin (Loban), Birch, Cedar, Chocolate, Coffee, Copal, Cream, Epika Earth, Frankincense, Guaic, Helichrysum, Incense, Jasmine, Labdanum, Mike, Myrrh, Oakmoss (Lichen), Orange Blossom, Patchouli, Rock Rose, Rose, Sandalwood, Spice (Cinnamon Clove Nutmeg etc.), Styrax Liquidambar, United States, Vanilla)

Epika Earth / Rare Terra

The second installment of Epika Earth incenses are a group of incenses labelled Artisan, three sticks and one incense in “dhoop” form. Based on a different incense on the line, Epika Earth describe these: “Our artisan blends are made entirely with natural ingredients that include essential oils, extracts, resinoids, woods and herbs. While creating the extracts, essential oils and crafting our artisan blends we use our own proprietary methods to protect and maximize the aroma of the ingredients in order to bring you the pure scents of earth in incense form.”

Ataraxia makes me consider how I may have received it without first trying some of the other sticks in the Epika Earth catalog to compare it to as it has some of the same ingredients and smells a bit similar to the Bacchus I reviewed last installment. However, I haven’t really start noticing the complexities of these incenses until the third or fourth stick so it’s fairly essential to give them a bit of time. Ataraxia includes birch, styrax, labdanum, benzoin, golden copal, white copal, sandalwood, aloeswood, myrrh, patchouli, agave and beet juice (for color). The description of notes on the Ataraxia page also describe the aroma of the incense as the “Complex and continuously evolving scent of amber, woody, fruity, dry musk, leathery, sweet, birch, slight ozone and animalic.” I definitely don’t have too much issue with this description as all of these notes revolve out of the burn, and what you pick up depends on what you’re paying attention to at any given moment during the burn. It should be noted that while this incense includes several ingredients that really gave a concoction-like feel to Bacchus (something that is fairly common when most of the ingredients are coming from oils), Ataraxia feels like a somewhat drier blend even though you can still sense the resinous mix of styrax, labdanum, copal and myrrh as it moves to what I’d call the fruity note (perhaps more fruit than fruit juice maybe). But there’s certainly a woody layer where the sandalwood and aloeswood live, and I’d imagine that’s where some of the dryness comes from, although I have to note that I’m not always getting these during the burn. The patchouli for example, can come out pretty strongly at times and even the agave is pretty noticeable. So overall it’s a really interesting and dynamic incense. I would imagine if you were shopping that you might not need both Ataraxia and Bacchus as they both hit similar sort of autumnal or harvest qualities, but either one of them is a good pick.

Celestial Opium is described as a “sweet mix of coffee, vanilla, cream, orange blossom, cedarwood, and patchouli.” With that description and thinking of previous opium themed incenses, it’s hard to tell if the name is supposed to be evoking poppies, perfumes or if it’s something of a metaphor, but I might put it closer to the perfume. The incense base reminds me a little of the Blue Ice Pine, and although the top note is obviously quite a bit different, I’m wondering if they share a base that’s taking up some of the aromatic range, or if it’s perhaps a lighter cedarwood oil that’s creating the similarity. Perhaps part of the fun of these incenses is being given the notes and trying to pick them out because there’s never one I don’t sense in there, although the coffee seems quite a background and not as forefront while I get the patchouli and orange blossom a lot more in front. Sometimes the pitfall of oils mixes like this is they can combine in a way that can negate the distinctions of the ingredients. The vanilla and the cream, for example, are there but often you have to really get close to the stick to sense them and both seem to weave in and out of the blend. There’s also an effect similar to incenses like Nippon Kodo’s Aqua which I usually attribute to cyclamen, it’s a sort of watery sort of floral, but as it’s not in the ingredients list it’s hard to estimate where this is coming from. All of these elements give this as a sort of composite feel which rarely resolves to a whole, but when it does it’s perhaps at its most impressive.

Jaz Mocha is an aged incense, apparently two years in a climate-controlled room, no less, and was started in September 2020. The ingredients include dark chocolate, honey jasmine sambac, sandalwood, guaicwood, oakmoss, tolu balsam and copal. Similarly with Cocoa Pods, the chocolate scent can take a bit to come out of an Epika Earth incense but when it does it’s really worth it. Aging also seems to do this incense favors, at the very least it really crystallizes most of the listed ingredients to where they can come out in the mix quite succinctly. This combination feels quite a bit different to the incenses I’ve reviewed so far and I think the presence of honey jasmine sambac and the balsam in particular move this off into a pretty original realm. It’s not a mocha scent in the most literal fashion, it’s more dressed up to smell even more delicious and possibly more like a tribute to both a setting and the drink (the floral quality in particular moves this out of the range of the name really). One thing I really noticed with this one is it smells different depending on where you are in the room and if you walk out and back in it can be incredibly arresting. Similarly to the Ataraxia and Bacchus, there’s some overlapping territory with Jaz Mocha and Cocoa Pods, but in this case the ingredients used in Jaz Mocha push the scent into different areas. The wood oils give it a sense of dryness and an almost solemn like regality to it that continuously reminds me of the southwest, even when the ingredients aren’t quite in that milieu. The sandalwood actually occasionally pops out at you which is wonderful. I might even recommend this as an example of essential oil blendings skills as it feels so carefully concocted.

Celebration of Life is a name used on both a stick and on a dhoop but I’m just going to tackle the dhoop version of this incense on this installment, after all it was these special sort of non-dipped blends that got my attention first (they are thematically similar, but have some differences). So Epika Earth originally forgot to put this in my original order. This happens sometimes and they fulfilled it immediately, and I wouldn’t mention it except that it was sent separately and the dhoops are so damp and fragile that they just didn’t really survive the trip in the sort of condition you can see in the Epika Earth picture even when padded up for protection (and they not only crumbled for this picture but once again over my own handling after this picture). So keep that in mind, it’s not the sort of thing that really bothers me when said dhoop is putting out enough smoke that burning a full length of one of these is probably a bit of an overkill unless you’re scenting a large space. So this is very much a situation like the Inspirecense last installment where it turns out that a small piece and heating is probably the preferable method, although I think the Celebration of Life burns a bit better/smoother when lit, so the difference is much smaller. The ingredients are explained as “We started with the finest sandalwood and agarwood; then we layer in high quality resins (frankincense, myrrh), resinoids (rock rose, styrax, etc), essential oils (Epika Sacred Sandalwood blend) and infuse with organic cinnamon, organic rose pedals and organic helichrysum flowers with gold copal woven in between.” Talk about winning you over with a description! This is yet another complex wonder full of woodiness and spiciness, with a real earthiness to the blend. It is a bit sweeter and richer on a heater – I got a ton of brown sugar and cinnamon on the heat which is the kind of mix that wins me over every time. It reminds me a little of a sweet and spicy oatmeal with some fruit mixed in. The dhoops are very soft and easily crumbled into the type of foil containers used with the Golden Lotus heater, so in the end the fragility doesn’t matter all too much, and I’d imagine burning one at its original length would be quite smoky. In the end this one’s merits outlive the caveats.

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Temple of Incense / Bulgarian Rose & Oudh, Festive Kiss, Portobello, Tulsi

November 28, 2023 at 11:42 am (Amber, Bayberry, Benzoin (Loban), Bergamot, Geranium, Halmaddi / Mattipal, Incense, India, Mike, Musk, Oakmoss (Lichen), Orange, Oud, Pine / Pinon, Rose, Sandalwood, Spice (Cinnamon Clove Nutmeg etc.), Temple of Incense, Vanilla)

Please note that if you are new to ORS, we have done a wide-ranging number of reviews on the absolutely fabulous Temple of Incense line, all of which can be found by either clicking on the Temple of Incense link under Incense>India or checking out Incense Reviews Index. Please note that Temple of Incense has provided ORS readers with a 10% off coupon since February 2022 by using the code OLFACTORY. The current review is a bit of a catch up as for the most part the Temple of Incense line has remained largely stable. These four are among the newest of their line.

The Aydees announced their new Bulgarian Rose & Oudh incense recently, and if we can encourage the well from which great ideas come from, then we’d have to encourage them for more pairings like this one, it’s quite frankly one of the most stunning incenses I’ve encountered not only in their catalog but outside of it. And like a lot of good things it comes from a simple pairing of two notes both well-famed in the incense community, Bulgarian rose absolute and oudh (they also mark notes of oakmoss, sandawood, amber and geranium, all of which I imagine would make two good things go a long way). It is a HUGELY brash and powerful incense and their suggestion to burn half a stick at a time is a good one. To explain this better, I could burn a stick of this in the evening, wake up, go downstairs, do a bunch of things and go back up in the early morning to still smell the main note as it hovers in the room many hours later. This would be a bad thing if it wasn’t such a good incense, but it is a tremendous thing for an incense as well-crafted as this one. It’s difficult to go much farther than to say it really is an equal combination of these notes, but in an era where both of these ingredients are expensive, and often too expensive for incense, the way the creators managed to still get some great and real smelling rose top notes out of the mix, not to mention a deep oudh base, should be congratulated. It will be sticks and sticks before I can really suss out the complexities here, but the main combination is absolutely top notch. An absolute classic, this one!

Festive Kiss is an essential oil blend on charcoal (I’d imagine the incense in the photos at the TOI link must have been the first vintage, what I have here does not look dusted) that Temple of Incense provides for the holidays and it’s a wonderful, cheery and perhaps surprisingly British-themed incense that certainly brings some nostalgia back for me from living there in the 70s. The list of ingredients is pine, cinnamon, orange, bergamot, and bayberry. The cinnamon and orange in the middle are a combination I have loved since a child in spiced tea, the pine gives everything a yuletide grounding, but I think it’s the bayberry here that gives this a nicely original twist on this sort of holiday scent. I asked the rhetorical question in one of the articles I wrote recently about which ingredients tend to do well in a charcoal base, and well here’s one of the answers right here. This is a lovely treat for the holidays and just from an incense perspective it’s completely unlike almost anything you have tried before.

Portobello is the Temple of Incense import of the great Meena Supreme. I have probably sampled a half dozen of these incenses and they all vary just a little bit (and some more than a little bit) but I am always particularly happy when you can get Meena Supreme out of those old carboard boxes and weak inner wrappers and into something a bit more protective that will hold the aroma longer. So of all the variants I’ve tried this is probably the best by probably the slightest of hairs, there is a bit of a thickness in the middle of the aroma that makes it a bit richer than I usually experience (as always the question here is just how fresh it is and based on this batch everything feels at a peak). Oh and hey we get a nice list of ingredients here, halmaddi, a vanillin base, gum benzoin and a touch of musk. It’s something of a simple list of things that come together to create a classic incense for sure, certainly the base itself is something that grounds several of the Meena line. If you haven’t tried the Meena Supreme, I highly recommend it, it has an aroma that you won’t find outside the company (well at least done properly), it has something of an almost creamy sort of base, with something of a light feel contrasted by a lot of complex notes in the middle. It’s absolutely one of a kind, and there’s no better place to start than with the Portobello.

I nearly went to publication with the above three, but the arrival of a couple sticks of Tulsi in my last package from TOI was a nice (eventual) reminder that this one was released a year or so ago right after Stephen was wrapping up the catalog. But it is absolutely one I wanted to add to our reviews as it’s a brilliant incense, easily in the line’s top 10 or 20. Tulsi is basically “Holy Basil,” and in a lot of incenses I’ve tried that claim to use it, it’s the herbal side of the basil that is usually accentuated. However, this incense sweetens it up in an absolutely beautiful and extremely arresting and user-friendly way that I’d imagine you’d never expect. I loved it the first time I tried it and have ever since (I’ve tried several variations of it and the more halmaddi the better). It has this sort of fruity-green middle (part of this is sort of like fresh kiwi fruit), quite attractive and friendly with the herbiness just being a slight component of this. It is in no way a pesto sort of basil scent and it made me wonder if the holy basil essential oil went in the direction of the major notes or if the creators moved it in this direction with other ingredients. Needless to say this one is brilliant, and well worth picking up, it’s certainly an incense that will go on my list to reorder when I’m close to running out.

So, overall I can enthusiastically recommend all four of these scents the next time you visit Temple of Incense. To wrap up here I also want to bring attention to the Temple of Incense Three Kings sampler, this is a nice way to sample the line’s Nag Champa Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh, all of which have been previously reviewed here, it’s nicely holiday themed. I see that it’s not the only sampler that TOI have added since I last visited, and they have also added quite a few incense and holder combos that should be of interest as well. You can scan their list of goodies here and elsewhere on the site for more information.

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Mermade Magickal Arts + Esprit de la Nature / The Mothers – Ancient Winter Remembrance, Emerald Temple – Katlyn’s Kyphi “Green”

December 13, 2021 at 4:35 pm (Amanita Muscaria, Artemisia (Mugwort, Wormwood), Balsam, Benzoin (Loban), Cedar, Copal, Elderberry, Esprit de la Nature, Fir, Frankincense, Juniper, Mastic, Mead, Hydromel, Mermade Magickal Arts, Mike, Rosemary, Spruce, United States)

So right about when we turned to ORS holiday time, Mermade Magickal Arts went all festive on us and released a bunch of really yummy new treats. I love all of Katlyn’s work but I might have particular favorites in the whole axis of evergreen/green/winter seasonal incenses that she does and so it was impossible for me not to make an order, and then when I got everything wonderful in, I’m like oh my god how do I share what I am experiencing and write about these on holiday time when a lot of Mermade blends rocket out the door in a few weeks time (or sometimes before I can even write anything). Well I’ll give at least these first two a shot, and although this might not be up to usual review standards, for sure these incenses are up to the usual high Mermade (and Esprit de la Nature) standards. These are two really wonderful incenses.

But let’s first start with one that a periodical and greatly admired contributor to the Mermade catalog has created. As many may be aware of, Be en Foret of Esprit de La Nature is also one of the great artists of heatable incense out there and her new blend The Mothers – Ancient Winter Remembrance is an absolute triumph of the style, one of the finest conifer incense blends ever made. I am still marveling over the complexity, beauty and triumph of this stunning incense, it is literally not to be missed. Look at these ingredients: balsam fir (Abies balsamea) bark, needles, resin, extract; Amanita muscaria mushroom; juniper (Juniperus virginiana) berries; spruce (Picea rubra) needles; hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) needles and extract; cedar (Thuja occidentalis) tips; mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) flowering tops; rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus) leaf extract; tree mosses (Psuedoevernia spp and Usnea spp); pinion pine (Pinus edulis) resin; and poplar (Populus tremoides) buds. All of these ingredients are bound with black elderberries (Sambucus nigra) and homemade hydromel (mead) and mixed with the Amanita muscaria mushrooms.

So the first thing one must look at is that in the overall sense of things we’re usually used to pine scents, perhaps balsamic scents and so forth when we talk about evergreens and conifers. It’s that experience of walking through a forest in cool mountainous air and experiencing the whole unified scent that so many plants combine to create. But there are so many different sorts of plants being used in this one that the aroma becomes so complex it actually starts to become somewhat kyphi-esque in its profile. I mean just sitting here after a second heat and trying to describe everything that goes through my head as I experience this is virtually impossible. First without any listing of something like frankincense, this still has a very resinous scent that one must chalk up to the various tree extracts and materials. The Mothers has a very pleasant, somewhat spicy fruitiness in the mix that is amazingly enjoyable, but this mix isn’t facile, it is deeply complex, aged and beautiful. I smell orange peel and marmalade, caramel, honey and wine, and where Katlyn’s green incenses tend to speak the voice of the Sierra Nevadas with a much greener finish, Be’s has its own unique character that is separate enough that you are likely to find both different species of the same genus. I’m not sure I can speak quite to how something like the amanita speaks through the scent, but the incense does feel like a conglomerate of smaller voices and there is a slightly psychedelic edge on all of this that adds to the choir’s unity. It is that sense of mycorrhizal fungi as a symbiosis of plant and fungi and, as the aroma spreads, human life as well.

Sort of in the reverse (or maybe inverse?) direction of this is Katlyn’s Emerald Temple, a “green” kyphi. One of the reasons I found this fascinating in the description is I sort of imagine kyphis more as brown, purple, or maroon, so I really liked the idea, given Kat’s skill with greeny goodness. The ingredients on this one, always a big list with kyphis, include fir balsam raw resin, green frankincense (Sacra of Oman), copal blanco, fir balsam Absolute, Cedar (Thuja) essential oil, Benzoin Essential oil (molecular distillation), and Chios Mastic. All dusted in green fragrant Arbor vitae (green cedar) powder. I would guess this kyphi is made with the production techniques of the previous kyphi we reviewed. Like some green mixes this also crosses over into lime-like territory, particularly due to the green frankincense and some element of the copal. My grandmother and a few other members of my family used to live in Key Largo for many years and could whip up a great key lime pie, which is what this scent reminds me a lot of with that mix of lime and sweetness. Even something like a lime Jolly Rancher kind of captures that front note. Of course this notable green frankincense note is really just the lead for that typical melange of caramel, wine-like, raisin tinged kyphi base, something that tends to remind me of autumn, except the lime pushes it all into different territory. It’s a nice little divergence from the kyphi norm and a cool little experiment that’s well worth looking into if you like the kyphis that come out of this venerable outfit.

But even as I come to a close here, I really want to remind folks to act fast. I just realized that Katlyn’s stupendously great Lord of the Rings inspired incense Elvish has already gone out of stock, and I can only imagine these two and the wonderful Southern/Central/native American inspired Lucida and the Tibetan inspired Golden Tara are soon to follow. These incenses, as always, show Mermade on the very cutting edge of cross-cultural experimentation with incense scent and culture and I often can not write fast enough to keep up with their demand and in many ways that’s a good thing as it shows their great appeal.

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Dimension 5 / Urrere Unlimited

November 26, 2021 at 11:06 am (Agarwood / Aloeswood / Eaglewood, Cardamom, Dimension 5, Frankincense, Incense, Mike, Oakmoss (Lichen), Ross, Sandalwood, United States)

One of the sad parts about resuscitating ORS earlier this year was that the man who was practically my original partner in running the site passed away not long after I announced the site’s return. ORS might not exist if it wasn’t for Ross Urrere. Historically, this site started when I started posting about incense on my own blog. Ross joined in quite a bit and then there was some discussion about actually breaking off the incense part of the blog and creating something independent. Ross agreed to start writing, christened the site fairly quickly and off we went for many years. Ross also was interested in making his own incense and over the years went from afficionado to a revered creator in his own right. Ross was very generous and kept me fairly well supplied with samples of his incenses like Ocean of Night, Comfort, Souked Aloeswood or Sandalwood with Ambergris, all of which were brilliant. I am sad that I have completely run out of Ocean of Night even though, I was probably the benefactor of 4 or 5 vintages of it, but I do remember it fairly well (there is some truth that the inspiration to start up the site again came from revisiting a lot of vintage incenses that I actually ran out by the time I pressed go). Ocean of Night was a remarkable incense, almost sui generis from an incense standpoint, with an oakmoss presence that really set it apart from many of the heatables on the market. And I know I wasn’t the only fan of it, in fact I’ve never met anyone who didn’t like his incense work, a work I might add that was informed by studying perfume as well. In fact it is his friends in Mandy Aftel’s circle who inherited Ross’ recipes and I can certainly say for myself I look forward to the day that these return to availability.

Another appreciator of Ocean of Night is Josh Matthews at Dimension 5 who actually created this really wonderful tribute to Ross, an incense that includes Ocean of Night as an ingredient in the blend (as well as a tiny touch of the original in order to suss it out in his blend). We did make sure to OK it with Ross’ inheritors and very much appreciate their graciousness in allowing Josh to offer this wonderful stick of incense. So first of all, Ocean of Night included sandalwood, oakmoss, frankincense and the usual unlisted herbs, resins, spices and woods. To create Urrere Unlimited Josh uses Vietnamese and New Guinea agarwood, as well as other spices, including cardamom. Just reading this again, I like the idea a lot to use this unique spice in the mix. If Ocean of Night included any agarwood it was largely marginal so this uniquely crafted stick that actually marries that scent to fine aloeswood is a perfect tribute. I like the unique take of matching up the cardamom spice with the oakmoss front of Ocean of Night. I also like the way Urrere Unlimited reminds me of Baieido’s Kai un Koh in its relative unsweetness as Ross was a huge fan of that stick. The aloeswood here has a nice sense of dry elegance and bitterness that I think matches the incense quite well. The blend also reminds me a lot of another favorite of Ross’s, Shunkohdo’s Ranjatai. All of these things make me feel like Ross would have appreciated this stick very much. And overall there is a lot to listen to, after a few sticks I think you’re very likely to sense a lot more of what is going on than just the surface.

Like Tibet With Love, Urrere Unlimited is also part of Dimension 5’s Eclectic Collection sampler. Reviews of the final three scents in this sampler as well as a new batch of incenses called The Terra Collection are all forthcoming here, but are all now available. If you are interested in any of these incenses or previously reviewed sticks, please contact Josh at dimension5incense@gmail.com. I will say again that these are wonderful treats for the incense connoisseur, made from a collection of very fine materials, many of which rarely show themselves in stick form. In that sense many of these are completely unique in the market.

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Kousaido / Sanshi-Suimei / Gion Koh; Waboku Set (3 scents); Koto koh, Take koh, Sumi-koh, and Ume koh

September 2, 2021 at 6:21 am (Amber, Ambergris, Bergamot, Camphor, Borneol, Cyclamen, Cypress, Incense, Ink, Japan, Kousaido, Lilac, Lily, Mike, Oakmoss (Lichen), Plum, Sandalwood, Spice (Cinnamon Clove Nutmeg etc.), Ylang Ylang, Zelkova)

Kousaido is a Japanese company of a very modern bent, carrying many of the same sorts of lines you see with Nippon Kodo. So I’ll be straight up when I say that these styles aren’t usually to my taste and this review is of a few places I cast my net looking for some things I thought I might go for or to at least get some general overview of the company. Like in Nippon Kodo and even some of Shoyeido’s lines, some of these incenses are the sort of short 2 1/2 to 3/4 inch, slightly thicker sticks that tend to be machine produced and laden with perfumed aromas. They are perhaps not targeted at traditional incense fans, although one of the boxes here perhaps presents a slightly closer pitch to wood-based scents.

You usually don’t see moderns in pawlonia boxes, but Gion Koh is part of a series of five moderns in small little ones called Sanshi Suimei. Japan Incense sells a nice little sampler of 3 sticks each which you can find here. I received these close to the beginning of reopening ORS, so not only did I really not think to make notes of the other four, but none of them were really to my tastes. That’s not to say I disliked them all, but it was only Gion Koh that really stood out in a way that made me order a separate box. As I’ve probably gone on record elsewhere, I do tend to like amber themed incenses and a mix of that with sandalwood and ylang ylang ended up being quite a pleasant affair. Don’t mistake what this is, a perfumed modern, but it reminds me of the better aspects of some of the deluxe and discontinued Shoyeido Floral World sticks. The sandalwood is still pretty strong in the midst and while this doesn’t really smell much like the ylang ylang I remember from essential oils, as that’s a fairly gentle scent compared to the somewhat hair product level strength of this, the note doesn’t really overwhelm the wood or the base amber scent. And for me it’s that last piece that makes this something of a pleasant diversion for me. Other scents in the series just hit different areas within the same format, so if you think you might like the style I’d probably recommend the sampler first to see what you gravitate towards.

These next two boxes are actually made up of multiple scents and are sampler boxes whose contents don’t appear to be imported separately. So before we go back to the short stick format, we’re going to discuss the Kousaido Waboku set, which includes Kusunoki (Camphor), Hinoki (Japanese Cypress) and Keiyaki (Zelkova) at 25 sticks each. This set seems far and away the most traditionally minded series Kousaido exports to the US through Japan Incense. I was curious, not at all for the Cypress which tends not to deviate from either Baieido or Nippon Kodo versions, but for the other two incenses which actually seem to be fairly rare aromas on their own. And I do love me some camphor. First of all, I should say that the inserts each of the three series of incenses come in are less boxes than cardboard wrap arounds. As such it felt like a bit too much trouble to unwind and take separate pictures of the incenses as it feels like these wraparounds are likely to degrade with too much use. Besides the incenses themselves look almost exactly what you might expect from something in an inexpensive Nippon Kodo line.

And unfortunately the Kusnoki seems strangely contrived. It’s not difficult to tell what Kousaido was going for, just that it’s somewhat puzzling it doesn’t really hit the camphor sweet spot when expenses shouldn’t need to get in the way. It’s as if they dialed it back a bit on purpose which really kind of sets it a bit too close to what is a fairly, obviously, inexpensive wood base. Even that’s fairly mellow but matching this kind of light base with a dull note really doesn’t work all that well. But it’s a modern right? When you pitch woods as moderns this is often the sort of effect you get. The Hinoki is really little different, although inexpensive Japanese hinoki incenses tend to work out OK, even the smokeless Hinoki in the NK line isn’t a bad incense. But when I think of something like the Bosen Pythoncidere and that super green cypress scent in comparison, this just feels a bit lukewarm. It’s closer to the NK but even closer to the Camphor in that it’s got that thin wooden base with just a bit of the main scent sort of submerged in the middle. As such I think most will probably find this a bit more pleasant than the Camphor, but I’d still advise sticking to the Hinokis you already have as this one doesn’t have much to offer. And strangely the Zelkova tree, based on rummaging the internet a bit, seems like a shade tree and not something usually considered an aromatic source. But Keiyaki might be the most fascinating blend of the three here in that this incense has an aroma that’s fairly unique. And it’s not only that, but where the previous two incenses felt like mild aromas in lighter wood, this seems a bit stronger and more in your face, which might imply a greater level of perfume here. So even though I’ve never smelled a zelkova, nor could make any fair comparisons, it’s still the incense of the three I enjoy the most. Make no mistake, this one is still obviously perfumed, but at least its distinct.

The next Kousaido grouping falls under the name “Set of 4 Scents.” This artistically designed box set, where the four different boxes provide a nice little mosaic of tree branches, hides four different modern aromas with 2 and 3/4 inch sticks (I would guess this is a typo at the Japan Incense site as nearly all modern mini sticks are in this range). Koto Koh is described as including sandalwood, amber, ambergris, and oak moss and could almost be a cousin of Gion Koh because of the red-colored base and the amber. The oak moss element is surprisingly noticeable in the mix, although it blends into what is perhaps too much of a generic perfume. On the outside of the individual box, Sumi Koh also says “(Ink).” Along with borneol you essentially get a decent description of the purple stick’s bouquet. The borneol gives the aroma its piquant top end while the ink scent makes up the rest of it. I find ink scented incenses to perhaps not be the kind of aromas I’d burn all the time, but I do appreciate their originality and difference. And at least here the muskiness of it outweighs any sort of heavy floral note. I’m pretty sure Nippon Kodo has one or more bamboo themed incenses but from those or the Kousaido Take Koh, it’s difficult to tell what this is going for as the lily of the valley, cyclamen and bergamot notes sort of mix aqua like and citrus qualities up into one very muddy green floral. It’s honestly a bit of a mess and not a bad example of a modern that really doesn’t work. Finally there’s Ume Koh which intends to be a baika or plum blossom incense, but is so full of off and synthetic lilac notes that any hope of the plum and clove saving it is completely lost. It’s virtually impossible to find a sunny side up on this one as it has more in common with insect sprays than anything pleasant.

Overall, Kousaido moderns may not really be at all to the taste of most of the ORS readership. They are perhaps more tailor made for the causal browser who might stumble across the Koh Shi brick and mortar on a visit to the bay area and want something more in line with the types of modern air fresheners, perfumes and candles that tend to proliferate in modern stores.

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Temple of Incense / Himalayan Spikenard, Wood Spice, Bengal Beauty, Ganesha

July 28, 2021 at 6:31 am (Amber, Bakhoor, Eucalyptus, Floral, Incense, India, Lavender, Lotus, Mike, Oakmoss (Lichen), Rose, Spice (Cinnamon Clove Nutmeg etc.), Spikenard / Jatamansi, Temple of Incense, Vanilla, Vetivert / Khus, Woods)

Temple of Incense Part 1
Temple of Incense Part 3
The entire Temple of Incense review series can be found at the Incense Reviews Index

So here’s the other half of my initial order, minus the samples, from Temple of Incense. I noticed there’s an “est. 2012” on the boxes which just made me wonder why news on these fantastic incenses took so long to spread. It does seem like there’s a substantial UK to India connection that really helps with the foundation to some strong companies there, so I’m sure there’s more hunting to do. Anyway in this round we have both charcoals and masalas (including a very familiar traditional) and another of the line’s baton size wonders that nearly makes me faint away due to the beauty of it.

Himalayan Spikenard acts as one of the high enders in the Temple of Incense catalog at nearly twice the price much of the range goes for. That’s because it’s not just a spikenard-fronted charcoal but because it has a something of a bakhoor-like oud scent in it as well as musk, oak moss and vetivert. The thing I really love about spikenard is you can experience it ranging from the sweeter notes found in Japanese incense or Greek monastery-styled incenses to musky, earthy aspects of it that feel a little wilder in the natural source. Here you have the full range of the spikenard note even though it’s essentially fronting a blended oil. It is a charcoal, so I do think the mix of these elements actually goes to highlight that in a way not everyone might like, but there’s nothing wrong with this mix of oils on their own, in fact it’s a bewitching blend with a bit of a erotic flair to it. And most importantly it has some aromatic elements I don’t think you will find in most incenses. It’s like having something familiar with a more exotic edge to it.

The Wood Spice is an intriguing (also charcoal, but not as obviously so as the Himalayan Spikenard) incense that reminds me of a couple different scents. The notes listed here are not specific, just flowers, woods and spices, and while I think the woods obviously take the central place, there seems to be a lot of other activity rotating around this center. It feels like it works on two levels, the woods blend on one hand and then some sort of tangy richness on the other with a powerful hit of spice that reminds me of anything from cardamom to clove or nutmeg. The spicy wood feels like it goes in a bit of an Oud Masala direction, but without the more expensive agarwood touches and with the heavier spice touches, the scent profile ends up being something like the old Maharaj or Maharaja blends of the original champa era, although to be fair I think this is more due to the oils than any sense of halmaddi at play. It just feels that there are dozens of ingredients and that the mix creates something that justifies the more general notes than being specific of just a few. The oil overall feels like it could work either as a perfume or cologne, depending on your definition or preference.

Bengal Beauty is one of the latest in the family of incenses that have a long history of lavender-ended goodness. My old favorite was the old Mystic Temple Honey Dust incense, which was a delectably sweet treat of honey and vanilla and I’ve seen it in the old Satya Natural and Happy Hari’s Yama Sutra and probably a few more lines I’ve forgotten about now. It may very well be the second most common traditional Indian masala next to Nag Champa itself, although it feels like this version may have shifted more to a charcoal or hybrid style than it used to be in the old days. And this is as good of a version that exists on the market currently. Part of that is the sweetness, another part is it’s a bit more balanced in a sandalwood direction and part of it is that its more obviously an amber as well (there are some similarities to ToI’s Amber Supreme as well). The other notes mentioned on the box are khus and rose and while I get the earthy notes of the former, the rose is far more subtle. It probably tends less to the sweet side than other versions, but that makes it a better balanced incense. This is a very friendly Indian masala and not a bad one to put on your starter list.

I don’t know what it is about these thick stick incenses like Ganesha, maybe it’s just that they feel like they’re frontloaded with a lot of halmaddi resin, but just like the Shiv this is a stone classic of a scent. The notes are lotus, lavender, eucalyptus and light florals, but the overall effect is like some modern candy fronted Japanese stick except in big stick form. It is super pink in color and in aroma in fact “Valentine’s Day candy champa” popped right in my mind as I wrote this in front of a burning stick. This is fairly well blended, sweet and feminine floral, you certainly get the lavender and eucalyptus notes in the mix but it’s so sweet that most of the rest of the floral notes just kind of converge into this big bouquet of hallelujah. It’s an incredible floral and because of the oils not quite as gentle as the Shiv is, but it’s no less impressive. I would love to see what a big batch of this looks like and smells like. More like this please!

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Mother’s India Fragrances / Arjava, Hansa, Lavanya, Om, Purusha, Sattwa, Yajna

August 31, 2010 at 10:54 am (Amber, Balsam, Benzoin (Loban), Cedar, Champa / Durbar, Citrus, Evergreen, Floral, Fruit, Halmaddi / Mattipal, Incense, Iris, Orris Root, Jasmine, Kewda / Kewra / Pandanus / Screwpine, Lavender, Mike, Mother's India Fragrances, Nagarmotha, Oakmoss (Lichen), Patchouli, Resins, Rose, Sage, Sandalwood, Spice (Cinnamon Clove Nutmeg etc.), Tuberose, Vanilla, Vetivert / Khus, Woods, Ylang Ylang)

[Recipes may have changed and review may not be relevant anymore. Further research needed. Mike 6/17/21]

Since the last installment on the newly released Mother’s Fragrances Nagchampa incenses, the company kindly sent me what I’m dubbing the “Nag Champa Construction Set,” which is a series of ingredients that go into making their fantastic bases. One thing I learned fairly early about incense is that information from the east on these treasures has actually been remarkably sparse and so I’m extremely thankful to have received a further education from the creators. Not only has the set helped to show me where the sandalwood works into the base, but in particular having a sample of halmaddi resin has really helped to narrow down just where this works into these incenses. And overall my already high respect for the creator of these incenses has grown when I consider what the base smells like compared to the finished product. These are just works of art on every level.

So I wanted to say a few words about halmaddi resin before getting to the “back seven” nagchampas (10/8/21 – This link goes directly to US distributor Mere Cie Deux now; however, there are no specific pages for each aroma). This ingredient is particularly interesting in that the actually fresh smell of the resin itself (almost like a combination of chocolate and turpentine elements) is completely different from the smell while it’s burning, which is floral (likely that element similar to the champaka flower), slightly bitter and very balsamic. Not only is this obvious from the resin, but also from the base stick. Even on its own this a pleasant scent but what struck me is how much of a chameleon halmaddi must be since the oils that go into the incense change the nature of the relationship. Also, the Mother’s bases, while soft, aren’t gooey like the resin or many of the incenses I used to burn 15 years ago and as I intuit from the oils, there’s a really impressive level of balance and restraint here.

I wouldn’t have even recognized the base stick in the Arjava Nagchampa, which is the first of four incenses in this group that was not part of the original 12 incense sampler I received months ago. If there is a slight wildness to the halmaddi, you wouldn’t find it in this incense, which has a level of gentleness that is quite surprising. Where the descriptions of many of the other incenses list as many as 5 or 6 ingredients, there is only one specific listed here: rose. It’s interesting in that this is one of the new 14 that really stands out as being quite different, there’s an unusual herbal note at the top that is quite exotic and unique. The central scent is almost akin to some of the herbal-rose combinations found elsewhere and this all lies on a wood level that has been turned up a notch, while remaining pillowy soft. While it could be said that this is another wonderful contrast of spice and floral elements, the results aren’t quite so piquant as they are in the other scents, leading to a very sublime finish. Particularly because when I burn this I feel like I’m always trying to reach a description of the end, one that’s essentially elusive and mysterious. Like all great incenses the final notes end up as part of one’s memories.

Hansa Nagchampa is similar to the Arjava only in that it also has a fairly noticeable woodiness in the mix, but essentially this is a scent that returns to the floral/spice mix of many of these incenses. A lot of the main players in the whole line are in this one, including kewra, vetivert and lavender, but as always the addition of other ingredients modify the aromatic contour substantially. In fact, of the entire line this is perhaps the incense I find the most difficult to describe as the ingredient combos seem familiar, but the overall scent has been changed enough to be completely unique. Perhaps part of this is the golden champa scent in what I’d describe as the fourth fifth from top to bottom.  The amber here isn’t as strong as it is in the Om Nagchampa but it definitely flirts with the attention around all the floral notes and in many ways actually accentuates these notes so one feels that the florals are dominant to the spice mix in the background. And overall it’s the Kewra and Lavender that make, incrementally, the boldest statements in the mix. But in the end it’s puzzling because perhaps the best word to describe this incense is kaleidoscopic, because at any different time it’s possible to see new interactions among the ingredients. Which means in the end any static description won’t do this justice, as the base and the vetivert that tie it all together are really the only constants.

Lavanya Nagchampa really clicked with me after a couple sticks when it became obvious that the central part of the incense is very evergreen and spicy. I’ve discussed some of the incenses that contrast florals with a spice that could be roughly described in the cinnamon/clove/hot area, but this seems to get part of its spice from the use of resins as well as cedar, so that the spice note feels more green than red. Users of resin blends may have come across those that are resonantly foresty and that would be the comparison here. But it’s only a beginning and a platform because what dances on top is the jasmine and ylang ylang, and like the Arjava the results are just so delicate. It constantly strikes me that among Indian incenses, many of which can be incredibly strong and aromatic, that these are among the most refined and gentle, something only a master perfumer could gauge so perfectly. In the end it’s almost as if your aromatic senses try to convince you of its floral nature as the bewitching, rich evergreen and liqueur like background bubbles underneath, creating an almost yin/yang like paradox.

In fact as you use these incenses it’s really hard to separate one masterpiece from another, but there’s something in the Om Nagchampa that has made it my fastest used incense in the whole line, I literally have trouble trying to keep from burning my stock up in a couple days. It basically presents a triangle of amber, vanilla and cassia that is simply breathtaking and close to my sense of aromatic nirvana. My idea of the perfect incense is something that manages to be dry and rich at the same time, hinting at sweetness without being cloying. The cassia in this incense is just so perfectly placed that it’s a sheer delight and the amber notes are virtually flawless. As this scent burns it becomes so sublime by the end of the stick that it manages to represent the concept of Om in a way that might evoke ain ineffable response in the user. In fact it’s even difficult to want to burn another incense after this as it leaves such a powerful energy in the air after the last elements go up in smoke. By a long shot my top incense of August and it could be a reigning favorite for a while now.

Purusha Nagchampa is another of the dominantly lavender incenses in the line, which follows the absolute success of the Ganesh Nagchampa. Mother’s uses a number of different lavenders, however, and in this case we’re seeing an English lavender at the front, a note that is probably the most dominant lavender scent in any of these incenses. But while sitting on the top, the ingredients from the base up do a lot to modify the scent. For one thing this is one of the few, if not the only incense that has a sage note, an ingredient that seems to be far more common in American incenses (specifically southeast or Native American blends). Here it’s used to modify the lavender, and the results seem to bring out some of the wilder, herbier elements the two ingredients have in common. I’m not as familiar with orris, but I suspect this has a great deal to do with the more unfamiliar middle subscents that help to give this incense its individual personality. Closer to the base, the patchouli blends with the balsamic nature of the halmaddi to help make sure the top notes don’t go overboard. In the end this is definitely on the sweeter side of the Mother’s range, but it’s got just that touch of wildness to rein it all in.

Sandalwood is a main ingredient in all these incenses but it perhaps makes its presence most known in the Sattwa Nagchampa. With kewra, lavender tuberose and vetivert in the mix, this is definitely something of a cousin to the Atma and Hansa blends, if you can imagine the biggest change to be an increase in the amount of woodiness used. The vetivert here also seems to be turned up enough to give the scent a pleasant and sharp subnote and adding this to the woods and halmaddi base helps to balance the florals without reducing the richness of the scent. Overall this is a very pretty incense with a lot of activity in the mix and it’s among the bolder scents in the line. And like its cousins, the mix seems gauged to reveal its complexity slowly over time, something a review really can’t account for without an excessively lengthy preparation period.

Continuing a number of incenses with a strong lavender element is the spicy Yajna Nagchampa. However, if some of the Mother’s scents tilt more to a floral side, this is a decidedly spicy incense with woody notes, nagarmotha oil, patchouli and oakmoss all combining to imply a spice that also reminds me of cinnamon toast. This is also a very woody incense, however the type of wood scent it reminds me most of is akin (but far superior to) Satya’s Patchouli Forest scent, with that sense of crystalline, green resin that that incense evokes. Not only is the Yajna spicy, but it’s also devilishly complex in that there seems to be a lot of elements that make up this level of the incense. The oak moss is particularly noticeable here, almost more than a subnote at times, and with the patchouli it grounds the scent as something far more earthy the fire-like. In the end as you notice all this spicy, grounded activity it makes the presence of the lavender on top such a surprise and delight.

I’ll have to admit nearly every incense in this line is at a level of intricacy that they’re very hard to do justice to in words. So many of them are like a puzzle, because I feel that in a lot of other incense lines you wouldn’t expect some of these ingredients to work together like they do and in the end appraising them is like looking at a beautiful painting and switching between the singular elements and the composite final work. I may have mentioned strongly how much I love the Om, but over time I have no doubt that I’ll switch from favorite to favorite because in the case of complex aromas like found in the Hansa or Yajna, you get the feeling that it will take at least 10 sticks to feel that you’ve got a full grip on what’s going on here. And in the end I think this is the real joy in the use of incense, that what you have has the potential to continue to surprise and elate you as changing circumstances provide the varying viewpoints to smell new facets of complex bouquets. Because in the end with this line of Mother’s Nagchampas, all 19 exquisite treasures, you have some of the finest incenses available, particularly at an affordability that is quite astonishing. And please do check out the previous article for buying options, as I suspect in less than a month’s time they should be widely available to most of our readers.

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Mother’s India Fragrances / Nagchampas / Agni, Amrita, Atma, Bhakti, Jyoti, Lila, Moksha

August 19, 2010 at 4:06 pm (Ambrette, Balsam, Benzoin (Loban), Bitter Orange (Neroli), Cedar, Champa / Durbar, Floral, Geranium, Honey, India, Kewda / Kewra / Pandanus / Screwpine, Lavender, Lily, Mike, Mother's India Fragrances, Musk, Myrrh, Oakmoss (Lichen), Orange Blossom, Patchouli, Resins, Rose, Saffron, Spice (Cinnamon Clove Nutmeg etc.), Tuberose, Vetivert / Khus)

[Recipes may have changed and review may not be relevant anymore. Further research needed. Mike 6/17/21]

After being introduced to and living with Mother’s India Fragrances’ original five Nagchampas, I can’t imagine anyone wouldn’t have asked the question “How come there aren’t more of them?” After all the originals are a phenomenal quintet of nagchampas in an era where the form has mostly degenerated. Where so many companies have either eliminated or reduced the content of halmaddi in their products, often creating inferior recipes that only resemble the incenses they used to create, Mother’s have managed to continue a line that not only still contains the ingredient (also called mattipal) but considerably expands the art form.

That is, when nagchampas were made 15 years ago or earlier, the incenses were so full of the gum that the sticks remained so wet you could easily pull them apart. The Mother’s Nagchampas (10/8/21 – This link goes directly to US distributor Mere Cie Deux now; however, there are no specific pages for each aroma) don’t aim for a similar effect and while the incenses are still quite damp, often visibly through the inner packagaing, they all have a uniform consistency that follows the original five scents to what is an incredible 14 new scents. And for those of you already well familiar with the original five, these are going to surprise and elate you as in most cases they have brought the form up to a new level of complexity. Almost all of these incenses have as many as five or six different oil or material sources not even counting the halmaddi/mattipal and honey base. The results are so impressive that it’s difficult to feel that even after sampling several sticks of them that the full story has been told.

I’d like to thank both the home company of Mother’s India Fragrances and their Dutch distribution company Wierook for not only making Olfactory Rescue Service aware of them, but by providing a bounty of gifts and samples in time for me to get some reviews out just before the products come to the United States (not to mention one of the most informative and descriptive English language documents I’ve ever seen for a line of incenses, something that strongly assisted my reviews). Where it was difficult to label only five incenses as the finest Nagchampa line available, now that the total is up to 19, there’s really no question that this is the top line of its format, with a fascinating and aromatically superior range that doesn’t stop to recreate any old recipes and instead uses superior essential oils and absolutes to create a wide range of impressive and intricate scents. This installment will cover the first half of these 14 new incenses with the second half to follow shortly.

The first of these incenses is Agni Nagchampa. Perhaps the most simple description is that this is more or less a musk nagchampa, but it’s far more complex than that. It’s essentially a French Musk sort of scent, which bears some comparison to Shroff’s incense of that name or even the old Blue Pearl Musk Champa, however we know from the description that the central musk scent is created from ambrette seeds. My experience with musks created this way is that they usually aren’t quite this sweet, so one has to look to the other ingredients to see how the bouquet is formed. Obviously the halmaddi and honey anchor this quite nicely at the base as they do for all of the incenses here, so it’s really the middle of the aroma where the magic is. The pivotal ingredient here is neroli or orange blossom oil, an aspect which is the first of many through these incenses that show an incredibly clever perfumery at work because it’s a scent that is mellow and doesn’t overpower while anchoring the musk to the base. The cedar seems to bring out the balsamic aspects to the scent more which both balances the neroli and ensures the fragrance doesn’t go over the top on its way out. Make no mistake, this is still a decadently rich and sweet incenses as any sweet musk would be, but you can almost feel the restraint nonetheless.

As rich and sweet as the Agni is, the cinnamon-laden Amrita Nagchampa is almost a study in contrasts. Even with the amazing halmaddi and honey base, the results are very dry and of this seven, this could be the most direct incense. The cinnamon is very beautifully drawn, in fact the description the company uses is “edible,” something easily understood with a sample. However the cinnamon does have its supporting actors, including patchouli, cedar and some unnamed woods and resins. There are some elements in this that remind me of Nippon Kodo’s Silk Road incense except with a much more genuine feel) but the comparison hints at an exotic subnote that really helps to transmute the base to support the overall dryness.

The Atma Nagchampa is also a restrained piece of work, but in this case it doesn’t transmit a single essence like the previous scent did, instead it portrays a balancing act with a number of different notes at work. What’s amazing about it is that even with so many players the composite aroma remains gentle and subtle. On top we have the dominant floral oils at work, some lavender and what seems like a closer mix of geranium and kewra (pandanus or screwpine) notes. But like several incenses among the new aromas, Mother’s have chosen to contrast these floral elements with a spicy backdrop (including clove), something the company is clearly adept at. The results are actually akin to a standard (if exceptional in quality) nag champa with a soft floral in touch. What it loses without a particularly aggressive bouquet, it gains with a gentle aura and since everything seems to work on such a subtle level, it’s one of the most difficult in this group to get a hang on. But by the last stick I had out it was really starting to get under my skin.

Bhakti Nagchampa is something of an instant classic. As mentioned with the previous incense, Bhakti goes for a floral spice mix that is extraordinary in that it seems possible to pick out the individual elements as they interact with each other. The rose/tuberose/geranium mix on the top could be the best among a number of incredible floral elements across all these incenses and this is perhaps because they not only have strong definition but they’re contrasted perfectly with the patchouli and cedar base. In fact the only question I have is whether a scent like this might lose some of this fantastic definition with aging, because the balance here is like a highwire act with all the base elements a stage for the florals to dance lightly over.

Jyoti Nagchampa has some similarities to the cinnamon heavy Amrita, but here the scent is less monochromatic and more of a tangier multi-spice blend. In fact, it seems likely some of its spicier attributes come from the mix of myrrh, vertivert and patchouli, a group of ingredients that all have great transmutational qualities in different blends. In fact any time Mother’s uses a larger amount of resins in its incenses, it seems to trigger the more balsamic and sometimes evergreen qualities of the base. The mix definitely leaves me very curious about the quality of benzoin used in the ingredients as I recognize none of the usual subnotes and a quality that is truly exquisite. Again this mosaic (which also pulls in kewra to a slight degree) really hits a great balance with a vanilla and spice presence that is just perfect.

Lila Nagchampa is a patchouli heavy incense whose other ingredients really shift the whole tonal balance you normally associate with the herb in new and fascinating ways. For one, this is an incense as sweet as the Agni or Moksha blends, something particularly unusual for something so prevalent with patchouli. Sharing the stage with the patchouli on the top is tuberose, which has already shown its effectiveness in the Bhakti, but where that incense contrasted the floral and spicy, the Lila goes for the composite approach, like a rainbow color chart changing from one end of the spectrum to the other. Undoubtedly the vetivert changes the patchouli element some, always a great partnering, but perhaps where the benzoin and oakmoss lies is where the true transmutation occurs as it falls into the sweet base. The informational material also calls chocolate as a note as a result of the benzoin and you indeed find a powdery cocoa-like subnote in the mix of all this interaction. Like so many of these beautiful scents this seems like one that will have a learning curve as long as the best incenses because it’s not at all what you’d expect in the long run. It’s better.

Moksha Nagchampa …. well if you think it couldn’t get any better than what I’ve already run through then we’d have to at least call this a gamechanger. Champa users may be familiar with a lot of the intersections between style and addition, but the incredibly lily of the valley scent (muguet) that crowns the Moksha is positively ecstatic. And Mother’s doesn’t shy from the contrasts here either, setting off on a trail of oriental woods and saffron notes that end up creating a very rich depth before giving one a floral shock that starts with the rose notes, part of which are described as “citrusy rose petals” which seem to be what I’m picking up as a slight melon-like fruitiness. It all results in the most incredible, kaleidoscopic aroma that has the feminine, floral notes of so many modern perfumes but with the depth of the traditional. I’ve had a few incenses with lily of the valley in them, but none quite so stunning as this one.

One thing you’d expect from a great company is that in expanding what was a really impressive quintet, Mother’s haven’t sat on their laurels and tried to spin similar variations off of an already established success, they’ve possibly surpassed them, or if not, they’ve added such an incredible amount of variation to their line that it breathes new life into the whole line and makes you want to go back to the original quintet for reevaluation. With each stick I became far more deeply involved with each one to the point that picking a favorite is very difficult, there’s really not a blend here I wouldn’t want consistent stock on. There’s just no question that this is the crowning line of the modern nagchampa and I’m fortunate to be able to bring seven more to your attention in the next installment.

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