Ramakrishna’s Handmade Incense / Om Shiva, Khus, Spiritual, Gulmohar

January 24, 2024 at 1:42 pm (Halmaddi / Mattipal, Incense, India, Ramkrishna's Handmade Incense, Sandalwood, Stephen, Vetivert / Khus)
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This is our second installment of reviews of Ramakrishna’s Handmade Incense vendor from Goa. (Link to first review) (Note that we tried to include links to Exotic Incense in the US, if an incense is not linked, please use the first link. These reviews are of sticks purchased directly from Goa.)

Om Shiva

If you are a fan of musky floral presentations similar to the Happy Harry “King of Vrindavan” or Sri Sai Flora, this is going to tickle your fancy. This is a natural stick with a soft charcoal masala that is finished with a brown powder that marbles into the wetness of the halmaddi content of the masala. What sets this apart is that this one smells a little less intense and my guess is that I’ve been used to a synthetic perfume and this is using more natural ingredients. The scent has the core musky scent but there is an interplay between some salty sandalwood and the sweetness of the halmaddi that gives this more dimension than the others that really stay squarely in the musky category. Knowing that more than 95% of the Indian incense market uses synthetic scent components, I still can’t say for sure if this one is in that 5%, but it is so exquisite and gentle that it feels that it might be the case.

Khus (Missing package label)

Natural stick with a soft charcoal masala hand-applied and finished with a brown powder. This smells great, in fact, most top end vetivers from other Indian incense factories are similar in notes but this smells less perfumy and more natural, not sure if they’re using an absolute or an oil but it’s definitely seemingly all-natural and charming with all the halmaddi in this. I’m guessing this is what incense used to smell like before artificial scent molecules were invented.

Spiritual

This is a natural stick with a hand-applied soft charcoal masala finished with a brown powder. I am starting to suspect that some of the Happy Hari family of incense come from ‘traditional’ recipes. This is, as far as I can tell, Pratyahara Sutra done exactly as it used to be. The Happy Hari version is more like a perfume on a charcoal extruded stick. This smells like it is made from all the individual ingredients that make up this sweet, slightly floral/slightly fruity smell. If I had to say what this smells like, it smells like an altar where fruit and flowers have been left and the fragrances have intertwined.

Gulmohar

This comes as a yellow stick with a hand-applied soft charcoal masala finished with a dark brown powder. This is an amazing agarbatti. I have encountered versions of this smell in other catalogs and this is the superior version. This is a spikenard-heavy perfume with hints of caramel, and sweetness from the halmaddi in the masala, and there is something that comes across as a touch of musk, or perhaps it’s what I’ve been suggesting is musk in many Tibetans. Either way, this is a beautiful stick and it has enough playfulness that you don’t get the same smell twice.

Future Ramakrishna reviews are pending Stephen recovering his sense of smell after a bout of COVID.

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Good Incense / Gold, Patchouli, Rose, Saffron, Vetiver + notes on other fragrances

December 9, 2023 at 4:17 pm (Good Incense, Halmaddi / Mattipal, Incense, India, Mike, Patchouli, Rose, Saffron, Vetivert / Khus)

I hadn’t put it together right away in my head, but Good Incense is something of a sister imprint to Bhagwan Incense. It seems from looking at the site that Good Incenses are more affordably priced by comparison to Bhagwan, they don’t come in the fancy boxes and are just simply presented in wrappers. But there are honestly a lot of nice incenses in this line as well, including a trend of similarly constructed incenses that present a different tradition to what I have experienced in other Indian exports. It’s a line that intrigues me quite a bit, definitely quality but not having the hallmarks of incenses more commonly seen in the west; it’s the kind of trend you hope for.

The first of these we’ll discuss is the Gold. The only clues we have are halmaddi and sweet floral notes but this is an incense that has an intriguing almost root-like nip at the top of the bouquet. It’s similar to ways I have seen patchouli or vetivert used in some incenses and it’s a note I’ve always liked a lot personally, it’s kind of green-banana in a way. There is also some level of an herb like tobacco in the mix. This is of course all grounded in a very friendly charcoal-masala mix with a lot of breadth in the middle. You can smell the halmaddi for sure, but the stated florals are too much of a mix to really identify anything specific from, but they certainly play an important component in that breadth. So overall this is a very unique incense, it’s the kind of thing you want to share with friends just to get their take on it as it’s sort of like a friendly incense modified in a slightly unique direction. I continue to remain really fascinated with it, it really keeps you on your toes.

The Good Incense Patchouli looks to be fairly close to a dusted charcoal as a style. It would not surprise me at all if this was Madhavadas sourced as there’s a lot of vanilla and sandalwood coming off the burn. Vanilla often seems fairly comfortable next to patchouli for some reason, it’s not a match I’d make on my own, but it often works as it does here. In my recent Asayu review I talked about patchouli variations to hopefully give some idea where I sit with the scent as a whole. The more premium, essential oil heavy sticks with it tend to fatigue me (probably because living in California I used to come across people wearing the oil as an aromatic), so this match-up of a more leaf-oriented scent and the vanilla/sandalwood base fronting an oil that’s a bit greener than your average essential oil is probably a bit closer to my personal preferences. That is, the greener a patchouli is the better. So not only does this hit that spot but it’s also variant from other Indian sticks that are roughly in the same region. The herb will always fall somewhere in the middle for me, I like a good one but I’ll likely come more across it in reviews than looking for it myself if that makes sense.

I’ve probably walked out my story about walking through Sacramento’s Capitol Rose Garden a dozen times by now, and I do because it sets a sort of basis for how I perceive rose. And I don’t mean something like a deep Bulgarian rose absolute or something more expensive and premium, I just mean that it’s a measure for getting what a bunch of roses smell like walking between them. I bring this up because the Good Incense Rose is shockingly good at getting this smell dead on. You’re not even just getting a general rose-direction floral scent here, it actually does smell a lot like actual roses, which is no mean feat given the costs it would take to make this actually happen. Sure it’s a little sweet and there does indeed seem to be some halmaddi here, but all this does is just give a bit of comfort and backing to the floral scent. Compared to all of the pink stick mixes across various companies, this actually comes across as being slightly more authentic and true to the actual scent. 15g at 3 euros for this is a deep bargain, I can’t even think of a deal anywhere close to this for this particular scent. I might add that this strikes me as being the same lineage as the Balsamic Amber and Gold so it’s equally as intriguing in that sense.

And to add to that lineage is a very nice Saffron Masala. This has what I might call the most on point saffron scent in an incense that one can imagine, bereft of the kind of additions you usually find with it. The caveat as always is an ingredient as rare as this doesn’t really have essential oils you can fuel an incense with but creators of it usually have something that smells like the herb that still works really nicely. In many ways it’s just the clarity of this that’s so attractive, while there’s a charcoal-halmaddi-masala base that helps to broaden the incense’s aroma (this base works really well in all of this lineage’s sticks), it doesn’t detract from this nice spicy top mix. I often find myself searching for the saffron note in an incense, it’s nice to find a masala that makes it really obvious, not to mention quite simple on top. If you like saffron this is a no-brainer. It actually gives me a little nostalgia of how saffron smelled in the incenses of the 90s.

Vetiver (vetivert) feels like a different lineage altogether and is a very interesting dry masala with a few different notes. I wouldn’t even think of vetivert being a holiday sort of scent but the way this brings out mint and foresty notes constantly reminds me of that sort of thing, neither are notes I tend to associate with most vetivert incenses but they sometimes even pop from the fresh stick. And so even though this stick has more familiar sorts of vetivert notes, it has a much broader palette which tends to send the nose out searching along the burn. Vetivert usually seems to have deeper rooty or earthy sort notes which I mentally file closer to patchouli and for sure this sort of dry masala has some similarities to patchouli dry masalas as well. But vetivert can also tend to grassy and more citrus like notes and so the more earthy part of the scent seems more like its bunched up in the middle, while these other notes play off the base in strange and unique ways. The description includes halmaddi, but in this case its presence is probably pretty minor. Overall I do think this is a cool experience for sure. I wouldn’t have considered a more earthy, rooty scent to base something almost brighter and more high altitude but it’s part of what makes this an interesting incense. It’s likely to stretch one’s own interpretation of what vetivert can do.

Some of the other Good Incenses I tried didn’t fare as well. In all of my incense exploring life I’ve never understood why Red Sandalwood is prized as an aromatic; however, putting it in a stick on its own isn’t likely to move all but the most eccentric of us. This one just smells like dull campfire wood to me, but to be fair I’ve never tried a Red Sandalwood that made me feel otherwise. The Golden Sandal is simply neither, it doesn’t even do wood and furniture polish particularly well. Mystifyingly the sandalwood in the Sandalwood Saffron can be smelled just a smidge on the fresh stick too, but overall feels a bit of a chemical mess in the burn and ultimately neither. Both of these I’d take to task with original exporter, unfortunately in the West this is the kind of thing the importer has to either absorb as costs or hope to thin stock in the catalog, maybe something a lot of readers are not particularly aware of. One feels that Benzoin Supreme may be of similar provenance to these in that it has a similar chemical or perfume finish, but at least the scent lands somewhere in the ballpark as if the resin end was refined to some end – it’s not even that bad once it gets a cloud about it, although you never do lose the chemical note in the background behind it.

I had better hopes for Sambrani. It is described as “[a] delightful herbal, menthol, mineral, floral, and vanilla scent.” I don’t have any problem with that other than the first adjective, as the extreme bitterness of the burn pretty much overwhelms everything about this mix to an eye-watering distraction. Menthol’s a tough call in incense and here a lot of its better attributes are left to an edge around the shocking remains of the rest of it. You almost have to recover after burning even a little of it. As a contrast, Summer Bouquet is just a sort of fruity floral mix and definitely not a bad incense at all, in fact I started liking it a bit more on later burns. Its supposedly made from Mt Arunachala flowers and seems to have that more natural yet maybe slightly-not-perfect burn of actual floral material rather than a lot of perfumes. It kind of hovers a bit around a harvest-like plum or grapes sort of scent. Like a lot of florals that verge fruity it’s probably not terribly memorable, but I would imagine some liking this for sure.

Both Bhagwan Incense and Good Incense have a lot I haven’t covered so do look around the catalogs a bit, the incenses come from a number of different Indian companies, and so many of these can be surprises. I understand from Eugene that this stock is just the beginning!

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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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Bhagwan Incense / Balsamic Amber, Frank & Rose, Garden of Eden, Oudh Majestic, Woody Champa + notes on other fragrances

November 10, 2023 at 11:28 am (Amber, Balsam, Beeswax, Bhagwan Incense, Champa / Durbar, Champa Flower, Floral, Frankincense, Halmaddi / Mattipal, Honey, Incense, India, Meena Perfumery Industries, Oud, Propolis, Resins, Rose, Uncategorized, Vanilla)

Bhagwan Incense is a relatively new incense company operating out of the EEU by Ukranian Eugene Andruschenko out of Paris, France and Bucharest, Romania. Bhagwan Incense is a label that fronts several Indian exports including both the familiar and the unfamiliar, in extremely beautiful packaging with mandala, paisley and other patterning that should be smart and attractive at the get-go. Also, Bhagwan “…do not sell coal-based, synthetic or perfume-dipped incense, only premium masala incense made using pure halmaddi, sandalwood powder, natural oils and attars (oils) produced with age-old methods for perfume distillation.” So in this sense they sell the sorts of incenses that will be of interest to ORS readers.

However, I am going to mention that this review is basically provisional in the sense that there has been an agreement to drop some of the Bhagwan line that overlapped another seller. While I really do feel like, to the best of my knowledge, that Bhagwan has managed to find some really good incenses that I have not seen sourced anywhere before (which I will share in these and upcoming reviews), I think some lines were crossed with some items in the catalog and nor do I think this is entirely the fault of Bhagwan. I’m not trying to stir up controversy and definitely not discussion, I’m just noting this here because I really hope I’ll be able to share more good news in the future that came out of the resolution of this. If this seems a little vague, it’s just that some of it is not my news to share and it will need some time to settle out.

The following will be reviews of some of the newly imported incenses Eugene sent for review as well as some quick stops in familiar territory (Madhavadas and Meena to name two) that I’ll include with the other reviews. Generally speaking, well-versed incense enthusiasts are likely going to find some things they know in this catalog, but I will be concentrating the most on the things I don’t recognize. There are probably roughly 15 scents in the catalog I want to get to (with some notes on others), and I’m going to start with a few real highlights.

Balsamic Amber just absolutely impressed immediately, it’s an instant hall of famer. It’s interesting but when we talk about good incenses we can spend so much time in areas (usually the woods) where resources are precious and rewards only given to the expensive, so Balsamic Amber reminds me that you can still create something excellent without having to go there. First of all it’s super rich with a lot of breadth, second it’s not hard at all to get the really wonderful balsamic quality and how it helps get an almost honeycomb-like amber in the center. Honey-like undoubtedly due to the inclusion of propolis and beeswax in the aroma. It’s wonderfully topped off with this expansive foresty vibe and a lot of cinnamon spiciness. I will admit that something like this is naturally in my wheelhouse but I am not sure I’ve ever smelled an Indian incense that does this so well. It’s one of those invigorating incenses that is perfect for a colder morning. I hope Bhagwan are able to keep this stocked a long as possible, it’s an absolute must.

I was expecting Frank & Rose to probably be Madhavadas but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that family do a purple color masala like this one and it definitely has a scent range I haven’t experienced before. And not only that, the squishiness of the stick shows it’s halmaddi based, although I would say it’s not champa-like in any way. I’m on record in several places on ORS about being usually nonplussed by Indian frankincense sticks and in probably even more places about my feelings on a wide variety of rose incenses, but this marriage feels fairly unique to me. While I have not tried a pure Bhagwan frankincense, the Rose I was sent (and will review in a later installment) was incredibly well done and it’s hard to tell if that’s what is in this. The incense is really about the collision between the two, and it is an interesting one because it seems fairly dynamic where you can get the individualities of both while mostly experiencing them interact together. I think that’s a really fine trick in a “two ingredient” incense, where it seems like the relative strengths of both vary during the burn. In fact because I wasn’t sure how this would work, I spent a bit of time with this one. The honey in the mix actually reminds me of what might happen if the Holy Smoke line went for more premium perfume oils. Strangely the way the middle meets is something almost like a confection, with some caramel or even fruit in the mix which shows that the base is as much of a player as the two ingredients listed. Its a long burner as well, and my experience was I liked this more and more with every stick.

Of the five incenses here, I’m not completely sure of the provenance of each, but Garden of Eden strikes me as at least similar to some of the Meena line. Bhagwan repackages Meena Supreme as well and while I’ve come across bootlegs before that don’t quite smell right, not only is their Supreme authentic, it seems to stay fresher in this packaging than it does in the original cardboard box which is a really nice touch. I recently reviewed a few different Meena incenses but don’t immediately notice a match up with Garden of Eden, except to say that it still feels like it has that similar note that ties many of their incenses together while perhaps being even more friendly. Bhagwan describes this as “Young, fresh, light and ethereal summer bouquet, made with the highest quality floral oils from Kerala, honey and halmaddi resin” and it’s hard to disagree with that assessment as it really is a pleasantly light, almost mild incense that you’re not as likely to have tried before. It doesn’t feel all that oil saturated, so either it’s a gentle mix or there’s a bit of wood or something in the middle. There’s also this fleeting quality that reminds me of aromatic ice cream as well, which I’ve never smelled in anything before. Garden of Eden should scratch that something different itch, especially as no other incenses in the line other than the Supreme itself are similar to this one. A really nice find.

It’s been a long time since there was a real contender to the Oud Masala from the Happy Hari family, that nearly perfect blend of masala base and at least an approximation of a decent oud to complement it. There are also a number of charcoal based ouds out there that one might not be able to pick out a specific aroma in a line up. Pure Incense have provided a wide and almost dizzying array of oud and aloeswood incenses from Madhavadas and often the issue is less the top oils than the base. I’m not sure where Oudh Majestic came from but it’s a really good charcoal oudh and has an oil mix on top that seems constructed to display something a bit better than the usual oudh tinged colognes. Mind you we caution anyone expecting real oudh notes in an incense this inexpensive, but the glass half full side of this shows that occasionally there are some really good “will pass fors” out there. I’d guess this may have come from a tincture as it still has some hints of alcohol in it, but they do not overwhelm the excellent scent. If you’re happy with the incenses just named, for sure you want to try this gem. It particularly fared well compared to what seems to be a Madhavadas-sourced Saffron Oudh that seems to have lost its power to overwhelm its base. Perhaps I got the wrong sample here as the brown colored stick looks not a bit like the one in the store photo. But I know, as with Pure Incense, that Madhavadas have different ranks to them and this scent could just be a lower rank where the oil isn’t applied as liberally. The issue with the incenses like this is that with casual use the scent really becomes the base.

Finally, in this group, is the somewhat humble Woody Champa, an incense that actually reminds me a bit of the Blue Pearl champa range both old and new. This isn’t as halmaddi squishy as, say, the Frank & Rose is, but you can definitely smell it on the stick. It does have a bit of a foresty vibe slightly reminiscent of the Balsamic Amber, and certainly the vanilla in the description is detectable, but ultimately the central champaca floral doesn’t get lost in its mildness. As someone who finds the Gold Nag Champa and variations a little bitter in places, I welcome a champa that is missing this element. Like the Garden of Eden this is a mild but pleasant and pretty incense, and one wonders if there are other champas from this exporter.

More to come in the Bhagwan line, but I wanted to start with a few highlights. Keep in mind this is a new and growing, multi-sourced line and as I’ve mentioned, there is some overlap but for now I am hoping any controversy can be avoided in the comments section. These five are at least brand new to my nose and very good and I can wholeheartedly recommend them all.

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Temple of Incense / Purple Rain, Radha, Sandalwood Extreme, Shakti

August 12, 2021 at 5:29 am (Champa Flower, Fruit, Halmaddi / Mattipal, Incense, India, Lotus, Mike, Rose, Sandalwood, Temple of Incense)

Temple of Incense Part 4
Temple of Incense Part 6
The entire Temple of Incense review series can be found at the Incense Reviews Index

Temple of Incense have such a large line of incenses that it feels like they come from different manufacturers in India or at least there are large variations in recipes. We’ve noted several occurrences where there is overlap with the manufacturers of Happy Hari incenses and yet Purple Rain and the Rose Absolute strike me more like Madhavadas family incenses. This provides for a great amount of variety, although from a reviewing perspective, especially after recent reviews on the Designs by Deekay and Happy Hari lines, it is easier to see that the tradition of western companies arranging for incense manufacturing from India and putting their own branding on it can end up being somewhat blurry. A lot of what we learn tends to be from analyzing various incenses that seem the same from brand to brand. We will note similarities in recipes, but may not always have the objective stance to do anything other than guess what lineage an incense comes from.

Madhavadas family incenses often tend to be dry masalas with a very similar base so whether you’re buying Primo or Pure Incense (or maybe Triloka or Ganesha etc), you will start to become quickly familiar with it. The issue with this base is it can be fatiguing in large quantities because it imparts such a similar scent to all of their incenses that they often smell similar even when the note changes. On the other hand this becomes less of an issue when the perfumes are finer. In a line like Temple of Incense, Madhavadas-style masalas are a bit more infrequent but they do occasionally pop up. With an ingredient listing of champa flower and blue lotus, Purple Rain is perhaps not surprising in that it is reminiscent of the Pure Incense Blue Lotus or maybe earlier Triloka lotus incenses, although it is not exactly the same. The champa flower oil seems to make this one quite a bit sweeter than the lotus on its own. It is an intensely floral incense but fortunately without any real off notes. I would guess this one could be easily cloying in larger quantities so it seems best used as an occasional. I do smell a bit of that base Madhavadhas like masala scent but the stick is thin enough to not overpower the perfume.

Radha is one of Temple of Incense’s several rose-fronted incenses and it lists Rose de Mai, Rose Wardia and Rose Absolute, so it’s absolutely no surprise that the Forest Fruits at the end get a bit lost in all that floral wallop even if the obvious intent was to make this a fruitier floral blend. This is a very gorgeous, full-rounded rose charcoal incense, and it feels like the fruitiness gives this a bit more of a cherry or berry-like sub-element, but even with all these strong floral perfumes, part of the base seems slightly more akin to some of the more attar-like elements found in other TOI incenses. I’ve probably gone on record on ORS that I don’t tend to lean to florals as often, but this is the kind of incense that could change my mind on that. I work (or maybe used to work) across from the California State Capitol Park Rose Garden so I have a pretty good idea of what it smells like walking through a garden of them, and while this isn’t exactly going for that kind of thing, it still has enough rose in it to feel pretty authentic. It’s very impressive, very beautiful and an absolute must.

And now we get back to the incense I spoke of in our first installment, the great Sandalwood Extreme that made me absolutely certain I was in a spectacular line of incenses. I will say it again or maybe just for the first time but there is no western Indian incense importer I know of doing better sandalwood incenses than Temple of Incense and it’s not just this one, which is the best of the three, but the other two (Sandalwood and Banaras Sandalwood) are nearly as brilliant (and much more affordable). The only way I can describe in words why these are better is because of the resolution of the oils, they have that “something else” that rises above the merely woody and demonstrates why distillation can often bring qualities out of of the wood that even high quality sandalwood on its own can’t. This is the ultimate sandalwood punch and even its charcoal format can’t get in the way of what a knock out this is, in fact this is one of the rare cases where the oils mask the undesirable elements of a charcoal nearly perfectly. Even the old Shroff sandalwood charcoal doesn’t have this kind of feeling of nostalgia, it just brought me immediately back to a time where I was just discovering incense. Mind you you’re only getting 12 sticks for maybe the highest price in the stick line, but it’s well worth it. Of course you’re not losing much at all going for one of the line’s other sandalwoods (and more of that in later installments). [9/10/21 NOTE: There is a near-equivalent at Absolute Bliss called Natural Mysore Sandal.]

Finally we get to the third of TOI’s thick baton style wonders, the stupendously purple floral Shakti. Rose, halmaddi and exquisite oils indeed. Just like Shiv and Ganesha this is candy-coated floral champa-like goodness at its very best. It sheds purple dust everywhere and is an incense so good I get mild anxiety over losing even a little bit of it. Honestly I think all of these thick sticks are really something of the same family, they all have an internal champa-like sweetness but vary in the floral profile. The rose here isn’t like quite as noticeable as it is in the, say Radha above or the line’s Indian Rose, but it mixes in with a whole scent profile that is tremendously pleasant. I sense some fruit in the mix, a bit of vanilla and a whole sort of floral range (violet? carnation? champa flower?) that would keep me busy for days. If you’re a traditional incense fan, moderns aren’t usually along the same lines but this is the kind of modern incense I can really get behind. Like the Shiv it’s almost akin to the old Dhuni Frangipani scent, an incense that nearly broke my heart when it vanished so maybe now is a good time to stock up. It is a sweet, sugary incense confection.

Anyway we will be taking a little longer of a break on the regular series of Temple of Incense line and of course coming back to them at some point in coming weeks. I believe Stephen will be jumping in as well. But hopefully the last five articles will have given everyone a head start into such a fantastic Indian incense line and these are by no means the end of the really great ones so there will be more to come. Please show this family your support and enjoy the many treasures they have to offer – this is the real deal.

5 Comments

Temple of Incense / Krishna, Om Masala, Oudh, Perky Pandit

August 5, 2021 at 4:35 am (Fig / Audumber, Halmaddi / Mattipal, Incense, India, Mike, Musk, Temple of Incense, Vetivert / Khus, Woods)

Temple of Incense Part 3
Temple of Incense Part 5
The entire Temple of Incense review series can be found at the Incense Reviews Index

I began writing this the day after I received my third order from the wonderful Temple of Incense folks across a country and an ocean and am posting a little after my fourth. As you go into the line you realize just how large the scope is. If you have been into Indian incense for a while then a journey through their catalog is like discovering new friends but also rediscovering old ones. I find as much pleasure out of this feeling that wow I have not smelled this scent in something like 25 years as I do coming across something surprisingly fresh and new. This is one thing you discover fairly fast with ToI and that’s this sort of modern approach from a traditional foundation feel. Even when the line goes into fruity incenses or perfumed incenses there’s still this feeling that nothing is synthetic or off, which often allows you to sort of reappraise some modern variations. I’m still sort of mindboggled they’ve managed a line that is well over 50 incenses now. We also continue to to be aware that Temple of Incense and the Happy Hari and associates have a lot of shared scents and will point those out whenever possible, but this gives people options in the US and UK. So onto batch four…

Krishna has a woods, vetivert and musk mix and it may be extremely close to what you would imagine for such a description. To me this is a dyed in the wool Indian traditional that feels like it’s stripped down almost to its bare essentials. In terms of the woods this does have something of a sandalwood presence, although not so much in the sense of the powerful sandalwoods used in the more specific incenses in the line, but a more lighter wood content. But it’s also background for the very clear vetivert and musk mix, a pair that do go fairly well together, earthy and sweet. So overall this is going for something of a more simpler, basic blend and overall it makes it a somewhat lighter and milder affair. It’s an incense that calms rather than stimulates.

In a lot of Indian incense reviews I’ll be able to go hey this one smells like Satya Natural or Honey Dust, or this one reminds me of Mystic Temple. It’s this sort of personal history of having known the masala style through numerous variations sold by all sorts of companies and recognizing similarities in not only recipes but often the dyed end of a bamboo stick that helps to solidify that connection. However, there are also times like with Om Masala where you are smelling something almost painfully familiar where memory just can not provide the link back to history. But this recipe too used to be a very common one and it just brings me right back to they heyday of all the really great champas. In fact Om Masala even has halmaddi resin as an ingredient along with strong woody overtones. So without remembering previous iterations I can say for sure this one is a classic reborn. Maybe it was something of a specifically named spice champa because you get this whole mix of woods, spices, musk and resin sweetness in the mix. But overall if you want to check out something that smells exactly as I remember it from 25 years ago this is a perfect pick. Highly recommended for sure.

I’ve mentioned before that some Temple of Incense scents have a very strong correlation with those in the Happy Hari Line and there’s no question their Oudh is right in the pocket there with the Happy Hari Oud Masala. This agarwood masala is undoubtedly impressive as long as it has this kind of complex oudh oil in the mix and I’d be splitting hairs comparing the two incenses. This is a brash, powerful, spicy and earthy scent that really has to be tried, whichever brand you pick, and unless you want to try everything you might only pick one or the other. But it’s unquestionably an Indian incense essential and while oud masalas are really nothing like Japanese aloeswoods they have a whole range of complexities that make them a different kind of joy. Think of a really high quality cologne with a strong woody profile and you’re getting close. Whether you pick Happy Hari’s Oud masala or this one, it’s an essential for the collection.

And after two blazingly powerful incenses, Perky Pandit and it’s single audumber note seems like a complete change of pace. This is apparently an aromatic from the Indian Fig Tree and it is a very quiet, mild aroma that is really utterly unique and not comparable to anything else. It’s something of a combination of dry, slightly woody, and mildly fruity elements and it really doesn’t remind me so much of the aroma of your regular fig except very fleetingly. It feels like it’s still based in a masala format with champa characteristics and has those elements but they’ve been toned down enough to fit the mildness of the top note. After a few sticks I’m not super sure about this one as while its unique in its overall tone, it doesn’t cut through so much with any sort of distinctiveness. Honestly I’d probably mostly recommend this to someone who wants a quiet more subtle scent, but sure enough if part of your love for incense is getting used to a wide variety of scents than this will surely be a new one for your nose.

4 Comments

Halmaddi available

September 15, 2011 at 10:43 pm (Halmaddi / Mattipal, Miscellaneous, Ross)

Andrew at Equinox Aromatics has managed to source and bring into the US real Halmaddi.  You can check it out at the link above, It is a brown grey rather sticky substance that needs to be stored in water, so working with it will be “interesting”. You can expect to see incenses using it coming out fairly soon. At least in my case, and I am pretty sure in a number of others, they will be built around natural ingredients. The only problem with this is the cost factor of  of the essential oils and absolutes now days 🙂

OK, back to the laboratory..oh no, the musk ox is loose again!

-Ross

6 Comments

Top Ten, July 2011

August 1, 2011 at 9:50 pm (Agarwood / Aloeswood / Eaglewood, Ambergris, Baieido, Fred Soll, Halmaddi / Mattipal, Kyara, Kyukyodo, Mermade Magickal Arts, Ross, Sandalwood, Tennendo)

I put these together based on what I have been most drawn to during the month, which tends to change to some degree as we progress through the year. I am really liking the incenses made by the smaller makers more and more. They can make small batches and take some chances that the larger companies will not. So you can find some really interesting offerings from them, plus many of them use “non-traditional” mixes or materials that produce some real winners. I am hoping to produce a listing of the “niche” or smaller makers, if you know of any that are not mentioned here at ORS, please let us know.

Baieido’s Kyara Kokoh: I actually hide the box of this from myself, so it will last longer 🙂

On a lot of different levels this is incense as art; it is also a masterpiece of its kind. You can see our reviews on it within the blog. It really is amazing. If you get the chance, just go for it. It is not going to get any cheaper. I do wonder why Baieido does not offer a sampler.

Tennendo”s Tensei: This is a really nice and also reasonably priced aloeswood blend. It is nicely balanced with a distinctive overall scent that somehow goes from a little spicy to smooth from moment to moment. I have been burning this a lot lately because, yes, it’s a great deal and also a wonderful backround scent in a room that can set up a nice focused environment.

Kyukyodo’s  Mukusa no Takimono: This is a set of five different mini sticks that mimic the scent of the classic five  kneaded incenses. They are distinctive, rich and very good. There is also some pretty serious Aloeswoods in these. Many people use them for the tea ceremony. I have heard that Kyukyodo is not making this set anymore and I do not see it in the current catalog, which means that this will be quite a limited time offering. Think of it as a real treat.

Kyukyodo’s Akikaze: This comes in a large wooden box, nestled inside is a stunning silk wrapped tube, done up like a scroll. This is sort of along the lines of Sho Ran Koh, but it is a lot more refined with the wood notes riding across the perfumes and a subtle musk note mixed in. Kyukyodo produces what are probably the best perfumed incenses going. There never seem to be any of the synthetic notes that most others have, which is most likely one of the reasons that they have a great reputation and are not inexpensive, but they are also worth it. Japan Incense might have a box or two of this and the Mukusa no Takimono above. But they go fast.

Kunmeido Reiryo koh (Aloeswood): The Aloeswood blend is a completely different animal from the Sandalwood take on this. It is a very rich woody scent with the distinctive greenish notes of fenugreek mixed in. There is a nice balance between the different layers going on and is great for meditation, it’s also nice to use at bedtime. A real winner at a good price.

Kunmeido Kyara Tenpyo or Asuka: These two are the Reiryo Koh style taken to the height of complexity and nuance. There is a real art in the mix of woods and spices and herbs that compose these two sticks.. The Kyara Tenpyo pulls out all the stops and every stick reveals new aspects, the Asuka is very similar, it might come down to personal preference and how much you like this style, not to mention your bank account J

Baieido’s Kokonoe koh (Jinkoya Sakubei Series): This is a very dry and rich Sandalwood blend done in a style from the eighteenth century. It is very different from any other sandalwood I can think of and is a nice change of pace. It has a lot of presence and at the same time can really set the mood. It is great for meditation or quite moments.

Mermade’s Sanctuary Loose Blend:  Hougary Frankincense and white Sage make for a wonderful Spring/Summer mix. It’s clean and does a great job of cleaning out a space on so many levels. A one ounce jar that can last for a while with all the best ingredients.

Fred Soll’s Amber Honey:  Fred Solls makes some great incense at a great price. I really like his Amber Honey; it has a wonderful balance to it where all the notes are in harmony with each other. It’s also not too sweet or cloying. It is one of the very few incenses anywhere to use ambergris. I noticed that Solls has cut his line back somewhat because of the halmaddi shortage, which in one way is kind of reassuring, he is holding true to a high quality standard. We can only hope that a new source makes it to his doors soon. He really is so very good at blending.

Blue Star Incense’s Lavender:  These are very inexpensive and they rock! The Lavender scent is beautiful, fresh, very much like breathing in a large gathering of fresh lavender flowers. The sticks are thick (think Tibetan) and really you don’t need to use an entire one (however, don’t let me hold you back). Also the Rose is very nice to. Good, real floral note incense, that uses real essential oils, is not easy to make; nor is it inexpensive to produce. William does an amazing job, don’t miss these.

I notce in my internet searches that both Aloeswood and Sandalwood(in Japan) prices just went up somewhere between 20% to at least 30%. This, coupled with the decline of the dollar, means that incense prices are going to be going up, real soon. Sooo,  if there is something that you have been eyeballing for awhile you might want to go for it now, before the prices gets way worse or, heavens forbid we get formula changes to offset materials availability. That is the other thing going on, the woods are getting harder to source which also drives the prices up.

10 Comments

Dhuni / Citronella, Hari Om, Kashi, Khus, Lotus Flower, Moksha, Nag Champa, Special Amber (Discontinued Line)

January 5, 2011 at 8:58 am (Amber, Champa / Durbar, Citronella / Lemongrass, Dhuni, Discontinued, Floral, Halmaddi / Mattipal, Honey, India, Lotus, Mike, Sandalwood, Vanilla)

New incense company Dhuni came to our attention a while back thanks to our friend Hamid and then not long after the owner Piers dropped by Olfactory Rescue Service and kindly sent some samples along. What was immediately clear is that this series of incenses is one of the few lines in Indian incense one might consider connoisseur or gourmet. Like with the Mother’s India Fragrances line we recently covered, most of the Dhuni incenses have a distinct halmaddi presence, although I don’t detect so much the honey pairing as not all of these scents are sweet.

The sticks are generally a bit larger than your usual champa or durbar style and both Kashi and especially the Special Amber are almost what I’d call flora style and even evince some of the wonderful aromatic attributes of those incenses. These are all extremely rich and quality scents and I have the distinct wish, like I did when Mother’s used to only have five fragrances, that there are plans to expand this line. Like that venerable company, Dhuni’s incenses are virtually at the apex of quality Indian incenses and are essential for those who love good champas.

Citronella could almost be classified as a lemongrass champa, with the citronella oil content combining about equally with the halmaddi and base. It’s a very cooling incense with few surprises, after all citronella oil tends to have a very linear profile. What’s immediately noticeable is there’s enough halmaddi in the mix to feature a very strong balsamic back note. I’ll admit, I’m not personally huge for citronella incenses, but my experiences have almost all been with oil based charcoals and Dhuni’s version is far superior to any of these with a much better balance of base and oils. In the end it might be the finest citronella incense you can buy.

Hari Om is the first of Dhuni’s classics and the first of several here that remind me of the glory days of halmaddi champa incense. Like several of the blends here there are usually so many ingredients involved that it’s really difficult to get a sense of the single elements involved. With Hari Om the halmaddi and sandalwood are particularly noticeable here and there’s also a nice tough of vanilla in the mix reminiscent of Mystic Temple’s Vanilla Amber Champa. But this vanilla element takes a much different direction due to so many of the herbal elements coming from the oil mix, including what seems like a light touch of patchouli in the mix. In the end this has a scent profile much more complex than a few sticks might be able to imply meaning this should have a long and interesting learning curve.

Kashi is very much a thick stick version of a scent you may be familiar with as Honey Dust (Incense from India), Vanilla (Mystic Temple), Satya Natural or Shanti (Purelands), but this is much more like what the aroma used to smell like before Indian incense went through so many ingredient changes. It’s quite a bit more complex and now it’s pretty easy to see how the halmaddi lifts the whole thing, most likely because the balsamic elements help to make sure this doesn’t get overly cloying. This evergreenish quality, like in the Citronella, helps to make this a cooling sort of incense. It still has the honey and vanilla characteristics typical of the scent but the whole profile feels much more balanced and friendly. If you’ve never tried any of the incenses mentioned as similar, be sure to start with this one and don’t look back.

Vetivert isn’t generally a scent you’ll find in an incense range this small, but Dhuni’s Khus embeds this wonderful scent in a champa for startling effect, in fact this could be my favorite of the whole group. I’ve already mentioned that both Citronella and Kashi are cooling, but the Khus brings that element to an almost arctic level. Naturally this has a green, leafy and calming vetivert note on top that’s really beautiful and it melds absolutely perfectly here with the ubiquitous balsamic halmaddi content. It’s a very grounding incense and truly one of the market’s finest vetiverts, although I suppose half of the battle is won with such a great base. There’s even a very slight note that is reminiscent of forest resin blends.

Lotus Flower is a very different incense and like almost every Lotus incense you can name, this is completely unique. It’s a soft floral-fronted champa incense whose base seems to be fairly similar to the Kashi. In general it’s soft, sweet and friendly and if there’s any criticism to be had it’s that over the burn there’s perhaps too much linearity which leads me to believe it’s a stick best taken in smaller doses. This is a fairly common issue with floral champas, although again, the ingredients here are so quality that it’s probably only an issue of taste.

Moksha isn’t terribly different from the Lotus Flower in that it also has a floral top note that’s simialr, but this incense isn’t quite so linear and is a little more intricate. There’s a touch of citrus in the mix as well as some herbal qualities that are difficult to identify but which help to ensure this has something of a wilder streak in it. The sandalwood content also seems to be a bit stronger here than in the other line’s incenses. It’s perhaps a little too close to Lotus Flower to be in such a small line, but I’d have to pick this one between the two as it’s a lot more interesting.

If I was to recommend one of the many “vanilla” nag champas on the market, it would have to be this one as it’s easily the most authentic Nag Champa I’ve come across in the modern age, even more so than Shantimalai’s red box version, which is perhaps this scent’s closest equivalent. No doubt this is due to the halmaddi content in the mix, which if it isn’t high enough to make this gooey like in the old days is certainly high enough to give the scent the balsalmic backdrop it needs. Overall this is a nag champa that tends to a much drier and less overtly sweet bouquet with a distinct sandalwood strength to help bring out its richness. This one’s essential.

Special Amber is Dhuni’s thickest stick and it packs an incredibly scent wallop like most sticks of its sizes. This is really unlike any amber you’ll ever try and even though a lot of the incense is apparently created from ground up amber resin, the scent also seems to have a powerful perfume oil on top to give it some similar qualities to incenses I used to see referred to as Triple Amber, in that these qualities tend to come from three different angles for something exquisitely deluxe. In fact of all of Dhuni’s scents this could be the most intricate, even after several samples I only felt like I was surveying the surface of what is obviously an incredibly deluxe amber.

The verdict is more or less simple, this is a company that Indian incense shoppers will need to add right next to their Mothers, Shroff, and Pure Incense lists. I really can’t wait to see this company expand the line to more scents as this is an audacious start. And for US customers, you can also now find these at Essence of the Ages.

32 Comments

October Top 10

October 27, 2010 at 10:16 am (Agarwood / Aloeswood / Eaglewood, Amber, Ambergris, Baieido, Champa / Durbar, Fred Soll, Halmaddi / Mattipal, Incense Top 10 Lists, India, Japan, Kyara, Kyukyodo, Mike, Mother's India Fragrances, Musk, Nippon Kodo, Pine / Pinon, Sandalwood, Shoyeido, Shroff Channabasappa, Spice (Cinnamon Clove Nutmeg etc.), Spikenard / Jatamansi, Tennendo, United States, Vanilla, Yamadamatsu)

  1. Mother’s India Fragrances – Om Nag Champa  I don’t mean to take much attention away from all of the other excellent incenses in the Mother’s series, but there’s something about this one that’s hit a bullseye with me, to the point where I ran out my first 20 stick package of this about a month or so after I received it. However in stocking it deeper in the smaller packages, I noticed the batches were a little different and it’s something I’ve been wondering about in terms of aromatic differences as the Om I started with really is something of a triangular balancing act and the small package scent falls perhaps a little short. But generally speaking this works for me because I love an incense with a perfect cinnamon/cassia note and this one, at least in the big package has that to an almost addictive state.
  2. Shoyeido / Premium / Myo-Ho  I find this to be one of the greatest incenses period, definitely my favorite of the top 3 premiums and I love the effect it has on company when they first get the aroma. The liquerish sweetness and dark kyara and aloeswood notes mesh just about perfectly in this one.
  3. Baieido / Ogurayama Aloeswood  I still find this a natural miracle, it just never ceases to astound me that you can get this much aroma from a small piece of this wood. I mean you can literally get 3-4 hours of it when you get the right temperature and I spend most of it double taking, going yeah it really is that little chip doing that. I might actually slightly prefer the Hakusui in terms of its spiciness but I think the resin might actually be a bit more intense in the Ogurayama. Anyway this is about as close to incense nirvana as it gets for me.
  4. Fred Soll / Red Sandalwood  Like many Solls this does have the penchant to not stay lit, but that’s really its only weakness. Like Shroff’s Red Sandal, this is a spicier take on a sandalwood incense, showing a totally different facet of the wood due to the cinnamon-ish notes. With Soll’s version you get that combination mixed in with that southwestern woodsy/resiny vibe to great effect. It’s also one of the mellower Solls and seems to have less powerful oils than they usually do.
  5. Tennendo / Enkuu  This is always a perennial favorite in my book, in fact long time readers might know that this is one of the most common incenses in the top ten lists here. I think that’s largely because so many of the top end incenses have kyara and are thus very sweet, Enkuu is more at the apex of the drier spicy end, for its kind there are really few better incenses. And even after a year or two since I first tried it, I still find it strikingly original and only find it mildly comparative to other high end aloeswood/spikenard mixes.
  6. Fred Soll / Nag Champa with Amber and Vanilla  I don’t bring out the Soll champas very often as for a couple of years now they’ve shown nothing but delays in terms of restocking these scents, no doubt due to the usual shortages. But when I do I’m always completely bowled over by how great these are, particularly in the realms of the sugary sweet. This one’s about as rich and amazing as you can imagine, perhaps even too much so for a small room, but perfect for these late warm California summers outside where it can penetrate with even a small wind.
  7. Yamadamatsu / Kumoi Koh  Another absolute classic in my book, an oil and woods mix that is rich, spicy and animalistic, so strong that you can get an idea of its scent just from the fresh stick. It’s similar to one or two of the coils that haven’t been imported here yet that clearly use some ingredients you don’t usually find in incenses at this level of strength. Very exotic and heady.
  8. Kyukyodo / (several)  Clearly the top catalog whose entry to US shores seems to be problematic at the very least. Sure you can find Sho-Ran-Koh and Azusa these days, but there are just a good dozen incenses or so that just badly need to be imported that haven’t ever been over here, such as the incredible aloeswood Akikaze or even the stunning and much lower end Benizakura or one of the really great high quality sandalwood based incenses Gyokurankoh. Oh and RIP Shiun and Yumemachi, what a pair to be deleted!
  9. Nippon Kodo / Tokusen Kyara Taikan  Readers may not fully be aware that if you don’t count the regular Kyara Taikan or Kongo, which I don’t, this is actually the lowest incense on a scale that goes up to what seems like the world’s most expensive stick incense, the $2500 Gokujyo Kyara Fugaku. I think you’d only have to pay $120 something for the Tokusen Kyara Taikan, which is actually an excellent stick in that it drops some of the more perfumy sweet aspects of the straight Kyara Taikan for a more elegant result. It’s a shame these are so breakable and thin, but they do pack quite a wallop.
  10. Shroff / Akash Ganga  I’ve always found this an odd scent because it’s one if not the only incenses in the Dry Masala range that shares the yellow boxes with the Semi-Drys, and I can see why as it seems to fall somewhere in the middle. I find this a very unusual variant on the “desert flower” sort of scents in that it doesn’t have the heavy camphorous notes they usually have or the sort of sickly sweet perfumes. And as a result it strikes me as a very mysterious scent with a depth that continues to make me go through my supplies very fast.

As always feel free to share with us what amazed you this month!

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