Pushkar Temple Incense / 100g / Gugal, Hari Dhoop, Green Loban, Pink Loban

November 19, 2023 at 11:37 am (Benzoin (Loban), Guggul, India, Loban, Mike, Pushkar Temple Incense)

According to Pilgrims Fair Trade (PFT), Pushkar Temple (PT) Incense is a “Producer of natural traditional Indian [incense] for prayer, pooja and meditation from the Holy city of Pushkar, Rajasthan.” As such it’s something of a separate line compared to most of the incenses coming out of Mumbai and Bangladore. Pushkar Temple Incense exports a healthy range of different incenses and it looks like they’re sold by a number of different vendors; however, the largest range appears to be sold by PFT and so the links will be going to the store I bought it from, PFT’s Etsy shop. Note they also sell the same incenses through their website as well as on ebay but PFT moved remaining stock to the Etsy in anticipation of this review as the link addresses change when they are out of stock. One other seller, I noticed, repackages them under their own names, which probably will add some confusion to the mix. I will just note that there probably are roughly 30-40 incenses in the PT catalog and at the end of the series, I may check in to see if I missed anything and remedy what we’re missing later. I ordered from PFT twice and the service was exemplary both times. Do note that PFT also regularly restock so it’s worth checking back if something that sounds interesting is out of stock (I will let readers know they’re back as well).

First of all we’re going to get a few incenses out of the way that aren’t necessarily my favorites in the catalog, but please note that there are a lot of very extraordinary and high quality incenses in the PT catalog and even an incense or two in this installment are better representations of their aromas than you’re likely to find elsewhere and reviews of all of these are coming in future installments. So it’s always good to pay attention to ingredients that I am just naturally not all that fond of no matter how well they’re done, you might very well like some of these better. I am having to divvy them up in groups and for the 100g batches which I will start with, they roughly split up as floras, and two more or less miscellaneous groups, of which we’re going to do the smaller and lesser group first. Keep in mind that, postage aside, 100g of the first incense I will talk about is showing the day before publishing as $6.48 for 100g which is a tremendous price even when you include international postage. The 50g incenses roughly fall in the same price range so with an exception or two they tend to contain the line’s more premium incenses. These I will run in groups after the 100gs and I believe there should be about six installments at 4-5 incenses apieces on those. So let’s get started, there’s a lot to go through!

Gugal is a gum that is often used in place of myrrh (in fact my initial notes stated that this was like the Pushkar version of AB’s King of Myrrh, but it’s not that sort of quality). Gugal (or guggal sometimes) always struck me as mediocre whether it’s the pure resin itself or any stick created from it (and does sort of smell like cheap myrrh). However, the bitterness in this stick does not lie at the fault of the resin itself, which is largely unremarkable, it smells to me that there’s been some sort of non-sandalwood wood content to base the incense and perhaps a distillation of the resin into a perfume. That is, it’s not only bitter but there’s some sort of sour quality as well. You will find from many other PT incenses that most of their incenses are never this harsh, so it feels like a bit of an anomaly. This does relate to the lobans a paragraph down, as gugal is sometimes a presence in those as well.

Hari Dhoop is a very difficult incense to parse simply as it isn’t a dhoop in the most traditional sense (these often don’t have bamboo cores and are shaped like logs). It may be an attempt to do something similar in a stick form and it does present a perfume that sort of reminds me of a dhoop or two, but the perfume is also kind of sour and a little off-putting. It’s a lightly dusted charcoal that starts with a sort of powdery kind of background that is not particularly uncommon in this format and then seems to build something sweet on that but it’s almost more like what happens if you burn your chocolate chip cookies in the oven. In my initial notes, I found that this burnt smell may be due to actual floral material combusting, but it’s hard to know for sure without knowing the ingredients. Incenses like this always make you question whether or not this is an aroma that goes over much better in the east, but it’s hard to recommend simply because a continued burn over the stick just doesn’t sit well. Like the Gugal it becomes abrasive over time.

I tend to feel the same about a lot of Loban incenses, but the two here are actually somewhat refined and feel more perfume based rather than being dominated by that sort of gravel-like middle that cheaper lobans have. These types of sticks are often built from cheap benzoin, guggal, frankincense or other resins and often resemble the least premium of catholic church resins.

I bought the green-tipped Loban on my first major batch order from PFT and the pink seemed to be added a bit later, ultimately both may be too close in aroma to be particularly distinguishable. The green tipped is called Green Loban on the PFT Etsy site but just Loban on the PT packaging. It is actually quite refined for a loban, having a level of oil in the middle that is like very passable tree resins. There still is some level of that sort of low quality frakincense gravel smell on the outside, but in a way, a small quantity of this still kind of slots it nicely as a loban (the absolute finest loban I have ever tried is the premium in the cylindrical packaging at Vedic Vaani which actually doesn’t have any gravel of the sort). I would suspect, despite my reservations, that lobans are still popular enough to show up in so many catalogs, so people might like this better than I do. (I’ll note that I see ads for like 1000g batches of lobans, so they are not unpopular, even in the west apparently.) Anyway, this Green Loban seems to find itself in an acceptable middle, and there are almost foresty or pine like notes at the very tippy top that will likely inspire me to hang onto this batch for a while. But as a loban it can’t completely avoid what are harsher notes, some level of bitterness you get from inferior resin, a sort of astringency and the ever-present smell of heated rock. These aspects are just not as obtrusive as they often can be, which is certain a plus.

The Pink Loban is a bit milder, a bit richer, and definitely less harsh. but it’s still close enough to the Green Loban that you really only need one. I’d pick this one because the heated rock/gravel tones have largely been refined out and it has a little more inner breadth to it. There are even some sweeter undertones, implying that oils are taking even more of the aromatic burden from resins. It sort of proffers the question which is how much of the cheaper resin bitter element can vanish before an incense is no longer a loban? Needless to say though, this one may have been discontinued and there is only one left as I write this, so its uncertain if it will be available again. It’s certainly one of the better lobans I have tried.

Stick with me, it gets even better from here…

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Ramakrishna’s Handmade Incense / Special Nag Champa, Special Loban, Special Ramkrishna, Dhuni

November 20, 2022 at 9:27 pm (Benzoin (Loban), Champa Flower, Incense, India, Loban, Ramkrishna's Handmade Incense, Sandalwood, Stephen)

In my past few years of exploring Indian-styled incense from multiple different establishments claiming things like ‘all-natural’ and ‘handmade’ and similar, I kept wondering if there was some sort of smallish operation doing things in a more old-fashioned way, using the more traditional ingredients rather than perfumes and synthetic substitutes that are common in 95% of the Indian Incense world.

The problem is that if you read everyone’s marketing copy, they all claim they are “all-natural” using traditional recipes. So in the end, the proof is in the product.

I first was suggested by a friend that I might want to check out this expensive shop on eBay that sold handmade incense. It took me a while to get around to it because it didn’t look all that fancy. Finally, I made my order. I have been excited to try everything they make since making this order. This is really wonderful incense.

If you find yourself interested in purchasing a larger assortment and don’t want to pay eBay prices, the seller, Goa Bay Trading, will also sell to you in rupees on their website and send you a Paypal invoice and add 1000 rupees for shipping/handling. I’ve been finding their service good, though the site seems a bit sketchy since it doesn’t have a proper checkout, they send you a Paypal invoice.

I’m going to start with a few I think are winners. First, they put ‘special’ in front of several sticks and this seems to mean that the sticks are thicker with extra halmaddi, so much so that you have to peel these thick sticks apart from each other.

Special Nag Champa

I am relatively new to appreciating Indian-style incense. I don’t truly know if this is what the old incense was like but this stick was kind of mashed because it is so soft, flattened in places. It is a thick hand-rolled masala dusted with brown finishing powder. As a Nag Champa, this goes in some kind of apple-pie and orange blossom direction with cinnamon, apple, and orange blossoms. I don’t get the typical salty sandalwood/Champa flowers scent of a nag champa but then when I dig down and put my nose in the smoke I start smelling like these thin angel hair threads of nag champa smells mixed in with the other smells. The more I lit these, the more I like them. They have a complicated bouquet dancing around a recognizable core of the “Nag Champa” scent. I’d rate this 9/10.

Special Loban

I have encountered Loban to smell like a wide range of things, despite it actually supposedly translating to benzoin. Note in the picture that this one crumbles and be careful because I had this fall apart as it got exposed to air. This is a natural stick with a very soft masala that crumbles a bit but can be mushed back together, it is finished with a brown powder that marbles into the moisture of the masala. This is unlike any of the Loban sticks Vedic Vaani or other suppliers sell, and is a really strong masala that seems to be made from halmaddi and loban and sandalwood and smells like all three are the highest quality. The smells blend together and create a magic carpet ride of scent that I imagine Mike will say reminds him of something he used to get from Mystic Temple. I really like this one, definitely a 9/10.

Special Ramkrishna

This is a deluxe version of “Ramkrishna” in all dimensions, it is thicker, softer, and easy to mush around, in fact, they kind of stick together and you have to ‘peel’ the sticks apart in the package. They’ve been misshapen by shipping somewhat. Otherwise, this is the regular Ramkrishna turned up to 11, it is sweeter, more expansive, the floral note is both more present and more mysterious, and feels like instead of an attar they went for the real essentials. This is a very charming stick and makes me immediately happy to be smelling it. It’s really just a very familiar smell yet somehow this is like going from a Prius to a Rolls Royce while keeping the whole smell mostly the same, there is none of the ‘cosmetic’ smell I got from the non-special Ramkrishna, just what I take to be geranium and a maybe a drop of rose. 8/10

Dhuni

Like most Ramakrishna’s, this appears like many others, natural stick, soft charcoal masala, and light brown powder finish. This has a sharp musk different than other musks, it has a sweet and vanilla note but otherwise, it’s got a funky BO-but-in-a-good-way kind of scent. Also, urine notes but also in a good way. I realize that adding ‘but in a good way’ to both BO and urine might be suspect but I have a hard time describing this musk other than it has notes from both but neither are the repugnant notes. I really tend to like when incense gets funky and takes me to a barnyard or similar olfactory experience. This is one of the more animal-like musks I’ve encountered and surprisingly more musky than the ‘Musk’ or ‘Kasturi’ sticks from these artists. 9/10

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Mayraj / Loban Bathi; Pradhan Perfumers / Royal Life; Saranya Traders / Saranya Supreme; Sree Trading Co. / Sree Sidhi Ganesh; Sri Aurobindo Ashram Cottage Industries / No. 14 Sandalwood; Unknown / Mysore Sandalwood

September 29, 2022 at 1:08 pm (Benzoin (Loban), Flora, Fluxo, Incense, India, Loban, Mayraj, Mike, Pradhan Perfumers, Sandalwood, Saranya Traders, Sree Trading Co., Sri Aurobindo Ashram Cottage Industries)

In addition to the range of Meena Perfume Industries incenses Everest Traders sent me, included were a varying batch of Indian scents as well as a varying batch of Bhutanese incenses, the latter of which I will cover in the next installment. The following are incenses from a number of different suppliers, some of which I don’t believe I have seen imported here, at least not often.

Loban incenses are an unusual breed. As far as I’ve been able to tell loban can mean benzoin or frankincense or resin mixes and you’re not usually told which; however, I’ve tried enough Indian frankincense sticks to know most of those don’t smell like lobans. The Absolute Benzoin at Temple of Incense or the Asana Sutra from Happy Hari are examples of pure charcoal benzoins and these are a bit closer to the loban but also not exact. The TOI Big Cleansing incense is probably the closest although in this case there’s more of an herbal quality to that incense that won’t often be found in a pure loban. And the Loban Bathi from Mayraj (I think that’s the company but the package is so thin it’s hard to tell) is about as down the middle of a loban as you will find. The thing about lobans to me is that if you’re familiar with lower grade resins you may know they can have scents that smell like heated stone or even gravel. It’s something I became familiar with through inexpensive Catholic church mixes, which are far and away from like the great frankincense you can get through Mermade Magickal Arts. On the other hand a brilliant high end loban like Vedic Vaani’s Kawadi Golden Loban can move away from this into almost candy-like sweetness and a definite resin presence. This one is more in the middle, it may be one of the most definition perfect loban incenses you will find, there’s some gravel/stone in the mix but there’s also a very nice resin note in the mix and yes a hint of the candy that gets more refined as the quality goes up the scale. It looks largely like a dusted charcoal but it’s a tiny bit softer than I would expected. I’ve never been the hugest fan of the style but outside the VV I just mentioned, this is one of the best I’ve tried and certainly a pleasant burn. Maybe the only issue is these are thin packages with maybe 5-6 sticks, so they’re about a dollar a stick.

Pradhan Perfumer’s Royal Life is a beautiful mix of perfumes for sure. The sticks are much smaller than the average but they pack an aromatic punch that is closer to a champa style incense. This is what I consider a traditional perfume in that it has some elements of the way some Indian incenses have been for decades and if they have moved or changed any ingredients it still seems like a wonderful, nostalgic mix. There’s a touch of licorice or something in the aroma which has always been an element I love in certain Indian incenses (the short-lived Ascendance that Mystic Temple used to bring in one was like this), but this also has some level of wood in the mix among with a lot of sweetness and a big floral bouquet. The stick is a little soft so there’s probably a bit of halmaddi in the masala. Very nice overall and it makes me wonder if the company has it in a longer stick. This one I’d certainly consider purchasing on my own.

Saranya Supreme takes us back into the flora/fluxo category, very much a cousin to the Sai Flora with the thick sticks. Unlike some floras/fluxos this one seems like a thick dusted charcoal stick from its firmness, but it ultimately does a similar thing to most incenses in this style. This mix seems to lean a bit to a smoother sort of aroma which I assume in part because it doesn’t seem to have additional ingredients like most floras/fluxos and there’s a bit of a resin fruitiness in the middle that is a touch loban-like. There is also a touch of a strange woody note that is hard to get my nose around on the outsides that I don’t tend to detect in floras/fluxos usually. Ultimately it’s definitely a different take on the style, a description that’s hard to define further as these types seem to be complex and loud (and this one stings my eyes a little bit), but when I brought out the next incense I was quickly reminded that the central floras and fluxos are much wetter scented and not nearly as dry as this one. For newcomers I’d start with Sai Flora because it’s somewhat more generally available than many of these incenses and acts as a good central base from where to understand the style.

The Sree Trading Co.s’s Siddhi Ganesh works much better as a flora to my nose than either the Sarayna Supreme or Sai Flora. Over the years I’ve often seen floras fall into two categories by sight, the lighter toned sticks like Sai Flora and then those like this one that are colored dark brown and have a different sort of scent profile as a result, while still being unquestionably “flora.” That sort of crystalline brassy top note which always seems to be present in this style merges with a slightly softer base that seems to have a bit of halmaddi mixed in with the charcoal and dampens that top a little bit in a way that often balances it a little. This does have the sort of crayon-like notes I tend to find fairly often in floral incenses and the base is very similar to probably a half dozen or more incenses in the Vedic Vaani catalog who often just change the top note. There’s some level of something like plum or prunes in the mix, but also an interesting spice mix that balances it on the other side. This is a neat incense overall, with some brightness that helps ensure the oil mixes don’t bog this one down too much, which is something I find occasional with dark brown masalas like this one. However, I would say a full stick might go too long a way so I’d test this at a half stick first as it’s very fragrant. But it’s certainly one of the better fluxo/floras I’ve tried.

I believe I received a sample of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Cottage Industries #14, Sandalwood from Padma Store some months ago and getting a full package from Everest Traders reminded me of one thing in particular, that often one or two stick samples are often not enough to really get into an incense. I found after my third stick from this package I started to like this one a little more than on my initial take. My initial take on the whole line was that most of the ones I had tried were very average incenses so keep this comment in mind.

As the history goes, in India, sandalwood trees were overharvested leading to shortages, which also led to a more careful cultivation program in more recent times. However even though this is happening, there is a lot of evidence that scents like sandalwood are actually created synthetically now. Short of actually looking over the shoulders of the incense creators in India, which I would unlikely be allowed to do, it’s difficult to tell what is in sandalwood incenses these days, sometimes Indian sandalwood is used but Australian sandalwood and wood from other countries is also used. You can have sandalwood incenses that are mixed with the other woods and more lower quality. Overall a whole range of different sandalwood scents are available. For me the high end sandalwood incenses that remind me of the old days tend to be a few that Temple of Incense or Absolute Bliss, or if you like the Madhavadas style, Pure Incense has a few as well.

So with that in mind I would place this #14 in a more inexpensive category in that it does not have much of a real sandalwood note to it, but feels like maybe cheaper wood or wood that has had some of the oil extracted might be the base for this incense. It comes across a bit more like a floral mix and the note on top will be different from what you have experience. Back in the day some of the Incense from india drier masalas used to have aromas quite like this and they’re usually really inexpensive. This Cottage Industries line is actually pretty large and while it looks like Everest Traders also have an Amber and a Mattipal, I believe if you’re in Europe, Padma Store has quite a number of different blends from this company in addition to these.

The last Indian incense package I was sent was 100g of something labelled as Temple Grade Mysore Sandalwood; however, I do not detect any sandalwood, scent or otherwise, in this incense at all. For $4 for 100g batch you would basically not expect it to, but since this is an incredibly inexpensive incense I decided to just evaluate it on its own. There’s something intriguing about the incense for sure. It’s a dusted charcoal with maybe a tiny bit of softness to it. It seems sort of like a mix of a sort of sweet champa-like base with a note I remember from previous Asta Sughanda incenses from long ago, a bit like that paper meets vanilla smell, but also there’s something like a rubber tire note to it that flirts between being a kind of weird subnote and a bit too intrusive. In fact given the number of sticks in this I burned at least five before I started writing this. I would guess that the intention of this batch was to give a sandalwood note but the mix was off in some way, it’s something I think importers run into occasionally. And so there seem to be some components in the mix that are kind of interesting. But ultimately I don’t think this one works and it reminds me in ways of some accidents I’ve been able to check out.

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