Friday 29 March 2013
Saturday 16 March 2013
Sage Spirit Medicine Wheel Nature Spirits Blue Corn Flower
Sage Spirit are a company founded in 1995 by a Native American tribe, the Jicarilla Apache, who live on the Jicarilla reservation in New Mexico, not far from the border with Colorado. Burning sage smudge sticks is part of Native American rituals, and the company make and sell traditional sage smudges, but have also branched out into making Asian style incense sticks. Blue Corn Flower is part of the company's Nature Spirit range, and I bought these for £2.88 for 12 sticks from www.holisticshop.co.uk - not cheap, but they are decent quality, and somewhat unusual, being made by Apaches.
I still do like this incense, but after two years in my Top 10 I am dropping it down. While it is an attractive, subtle, pleasant, and intriguing scent - and it has the added attraction of being made by Apache Indians, I do feel the soft nature of the scent limits its use, and there are other scents to which I more readily turn these days. So I am moving it out of my Top 10 listing.
Date: March 2015 Score: 38
Two years after I first reviewed these in 2013, and I'm revisiting these sticks to see how much I still like them. There is a small amount of black charcoal paste with a volatile perfume soaked into it. The perfume is delicate and very attractive. It's not a huge fragrance, but it does illuminate and lift a room. This would work well to welcome people, and to create a relaxing mood. It's definitely a bedroom or living room scent rather than bathroom or kitchen. As these sticks are now quite old, the scent when getting close to the stick is more of the sharp base notes than the subtle perfume, but the subtle perfume does work well at a distance. As I liked these so much when I first tried them, and I still like them now two years later, I'm going to try more of the Sage Spirit range, and I'm pleased to see that the price today is slightly lower at £2.64.
Date: Feb 2015 Score: 38
As soon as you take them out of the packet there is an engaging flowery aroma - deep scented rose petal and white grape. Very relaxing, very calming, very feminine. The sticks burn with little smoke; the scent as the stick burns is soft, gentle, sensual, and mildly perfumed. It's subtle and alluring. While there are wood burning notes, and a touch of base sandalwood and charcoal, the majority of the aroma is of a gentle, feminine, flowery perfume. The scent left behind in the room is clean, fragrant, pleasant and mild. It freshens the room with subtle hints. It is a soothing and meditative incense.
Date: March 2013 Score: 41
***
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Sage Spirit |
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| Incense Around the World |
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| Top Ten Perfume-Dipped Incense Sticks |
Tulasi Aphrodesia
Aphrodesia or Aphrodisia is a common name for incense. These charcoal based hand-rolled and dyed pink incense sticks by Sarathi International Inc of Bangalore have sandalwood and musk notes. The aroma is warm and woody and reasonably pleasant. There are mild soapy and citric notes to lift it slightly, but on the whole it is a moderately pleasant, background scent rather than something that catches the attention or provides any real delight or pleasure.
The square pack of eight sticks cost only 49p from the excellent online store, the Asian Cookshop. Buying a small amount for a low cost is a useful way of sampling a product to find out how agreeable it is. While I will keep an open mind regarding Tulasi branded incense, my preference is for the more interesting and better quality hand rolled incense that is available. Meanwhile, I will look out for another company's version of Aphrodesia to see how the scent compares.
Date: March 2013 Score: 23/50
***
Friday 15 March 2013
Tulasi Coconut
Tulasi Coconut incense sticks are made by Sarathi International Inc of Bangalore. They are factory made using modern equipment and production methods, which likely means synthetic perfumes are used. The sticks look like they have been machine dipped. The incense looks like charcoal - it is smooth and black, and has an even appearance, with some of the incense smeared down the end of the chunky bamboo stick, which has been dyed red. Purchased for 85p for a hex pack of 20 sticks from the online store, the Asian Cookshop.
The aroma is woody with base notes of sandalwood and vanilla, some sweetness in the middle based on essence of coconut, and faint flowery top notes with hints of burnt plastic. The main impact is wood smoke. The smoke is a little too much like bushwood burning, and the overwhelming aroma is of burning wood.
The aroma is fairly clean and inoffensive. There is an artificial quality to the aroma which is a little off-putting, but nothing significant. There is a lack of genuine joy in the experience - while the sticks are not exactly foul, the room can smell of burning rather than incense, and the lingering aroma is faint, but again, one of burnt wood rather than anything exotic and pleasant.
Date: March 2013 Score: 18
***
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Thursday 14 March 2013
The best and worse incense of the HEM Corporation
The Hem Corporation has incense factories in Bangalore, Mumbai and Bhiwandi; it was founded in 1975, and is one of the largest incense companies in the world, with over 100 different incense products which are exported to over 50 countries around the world. Their website hemincense, where they have their mission statement to "strive to deliver genuine handcrafted Indian Incense across the world." They also have a Facebook page at HEMIncense.
They make cones and sticks in traditional single scents - mainly in their "Precious" range, such as Amber, Chandan, Jasmine, Musk and Patchouli, and flower and fruit scents, such as Coconut, they also create blends, such as Frankincense and Myrrh, and their own scents, such as The Moon. The cones tend to come in boxes of ten with a tin disc on which to stand the cones, while the sticks tend to come in 20g hexagonal packs which hold approximately 20 sticks. HEM incense products are mid-priced - the cones are available for around £1.75, and the sticks for around £1.25. No individual HEM scent has a particular reputation or popularity. People just seem to buy them because they are available, and then they recognise the brand.
While the company claim "handcrafted", and the sticks are handrolled, the scent is applied as a chemical/liquid perfume to the basic charcoal paste, in contrast to the masala blends which are made from a paste consisting of mostly natural ingredients and essential oils. Applying a mainly synthetic scent to a charcoal stick is known as perfume-dipped in the West and simply as perfumed in the East. HEM aromas and the blends can be interesting and attractive, as with the Frankincense-Myrrh, but the HEM brands tend to have a signature note of damp rose-scented talcum powder that catches in the throat. It may be due to an ingredient they use, or it may be that the ingredients are not fresh, or are of poor quality, or it may the effect of the chemical scent, whatever it is, I don't find it attractive. However, I find I like the Frankincense-Myrrrh, and the Cherry Vanilla, so I will keep an open mind.
HEM do tend to divide opinion. They are a popular company, and many people like HEM because the incense is bright, simple, and straightforward; but others dislike them because the scents are not natural, and can be a bit brash as well as simple. There are better quality incenses available, even among the perfumed incense, but HEM succeed because they are readily available and are very cheap. I am not a fan of HEM, but I don't dislike them. The incense is cheap, decently made (you always get the scent of the perfume), and can sometimes surprise with a delightful scent, such as their Frankincense-Myrrh, which I rate higher than their masala incense. HEM is the sort of casual incense that we use around the house to brighten up the place, or cover up stale or bad smells. We don't generally use HEM to sit and enjoy the scents, though sometimes a HEM scent just hits the spot; and, like drinking a straightforward pale lager can be palate cleansing and refreshing after sampling a range of imperial stouts, so it can be diverting to burn a HEM after a period of burning some complex masala incense.
There is a TV advert for the "Precious" brand on YouTube.
* = Review over five years old
There is a TV advert for the "Precious" brand on YouTube.
* = Review over five years old
The reviews
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| HEM Myrrh Masala Incense March 2022 - Score: 39 |
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| HEM Cinnamon Masala Incense (M) March 2022 - Score: 39 |
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Feb 2023 - Score: 38↑ |
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| HEM Blueberry Feb 2015 - Score: 37* |
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Oct 2023 - Score: 36↑↓ |
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| HEM Cinnamon Mar 2020 - Score: 36 |
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| HEM Good Fortune Jan 2019 - Score: 36 |
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| HEM Amber Incense Sticks (P) Jan 2024 - Score: 35 |
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| HEM Anubhuti (M) Apr 2020 - Score: 35 |
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| HEM Baby Powder Apr 2019 - Score: 35 |
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| HEM Patchouli Nov 2021 - Score: 35↑ |
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| HEM Soham Mogra (D) Aug 2019 - Score: 33 |
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| HEM Frankincense Incense Cones Dec 2020 - Score: 33 |
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| HEM Precious Chandan Cones Jan 2019 - Score: 33 |
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| HEM Cherry Vanilla Jan 2015 - Score: 32* |
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| HEM Magnolia Incense Cones (P) Mar 2019 - Score: 32 |
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| HEM Precious Mogra Jul 2014 - Score: 31* |
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| HEM Myrrh Incense Cones Jan 2019 - Score: 31 |
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| HEM Strawberry Feb 2015 - Score: 30 |
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| HEM Soham Dhoop Batti (M) May 2019 - Score: 29 |
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| HEM Fruit Punch (P) Jan 2024 - Score: 29 |
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| HEM Cinnamon-Apple (P) Jan 2024 - Score: 28 |
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| HEM Vanilla Incense Cones Jan 2019 - Score: 28 |
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| HEM Dragon's Blood May 2015 - Score: 26* |
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| HEM Lotus Incense Cones Mar 2019 - Score: 26 |
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| HEM Cannabis Incense Cones Mar 2019 - Score: 25 |
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| HEM Morning Mist Incense Sticks Dec 2022 - Score: 25 |
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| HEM Cinnamon Incense Cones (P) Jan 2019 - Score: 23 |
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HEM Meditation (P) Sept 2023 - Score: 23 |
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| HEM Protection (P) March 2022 - Score: 23 |
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| HEM Coconut Incense Cones Mar 2019 - Score: 22↑ |
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| HEM Anti-Stress cones Jan 2019 - Score: 21 |
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| HEM Precious Rose Incense Cones (P) Feb 2019 Score: 20 |
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| HEM Tangerine cones Jan 2019 - Score: 20 |
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Feb 2024 - Score: 20= |
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| HEM White Musk cones May 2018 - Score: 20* |
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| HEM Precious Lily Feb 2015 - Score: 20* |
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| HEM Gold Rain cones Jan 2019 - Score: 19 |
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| HEM Diwali Special Jan 2015 - Score: 16* |
| HEM The Moon March 2013 - Score: 15* |
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March 2013 - Score: 09*
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| HEM Precious Musk Feb 2013 - Score: 08* |
Scents rated: 42
Highest score: 40
Lowest score: 8
Lowest score: 8
Average top five: 38
Average score: 27
Overall: 32
Conclusion: Not my favourite incense maker by any means; they are inconsistent, and can make some vile chemical based "floral" scents, but at their best they can produce some cheap and attractive synthetic scents suitable for everyday burning. I am inclined against them, but will succumb to cheap deals, and I'm sometimes surprised by how much I enjoy some scents. They also make masala, which is becoming more available in the West as Indian incense houses note the success of Satya and Goloka.
Average score: 27
Overall: 32
Conclusion: Not my favourite incense maker by any means; they are inconsistent, and can make some vile chemical based "floral" scents, but at their best they can produce some cheap and attractive synthetic scents suitable for everyday burning. I am inclined against them, but will succumb to cheap deals, and I'm sometimes surprised by how much I enjoy some scents. They also make masala, which is becoming more available in the West as Indian incense houses note the success of Satya and Goloka.
***
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| The Best Incense Makers |
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