Incense In The Wind

Radiating Incense In The Wind - a painting by Hai Linh Le

Monday 31 December 2018

Veer Sweet Mogra




This perfumed incense has a pleasant and authentic scent of jasmine. All of the Veer incense sticks are decent everyday incense, ideal for burning at any time in the house. This will sweeten a room in the morning, and make it pleasant and welcoming in the afternoon, and create a relaxed and calming mood in the evening.  It's not a divine incense, so it's not one to be use for meditation or aromatherapy, but as a pleasant and welcoming everyday scent, this does the job.

I imported this direct from India, and have it on sale in my eBay shop. Because some of the boxes got damaged in transit, I am selling off all five Veer incense at cost price for £3.99.


Date: Dec 2018  Score:  28
***

Available in my eBay shop:
  IncenseInTheWind.


Veer incense

Sunday 30 December 2018

Veer Belgian Rose

Second review - scroll down for earlier review

These are the original sticks from the 2018 review, and - unlike masala incense - perfumed incense doesn't last long. These sticks are old, stale, and very faint. There is some awareness of the floral aroma informed by berry fruits, but it's not bold and fresh. No score. 


Date: Oct 2023  Score: N/A 




First review


All the Veer incense are well made decent quality everyday perfumed incense. This has a very pleasant floral aroma informed with dark berry fruit notes. There is a definite awareness of rose, but it's not the old fashioned old ladies knickers sort of rose, this is quite sweet, lively and modern.  I'm selling this on eBay for £2.60 - Buy 1 Get 1 Free.  Or, better yet, all five Veer scents for £3.99, postage included.  [2023 - No longer offered for sale]  

Date: Dec 2018  Score:  28
***


Veer incense


Best rose incense


Veer Kesar Chandan

Second review - scroll down for earlier review

I'm sorting out my incense, and I've come upon some old packets of Veer incense which I imported back in 2018 to sell on eBay. It was my first attempt, and it didn't go well. The sticks are simple machine extruded perfumed incense. Basic everyday incense. Not offensive, and at the time I liked them. There is a hint of that sandalwood in the burn, but essentially a low end perfumed incense isn't going to last over five years - these sticks are faint. Not offensive. Just faint. No score. 


Date: Oct 2023   Score: N/A 




First review

It's been a few months since I imported the Veer incense from India, and I've only just got around to listing them for sale on eBay.  The sticks are decent quality, but because of the damage done to some of the packs in transit, I've hesitated about putting them up for sale. Because of the cost of transport from India, and I was only buying a relatively small amount, the individual cost per packet is around 41p. Because of the size of the packs posting them is at least 79p + 17p for the envelope, and then eBay and PayPal take their fees. I've decided to sell them as job lots of damaged stock at all five scents for £3.99, including postage. This is purely cost price, and I'm likely to lose a little bit on the deal, but hopefully not a lot. It's a learning curve.

Anyway, this is a decent sandalwood incense. It is soft, sweet and dreamy, with a fairly authentic sandalwood aroma. It lifts a room and leaves a pleasant, clean, fresh sweet wood scent. I'm not at all embarrassed about the scent or the quality of the sticks, which are all made to a decent standard on modern machinery. It's just the packets themselves which let down the deal.

So, this is an OK everyday perfumed incense.


Date: Dec 2018  Score:  28
***

Available in my eBay shop:
  IncenseInTheWind.


Veer incense


Sandalwood

Wednesday 26 December 2018

Bhagvati Products (Ppure)




Bhagvatti Products are a Mumbai based company founded in 2001 by Mr. Motilal Vasaviaya. The company sells a range of  perfumed incense sticks and cones. It has recently launched a premium  range of masala incense under the brand name of Ppure. This is imported and distributed in the UK by Sifcon International, and sold in markets and hardware stores for less than £2 a packet. They are a bargain!

Reviews

Nagchampa
Score: 41

Black Opium
Score 40

Lavender
Score: 35

Patchouli
Score: 30

Nirvana
Score: 30

Scents reviewed: 5
Highest score: 41
Lowest score: 30
Average score: 37


Contact details:

Bhagvati Products
2/6, Sahyadri Society Shivaji Nagar,
Asalpha Link Road, 
Ghatkopar West
Mumbai -40084.
Tel: +91-9892584137
Email: bhagvatiproducts@gmail.com
info@ppureincense.com 

Bhagvati Ppure Nagchampa




Imported by the market stall wholesalers Sifcon, this is a delightful masala incense by Bhagvati of Mumbai, which is sold in my local hardware shop for the ridiculously low price of  £1.29. Total bargain. Warm and mellow with an authentic creamy dreamy honey-dripping sandalwood supported masala incense scent. Yes, there's hints of halmaddi here, but very soft. This is not demanding masala at all - this is soft and loving. I like this. I like it a lot.


Date: Dec 2018  Score:  41
***

Nag Champa

Bhagvati Products (Ppure)

Tuesday 25 December 2018

Sree Vani Sri Akhand Jaap Flexo Bathi




I'm exploring incense termed "flora" and "fluxo", so I am revisiting this "flexo" incense that I reviewed a couple of years ago and dismissed it quite harshly. I have a tendency to not be generous toward dry incenses. This is quite a sombre, woody incense, which smells sweeter and more promising on the stick. It's a simple charcoal base rolled in a masala of fragrant ingredients which lean a lot toward cedarwood. I have noticed that spellings, especially of vowels, can vary in descriptions on Indian incense packs. My assumption is that "flexo" is a variant spelling of "fluxo" - indeed, I have found that I sometimes write "flexo" when I mean "fluxo". "Fluxo" is the term that was used on Sri Sai Flora, but nobody is entirely sure what it means, though a couple of Indian incense makers have said to me that they associate it with a natural energy flow from the Earth, through plants, through the burning of incense, and so into the heavens as an offering to the gods. I like that. 

Even though I feel I was harsh on this incense when I first reviewed it, I'm not getting much from it on this revisit. For sure this experience is not as crude as the first one, so I shall; mark up my score, but it's not an overlooked gem. Just a lower end everyday incense. That it is a masala doesn't by default make it a quality incense, but it certainly makes it somewhat more acceptable than a poor quality perfumed incense.  


Date: Oct 2021  Score: 20 







Bought from Pilgrims Fair Trade for £1.50. This is the first incense I have tried from Sree Vani of Bengaluru (Bangalore), who were formed in 1983.

It's a dry, serious incense, with little sweetness. It's quite woody, but not a fragrant woody, rather a woody woody, a bit like cedar, but without the sweetness. It feels sort of crude and cheap, and smells more of burning wood than of incense.

This is more of a functional incense than an aesthetic one. Unless you are inclined to like the smell of dry, base wood burning. Best used to keep flies away when heating outdoors.


Date: Dec 2018  Score: 15



The Best Incense Makers


Tuesday 4 December 2018

Moksh Swarna RajaniGandha (Tuberose)




This has an intense floral scent. Floral is not my favourite type of scent, I tend to prefer woody, or musky, or even fruity. And when I do like floral, it tends to be the gentle, delicate, almost fragile sort. This is quite blunt.  The name rajanigandha is Hindi for tuberose, a highly fragrant night flower that has been used as a floral note in perfumes since at least the 17th century. It was used by Marie Antoinette, who imported the tuberose plant from Mexico.  It is known as an overpowering scent, so it is appropriate that this incense captures that feeling of being overwhelmed by heady flowers. The scent is unfamiliar to me, but does remind me of roses and champa - it's like a blend of the two, though leaning more in the direction of rose. 




I quite like this. It was on sale in my eBay shop (but the shop is currently closed - I may reopen it at some point).


Date: Dec  2018     Score: 33

***

Moksh Agarbatti


Available in my eBay shop:
  IncenseInTheWind.

Sunday 2 December 2018

Champa


Champa (or frangipani)

Champa indicates a floral incense. While there are several flowers that have the champa name, some of which are used for scent, while others are not,  the main flower indicated when an incense is named Champa  is plumeria or frangipani, a fragrant flowering shrub. Champa is sometimes conflated with Nag Champa, though they are different scents and different flowers. Nag Champa incense scents are based on champaca, which is a plant in the magnolia family.

Burns

 
Blue Pearl Classic Champa
Score: 47


 
HEM Champa Flower
Score: 38 



Yadalam Vaastu Champa Dhoop
Score: 37


Moksh Swarna Champa
Score: 36



Moksh Akash Phool
Score: 33



SAC (Sandesh) Champa
Score: 32


Flute Champa
Score: 24


  
Wild Berry Champa Flower cones
Score: 23


 
Fair Trade Nitiraj Green Champa
Score: 21



Hari Om Divine Incense Champa
Score: 19


Number of scents: 10
Top score: 47
Low score: 19
Average top five: 38
Total score: 31

***

Best Scents



Moksh Swarna Divya Sugandh (Divine Fragrance)

Second review - scroll down for earlier


Moksh is one of the top incense companies in India - succeeding domestically through producing reliable, professional everyday synthetic-perfumed sticks with attractive, commercial scents at a low cost, and with good marketing and distribution.  Founded in 1999, they are one of a new school of incense houses who focus on modern synthetic scents and marketing. They do export, though haven't yet found themselves in a secure position in the West when faced with established perfumed-incense export leaders such as HEM and Tulasi.  I quite like Moksh. They are what they are - unashamed, bold, bright, modern, everyday synthetic-perfume sticks that freshen a room. Though modern, the scents are rooted in traditional fragrances, as with this Divya Sugandh, which has elements of musk and soft florals, though enlivened with modern touches such as a hint of clean linen.  For a while I sold Moksh incense on eBay, and they were very popular. 

I like this. It's calming and cleansing, and the scent has that nice stance of being both traditional and modern. This is top end everyday perfumed incense.  And this pack is the same one I reviewed in 2018, so the perfume is over five years old, yet is still fresh and attractive. Decent quality. 


Date: Jan 2024   Score: 35 



First review


I love this. Sometimes a scent just works. Production methods aside, if a scent works for you, it just works, and this Divine Fragrance works for me.

"Brings Heavenly Pleasure"
Divya Sugandh (Divine Fragrance) has a darkly sweet aroma with rich sweet woody tones like agarwood soaked in honey and left to ferment and rot, and blended with corrupting jasmine and jammy rose. There is a dark indulge in this - it's a winter festival scent - somewhere between All Hallows and the Winter Solstice.

I suspect agarwood in this somewhere. And perhaps a bit of pine and myrrh, to give it a lively sharpness.

I do like this. It's on sale in my eBay shop.


Date: Dec  2018     Score: 39

***

Moksh Agarbatti