Padmini Spiritual Guide

As I've been burning a bunch of the incense I've imported for sale in my newly opened shop on  eBay,  IncenseInTheWind,  I wanted to get a perspective on some other incense, so I have been randomly revisiting some incense. This is an acceptable everyday perfumed incense - nothing fancy, and a little bit crude and simplistic with a clearly chemical scent that is sharp rather than refined, but nothing offensive, and it does the job of perfuming a room. Not an incense to use to impress visitors, but acceptable for casual everyday use.

Date: Oct 2018    Score: 25

Padmini are a well established Indian company who have been exporting to America since the Sixties, but very few of their products are available in the UK. Aargee import them, but it is difficult to find any shop that stocks more than one or two of the range. I got this from Pilgrims Fair Trade for £1 (it's a domestic brand which sells for 10 rupees (10p) in India).

It's a machine made perfume-dipped charcoal stick. It burns smoothly and evenly. The scent is very pleasant. A mix of soft floral and musk. Quite sweet. There's something reassuringly old fashioned about it. It's more of a room freshener than anything else, and there's a sort of soapy, table polish scent to the stick; but that sounds as if I'm trivialising it, and I'm not. I'm just making observations. I actually like this. It's not a scent that moves me. But as an incense to freshen up the home, this works well. This is decent everyday incense that I would be happy to buy again.

Date: June 2018   Score:  35

***

Padmini

Padmini

Padmini were founded in the 1960s. Apparently they became known in the US for their little dhoop sticks.  The company is not that well established in the UK, though Aargee import the little dhoop sticks, Gold Statue (originally selling that under their own brand name), and a few others [2023 comment: Aargee has now split, with the incense importing continuing under the Stamford London name]. For a while I thought Padmini was one of Aargee's brand names. It wasn't until a Padmini employee contacted me on my Facebook page that I realised they were an established independent brand. So I'm setting out to explore them a little further.

[* = Score over five years old, so may not be reliable]

Reviews

Padmini Perfumed Dhoop Sticks 
Oct 2018 - Score:  39
Feb 2022 - Score: 40 

Padmini Gold Statue
 June 2015 - Score: 34*

Padmini Clove Incense
July 2019 - Score:  45 Jan 2022 - Score: 33
Oct 2023 - Score: 40 

Padmini Brindavan Sandal  
Feb 2013 - Score: 29*

Padmini Spiritual Guide (P)
June 2018 - Score:  35
Oct 2018 - Score: 25*

  

Padmini Cinnamon Incense (P)
April 2023 - Score: 23

Padmini Vanilla Incense Sticks
Aug 2023 - Score 22

  

Padmini Yellow Rose (P)
Aug 2023 - Score: 21 

  

Padmini Sai Kasturi (P)
April 2023 - Score: 18

Scents reviewed: 9
Top score: 40
Low score: 18
Average: 29

Conclusion: A modest everyday perfumed incense producer. The dhoop sticks are nice. 

***

The Best Incense Makers

Sifcon 100 Incense Sticks With Holder Tuberose Gardenia

Another Sifcon bargain at £1.49 from my local hardware shop. These are so cheap I wonder just how much money the producers get.  Once the retailers and distributors take their profit, and the tax, the transport and material costs are taken, and the wooden ash catcher is excluded, just how much money is left for  making 100 sticks? How long does it take to make 100 sticks? These look machine made, and the semi-automatic machines are transforming incense making in India. Machines can churn out up to 150 sticks a minute - as shown here.  I have a slight unease about that as I am attached to the romantic notion of hand rolling - though I sometimes wonder about the pay and conditions of the women who do the hand-rolling - such as these.  Anyway....

The scent is a slightly sharp lemony citric on the stick, which turns more floral and woody when burned. Some of the bamboo sticks are quite thick, with not much paste to absorb the fragrant oils. As such there can be a tendency for the  aroma to be more of the burning bamboo stick than of the fragrant oil. When you do get mostly oil, it is quite pleasant with the summer warmth of rose, enlightened by oranges and jasmine. Quite acceptable. We tend to burn these Sifcon sticks in the garden when we are eating out - which we like to do for breakfast on summer weekends, as well as at other times. The floral aroma seems appropriate, and at the price, we can light several at a time around our table. One of our neighbours if she smells our incense, will come join us.

Not heavenly (indeed, sometimes a little crude), but mostly pleasant, useful, and excellent value for money.


Date: June 2018    Score: 30

***

Sifcon International

100 Incense Sticks With Holder

Best floral incense

Spiritual/Ritual Incense

Incense is burned for a variety of reasons: sometimes for the aesthetic pleasure of the scent, sometimes for therapy or medical reasons, sometimes to create a mood or atmosphere, sometimes to cover up bad odours or to discourage flies. But it is mainly associated with spiritual or ritual use. Some incense may be burned for a variety of uses - some ritual incenses such as frankincense  and myrrh are also often burned just for the aesthetic pleasure of the scent.  But there are some  incense which is burned purely for the ritual/spiritual aspect. I didn't get that for a long time. I was so locked into incense being something that I burned for pleasure, that I assumed that even ritual incense would smell nice. When I asked why people would want to burn those smoky wet dhoops which produce quite acrid smelling smoke, it was gently pointed out to me that the smoke itself is considered to have cleansing power. And something clicked. So in my Incense Listing I have separated out those incenses which clearly prioritise the ritual/spiritual aspect of the incense as it seems inappropriate to be judging them on the same criteria as incense which is mainly burned for the nice smell.  I group them here as well. I still have my personal appreciation scores next to them, but I wonder if that continues to be appropriate.

Pure resins, woods and blends that are mainly used for spiritual or ritual reasons rather than just the aroma

Reviews

 

Ambica Pooja Sambrani 
Score: 39 

Underworld Apothecary Djinn Incense

Score: 38

 

Monastery Mount Athos Frankincense

Holy Great Monastery Vatopedi 

Aroma Amber

Score: 38

 

Harati Tibetan Incense 
Score: 35

 

B.G Pooja Store Sambrani (P)

Score: 33

Phoenix Import (Mani Bhadra) Kamasutra Resin (R): 32

Phoenix Import (Mani Bhadra) Egyptian Musk Resin (R): 30 

Cenacle Qualitätsweihrauch Weihrauch fein (Quality Incense Frankincense) (R): 30 

Cleopatra Dragon Blood resin (R): 30↑

Sumati Padma Tibetan Incense: 30 

Hari Om Sambrini
Score: 30

Prinknash Incense: Abbey blend (R): 29
Native-Spirit Copal resin (R): 27
Dr. Yonten’s Tibetan Healing Incense: 26 
Raj Guru Vandana Sambrani Cup: 20

Dhompatsang Enterprises Peace Incense (D): 21
Boudhanath Himalayan Rope Incense Sandalwood: 20 
Bosen Pythoncidere Incense: 19 

The Scenter Tree Resin Frankincense (R): 19 
Kemet Design Hathor Incense (L): 19 
Kemet Design Kyphi Incense (L): 18 
Kemet Design Bast Incense (L): 15
Goloka Frankincense Resin Incense (R): 15 

Cenacle Mount Athos Incense Frankincense (R): 12 

Vaishnodevi Gugal Dhoop (D): 11
Gopal Joie Deluxe Dhoop (D): 10
Vaishnodevi Chandan Dhoop (D): 10 
Mysore Sugandhi Surya Devya Laxmi Dhoop (D): 10

***

 Incense Ratings - Top of the Dhoops!

(Mahendra) Ancient Wisdom Freedom Nag Champa

Ancient Wisdom are a UK importer and wholesale distributor of incense which they brand under their own name, as well as marketing Satya and Aargee products.  When I first encountered their products, it was bargain basement unbranded stuff from Vietnam and Thailand - aimed at an undiscriminating audience.  I grew cautious about buying anything that they sold under their own brands because my experiences tended to be of faded generic scents and crude organic core material, which I didn't enjoy; although, their foil-wrapped Red Dragon Incense I found quite enjoyable. However, I do like to keep an open mind, and when browsing the ReallyRelaxing website for some Mahendra incense, I picked up a couple of Ancient Wisdom's new Freedom range to check them out. They were only 75p for a 15g box, so nothing to lose really.

I'm glad I did, because this Nag Champa is not bad. It does help that Ancient Wisdom have commissioned the sticks from Mahendra Perfumery Works of Bangalore, whose everyday perfume-dipped charcoal sticks are quite decent.   The sticks look unpromising on getting out of the packet. They are shorter than average, and of inconsistent thickness on flimsy sticks; there is a whiff of volatile chemical scent which reminds me of cheap pine scented toilet cleaner, and it's also quite candy sweet, like Wild Berry or Juicy Jay's smells on the stick, but which rarely deliver on that tease. 

However, while appearing to be unpromising they do smell quite attractive when burned. Not heavenly, but quite acceptable, with a gentle sweetness and no harsh notes. As with other Mahendra/Betco incenses it tends to the floral, but with an underlying musky sweetness that I find quite pleasant. This is not a divine incense, but it is certainly a very acceptable everyday incense that you could use around the house for a variety of uses.


Date: June 2018   Score: 31 [This score is over five years old so may not be reliable] 

***

Mahendra Betco - Best of

Ancient Wisdom

Nag Champa

Tulasi Egyptian Musk

I got this out as part of my Tulasi Re-review Weekend, but then found that it's one of those that I never reviewed back in 2017 when I was going through the set of Tulasi I got in a cheap deal from The Scenter.  It's actually quite nice. Soft, and with a mild woodiness in a touch of sweetness. It's not quite musk, but does have a dark sensuality that appeals.  I burned the Tulasi Musk at the same time to compare notes. The Musk started off a bit harsh, but then settled down. It never got to the mild sensual sweetness of the Egyptian Musk, and was a bit cold and sharp in places - but that may be due to it being an opened perfume-dipped packet. I have noted that some charcoal based perfume-dipped incense does tend to evaporate over time, so either they have to be burned soon after opening, or extra care taken with storage.

Date: June 2018   Score:  24

***

More Tulasi reviews

Musk

Raj Guru Vandana Sambrani Cup with Natural Benzoin Filling

Purchased (as Luxflair, but arrived branded Raj) from Amazon for £7.90 including postage. Luxflair are the German based importer, the incense is made in India by Raj Fragrance of Bangalore.

Sambrani cups are a growing trend in India, and are spreading to Europe and America. They are generally self-igniting charcoal cups which are filled with sambrani (Indian name for benzoin) and a fixative added to keep the resin in place. They are very convenient and easy to use. Resins other than sambrani are also used, but they are still called a sambrani (or loban) cup.

These Raj Guru charcoal cups are not self-igniting, so they took a REALLY LONG TIME to ignite. You couldn't use a lighter or matches or your fingers would burn. I used a gas burner which I use to light my BBQ.  It then burned very quickly and generated a lot of heat. I used two clay stands inside my metal burning cup, but the heat quickly got through onto the cup, so I had to use tongs to move it on top of my burner so it wouldn't start to scorch the cloth on my table.

It produced a lot of ghostly silver grey smoke. The aroma is neutral benzoin. A chalky mineral aroma. It's clearly intended for ritual purposes and would work very well. Lots and lots of smoke, which is not offensive, even to me, and I am sensitive to too much smoke.  The room filled with smoke, so I had to close the door to the room with the smoke alarm. The room does now feel charged with a cleansing mineral energy. Hmmm. I don't use incense for ritual purposes - I use it for the scent, as a mood lifter, room freshener, to cover up odours, to make the house welcoming, etc. But I know a lot of people use incense mainly or exclusively for ceremonial or ritual purposes. This is the first time I have got close to understanding that.

This Guru Vandana Sambrani Cup is not my thing - too fiddly to light, too much smoke and not enough aesthetic scent, but it has brought me closer to understanding the ritual aspect of incense burning, and that has a value in itself.

Date: June 2018  Score: 20

***

Benzoin / Loban / Sambrani

 Incense Ratings - Top of the Dhoops!

Spiritual/Ritual Incense

Cleopatra Dragon Blood resin

An invigorating resin. Cleansing mineral aroma, yet quite organic. Good for ritual use. Yes.

Date: March 2019    Score: 30

Bought for £4.50 for 15g from Amazon - including delivery.  Cleopatra are a UK based wholesale importers and distributors of ethnic goods.

Dragon's Blood has a great name, and a compelling appearance of dusky red. It has a long history as an incense, a medicine, and various other uses. It is a legendary and almost mythical substance, with some uncertainty as to the exact original ancient source.  It comes from a variety of plants - anciently it mainly came from either dracaena cinnabari, the dragon blood tree, or dracaena draco, the Canary Islands dragon tree; modern dragon's blood mostly comes from the fruit of daemonorops draco, the dragon's blood palm, which grows in Southeast Asia. This Dragon's Blood is imported from India, though is likely to have been harvested in Vietnam or the Philippines.

Thomas Kinkele, the German author of  Incense And Incense Rituals, says of dragon's blood: "dark/tart somewhat gum-like burnt smelling fragrance ... indecisiveness and timidity are transformed with an intense burst of fire into strength and courage".

The appearance is quite compelling, and is the best feature of the resin. As it burns the solid resin becomes molten and bubbles; the dusky red becomes brighter, with thinner areas turning black, and then the thicker bright red areas flow onto the black areas carrying them, so it looks exactly like hot blood in a witch's cauldron. Scents we picked up include warmth, tomato, soft fresh onion, basil, stone, mineral, herbal, cork, soft fresh leather, neutral, and some sandalwood but without the musk and the sweetness. Essentially we found it vaguely interesting, not unpleasant, but mostly neutral. I think it's an incense to burn in a blend, or for reasons other than for the scent alone.


Date: June 2018   Score:  22

***

Dragon's blood

Incense by Country

Spiritual/Ritual Incense

Native-Spirit Copal resin

Bought from Native-Spirit on eBay for £4.85 including postage.  Native-Spirit is a branch of Nanook Trading, which is a German based company founded by Alex and Armin. Copal is similar to frankincense and amber - it is a resin extracted from certain trees when they are cut or damaged.      This copal resin is imported from Peru, where it is harvested from the Copal tree. It has been used as ceremonial incense in the central and northern parts of South America (Mesoamerica) going back to the Pre-Columbian era. It is used as a cleansing agent in Sacred Mushroom ceremonies, and Mexican Sweat Lodges.

We found it to be an interesting incense. The scents initially reminded us of curry - with notes of fenugreek, coriander, and star anise. It is citric, herbal, suggestive now and again of banana. Always mildly savoury and food related. We are reminded of Moroccan or African spiced food. It is mildly pleasant and intriguing, though not something dreamy or aesthetic. It is natural scent, not offensive, but not something you would burn purely for the pleasure of the scent - you would use this as a cleansing or invigorating agent, either as part of an incense mix you were making yourself, or as part of a personal, sacred, or therapeutic practise.

Thomas Kinkele, the German author of  Incense And Incense Rituals, says of copal: "distinguished by a bright and clear somewhat lemony/aromatic grace ... it purifies the inner attitude and supports mental/spiritual work."

The lumps melt and bubble gently as it smoulders - taking a little while for the scent to arise, and when they do it is clean, fresh and interesting, though it gets a smoky and rough toward the end of the burn when it catches at the edges. And when we'd had enough I found it difficult to clean off my burner as it clings stubbornly to the plate. I added a little water, and found that stops the smoking and scorching, retuning the scent back to its fresh state.

We found this interesting and uplifting, though not a resin I am likely to burn that often as we burn mostly for the scent. I only realise now, looking back at the eBay page, that I could have bought a 15g pack, but hadn't noticed originally because it defaults to 20g, greying out the 15g option.


Date: June 2018   Score: 27

***

Incense by Country

Spiritual/Ritual Incense

Poundland Coley & Gill Cotton Fresh Incense Sticks

Sorting through my incense stocks (I'm looking for some Happy Hari samples sent me by Corey Topel of Absolute Bliss incense, which I seem to have lost) and I find this hex box of Coley & Gill Cotton Fresh, which comes from a mix pack of five bought in Poundland (what a bargain!). This is not the same incense as Poundland Coley & Gill Cotton Fresh Incense Sticks & Holder -
that is made by a different supplier, and is nowhere near as good.  This reminds me of the foil-wrapped incense that are sold under various brand names in the UK - they are also machine-extruded, and have modern, solvent based scents that are very pleasing. Low cost yet high quality incense like this, with bright, modern, attractive scents are becoming more and more popular. This is not hippy-dippy stuff, or wiccan, or aromatherapy, or geeky connoisseur stuff, this is decent everyday incense that anyone can use. It's pushing into the top end of Decent Stuff, and while a little too simple and clearly chemical based to get into Heavenly Incense category for me (see Top of the Dhoops! for full listings), I can see that this would have a wide appeal, and could become some people's favourite.

This is clean, fresh, bright and happy. Nice one.

Date: June 2018  Score:  36

***

Top Ten 
Perfume-Dipped Incense

Emporium Mystic Scents Lemon

I picked up this pack of basic incense for 49p from JustAromatherapy  last year when I was gathering in as much Happy Hari incense as I could before they all disappeared. I got a bunch of cheap Emporium incense at the same time. Emporium are a budget incense supplier - they supply the folks like me before I had the revelation in 2013 and found Satya Nag Champa; indeed, we still have a place in our household for budget incense - such as in the outhouse to keep the flies away from the cat food in the summer.

These sticks are very small and thin, with a roughly rolled and barely adequate coating of charcoal dust, which is then dipped in a scented chemical solvent. The scent is not profound, but to be fair, it's not intended to be, and it's not offensive. It's a little smoky when burning, and as with most of these budget incenses it has a basic aroma of burning sawdust and grass with little awareness of the intended aroma. It's not an incense to burn in the main house, but works fine in the bathroom or outhouse. The sticks are cheap, but at 49p for 10 are not good value when compared to 99p for 80 decent quality sticks plus a wooden ash holder: Bloome Incense Garden Strawberries, or £1 for 60 decent quality sticks plus an ash holder: Poundland Fig & Wild Plum, or £1.49 for 100 decent quality sticks plus a wooden ash holder: Sifcon Cinnamon Cedarwood. But, to be fair, those do represent the best value incense I've come across. These Emporium incense are much more common, and are found in the places where people look for incense, while those three I just mentioned, are only found in pound stores and hardware stores - places you don't expect to find incense. And they don't seem to be available online - more's the pity.

Date: June 2018   Score: 19

***

Emporium incense

A cedarwood sampling

Cedarwood comes from the cedar tree, a conifer that grows on mountains around the Mediterranean and the Himalayas mountain range running north of India from Pakistan to China (proper). Though only the Chinese and Taiwan incense-cedar trees produce the aromatic oils, and mostly cedar oil is either made synthetically or comes from junipers, pines, or other plants.  It was the Cedar of Lebanon that is mentioned in ancient writings both for its wood and for its fragrant oil.

It is a deep, calming, woody, and masculine scent, that is often used as a base note in men's perfume, and works well with lemony, citric high notes.  It can help restore confidence.

Sometimes what I fancy is some woody, serious incense. Something a bit dark and sombre, outdoorsy, a little masculine. Cedarwood is the sort of thing. I've burned a few One Aromatics Cedarwood recently, and find I quite like them when a sombre, woodsy sort of scent is called for.  I was burning one today, and recalled a couple of other cedarwood incense I had, and dug them out. One is Sifcon Cinnamon Cedarwood, which is remarkably similar, though in our household we felt the Sifcon to be the more woodsy. However, the girls preferred this One Aromatics as it was more smoky and friendly.   We also compared the Nippon Morning Star Cedarwood, something I hadn't been that kind to when I first reviewed it,  and found it to be a remarkably pleasant scent, if not exactly cedarwood or even that woodsy - there is wood present, but there's also oranges and tea, and seaweed and jasmine. I am more inclined to the Morning Star than on previous visits, but not necessarily as a cedarwood scent.  All in all I'm moving One Aromatics Cedarwood up out of the top end of the Everyday Incense group to just nudge into our Decent Stuff group. And I'm moving the  Sifcon Cinnamon Cedarwood down into the middle of the Decent Stuff group as when comparing it to other cedarwood incense I think I've been a little over generous in the past. And  I'm moving the rather interesting Morning Star firmly into the Decent Stuff group where it belonged all the time.....

Reviews

Goluka Gaura Absolute Cedarwood
(Primo Cedarwood)
Score: 33

Sifcon Cinnamon Cedarwood
Score: 33

Nippon Morning Star Cedarwood
Score: 32

Sage Spirit Medicine Wheel Nature Spirits Cedar
Score: 30

One Aromatics Cedarwood
Score: 30

Match Incense: Cedar Wood
Score: 28

***

Best Scents