Folkessence Trippy Hippy Good Vibes (Tropicool)

 

The last of the pack of 6 "Trippy Hippy" incense sticks made for Folkulture, an American lifestyle shop. They were a gift from one of my granddaughters for helping get her into university. The sticks are made on the outskirts of Delhi. The box is available in USA from Folkulture for $15.99, and in the UK for £12.34. That's around £2 per pack of 20 quite jolly machine extruded and scented sticks. On the whole I found the sticks to be bright and acceptable room fresheners - not for incense connoisseurs, but perfectly fine for casual everyday use. 

The scent on the sticks is bright and juicy, a little volatile, with a feel of room freshener perfume, quite fruity and floral, with notes of pineapple, soap, and sandstone, along with day old cigarette smoke. The blurb on the back says: "Radiate good vibes with these incense sticks that have a relaxing aroma. The scents of pineapple and mango will appeal to your olfactory senses. Close your eyes and imagine yourself on a tropical island getaway." 

The scent on the burn, as is typical for perfumed incense, does not live up to the promise on the stick - it is less sharp and bright, and some of the scents are obscured with the aroma of smoke. However, it is largely bright and attractive, and does lift the room. It feels to me like a morning incense. 

Date: Sept 2025    Score: 26

***

Folkessence

Fruit Fragrances
That'll Make You Drool

Goloka Myrrh Resin Incense

 

The scent of the resin before burning is warm, dry, spicy, dusty, herby, with a mildly bitter and burnt herb note. When warmed it comes to life, and there's a distinct resinous quality with citric touches. It's neither sweet nor bitter, but fairly neutral. It's pleasant, though not exciting. 

When looking at my other reviews of myrrh, I find it's a scent I'm fairly ambivalent about. And, as is the case with many other resins, I tend to prefer it when it is used in incense sticks rather than when warmed raw. I suspect that'll be due to other fragrant and helpful ingredients (such as fixatives) the incense makers will have blended with the myrrh in order to produce a commercially appealing fragrance. That said, I love the idea of burning resin direct. It's more "natural", but more than that, it's more cultural and historic. And I get closer to the genuine scent of this famous resin. While the sticks may be more commercially appealing (and I totally succumb to that, I'm not at all adverse to making things more appealing to more people, and often I will enjoy commercial scents. Though I tend to want more depth, interest, and roughness in my incense, I don't dislike something just because it's smooth, sweet, and appealing. I just tend not to get really excited about it. 

Anyway. Yes, a pleasant resin that I have enjoyed burning. I think I'll have some fun at some point with making up resin blends. 

Date: September 2025    Score: 35 

***

Goloka

Resins

Myrrh

Vijayshree "Golden Nag" Himaalaya

 

There's a delicious cool sugary spicy fragrance on the sticks. Sharp and clear - quite appropriate for an incense  named after the high peaks of the mountain range to the north of India. It's quite a powdery scent, and I'm thinking of sherbet, something I have thought about in several incenses I've recently reviewed - either that's a curious coincidence, or I've got sherbet on the brain! 

There's a smoky element to the fragrance on the burn, though much of the promise on the stick does come through. The scent disperses gently but reasonably firmly around the room. I am burning the stick at the far end of my room, and the fragrance, along with some ticklish smoky notes, do come my way quite easily. It's not a sophisticated or exquisite fragrance, but it is very decent and pleasurable, lifting the room with its cool notes. Fresh, clean, uplifting. Decent enough. 

Date: Sept 2025    Score: 32

***

Vijayshree Fragrance

Stamford Pakeezah

 

I started reviewing this Pakeezah over a week ago. It's a lovely incense, a legacy of a collaboration by the UK importers Aargee (now Stamford London) with Satya in 2011 to create some new fragrances. Unfortunately the website which reported on the collaboration, along with the scents they created together,  is no longer active, and there's no copy on Archive.org.

My hesitation with the review was partly the failed attempt to locate details of the collaboration in 2011, and my firm thought on encountering the incense that it was obviously a Satya product. Yes, it is highly likely that it is a Satya. There is a long standing and ongoing relationship between Aargee/Stamford and Satya, there is (now lost) documentation of the collaboration on new and unique fragrances, and the packaging is in the style of Satya. Normally, however, Stamford mention Satya on their collaborations. And I've not known other instances of Satya doing "white label" work, where they are not named on the box. However, when I opened the box the impression I got was, "Ah, Satya." But then I questioned why I thought the incense smelled like Satya. Indeed, there are a number of incense makers in Bangalore who make incense in the same style as Satya. And then I got into a foggy discussion with myself about that handful of folks who are dismissive of Satya, and yet declare how much they like other Bangalore babes who copy Satya, or at least make their incense in the same way as Satya. And I wondered if there actually is something distinctive about Satya, or are we all just reacting to the Satya name (negatively or positively). There's various bad things said about Satya, largely due to what happened when the brothers  split up, and Nagraj Setty set up a separate Satya business in Mumbai, contracting out the manufacture of the Satya sticks so they were not the same quality. For a while they were appalling quality. Thankfully we didn't get much of that here in the UK, where distributors largely stayed loyal to Balkrishna Setty in Bangalore, who was still making incense in the original factory to the same recipes. But the damage had been done, and I've heard bizarre stories about Satya using carcinogenic chemicals, or that they no longer use halmaddi, etc. And once those stories get out there, people tend to believe them, and then find it hard to shift from them, even when evidence and logic is available (there is an entire court case - which ended this year - which details the story of Balkrishna suing Nagraj because of using poor production methods, nothing there about carcinogenic chemicals or halmaddi, and isn't it curious that the halmaddi shortage only appears to have impacted the quality of Satya incense). 

Anyway, I just went down the rabbit hole of thoughts about why I felt this incense was "obviously" Satya, when my experience is that other than a general sense of decent and well made incense I hadn't really felt Satya to be particularly distinctive. Some Satya scents really work for me, while others don't, and most are somewhere in the middle. I often think of The Judgement of Paris where French, UK, and American wine experts did a blind taste test, so the French could prove once and for all that French wine was the best in the world because of the specific terroir of the French soil and climate and age of the vines. The result is that the American wines did better on the blind tasting than the French wines. I'd like to try a "Judgement of Bangalore" to see if I, and other people, could pick out Satya from Goloka, Vijayshree, Namaste India, Shroff, etc, and where we'd place the various incenses on an appreciation list  It would be fun at least! 

Anyhow. Back to the Pakeezah. The word means clean or pure, and is usually used as a feminine name. As such, I would assume the noses who blended this fragrance mix would set out to make something clean, light, and feminine. Florals would be preferred over woods, for example. And perhaps it wouldn't be too sexy with musk and resins, though might have light fruits along with jasmine.  

The fragrance on the stick is heavy with oils in a manner similar to incenses named "floras", and is quite heady and floral with soaked, fermenting fruits, and an abundance of sweet powdery sherbet. It is feminine, though an emphatic and heavy feminine rather than something light and delicate. Perhaps more Marilyn Monroe than Tinker Bell. I find it a rewarding and exciting fragrance, with a teasing promise of the burn to come. I suspect this incense will need plenty of air to let it breathe and develop. 

The fragrance on the burn is certainly not shy, and needs a large room to avoid being overwhelmed. It is, to me, distinctively flora, and - thinking about it now - is way more distinctively flora than it is Satya. Indeed, I doubt if anyone would associate it with Satya if it had not been suggested beforehand. The florals are petrol infused - very hot and lively and somewhat intoxicating. This is a tropical experience. Sandalwood is coming through - not dark and oily like patchouli, nor white and light like Asian incense, but hovering somewhere in between. Masses of it, giving depth and solidity and meaning to the florals, which are heady rose and jasmine. This is a great incense. A really great incense. I love it. 

Available for £1.30 from IndianSpice, £1.95 from Olivia'sGifts,   There's also a Padmini Pakeezah available. (Which may be the same stick as this Stamford Pakeezah, see comments below). 

Date: Sept 2025   Score: 46

***

Stamford London

Folkessence Trippy Hippy Free Spirit (Opium Poppy)

 

"The enchanting and magical scent of opium and blend of poppyseeds will exude confidence from within, giving you a sense of freedom...." Gosh. Sounds like a Chinese opium dealer enticing an addict with his wares. I've tried a few drugs in my youth, and I may well have smoked opium at some point, but if I did I can't recall the scent. Looking on the internet, and taking the first reliable source I could find, it appears that fresh cut opium smells like mown hay. This, though, smells like the Yves Saint Laurent perfume, Opium - a scent I do know, as we have a few bottles in the house. And, a scent that is occasionally used in Indian perfumed and masala incense. 

The scent on the stick is heady, sweet, a little cloying, perfumed, fresh, sharp, with hints of strawberries, and - now that it has been brought up - fresh cut grass. It's a delicious and beguiling scent that covers a lot of ground - there's honey and caramel and other delights in here to discover. It's like that jar of sweets at the fair - "Guess how many sweets in the jar, and you win the prize". Well, guess how many scents are in Free Spirit! 

When lit there is some initial black smoke. I don't know for certain, but I associate black smoke with DEP. But then again, my understanding is that most Indian incense uses DEP (masala incense as well). Incense would be too expensive, and probably too strong without it, as DEP dilutes the liquid fragrance into an affordable and workable solution. I tend to mention DEP in a casually derogatory fashion, as though it were the forced CO2 in beer. But the majority of folks like fizz in their beer, and unless they are drinking unfiltered beer, they will be drinking forced CO2. I find forced CO2 to be sharp and acidic, while the natural carbonation of unfiltered beer I find to be soft and wholesome. Can I actually tell, other than the black smoke, that an incense uses DEP? I'm not sure I can. Sometimes I think I can, but I don't know for sure. So DEP, then, is not as bad - to me - as forced carbonation. And millions of people don't just like forced carbonation, they actually prefer it, given the huge popularity of lager. So perhaps I should stop casually suggesting that DEP is present in an incense, as though it were an obvious evil. 

The scent on the burn is gentle, delicious, fragrant, and manages to evoke the scents on the stick. This is a pretty decent Opium incense. I like this. I like it a lot. But then I like Opium perfume, so I'm already halfway there in enjoying it. 

Date: Sept 2025    Score: 38

***

Folkessence

Opium

The Mother's India Fragrances Lila

 

Creamy malty sweet caramel with hints of vanilla and some cologne notes swirling around floral is my initial impact from the stick. A very engaging, modern, and commercial accord. I kinda like sweet, but this is perhaps a tad too sweet for my taste, and lacks enough balance for me. It's like a perfumed salted caramel. There's musk at the base, but that's sort of wrapped into the caramel. The florals are nice - quite clean, though here on the stick they are not quite strong enough to escape the caramel, and other than being sort of waxy white, are a little vague.  

The scent on the burn of this Lila is quite gentle, and cleaner than most of the Pondicherry incense I've tried, though I'm still getting a little of the roughness I generally experience from Pondicherry. I suspect the roughness I experience comes either from the use of halmaddi as a fixative (and that potentially in Pondicherry they use more halmaddi than average, because I tend to get a stronger reaction to Pondicherry than most or nearly all other incenses) or it is due to the local tradition of using resin residue. Because I mainly perceive Pondicherry incense as rough rather more than irritating (which tends to be the case for me with too much halmaddi), and that it occurs across the range, including the original Heritage Cottage sticks, which were designed to be low cost incense for the local ashram than for sale to outsiders, and that the locals would be familiar with and like incense made with resin residue, I suspect that roughness is due to the Tamil Nadu region tradition of using residue left from distilling resins such as benzoin rather than to any possible use of halmaddi.  

On the burn I am picking up the scents which I noted on the stick, but as is common with incense mainly perfumed externally (rather than having the fragrance wrapped inside the paste), the scent on the stick is strong and attractive, while the scent on the burn tends to be fainter, and somewhat obscured and unbalanced by the burn notes from the combustible material and other ingredients. 

I then take it for a walk around the house to give it some space and fresh air, and the base notes drop away, and I find that the scent I picked up on the stick comes more to the fore, though with more focus on floral notes. Nothing specific, more just a general sense of "floral". The caramel notes are less apparent now, though are still here. It is either a heady fragrance, or a heavy one. I'm inclined more to feeling it as heavy and a tad intrusive. I like it. Though it is a little too sweet, too floral, too feminine and unbalanced for my taste. But I do like it. Best burned at a far distance or with plenty of ventilation, or as a smudge around the house. The accord doesn't do much for me, but overall it's a decent scent.  

The UK blurb is "sweet, powdery crisp patchouli, blended with earthy vetiver and green and mossy oak, with a little spice", while the USA blurb is "full of fresh Patchouli blended artistically with classic earthy Vetiver, traces of intoxicating Tuberose, soothing Benzoin, and green Oak Moss, crowned with a touch of spice to give it an oriental flavor". The US distributors mention tuberose and benzoin in the mix, which the UK distributor does not.  The tuberose makes sense for the floral notes, and benzoin would possibly be in the mix as a fixative along with the oak moss, though none of these individual ingredients are standing out for me, especially not the patchouli. Sometimes the fragrant ingredient list can lead us astray. Sometimes we can get disappointed the scents are not there, while other times we look for and therefore find the scents we are told are there, rather than allow our individual relationship with the perfume or incense to develop.  Looking at the review on ORS, I see that they have found all the scents listed, though have an individual experience where they pick up chocolate. I can understand the chocolate note as that is not too far from my caramel note. Ah, initially I was applauding the reviewer (Mike?) for their individuality and nose, though I now note that they also say: "The informational material also calls chocolate as a note", so I assume they have read that the incense should have a chocolate note.

Anyway, this is supposed to be a patchouli incense, and I take that information lightly. I am at the point with incense where I much prefer to just burn it and experience it untainted with sales blurbs and descriptions. I always like to see what the sales pitch is, and what others have said about the incense, but I prefer to do that afterwards. And sometimes I'll see a new way into an incense. I find that Irene of Rauchfahne has individual and knowledgeable things to say, and she has really informed and changed my way of approaching not just an individual incense now and again, but incense burning in general. I always like to look at what she has to say, and am disappointed when she hasn't reviewed something. And I like reading Nathanupchurch.com, as he is a crafted and intelligent writer with unique and interesting approaches. Sadly he doesn't review incense that much.

Anyway, enough back-patting other bloggers, I like this incense. Decent and interesting fragrance accord, though held back for me by some of the ingredients, and the somewhat feminine, sweet, one-sided nature, which is not really my style. 

Date: Sept 2025   Score: 30 

***

The Mother's India Fragrances

Pondicherry dry brown twigs

Reviewed in USA

Sai Handicrafts Sandaloudh

 

Sai Handicrafts is a UK trader who imports from India (most of the incense is similar to that sold in Vrindavan), and sells in Hitchin market, at stalls during the UK festival season, and online. I have met the owner Pinkesh - a nice man, and I like the incense he has selected for his business. The prices are low, while the fragrances are beautiful. For those who like the Vrindavan type incense, but are unsure about buying direct from Vrindavan, or paying the higher prices associated with most UK traders, then Pinkesh's Sai Handicrafts is a good place to look. 

The name Sandaloudh suggests that the fragrance is intended to be a blend of sandalwood and agarwood (oudh). A curious combination as both scents are woody, sweet, and musky, so the main characteristics will be merged and blurred. However, it's an interesting idea. I like both oudh and sandal, so I'm happy.  

The sticks are in the form of dhoop, an older form of incense than joss-sticks and cones. It was developed by priests in India, and spread through Asia, where it is still the main form of incense in much of Asia, including China and Japan. This is a decent dhoop. It burns evenly and smoothly,  with clean silver grey smoke. As with most Indian dhoops, it is a fairly heady incense, dispersing through the room and the house quickly and firmly, though not at all aggressively. The scent is on target for what most people would expect of an incense with sandal or oudh in the name. A clean, warm, woody, sweet, creamy, musky scent. Given the cost of real sandalwood oil from the heartwood and real agarwood oil, this is almost certainly made from synthetic oils. I'm cool with that, as synthetic oils, especially when it comes to sandalwood, are as good and sometimes better than the natural oils in terms of quality of scent. What you don't get, of course, are the natural quirks and off notes that can either ruin or accentuate a scent.

The perfect incense?

 
It all smells natural, and feels natural, and it's a damn fine incense, so the use of synthetics doesn't bother me at all. What does hold me back from getting really excited about this Sandaloudh is that it is a bit predicable, and lacks imagination and contrast and any sense of a scent journey. It smells as I expected it to smell, and it remains that way all through. At this stage of my incense explorations I'm finding it hard to get a thrill when encountering a scent like this, which I have smelled hundreds of times before. Yes, it's a bloody good example of a woody, sexy, musky scent, and ten years ago I would be raving about it. But these days I'm looking for a Marilyn Monroe who can ride a Harley Davidson.  

 

But, by heck, this is an awesome incense, and it is close to paradise. 

Date: Jan 2016   Score: 44

***

Sai Handicrafts

Sandalwood

The best oudh incense

The Mother's India Fragrances Yoga

 

I am not a fan of incense made in Pondicherry and Auroville, as it tends to be a little dry and harsh for my taste, and a little old fashioned and mono-scented.  The Mother's Fragrances, and the stronger The Mother's India Fragrances was set up in Pondicherry in 1975, and has been distributed in the UK by Greater Goods since the year 2000, and in the US by the New Hampshire based Mere Cie Deux via their Etsy shop. The packaging colours put me in mind of Auroshikha, who also sell the incense made by the Pondicherry community, though I'm unclear on the distinction between Mother's branded incense and Auroshikha branded incense. 

   

The colourful packet

My Yoga stick comes from a sample pack of The Mother's India Fragrances. These packs are on sale in many incense shops in the UK, and are sometimes sent out as free samples with orders from online shops.

  

Contents of a typical sample pack

I've been burning The Mother's incense now and again for over ten years, and, as with other Pondicherry made incense, I have a less than positive attitude toward it. Yet, the reviews I have done in that time (only four at this moment) have reasonably positive scores - though on reading the reviews, they do indicate a certain discomfort with the rough Pondicherry nature of the sticks (largely conjectured at the time to be due to my reaction to the terpenes in halmaddi, though I am less certain of that these days). The scores seem a little higher than my comments justify, and I wonder what I would score those sticks if reviewing them today. 

That said, I have been enjoying this Yoga with its curiously attractive balance of sandalwood and floral notes. The fragrance ingredients are shown as sandalwood, oakmoss, patchouli, and vetiver - not scents one would think of as floral as they all tend to hover around musky, sweet, and earthy (and those attributes are certainly here), but there are some floral top notes, especially on the stick, along with fresh citric. It's a lively and fairly modern scent. Not the sort of thing I associate with Pondicherry.

There are little prickles in the scent on the stick which catch at the back of my nose, so this is possibly activating my terpenes sensitivity. There are terpenes present in tree resins such as frankincense, benzoin, and halmaddi, all of which are used as fragrant fixatives; however, it tends to be the halmaddi resin that provokes my sensitivity. At the same time, in the Tamil Nadu region where The Mother's incense is made, the incense makers sometimes use the residue left over from distilling resins and spices. The residue is a little harsh and peppery when burned, but the locals are used to it and like it. I'm not sure if the prickles in my nose comes from a use of halmaddi as the fragrance fixative, or if it is the use of the resin residue. Or it might even be something else. 

The scent is assertive when burned. Not heady and perfumed so much as bullish and strong. It kinda pushes its way into the room and stamps gruffly for attention. I find it is a scent best burned at a remote distance, and with plenty of ventilation. It's each to their own, though I suspect that those who like delicate incense might not get along with this. While I generally like heady incense, the strength of this stick is not my thing, as the impact appears to come more from the non-fragrant ingredients, such as the possible use of halmaddi and/or resin residue.  The more delicate floral and citric notes are less noticeable on the burn, but are still there, and they lift this incense above the norm. The musky, sweet, woody base, is beautifully contrasted now and again by the more lively and light floral and citric notes. 

For me there are flaws in this stick, some of which are likely to be fairly personal, which prevent full enjoyment. However, I have appreciated this scent. I like that it is fairly modern with an interesting blend that brings together woody, earthy, musky notes with lighter, more joyful and beautiful floral and citric notes. (And while there are no named fragrant ingredients which would suggest floral notes, they are nevertheless present for me).  

Date: Sept 2025   Score: 35 

***

The Mother's India Fragrances

Pondicherry dry brown twigs

Reviewed in Germany

Vinasons (VNS) Chandan Cones

 

Sample box of sandalwood cones sent by Shreyas of Vithaldas Narayandas and Sons (VNS). This appears to be the only incense cones sold by VNS. Shreyas didn't send me a full box, just a sample of six in a yellow VNS box. The cones are sold in a 50g box for 90 rupees. 

The regular 50g box

The cones are tall and pointy and a cardboard grey/brown colour. There is a gentle and pleasant perfume on the cone, quite herby and minty, though underpinned by woody notes which incline, for me, more toward damp beech (like a well sucked school desk) than sandalwood. There's a sense of fresh patchouli - sweet and musky. I like it a lot. 

The cone burns well, producing a classic  column of silver grey smoke. I do like to see the smoke from incense. It's an essential part of the experience for me, and I puzzle over why there is an interest in smokeless incense. For me, if you don't want the smoke, then don't burn incense, use an oil warmer instead. You get a better fragrance and a more healthy experience without any of that nasty silver smoke swirling around as it lifts to the gods above. 

The scent on the burn is delightful. The accent here is on the wood - a little earthy, yet still sweet and musky. Some of the more intriguing scents on the cone have not translated to the burn, instead we get a stronger account of the sweet musk. Again I am drawn more to thoughts of patchouli than sandalwood - though sandalwood (the dark oily sandalwood that I like) can tend to smell similar to patchouli anyway. I think sandalwood scents are more varied than patchouli because some perfumers use the dark oily heartwood, some use the dark oily heartwood after the oil has been extracted, and some use the cheaper pale sandalwood which doesn't contain much of the fragrant oil. This scent is closer to the dark oily sandalwood, yet is not heavy or too sweet or too indulgent - it retains a green, herby life, a vibrancy and youth which is joyful and uplifting. I like it a lot.   

Date: Sept 2025   Score:  45 

***

Vithaldas Narayandas & Sons
Vinasons

Sandalwood

Kemet Design (closed)

 

Kemet Design was an artisan enterprise based in Dunbar, Scotland, making and selling Egyptian influenced jewellery and incense. It was founded and run by Jenny Hill, who made her own loose incense. The business closed in 2019. 

Reviews

Kemet Design Bast Incense (L)
Sept 2025 - Score:  21↑

Kemet Design Hathor Incense (L)
July 2017 - Score: 19*

 

Kemet Design Kyphi Incense (L)
July 2017 - Score: 18* 

   

Reviews: 3

Top score: 21

Bottom score: 18
Average: 19

***

The Best Incense Makers

Incense by Country

Janawi (resin from Boswellia dalzielii)

 

Ooh this is a fruity, herby, resinous, lively tree resin which comes from Boswellia dalzielii in West Africa. It is a frankincense, though has rarely been studied. However, it was studied closely in 2019 when it was observed that the resin was used locally in the same manner as other frankincense resins, that the bark was traded for its range of medicinal uses (treating toothache, healing wounds, calming mental disorders, etc), and the resin contained similar, and at times greater, fragrant properties than other frankincense resins.  Go fill your boots, this is good stuff. 

Available (bark and resin) on Etsy from the useful Jarguna, who also sells halmaddi. 

Date: Sept 2025   Score: 40

***

Resins

Incense by Country

Frankincense

Tree Resin Dammar Gum

 

I'm currently working my way through a box of resins and other assorted incenses that I tossed in there. Yesterday I burned some Gum Dammar sold by Goloka, which I found moderately pleasant and calming, though no more interesting or exciting than a cup of chamomile tea. Today I have picked up this packet of the same dammar tree resin, which I bought from The Scenter, which used to be run by the helpful and friendly Alan Hargreaves, who gave me lots of good advice when I experimented with selling incense on eBay some years back. The Scenter is now closed, but these loose packets of dammar resin are widely available on eBay and Etsy at low cost. I've looked back at my records, and I bought this in 2018 for £1.35. 

The resin pieces are small, much is little bigger than granulated sugar, and mostly darker than the Goloka, with occasional flecks of impurities (tree bark, etc), so this wouldn't be high grade dammar, and would have been cheaper to source than the dammar from Goloka. But, perhaps its my perverse nature - or simply that it does have more character, I like this dammar more than the Goloka. Not by much, it still remains a modest experience with a curious fragrance that is a blend of faint melting plastic and chamomile tea, along with somewhat refreshing lemon notes. 

Of course, you get what you pay for (they say), and businessmen have decided that pure white dammar is better (and so more expensive) than darker dammar. However, that is when the resin is being used as a varnish. And that makes sense. The clearer the resin, the clearer the varnish will be. When it comes to using dammar as an incense the clarity of the gum seems to be less important. Indeed, it appears from my brief experience, that the clearer the gum the less character and fragrance the incense will have. But that is my personal taste. I do like incense with character and noticeable fragrance, and your mileage may vary. However, I do think this experience points up my observations that we each have to follow our own path to discovering what incense works for us. If we follow too closely the recommendations of others, we might miss out on discovering what really works for us. What have I learned today? That the darker and cheaper dammar gum may be more to my taste than the clearer and more expensive dammar. 

Date: September 2025    Score: 29 

***

Resins