Satya (BNG) Champa

 

We have a ghost in the attic, so I went up to do some ghost hunting. I didn't find the ghost (though I heard noises), but while up there I randomly brought back with me two boxes of incense. Inside one of the boxes was this packet of Satya Champa with most of the sticks burned - only four left. And it appears I haven't reviewed it. This is typical Satya - glorious scent on the stick: bright, light, and joyful. Floral with light fruity citric zest, and grounded with creamy sandalwood. It is so delicious. There's nothing synthetic or chemical about this scent - it presents as wonderfully fresh and natural. Oh wow! 

The scent on the burn is pleasantly woody, though with less of the bright, sweet, fruity floral notes found on the stick, so I enjoy it less, and - although from experience I know that the burn scent tends to be less bright and fresh, I am a little bit disappointed. It's still a good scent, though the balance is slightly off for me - the base notes, the woods, are a little too dominant, and also a little damp, and obscured. Some cardboard notes intrude. Scents named Champa tend to be floral, and with characteristics of frangipani/plumeria - and, to be fair, this Champa has some of those characteristics on the stick, but when burned the sandalwood is the main element. 

The scent on the stick I absolutely adored, and I fully expected to be rating this Champa in the 40s, however, while essentially quite pleasant, the woods on the burn are too dominant and there's a general sense of damp confusion rather than the bright happy clarity of the cool scent. There are some jasmine and coconut notes, a suggestion of white lily, which round out the fragrance accord quite nicely, but the amount of sandalwood is a tad too intrusive for my taste. Over time a prickly lamb's wool note comes through, which I tend to associate with halmaddi (though it could come from another ingredient). Overall, this is an attractive scent, just marred slightly for me by the amount of dissonance between the cool and warm scent, and the weight of the woody base notes.   

Date: Dec 2025  Score: 34

***

Satya 
Shrinivas Sugandhalaya of Bangalore

Best of Champa

Reviewed in USA

Vinason's (VNS) Gugul

 

This is, I think, my first experience of gugul. Gugal is a tree resin which comes from the Indian bdellium-tree; there are medically unsupported claims that gugul has health benefits when swallowed. It is related to myrrh, though most folks seem to find it less bitter. 

The sticks appear to be perfumed charcoal, though there is no scent on the surface. It's possible that the fragrant ingredients are folded into the charcoal as in traditional masala incense. 

On the burn there is a mild scent, though so faint it can almost be missed. It is a resin scent. Softly dark and woody with touches of patchouli or more accurately cannabis resin. It smells natural. This is close in style to a Japanese incense. As the stick burns the scent does become more noticeable. I like it. A relaxed, laid back fragrance reminiscent of a legendary black hashish that was common in the UK in the Seventies, and had the nickname of Pakki Black. 

This is one of the most gentle and laid back incenses I've had that I've actually enjoyed. 

Vinason's Gugul sticks are available from VNS at 47 rupees (40p) for 50g. (If you live outside India, to buy from VNS contact Shreyas Sugandhi at vns@vnsons.com). 

Date: Dec 2025  Score: 37

***

Vithaldas Narayandas & Sons
Vinasons

Jeomra's Stabchen Natur Pur Amber

 

An "amber" stick from Raeucherwelt.de, which I got in the "Nature & Pure" sample set for €27.90.  These are resin-on-a-stick style incenses made on a small scale by Georg Huber (Jeomra) in Germany. Amber is not a genuine natural scent as such - it is more an idea of a scent, and Huber is open and honest enough to deal with that in his description on the website: "the name "Amber" doesn't refer to amber itself, nor to ambergris, ... but rather to a scent image". Lower grade incenses and perfumes will use synthetics, or natural blends, while decent perfumes and better quality incenses will use labdanum, a resin extracted from gum rockrose, a flowering shrub native to Spain and Portugal. Huber blends labdanum (sourced from Portugal) with balsam of Peru from South America, Siam benzoin from Vietnam, along with unspecified "essential oils". The combustibles in the paste are a mix of sandalwood dust powder (known as "balloon dust" because it is so fine) and beech wood charcoal, and the stick is finished with a sprinkling of the sandalwood powder. 

There is a candy sweet scent on the stick - a pleasant, chalky, sweet vanilla scent. It's perhaps a tad too sweet for my taste, but I do like the cool mineral quality of the scent, and the faint dusty wood aspect, which takes a little of the edge off the sweetness, though I'd welcome more balance toward the wood.  I like it, it is a rather inviting scent; though I could like it more with a tad extra wood or musk or "amber. 

The scent on the burn starts off quite resinous and dark with scorched sugar strands intermingled. There is an attractive mineral quality, which I tend to find when burning benzoin. I'm not getting a sense of what I normally associate with an amber fragrance, this - for me - is more like a benzoin fragrance, which feels like it's burning a tad too hot and so is getting scorched.  I absolutely loved Huber's Frankincense & Rose, so I am pre-disposed to enjoying this, but it's not working for me. It's OK. I like the resinous element, and the mineral quality, but the burning aspect is intruding too far, and preventing me from fully engaging with the overall fragrance. Sometimes it takes a few burns to really get into an incense. I'll be trying again next year. But for now this has disappointed me a little. 

Date: Dec 2025   Score: 27

***

Amber

Reviewed in Germany

Vinason's (VNS) Amber Kasturi

 

Amber and kasturi (musk) are these days scents created in-house rather than natural. Though amber is best known as the tree resin used for jewellery, and the resin has been and still is used as a scent (though some doubt the provenance of amber essence or oil), scents named "amber" more commonly came from ambergris, digestive waste expelled by the sperm whale. As ambergris is very rare and very expensive, and there are ethical concerns around the harvesting of it, it is not going to be found in any incense, and only very rarely in perfume. A common natural substitute for amber/ambergris in perfume is the plant labdanum, though synthetics and/or blends of essential oils are more commonly used in incense. Musk traditionally came from musk deer; though with a ban on the killing of musk deer in place, legal musk (harvested from naturally dead deer) is rare and generally considered dubious. Musk Mallow (or Ambrette) is a natural substitute used in some perfumes, though musk synthetics have been around since the 19th century, and are more widely used in perfumes and incense. The older musk synthetics are rarely used these days due to health and environment concerns, though modern musk synthetics are seen as safe. So, these perfumed-charcoal sticks by VNS are not going to contain amber or musk, and are likely to contain modern synthetics, though the musk and amber fragrances could be derived from a blend of natural and synthetic scents. 

The packaging and the scent on the stick are, for me, very nostalgic. This is old-school style incense. This is the sort of stuff that was commonly sold in the UK in the early Seventies. It wasn't until the late Seventies that Satya started exporting to the West (some may have been brought in by hand from visitors to India, especially the hippy tourists, but even Satya say that it was the late Seventies when Nag Champa became popular in the West). In the early Seventies we had perfumed Indian incense or the American Krishna Movement Spiritual Sky, but we didn't have Nag Champa. That would come later. 

The scent on the stick is more floral than musk, and has some jasmine aspects. There's some berry fruits, a touch of citric, a sense of "incense" (generally woody resin), and some paint cleaner. It's attractive enough, but the main appeal is the nostalgia.  The scent on the burn is a little deeper than that on the stick, and is closer to the expected scents of amber and musk, though not quite on target. It generally was not much liked in the household, though I found it acceptable, perhaps because of the nostalgic associations. 

Vinason's Amber Kasturi sticks are available from VNS at 55 rupees (45p) for 50g. (If you live outside India, to buy from VNS contact Shreyas Sugandhi at vns@vnsons.com).  A sample pack of 8 different VNS perfumed-charcoal sticks is available from Padma Store for 12 Euros plus shipping. 

Date: Dec 2025   Score: 25

***

Vithaldas Narayandas & Sons
Vinasons

Musk

Amber

Reviewed in USA

Discussed on Reddit

Vinason's (VNS) Frankincense

 

Frankincense is a popular mono-scent for incense sticks, though is also popular when blended with myrrh or other ingredients. This Frankincense is not a pure mono-scent, on the stick there's a masala scent blended in, which has sandalwood and lambs wool (which I associate with halmaddi) elements, along with vanilla/benzoin notes. It's a clean and pleasant fragrance on the stick - not too heavy, not too exciting, not too sophisticated. It's moderate, it's modest. it's nice. 

The fragrance on the burn has more energy and life. It presents stronger and with more vibrancy, and resin notes come to the fore with greater clarity. This does now perform like a frankincense incense, though sweetened by vanilla/benzoin, and softened by pale sandalwood. It is attractive - resinous and woody, though quite soft, and with a delicate sweetness that contrasts with and highlights the resin. I think it is nicely done. There are some great pure resin incense sticks, such as those made by Jeomra in Germany, by IBN in Oman,  and by Pure Yemen in Yemen. This VNS Frankincense is not as pure as those; it presents more like Mount Athos frankincense, which has been blended with other sweet ingredients. And, perhaps to a lesser extent, it also presents like Prinknash Abbey resin blends. I like the way the frankincense has been blended with the sweeter elements and given depth by the woody elements. Yeah, this is very nice. It works for me. 

Vinason's Frankincense sticks are available from VNS at 25 rupees (85p) for 20g. (If you live outside India, to buy from VNS contact Shreyas Sugandhi at vns@vnsons.com).  A sample pack of 35 different VNS masala incense sticks is available from Padma Store for 25 Euros plus shipping. 

Date: Nov 2025   Score:  38

***

Vithaldas Narayandas & Sons
Vinasons

Frankincense

Reviewed in USA

Vrindavan Bazaar Patchouli

 

Incense from Vrindavan Bazaar may be variable and inconsistent, but is generally of a decent standard, and is certainly excellent value. These patchouli sticks are hand-rolled charcoal paste onto a plain machine-cut bamboo splint, and then lightly coated in brown finishing powder which has some sparkly glitter in it. The scent on the stick is earthy, musty, musky, with a faint awareness of mint. It gives the general impression of incense - masala incense. I like it. It doesn't excite me, but it's decent enough. It does the job. I'm happy. 

When lit there is a fair amount of black smoke, but this goes when the flame is blown out. The scent is fairly modest, and remains within the scope of the scent on the stick. It doesn't really develop on from that. It's nice, but  too unassuming to really engage my interest. There is some gentle benzoin (or vanilla), a mineral note, and the general sense of masala incense flavoured lightly with earthy, musky notes that could be patchouli. Gradually the smoky sense of woody masala incense builds up and becomes a little overbearing. There's little sense of patchouli at this stage, just a generic woody incense. In the end I'm a little disappointed. 

Available at £1.08 for 20gm from Vrindavan Bazaar. They ship internationally at reasonable rates. 

Date: Nov 2025   Score: 24

***

   

Vrindavan Bazaar

Patchouli

Vrindavan Bazaar Jasmine

I'm not a lover of jasmine incense. And these rather ordinary machine-extruded perfumed sticks  have not improved my attitude toward the style. 

To be fair they are not bad as jasmine scented incense sticks go, but there's nothing here to interest me. I am likely to avoid jasmine incense in future; while there have been individual jasmine incenses I've liked, the bulk of them I have not. If I get sent some as samples, fair enough, but I'm not going to select jasmine myself. 

Available at £1.08 for 20gm from Vrindavan Bazaar. They ship internationally at reasonable rates. 

Date: Nov 2025   Score: 26

***

   

Vrindavan Bazaar

Best jasmine incense

Vrindavan Bazaar Lavender Natural

 

Machine extruded with a dry, clean finish (no powder) onto plain machine-cut bamboo splints. There is a somewhat volatile room freshener lavender scent. There's so much ice in the fumes that it's hard to get at the lavender and enjoy it. It propels more as perfume than a natural herb, though the fragrance could still be a natural essential oil. I do find moments where it does present as a herby lavender. But, yeah, overall just a tad too volatile and perfumed to make me feel positive. And it's also a fairly simple scent. I like lavender, but when it comes to burning incense, my taste inclines more toward intelligently and interestingly constructed accords that are a delight to experience, rather than a simple imitation (however "natural") of something I can bring in from my own garden, or which I can dribble a few drops of essential oil. That's not to say I am against lavender or other mono-scent incenses - it's just that I prefer more thoughtful fragrance accords, so when I encounter a mono-scent I'm not so excited. And even less so when it presents more as a cheap room freshener than earthy incense. 

There's a fair amount of black smoke when lighting up the stick, but when the flame is blown out it all settles down into a quiet and steady burn with gentle grey smoke. The scent on the burn is still a bit perfumed, a bit icy, and a bit sweet for my taste, without the earthy elements that make lavender so cleansing and interesting.  It's OK, a decent aroma, and no serious off notes. But it's no more than an average room freshener. A little underwhelming for a Vrindavan incense. 

After burning it a couple more times, I find I actually like it as a simple pleasant perfumed room freshener. I'd be quite happy to buy this again at the price. 

Available at £1.08 for 20gm from Vrindavan Bazaar. They ship internationally at reasonable rates. 

Date: Nov 2025   Score: 31

***

   

Vrindavan Bazaar

Best of Lavender

Bangalore Incense Store / Jaygee's / Gurugee

 

Bangalore Incense Store was set up in 2008 by Jaygee Mavalur as an outlet for his Jaygee Industries incense company. He also sells incense under the brand name Gurugee. Jaygee's family have been involved in incense making for 60 years over three generations. 

Reviews

Bangalore Incense Store Jaygee's Heena (PM)

Nov 2025 - Score: 31

   

Bangalore Incense Store Jaygee's Navami (PM)
Nov 2025 - Score: 25

Reviews: 
Top score: 
Low score: 
Average:

***

Bangalore incense Store Jaygee's Navami

 

Powdery sweet with neutral mineral notes supported by a soft pale sandalwood. Some spice. Some  honey. Florals. Herbs. A curious though pleasant melange. Not quite sure what the accord is saying. It's a mild and acceptable "incense" fragrance. Quite soft and restrained. It's not doing much for me. There's nothing here that's offensive or off. It is genuinely quite pleasant, with soft fresh sandalwood shavings, and a general sense of decent incense. It's just that it's not doing much. It's a clean, safe, almost timid aroma. There's no beauty here. No story, Little to interest me. Good stuff. But unexciting. 

The scent on the burn is soft, gentle, inoffensive, and largely indifferent. It's hardly here - shuffling around quietly in the corner, saying and doing very little. Ho hum. 

Available from Bangalore Incense at 50g for £1.07 ($1.41, 125 Rupees). Bangalore Incense ships internationally. 

Date: Nov 2025   Score: 25 

***

   

Jaygee's / Gurugee

Bangalore Incense Store Jaygee's Heena

 

Bangalore Incense Store was set up in 2008 by Jaygee Mavalur as an outlet for his Jaygee Industries incense company. He also sells incense under the brand name Gurugee. Jaygee's family have been involved in incense making for 60 years over three generations. 

Heena is another name for henna, a red powder dye made from the leaves of the Henna Tree (Lawsonia inermis), which is used to colour the hair, and to create intricate and beautiful temporary tattoos. This powder is bitter, and does not make a good scent. However, the flower of the Henna Tree does have an attractive scent, considered to be sweet, delicate, and floral, with suggestions of tea. Oils made from the flowers are occasionally used in perfumes and incense. 

The sticks are machine extruded from what appears to be a wood paste with a light coating of finishing powder. The paste is dry but crumbly, like a biscuit. There is a gentle and attractive fragrance, slightly floral in the direction of jasmine - waxy white with citric nips. There are some mild petrol or terpene notes, edging toward tar. There is a gentle spice, and a soft sandalwood base. On the whole, the sticks don't look inviting, and the scent is just moderately acceptable: pleasant but not quite attractive.  

On lighting there is a clean flame, no black smoke, and then the stick settles into a moderate burn with a moderate diffusion and a moderate amount of grey smoke. The diffusion is very soft and gentle. Too much so for my taste, though people's mileage does differ, and there's a lot of people who like soft and gentle. If you like Chinese or Japanese incense, then this may be more your bag than mine. The scent is in the henna ball park, and is moderately attractive with spicy florals over a softly musky sandalwood base. I like it, and I may like it more given time, but it doesn't rock my world on this first experience. Though it cradles it enough, yes, to be happy to burn again.  Moderate, professional, well crafted, gentle, pleasant fragrance, no off-notes. It reminds me a little of  Nitraj. 

Available from Bangalore Incense at 50g for £1.07 ($1.41, 125 Rupees). Bangalore Incense ships internationally. 

Date: Nov 2025   Score: 31

***

   

Jaygee's / Gurugee

Henna

Vrindavan Bazaar Goverdhan

 

Sold in the holy city of Vrindavan by Vrindavan Bazaar, who ship internationally under the name Hare Krshna Exports (not to be confused with Hare Krishna Das). There is uncertainty as to who makes the incense, or where. The sticks vary in production method and quality, so it is possible (likely?) that they are made by more than one operator. I've not yet found an incense maker in Vrindavan, though there is another outlet in the nearby town of Govardham - which sells incense and dhoop which it says it manufactures itself: Govardhan Wasi. There may be others. This Vrindavan incense is named after the town of Goverdhan because the local hill, Govardhan Hill, is where Krishna wandered with his brother. 

The charcoal paste has been machine extruded onto a smooth machine-cut bamboo splint, and then rolled thinly into a fragrant finishing powder. I've just reviewed some white label sticks made in Mumbai by the Incense Collective for the Nitiraj brand: Purple Champa and Laxmi, both of which were made in the same way. It is of course possible that these sticks were made by the Incense Collective, or some other white label maker, such as HMS or VNS, both in Pune. Who knows. Somebody knows. Who cares. Somebody cares. I'm curious, and slightly frustrated, but it is what it is. 

Scent on the stick is sandalwood, honey, and vanilla/benzoin. There's a mild cool volatility, and a faint sense of resin and rubber oil. It is an engaging, light, and attractive scent which leans toward being commercial, though also has a homely "incense" or "masala" quality which gives it some warmth. 

The scent on the burn is soft and attractive. Similar in many ways to the incense houses in Pune and to Incense Collective (previously Fair Trade).  There's a benzoin quality - vanilla and resin, with sandalwood, and a general sense of "incense". It is a delightful incense without being particularly special. Well made, somewhat well behaved, attractive, and - at a reasonably decent level - quite run of the mill for Indian masala incense. I like it. I'm not blown away, but this is a bloody good incense to have around the house, and is cheap as chips if you buy direct from Vrindavan. 

Available at £1.08 for 20gm from Vrindavan Bazaar. They ship internationally at reasonable rates. 

Date: Nov 2025   Score: 38

***

   

Vrindavan Bazaar