Vijayshree Golden Nag Meditation

 

I'm having a troubled moment with the Vijayshree Golden Nag incenses. I absolutely love the scents on the stick - and in my earlier reviews I would be overwhelmed by their sweetness, freshness, sexiness, pure indulgence, that I would tend to skimp on looking more closely. I would be seduced and led by the nose. Even though I would tend to remark that the scent on the burn would be weak and vague and perfumed, I would be so impressed by the cold throw scent that I would give good scores anyway (albeit holding back on really high scores). But I'm now wondering if I have got carried away by what are essentially cheap quality perfumed dipped sticks that are disguised as masala. There is no hiding the attraction of the cold throw scent. But also, there's no disguising that the hot throw scent is a let down. I have scraped off the perfumed powder, and burned the stick just with the charcoal paste, and found there is minimal scent. All the scent is contained in the wood powder, and is likely the stick has been simply dipped in a perfume solution. 

The scent on this stick is very bright and floral. Sweet, honeyed, jasmine, rose, supported by gentle, creamy sandalwood. It's green, fresh, mildly resinous, gently balsamic, and overall "incense".   The scent on the burn is actually fairly present - it has filled the room with an attractive scent quite quickly. And the hot throw scent pleasantly echoes the cold throw scent. It's possible that my experience with the Mantra sticks and the White Sage cones, were just poor scents within the range. It doesn't matter to me how an incense is made (within reason), it's more about how it smells, so if these are perfume dipped, then so be it. If  Vijayshree have found a way to perfume the wood powder on the stick so that both the cold and hot throws smell fresh, natural, and delightful, then so be it. 

This is an engaging and relaxing classic "masala incense" - soft sandalwood and sweet florals. Some awareness of patchouli, along with touches of spice. It's not distinctive enough to get a high score from me. But it is a fine fragrance. Clean and fresh and attractive. 

Date: Jan 2024    Score: 39 

***

Vijayshree Fragrance

Reviewed on Rauchfahne

Vijayshree Golden Nag Mantra

 

I think all of Vijayshree's incenses are prefaced with "Golden"; and there's many which have "Nag" in the name.  I'm not sure if the "Nag" is associated with the "Golden", so the brand is "Golden Nag", and the scent is "Mantra"; or if the brand is simply "Golden", and the Nag is part of the name of the scent - so this scent is "Nag Mantra".  I just looked back on my experiences with Vijayshree: the first Vijayshree scent I reviewed was  Golden Nag Champa cones in 2017. I remarked back then: "It's not what I would normally understand as a Nag Champa - it seems to contain plumeria or frangipani, rather than the magnolia or champaca of Nag Champa. Normally such incenses are simply called Champa, but Vijayshree have chosen to call it Nag Champa, which expands my understanding of what is Nag Champa."  So, reflecting on that, it seems that "Golden Nag" is the brand name, as the Golden Nag Champa cones I had in 2017 smelled of champa rather than nag champa. 

My early encounters with Vijayshree incense tended to be enthusiastically positive (albeit holding back on very high scores), yet with little analysis of the product or the scent. However, with a weight of positive experiences (however shallow) I started to associate Vijayshree as a potential incense house of quality. And this, despite repeated comments regarding the vague nature of the scents, their lightness, the brevity of the burn, and an awareness of the perfume on the stick. I then decided to explore more of the Golden Nag range. I found the cones variable, with a general trend toward crude perfume-dipped, though my feelings regarding the agarbathi were still very positive - mostly hovering around top end of Decent or nudging into Heavenly on my Top of The Dhoops list. It looks now that I simply swoon at the scent on the stick, and, like an infatuated Romeo, largely ignore how superficial and curiously room-freshener perfumed they are on the burn. 

The scent on the stick is warm, manly, sweet, musky, floral, citric, delightful, hovering between a bukhoor body perfume and a fougre accord, such as used in Brut. It promises much, but the scent on the burn is quiet (and soon over), and delivers a faintly pleasant room-freshener perfume. Nothing significant. Moderately nice.

My experiences with this stick, and looking back at my previous reviews, have prompted me to question my enthusiasm for Vijayshree. Whereas initially I though the sticks were proper masala (and indeed they are described as such), I'm now thinking they are perfumed masala. So, I scraped the powder off one of these sticks, and just burned the charcoal. There was no scent. It's a charcoal punk, coated in wood powder, and then dipped in a perfume solution.  Smells great on the stick. Less effective on the burn.  Sigh. This is not unique to Vijayshree - this appears to be a trend. Cheap perfume-dipped sticks being marketed to the West as masala. Of course, as I always say, it doesn't really matter how the sticks are made (within common sense of course), what matters is how they smell - how much pleasure they give. The pleasure created on the burn with this stick is very, very modest. I'm now interested in going back to the previous Vijayshree I've reviewed to see how much I was seduced and distracted by the scent on the stick, and just how the scent on the burn stands up to a more critical examination.  

Date: Jan 2025    Score: 24

***

Vijayshree Fragrance

(Mahendra) Ancient Wisdom Freedom Clarity

 

Ancient Wisdom, owned by David Hardy, is a British importer and distributor of Asian goods and incense. They distribute Satya as well as their own branded incense made for them in Vietnam and India. The Freedom range was created as a fund raiser for a selection of poor children in India. The sticks are made by Mahendra Perfumery Works, a long established Indian incense house in Bangalore; the only incense I've had from them has been simple, everyday perfume-dipped. Most of my Mahendra reviews are quite old, and so a little bit unreliable, but the general impression is that they make acceptable incense - nothing special, but nothing bad either. They work to a budget, and that is possibly a deciding factor in David Hardy using them for his charity fund-raiser. 

The sticks are crudely hand-rolled charcoal paste on cheap, hand-cut bamboo splints, and then dipped in "agarbatti oil" which is usually a blend of fragrance oils and diethyl phthalate (DEP).  The scent on the stick is reasonably pleasant, especially bearing in mind that I've likely had this pack since 2018. Mild floral, soap, faint citric. A car-freshener sort of scent. Clearly synthetic. 

The scent on the burn is reasonably pleasant - warm, perfumed, modest, a little vague, but quite nice. Best when three sticks are burned at the same time. Stocks are still available in some places for around £1 a pack.  

Date: Dec 2023   Score: 24 

***

Mahendra Betco - Best of

Ancient Wisdom

R. Expo / Song of India Samsara

 

R. Expo / Song of India are a well established Indian incense house, founded in 1932, and with an export sales base in America since 1972, where their perfume-dipped and quite ordinary Aroma Temple is a big seller partly through reputation and partly through strong promotion (I have been sent dozens of free samples over the years). They have two main brands aimed at the Western market - Song of India, which this is, is a well established brand in America, and The Great Indian Caravan, a more recent brand, has been gaining ground in Europe.  I've not found them to be a quality or interesting incense house - the perfumed incense I've tried has been below average; some of the masala is decent good value everyday stuff with some nice scents, but I've not come across anything that interesting yet.  

The box has a clean, simple, and attractive design. It's in the flat, wide boxes I associate with masala incense sold in India -  masala boxes marketed to the West tend to use the chunkier Satya box shape. The box doesn't declare for being either the domestic or export market - perhaps it's intended for both? The name, Samsara, relates to the cycle of life.  The sticks look like standard masala, and have the generic "incense" scent of a blend of woods and florals, though with a healthy dose of sweet fruit, rather like the old Spangles sweet. For those Brits old enough to remember, there was a "mystery" Spangle - one sweet wrapped in a question mark, the scent here is very much like that "mystery" Spangle (which was later revealed to be "Fruit Cocktail"). It's nice and light and fun and uplifting. 

The scent on the burn is, like the stick, generic masala incense. Sandalwood is the core of the accord, with earthy, herbal, woody notes wafting around it, and some sweet florals on top, heightened by a subtle touch of that Spangles fruit note. There's some of the lamb's wool prickle I associate with halmaddi.  It's an OK scent. Nothing special or different, but quite acceptable. Calming, attractive, nice. Yes. Simply nice. I think at one time I would have got more excited about it than I do now. Having reviewed well over 1,200 different incenses, and around 500 of those being Indian masala, coming upon a decent Indian masala isn't the revelation it once was. Particularly as this one simply follows the line of generic Indian masala with its blend of woods and florals. There's a jaded part of me which is going "ho hum", but there's the other part which is going - yes, this may be run of the mill, but it's actually softly beautiful, and it is a traditional masala, rather than the modern perfumed masala style which is becoming all too common. 

Date: Jan 2025    Score: 35

***

R. Expo / Song Of India

Hari Darshan Noor Oud Topaz

 

This is a companion piece to Noor Oud Crystal, and - like Om Flora which I've just reviewed - was bought from ScentedAndMore for £3.50.  The packaging is lovely. There has been a recent trend toward these slide out tray packets, and Hari Darshan (HD) use them a lot. Originally we kept them to use as little containers, but the shape means they are not that useful. The square slide out containers that Phool use for their cones (such as this Lavender) are more useful. 

The sticks are machine-extruded charcoal paste onto purple coloured machine-cut bamboo splints; the paste has then been firmly covered with a perfumed masala/melnoorva powder. I removed the powder from a part of the charcoal paste, then removed and crushed the paste. It had no aroma. Essentially, this is a charcoal blank which has been covered in a wood powder. It's not clear if the wood powder was pre-perfumed, or if the stick with the powder was then dipped in a perfume solution, but like the Nandita Saffron Sandal I reviewed a few days ago (and which has some interesting follow up discussion with Alok, maker of Malaan Gaudhoop Swarna Champa), this really pushes our understanding of the term "masala", and HD do use that term on the back of the pack: "Inciensos de Masala by HD". Originally the term would have been used to refer to the fragrant dried spice mix which would be rolled into the combustible paste - over time the term has been transferred to the melnoorva powder applied to the exterior of the stick, which was originally used just to prevent the sticks from gluing together as they dried, but over time has come to signify and differentiate a masala incense from a perfumed incense; the powder has generally been perfumed to give what is known as a "cool throw" - an attractive scent on the stick before it is burned. As such the melnoorva has started to be called masala powder - and it is possible that some powders may have dried fragrant ingredients, though most - like this stick - will likely just be perfume dipped. Having said that, the scent on the stick is reasonably attractive, hovering between a sort of perfumed men's cologne feel, and a standard "masala incense". There's woods and florals, with a little nip of sweet citric fruit. 

The scent on the burn takes a little while to warm up. Initially there is a mild smell of scorching paper, which is likely to come from the wood powder. Even though the combustible paste is charcoal, so much wood powder has been applied to the outside of the paste that the scent of the scorching wood makes itself felt. When the fragrance does come through it is fairly modest, and there's nothing clearly defined. It is a generic "incense" smell - woody, musky, and floral. If it had a bit more oomph it might work as an average "incense" accented room freshener, but as it stands it's not quite pulling its weight. 

Date: Jan 2025    Score: 24 

***

Hari Darshan

The best agarwood incense

Reviewed on Rauchfahne

Hari Darshan Om Flora

 

Hari Darshan of Delhi are a well established Indian incense house who, for most of their history, have mainly sold domestically; however, they have been exporting to the West for a few years now - either straightforward perfumed sticks and cones for everyday room freshening, or perfumed masala in attractive slide out trays imported by Green Tree, and aimed at the New Age market with some incidental use of the imagery of other cultures, particularly Native American. They produce decent, well made incense, and there are two or three of their scents I have particularly liked, but on the whole I'm not seeing them as an incense house I wish to explore further once I have finished with the packs I have yet to review.  

This pack, though, looks a little more interesting than the Native American stuff  which Green Tree have been distributing. It looks more traditional, and stands on Indian culture, so feels more authentic. Though marked for export, it has the feel of a product aimed at the domestic market. The name subtly points to Sai Flora - a respected brand in India; the flat, wide box size and shape is often used for masala incense in India (the Satya shaped box is more often used for Western exports); and it is described as "Natural" rather than "Masala" - and I have noted that "Natural" is used more for domestic sales, while Masala is used more for Western. So the small indicators point to this being aimed more at the home market than a Western one. 

The sticks are very neatly hand-rolled using a charcoal paste, and then have a very light dusting of pale coloured melnoorva/masala powder. The scent on the stick is gorgeous. It is a traditional masala incense scent - sweet, woody, floral, gently perfumed. It creates the right atmosphere. It has an immediate hit of appeal; it can be a bit cloying after a while, though, to be fair, the intention of the "cool throw" is just to create that immediate appeal - it is the burn or "hot throw" that we're after. 

The scent on the burn is more neutral than sweet, leaning toward mineral. There is a loban (or benzoin - though the terminology appears to have issues) feel about this. I tend to get a dryish, mineral scent from loban, though others tend to get sweet vanilla.  It's a sold, calming, pleasant scent that feels natural, but doesn't quite lift or excite me. It's a good incense, though doesn't have the headiness that I associate with most incense called Flora. It is relaxed, well mannered, pleasant, cleansing. I like it, but it doesn't throb my heart. 

I bought these for £2.50 from ScentedAndMore back in 2022. I note they are currently (Jan 2025) on offer at £1.00. That looks like a real bargain to me. 

Date: Jan 2025    Score: 34 

***

Hari Darshan

Flora, Fluxo, and Supreme

Ansaam Incenses Mini Galaxy Sticks Oud Roots

 

I've recently been exploring some Native American incenses which have a format similar to Fred Soll's "Resin on a Stick", and I noted that the style has been taken up by some Indian incense makers for sale to the same Western market as the Native American sticks, such as Soul Sticks Aztec Incenses (made in India) copying Inca Aromas (made in Brazil).  These Mini Galaxy Sticks, made in Egypt by Ansaam Incenses of  Cairo,  initially reminded me of those Native American "Resin on a Stick" type incenses, but thinking more about it, these are more like dhoop on a stick, and I think "Dhoop on a Stick" would be a better description. 

These sticks are quite chunky, around 1/2 inch thick, and are difficult to light. The surface of the stick catches easily, and the stick is soon engulfed in flame which is travelling down the stick, and there's plenty of black smoke, but the dhoop itself is not lighting up. I applied a flame, blew, more flame, more blowing, repeating until the whole of the top was caught and glowing. The scent on the stick is not attractive. Some mild plastic volatility, something earthy, faintly herbal, a bit of old strawberry jam. There has clearly been no attempt to produce a "cool throw" to impress or delight customers on first handling the stick. You have to light it up to get at the incense fragrance proper. 

Improvised holder

The stick does produce a superb column of soft silvery grey smoke. For its size, the smoke and the scent is not intrusive in a medium sized room, though I wouldn't be comfortable leaving it to burn in the same room for the three hours claimed burning time. The scent is pleasant, though waves in and out. It's mostly sweet and floral - drifting toward rose and jasmine, though mostly rose. I'm not getting much oud nor much root. There's a vague ashy note, which is probably from the burning of the stick in the centre. But there's no actual depth or base notes from the perfume noticeable to me. It remains on the candy sweet, sort of sherbet or Turkish delight, notes, so I find it a little one dimensional. But that's just me - I'm not a big fan of sweet, floral scents, so I would find them rather more boring than a musky or woody fragrance.  It does linger sweetly for some hours.

Date: Jan 2025   Score: 31

***

Soul Sticks Aztec Incences

 

Soul sticks is an American based company  (a website was formed in 2004, but doesn't appear to have been active) who commissioned an unnamed Indian incense house to make incense sticks similar to the Brazilian Inca Aromas from. I like Inca Aromas, and, curious to experience similar products, when I saw these similar looking sticks on German site Devananda I ordered four of them. The sticks are distributed by DivineSupplies based in California, USA.  The style of the sticks is similar to Fred Soll's "Resin on a Stick", though perhaps "Dhoop on a Stick" might be a more appropriate description. 

Reviews

Soul Sticks Aztec Aromas Copal (D)
Dec 2024 - Score: 34

   

Soul Sticks Aztec Aromas White Sage (D)
Dec 2024 - Score: 31

   

Soul Sticks Aztec Aromas Lotus (D)
Dec 2024 - Score: 23

   

Scents reviewed: 4 

Top score: 34
Bottom score: 23

Average:  30

***

Own brand incense

Koya's Zuri

 

Koya's sent me some samples a few years back. A solid incense house - decent perfumed sticks, and masala sticks with distinctive and original scents that I absolutely love. This is a pack that got overlooked when I originally reviewed them, but has turned up now that I am progressively working through my backlog. These are straightforward perfumed sticks - machine-extruded charcoal sticks that are then dipped in a perfume solution. The scent on the stick is perfumed, quite heady (especially so for sticks that are a few years old), a little cool and sharp with volatility. It's floral, distant dusty musk, some leather, some sandalwood, some wild mushroom - quite engaging for a synthetic, room freshener perfumed stick. 

The scent on the burn is pleasant, though doesn't really develop beyond pleasant. It gently informs the room, and it is an attractive perfume, though is fairly ordinary. I like that the scent is unique. There's floral and touches of fruit, along with the base support of soft musk and wood. It's a modest everyday feminine perfume. I like it, but I'm not enthusiastic. 

Date: Jan 2025   Score: 28 

***

Koya's Agarbathi

Nandita Arabian Oudh

 

Scent on the stick is sweet, citric, and floral. Quite perfumed and synthetic. There's some faint sandalwood soap. And some cleaning fluid - a little sharp, metallic, medicinal. I quite like Nandita, I've had some good masala style incense from them; but their recent machine-extruded output has largely been disappointing (though I like the Original Amber, despite presenting as a perfumed machine-extruded stick). This presents as a fairly simple perfumed machine-extruded stick, with a crude synthetic perfume on the stick. I like the scent of oudh (agarwood), and this scent doesn't match up with my experiences with that fragrance. 

The scent on the burn matches my experience with most of the other recent machine-extruded sticks I've had from Nandita - a simple smouldering wood smell at first, then the synthetic perfume warms up and becomes known. Nandita scents, especially from the machine-extruded sticks, tend to be mild - this one, however, is calling attention to itself. Much of the burn scent echoes that found on the stick, though the fruit notes are less citric - sweeter and juicier, and there's some woody touches, though that could be remnants of the  smouldering wood. The combustible material in the paste appears to be wood powder rather than charcoal, and that could account for the woody touches. On the whole this is not a scent that is really engaging me. Pity, as I generally like oudh, and I generally like Nandita.  Though, to be fair, it diffuses well around the house - and at some distance it is a reasonably pleasant aroma that perhaps has some light awareness of oudh - but more of sweet citric fruit and sweet florals. 

Date: Jan 2025   Score: 24

***

Nandita of Mumbai

The best agarwood incense

Nandita Organic/Original Rose

 

My pack is "Organic Rose", and on the Nandita website it is shown as "Organic Rose", but I have seen some batches marked "Original Rose", which I think are more recent UK stock. Much agriculture in India is organic, but it is not officially classed as such in the UK, unless it has been certified by a soil association. Organic soil associations charge a fee to check that production is organic. Many farmers cannot afford such a fee. I tend to avoid products from abroad which are certified organic because of that. If a food product comes from India or Egypt, it is almost certainly organic, without the need for a third party certification. 

As with most recent Nandita incense I've had, this is a machine extruded stick, with a light dusting of powder. It is presented as a masala incense, but it is unclear what that means in this context, as this is clearly a perfumed product. The scent on the stick is fairly charming, but rather simplistic and synthetic. There's some rose, some dark fruits, some tobacco, a little wood, and a little spice.  

The scent on the burn is gentle, floral, fruity, green, kinda fresh, warm wood, modest spice. It's a nice scent. A modest room freshener. It's not significantly rose like. Which is OK for me. But there's not much of interest here. Yeah, it's pleasant, but it's not engaging my attention. This is a  pleasant but rather modest room freshener. 

Date: Jan 2025   Score: 25

***

Nandita of Mumbai

Best rose incense

Nandita Fresh Jasmine

 

Jasmine has a distinctive scent - sweetly floral with top citric notes and a subtle underlying musk. It is a standard incense scent throughout Asia. Most incense houses will have a single scent jasmine on their books. I find jasmine to be pleasant, but it's not a scent that I fall in love with. I find the sweetness too cloying, and the accord is generally too simple or safe for my taste. Those jasmine incenses that I do like (such as by Absolute Bliss and Shroff), tend not to be classic jasmine - and it is generally the non-jasmine aspects of those incenses that I like. However, the Balaji Escentials Jasmine was on target for jasmine, and I really loved that - that is my favourite actual jasmine incense. The GR International Jasmine in the cone I have rated highly twice, but those ratings are over five years old. I'm not sure I would be scoring that highly if I was reviewing those cones today.

Nandita have prefaced the name of this scent with the word "Fresh" - though, unlike most others in their export series, they are not calling this a "masala" or a "natural" incense, but simply as "Premium Incense Sticks". I have found a serious disconnect between some of the recent Nandita I have had which have been clearly machine-extruded and perfumed, yet have been called "masala", which suggests a more natural, traditional, and considered form of production than is evident on these rather modern, mass-processed sticks. "Fresh" kinda feels appropriate when engaging with the scent on the stick, as it has the fragrance of a washing powder or clothes conditioner, which may be promoting its "fresh aroma". The scent on the stick is a somewhat crude, soapy, synthetic jasmine.  

The scent on the burn takes a little while to settle, but is soft, reasonably pleasant, and fairly jasmine like. It is a more attractive fragrance than that offered by the stick. This does feel somewhat more natural, and it does seem to be fairly on target for jasmine, albeit via a synthetic based compound. Yeah. It's acceptable. Much better than what I was expecting from looking at, and smelling the scent on the stick.  This delivers a generic, pleasant, low key, floral fragrance, a touch heady. I'm not a fan of jasmine, but this is OK. 

Date: Jan 2025   Score: 30

***

Nandita of Mumbai

Best jasmine incense