Palo Santo

 

Palo Santo is the wood of the Palo Santo tree - Bursera graveolens. It is native to South America, and is in the same family as frankincense and myrrh. Several years after the tree has died, the oils in the wood become especially fragrant and cleansing. 

Reviews

Vijayshree Golden Nag Palo Santo Masala Agarbathi (M)
May 2024 - Score: 42 

Green Tree Palo Santo Incense Cones (PM)
April 2021 - Score: 36

  

Aromatika Ace Scents Palo Santo (P)
March 2024 - Score: 26 

   

Ispalla Incense Peru Palo Santo & Myrrh (M)
Feb 2024 - Score: 24 

   

Deepika Palo Santo Masala Cones (P)
July 2022 - Score: 21

   

Ispalla Incense Peru Palo Santo & Rosemary (P) 

Feb 2024 - Score: 21

    

Aromatika Palo Santo Natural Masala Cones (P)
Jan 2021  - Score: 20 

   

Satya Palo Santo Dhoop Cones (D)
April 2021 - Score: 18 

Scents:  8
Top Score: 42
Bottom Score:  18

Average:  

***

Different Scents

Berk Innere Welten

 

Berk Innere Welten (Inner World) are a German importer and wholesaler of Indian goods. They were founded by the Berk family in 1991, and are based in Stockach. They market their own brand incense, which is made on an unspecified ashram in India. It is quite possible that the incense is made to their specification. 

Reviews

* = Reviews over 5 years old

Berk Blue Line Holy Smokes Agarwood (M)
Dec 2015 - Score: 36* 

Berk White Sage Incense (M)
Nov 2024 - Score: 25

   

Berk Holy Smokes Swiss Stone Pine (M)
Oct 2023 - Score: 19 

  

Reviews: 4 
Top score: 36

Bottom score: 19 
Average:   

Conclusion: 

***

Own brand distributors

Incense Around the World

Berk White Sage Incense

 

 Berk are a large German own brand incense wholesaler. The incense is made for them by one or more unspecified incense companies in India. The sticks are a standard modern perfumed masala.  There is a modest though likeable perfume on the stick. It's vague, though kinda earthy and herbal, with rough wool, wood, soap, and a faint everyday female perfume or body-mist. It is fairly rustic when burned. Kinda cleansing in a rough herbal manner. Not exactly aesthetic. This would be more suitable for doing a form of smudging around the house. It does give a decent vibration. It says it's all natural. And I suppose it's a more convenient way of smudging than using actual white sage. Ho hum. Overall, though, not impressed. 

Date: Nov 2024   Score: 25

***

Berk

Green Tree Kabbalah Tree Of Life Masala Sticks

 

Green Tree are a Dutch distribution company based in Rotterdam who have some own brand masala incense made for them by an unspecified private label incense company. Their incense is generally professionally made and pleasant. This box is the standard Satya sized and shaped box, which is the most popular box for masala incense - certainly that which is marketed to the West. It is the standard 15g, which would be between 12 and 15 sticks on average. The sticks are the standard 6 inches of charcoal paste hand-rolled onto an 8 inch bamboo splint, then coated in a fine brown perfumed powder. The perfume on the stick is quite strong and volatile, suggestive of alcohol and sandalwood with hints of vanilla. It has a nostalgic feel of incense I can remember smelling in the early Seventies. 

The name Kabbalah is a curious choice, as Kabbalah is part of Jewish religion - not a common source for those interested in incense. Asian or Christian religions are most commonly used as points of reference in incense names and themes. 

The scent on the burn is very similar to that on the stick - it is perfumed, woody, light, and attractive. The main impression I get is of sandalwood and vanilla with prickly notes and suggestions of spice - clove and cinnamon. It reminds me of an incense I've just reviewed,
Balaji Dharma Abhyasa Yoga. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that Balaji make incense for Green Tree, although Balaji incense is much headier than this Green Tree Kabbalah. 

I like this. Decent everyday masala, not too strong, leaves the room pleasantly fragranced. 

Date: Nov 2024    Score: 35 

***

Green Tree (own label)

Balaji Dharma Abhyasa Yoga

 

The inner sleeve has a famous quote from Bhagavad Gita: "Detachment is not that you own nothing. Detachment is that nothing owns you." This was a popular concept when I was a hippy - it was often cited alongside the dangers of "materialism". It's a concept I like, along with John Lennon/Yoko Ono's Imagine: "Imagine there's no countries / It isn't hard to do / Nothing to kill or die for / And no religion, too / Imagine all the people / Livin' life in peace / Imagine no possessions / I wonder if you can / No need for greed or hunger / A brotherhood of man / Imagine all the people / Sharing all the world". 

This is part of a series of five Dharma branded masalas, where each pack is named after a yoga. Earlier this year I reviewed Balaji Dharma Jnana Yoga, named after Jnana yoga, a Hindu spiritual path to knowledge.  The Dharma range is not widely available, though the decent German online shop, Ephra-World, sell them, and other Balaji, at good prices. 

Oh wow! This is awesome. Beautiful. Captivating. The fragrance is of "incense" - that mystical blend of woods and florals that uplift the spirit and excite the senses. This is the essence of what we think of as incense, and is named "incense" when it is found in perfumes. This is what keeps me interested in exploring and hunting incenses across the world. This is what I want to find to delight and fulfil me. It is the essence of incense, coupled with subtle spices of cloves and cinnamon and aniseed to lift it beyond the ordinary. There's dark woody sweetness, creamy sandalwood, delicate sweet florals - rose and jasmine, and sensual, sexy, seductive musk. Bloody glorious!  

Date: Nov 2024    Score: 50

***

Balaji Agarbatti Company

Balaji Signature

 

This Signature is part of a huge bundle of samples sent to me last year by Ashish of Balaji. I like Balaji, though I have found their products wonderful diverse - there's some fairly average everyday budget room fresheners as well as some delightfully heady and rich top quality stuff. Pretty much all of it is strongly scented, which I like. I'm always curious when lighting up a Balaji as to what I'm going to get: something dry and ordinary, or something sublime which will open up the day.  

 
This is a masala style incense - a handrolled charcoal paste covered in melnoorva powder, which these days is sometimes called masala powder; however, it is highly perfumed. And gorgeously perfumed. Quite Arabic - with elements of sweet, musky, dripping oud, and proper sensual sandalwood. I've been burning a fair bit of East Asian incense recently - Vietnam, China, Japan, etc, which tend to favour sandalwood, and use sandalwood powder. It's good to get back to the rich Indian approach to sandalwood - pour on the oils, and pour it good. Smells great on the stick. The downside, of course, is that while using oil means it smells great on the stick, it usually doesn't burn as well - with some of the subtle and balancing top notes being burned away. While the East Asian approach of using sandalwood powder means there's barely any scent on the stick, but it does burn well. If they're using decent quality sandalwood powder, of course. Otherwise it just smells like smouldering newspaper. Anyway, the scent on this stick is heavenly - there's spice, a touch of ginger, some honey, and light florals - rose and jasmine, and sugar candy. Oh, it's just so yummy!

And, oooh, the scent on the burn is divine as well. It is a warm, sexy, slightly assertive fragrance that does command the room, but without being aggressive or harsh. This comes across like a blend of synthetic and natural oils - there's a warm natural feel given strength and complexity by some quality synthetics. Oh, this is so lovely.  I do love proper sexy sandalwood. This is such a marked contrast to the wimpy, clean, well behaved, sandalwoods of East Asia. Indian sandalwood rocks baby! 

Pack is 15g. Available in the US (Reeds, $1.95) and Europe (Devananda 1.50 Euro) and Australia (Sundrops $3.95), etc. 

Date: Nov 2024    Score: 47

***

Balaji Agarbatti Company

Sandalwood

Vakratund Valakuchi Premium Masala Dhoop Sticks

 

Vakratund is the brand name of a fairly young incense company, United Fragrances, who were founded in Ahmedabad, on the upper Western coast of India, in 2011. Vakratund is one of the names of Lord Ganesh, the elephant god.  I bought this earlier this year as part of a combo deal from Aavyaa.com of six different scents for ₹1,240.00 (approx £12). Unfortunately they no longer sell Vakratund, and I'm not seeing sources in the UK which sell this.  It's available in India direct from United Fragrances for ₹125;  and there are other Vakratund incenses available on Amazon and eBay, but not this particular one - nor any of the other Premium Masala Dhoop Sticks in this set.  Each box in the series contains a clay stand for the dhoop, and a box of matches - so you're all ready to go! All self-contained.  

The Western market hasn't quite caught onto Indian dhoops just yet. Japanese and Tibetan dhoops are popular, but not Indian, so not many authentic Indian dhoops make their way into Europe or America - and if they do, they will generally be found in Indian or Asian grocer shops, rather than the usual incense outlets.  I can understand the reluctance, because some Indian dhoops, the wet ones mostly, are incredibly heady and smoky, and appear to be more about smudging the house to cleanse it of bad spirits and insects rather than delivering a balanced and thoughtful olfactory experience. 

The box is attractive - it slides open, as do a number of better quality dhoop boxes, and contains the sealed-foil packet of dhoop sticks, a box of matches, and a clay dhoop stand. The box cover is decorated with floral designs in shimmering gold on a calm green background. Very pleasing. The dhoops are a medium thickness - approx 0.5cm, and 10cm long. It looks like the sticks are cut into 10cm sections from a longer extruded roll. 

I don't know the meaning of Valakuchi, though suspect it has something to do with vetiver: the subtitle is "Pious Fragrance of Khus". Khus being another name for vetiver.  The scent on the stick is quite heady and intense. Sharp, musky, sweet, earthy, damp, lemon, soap, mouldy petals, and something animal - sweaty horse perhaps. Fascinating. There are elements in the scent that would be found in a vetiver scent, but this is way dirtier and boggy and peaty. It's stuff like this which keeps me interested in exploring incense. 

The scent on the burn is somewhat lighter than on the stick, more joyful and less dirty and less sexy. It is sweet and natural with elements of camphor - herbal, and exciting, opening up the airways, hints of eucalyptus, floral notes, rose and lavender; and grounding it all are touches of caramel and patchouli. This is a fascinating, shifting, always lovely fragrance. It's not an overwhelming scent. it is steady and firm, but quite light and gentle, gradually informing the room, and then lingering pleasantly for hours afterwards. Still shifting.... 

Oh yes. I like this. 

Date: Nov 2024   Score:  44 

***

Dhoop

Balarama Zam Zam Millionaire

 

This is the last of my batch of Zam Zam foil-wrapped incense, but I have three Wicked Dragon foil-wrapped packs to review, also made by Balarama Enterprises of Thailand. I find it interesting that Balarama incense is sold as own brand incense mainly by clothing retailers, such as Zam Zam and Wicked Dragon, or online shops that otherwise don't sell incense.  The scents are not conventional incense scents, they are bright, modern, and different - even the standard single scents like sandalwood and frankincense have a modern twist. There is a big market out there of people who are not attracted to the old hippy-dippy image of incense, and wouldn't think to go into an incense shop either online or on the high street. So placing modern perfumed incense in clothing retailers, or - like Kuumba, associating the incense with trendy clothing firms like Carhartt, brings the incense in reach of a new, young audience, and makes incense cool and acceptable. 

The scent on the stick of Millionaire stands somewhat midway between a modern perfumed incense and something more earthy and traditional. It's green, woody, moderately sweet and musky, with interesting notes of peanut skin, walnuts, fresh leather, butter, pine turpentine, mild vague florals, and a hint of top-end female perfume. Curious. 

There's tangy fruit in the scent on the burn - caramelly orange,  cologne, dark fruits, as well as woods and soft musk. Soft and attractive. Very likeable as a general room freshener. 

Date: Nov 2024  Score: 35

***

Zam Zam
UK importer

Balarama foil-wrapped

Balarama Zam Zam Sandalwood

 

Scent on the stick is light sandalwood, somewhat reminiscent of Chinese joss sticks. Light floral perfume. Old dust. School desks. 

The burn is clean and fragrant, quite a pleasant light sandalwood with warm tones. It's cleaner and more fragrant than Chinese sticks, and also more fragrant than other Thailand sticks I've had. The bulk of the scent comes from a synthetic fragrance oil - quite a light one. It's citric, zesty, with sweet floral notes. I like it. It's kinda limited, but as a light, warm, and gently zesty room freshener, this is cool. 

Date: Nov 2024  Score: 30

***

Zam Zam
UK importer

Balarama foil-wrapped

Sandalwood

Moroccan Bazaar (discontinued)

Moroccan Bazaar is a UK importer of Moroccan goods. The UK website also sold foil wrapped incense under their Moroccan Bazaar logo, but made by Balarama Enterprises Thailand, who also make the incense sold by Kuumba.  The Moroccan Bazaar UK website has the same UK address as the current .com website, though claim to have been founded in 1946, and no longer sell incense. The same incense is available from other UK websites, such as ZamZam.  

Reviews

* = Review over 5 years old, so may not be reliable

Moroccan Bazaar White Linen (P)
Jan 2018 - Score: 33*

Moroccan Bazaar Cherry (P)
Jan 2018 - Score: 30

Moroccan Bazaar Woodland (P)
Oct 2024 - Score: 28 

Moroccan Bazaar Cinnamon
Jan 2018 - Score: 24*

Moroccan Bazaar Cherry Wood (P)
Oct 2024 - Score: 17

Scents reviewed: 5

Top score: 33 
Low score: 17
Average: 27 

Conclusion: The Moroccan Bazaar brand may have stopped selling incense, but the incense is made by Balarama, so continues in other brands, such as Zam Zam. 

***

Own brand distributors

Balarama foil-wrapped

Balarama Zam Zam Angel Style

 

There's a modern cologne scent on the stick. A bit like Bench - musky yet green, with touches of cucumber, and an awareness of chypre and Brut.  I do like the unashamedly modern scents of Balarama rather more than their more traditional scents. 

The scent on the burn is deeper and even more attractive. A blend of woods and florals. Not too heady, but firm enough to inform a medium sized room and beyond. Good value from various sites in the UK such as Incense Man, Neon, ZamZam, etc for £1.99. 

Date: Nov 2024  Score: 32

***

Zam Zam
UK importer

Balarama foil-wrapped

Balarama Zam Zam Frankincense

  

Quite a green, almost mouldy, aroma on the stick. Interesting, though not exactly attractive or inviting. Fairly volatile and chemical. Perfumed. Old stale damp roses. Ho hum. I generally like Balarama made incense, especially these long sticks, be they branded Zam Zam or Kuumba; but there are incenses by Balarama that I haven't liked. I suspect this is going to be one of those I don't like. 

The scent on the burn is more attractive - somewhat sweet and resinous with a gentle woody warmth. Little real awareness of frankincense, but there is some sense of it - just not that deep. It does develop into a warm, musty, sweet, resinous fragrance which I am somewhat enjoying. Yeah, it's OK.

Date: Nov 2024  Score: 27

***

Zam Zam
UK importer

Balarama foil-wrapped

Frankincense