Milo's Temple incense

 

At the start of 2023 I bought a bunch of Milo's Temple branded incense from UK importer Craig. They are similar to Ramakrishna's Natural Handmade Incense as well as Shekhar's Natural Handmade Incense, as they all come from the Mapusa Municipal Market in Goa, the same original source as Paul Eagle's Happy Hari and Cory Topul's Absolute Bliss (both now closed) - though Paul discovered that Rama Krishna was getting his incense from other sources, including Mumbai. 

Reviews

Milo's Temple Maha Milo (M)
Feb 2024 - Score: 45

Milo's Temple Agar Wood (M)
Feb 2024 - Score: 30

  

  

Milo's Temple Coconut (PM)
Mar 2025 - Score: 27↑

Reviews: 3
Top score: 45
Bottom score: 27
Average: 34

Conclusion: 

***

Own brand traders

Help Us Green Rose

 

Help Us Green have sent four samples of temple flower incense for review. When they wrote offering the samples, I responded that I am very interested in the use of recycled temple flowers in incense, and mentioned Phool as the pioneers. They wrote back to clarify that they started out as Phool, but that over time the venture evolved, and is now Help Us Green under Karan Rastogi. This made me think that Phool had changed their name, but further research indicated that Phool was still going, but in 2019 a few years after setting up the company, founders Karan Rastogi and Ankit Agarwal split, with Agarwal retaining the Phool name, and Rastogi taking the Help Us Green name.  Both companies make incense by using recycled temple flowers as a replacement combustible, as well as exploring other uses for the flowers, such as for fertiliser and an eco-friendly styrofoam. 

The presentation is similar to Phool, with a colourful slide out packet and a free wooden incense stick holder. The Phool designs I find more attractive, and the Phool incense holders are better quality. On the whole there's not much in it, though Phool comes across as more luxurious and more helpful, with an informative leaflet inside. The Help Us Green packets are attractive, but do feel like cheaper and cruder copies, albeit coming from one of the two founders of Phool. 

It is somewhat unfortunate that all of the samples are mono-scents, which are not among my favourite types of incense (though there are plenty of exceptions!), and two happen to be floral scents, again not among my favourites. I like the scent of rose flowers in the garden - catching that heady drift when walking past. But in concentrated form in perfume or incense I tend to find rose to be a little sickly, and with poor associations. This rose stick does have a heady and somewhat typical room freshener rose scent. Hmmm. I like it, yet am somewhat repelled at the same time. It is distinctly rose, with elements of rose tea (I like the balancing bitterness of black tea in the fragrance) and Turkish delight. But it is rather sickly in its narrow and somewhat intense olfactory range. I think this incense will be fairly divisive - some loving it, some hating it. I'm kind of in the middle. 

It burns reasonably well without the dirty-water off-notes I associate with Phool. It produces a familiar perfumed-incense experience. Quite acceptable. Not profound, but not unpleasant either. It is clearly a rose incense. A decent everyday room freshener incense with the benefit of helping manage the pollution of the rivers in India. If someone likes perfumed rose incense, and is faced with the choice of this or an incense which doesn't use recycled flowers, then - other than price - there is no reason not to choose this one. It works the same as any other similar incense. That I'm not a fan of perfumed rose incense so am not going to score this high, shouldn't be taken as a criticism of this incense. This is a decent incense which is doing the right thing. And full credit for that, if not for the choice of fragrance oil.  

Date: May 2025   Score: 27

***

Best rose incense

Recycled Temple Flowers

Calmveda Oudh Agarwood

 

Calmveda is a young Indian incense company which uses recycled temple flowers - an ecological initiative started by Phool. Founded in May 2023 by the 24 year old Dhruv Gupta, a business graduate of the respected Shaheed Sukhdev College Of Business Studies in Delhi, Calmveda has quickly developed a presence in the West.  I came upon Calmveda in December last year; and while I found the scents variable - I really liked Habana Cinnamon, but didn't like 1960's Patchouli (your mileage may vary), I was struck by how normal the sticks were compared to other incense companies using recycled temple flowers. The sticks I burned last December were machine extruded, and some of those I really enjoyed, though I became aware that Calmveda also sold hand rolled masala style incense. Dhruv then sent me a pack of this Oudh Agarwood, a perfumed masala incense. Wow!  

We chatted on Whatsapp while Dhruv was making preparations for his sister's wedding. I wanted to know why Calmveda incense smelled better than other incense using recycled flowers. I had a theory that perhaps Calmveda was using more oils, though Dhruv felt that wasn't the case - though he did explain that the oils were not diluted, and that halmaddi was used. We discussed that Calmveda outsources production to established incense houses like the excellent Parimal,  though this Oudh Agarwood is made by a smaller artisanal operation. I would be interested in exploring more incense from that incense house, because I am blown away by the beauty of these sticks. We talked about how Calmveda collects and processes the flowers, and Dhruv explained that the flowers are dried for at least 25 days in greenhouses to ensure there is no remaining moisture. I have long thought that Phool incense smells of dirty water and damp decay, so this makes sense. Dhruv says there is an average of 15-17% dried flower content in each stick. This didn't seem enough to me to be the sole combustible, so Dhruv explained that the rest is made up of rubber wood powder from Vietnam - a slow burning and low odour wood powder that also has binding qualities. I suspect that mixing the flowers with the clean burning rubber wood powder contributes to Calmveda's olfactory success. 

There is a strong cleansing medicinal fragrance on the stick. Dhruv explained that yes, some oils are applied externally by spraying (as he wants it to be light and not overpowering), but the bulk of the oils are folded into the paste in traditional masala style. There is some gritty brown powder on the surface of the paste. The appearance is solid and traditional and quite rustic. 

From the first moment I burned this I fell in love with it. And that has remained so on every burn since. I have been burning some Chinese and Japanese agarwood incense recently, and they cost more yet don't smell as rich and beautiful as this. I think you'd have to go very expensive with Asian incense to get close to the richness and depth of this Calmveda Agarwood. It is cleansing, calming, sexy, deep and delicious. While rich, it is not heady - the scent diffuses firmly but gently. There are no off notes, even when up close - the balance of flower and wood combustible works well to create a steady, slow burn that does not intrude at all in the enjoyment of the scent - a rare achievement in any stick incense. I love oudh, and often I feel poorly served by what is sold in China and Japan. The Asian sticks may be using genuine agarwood, but they often use young wood, and/or wood where the oudh oil has already been extracted. This is possibly using a synthetic like Firmenich (I didn't ask Dhruv, so I don't know, but the price point suggests as much), which is fine by me as it has all the features of oudh that I love - the wood, the balsamic smoke, the animal heat and musk, the wildness, the earth, the leather, the fresh sweat. It has it all. A lusty, throbbing, genuinely beautiful and satisfying oudh. Good gosh! Top of the dhoops indeed! 

Available from Amazon at £8.50 for 40 sticks ($11.99 in USA) - Faire have some for £4.04.

Date: May 2025   Score: 50 

***

Calmveda Incense

The best oudh incense

Xiang Lian Hainan Chen Xiang (Hainan Agarwood)

 

Agarwood was planted in the Chinese island province of Hainan in the late 1950s, and is regarded as a commercial success, with enterprises in Hainan making a variety of agarwood products, including agarwood-infused wine. The scent on these sticks is softer, sweeter, and more fruity than other Asian agarwood sticks I've burned. I'm pre-disposed to that, as I tend to like my incense sweet (preferably with an agreeable balance of darkness). I find this to be one of the most pleasant of the Xiang Lian sticks I've burned. That, to be honest, isn't much of an acclamation, but it is a positive statement. This is an incense that isn't harsh, isn't too faint (best burned with three of four sticks at a time in my experience, though your mileage may vary), and while not thrilling or profound, is really quite acceptable, with some rewards for being patient and paying attention. There is a caramelised smoky quality wafting around the fruity notes, so there are faint echoes of Arbroath smokies and baked pears in the mix. Curious and interesting. 

Available as part of a set of 11 fragrances from Amazon, Temu, and Shein, for around £8. Or by itself from Dylans Den for £3. 

Date: May 2025   Score: 36

***

Xiang Lian

Agarwood incense

Xiang Lian Yuenan Yazhuang (Nha Trang Agarwood)

 

Old or wild agarwood from Nha Trang in Vietnam is legendary, rare, and expensive.  These days agarwood is grown in plantations in Nha Trang, and artificially inoculated, as indicated in this video. The agarwood from these plantations is harvested young, so does not have the qualities of the old Nha Trang agarwood, even though sold under the same name. The agarwood in this incense consists of "Vietnamese Nha Trang incense powder", which is more likely going to be the young agarwood, not the legendary old agarwood. 

There is a faint, pleasant scent on the stick - mildly sweet, warm, spicy, perfumed, a touch soapy, hints of white sandalwood. The scent on the burn is gentle,  though more noticeable than the average Asian  incense. I have found it important (for me at least, people vary) to keep the burning incense at a distance, especially wood based incense, otherwise what I experience is the smell of the smouldering wood, which I don't find attractive. This Yuenan Yazhuang does come to me quite willingly, though not consistently - it comes in random drifts which has a certain appeal, though personally I would prefer a more frequent contact with the fragrance, especially when trying to write a review. I am more tolerant of the playfully coy behaviour when not reviewing - but when reviewing and looking to describe a scent, it is frustrating when just at the point when I think I may have it, the scent just goes, and I have to wait patiently for it to return. The scent is woody, pleasant, warm, gently spicy, with gastronomic qualities - there's a sense of good food being cooked, and there's fruit and the possibility of florals. Suggestion of oranges, warm, moist earth, summer days at the edge of the wood, a breeze with a hint of wildflowers. I like this. Moderately. It is limited, it is weak, it does rely on drift; but it is a nice incense to light (several sticks at the same time - I find three to be acceptable), place in a corner of a ventilated room on a fresh, sunny day, and allow the scent to randomly drift your way.  It's not an incense I'm going to get excited about as it does stay in the same general area with little in the way of balance or contrast, and there's absolutely no construction to the fragrance - it's just young Vietnamese agarwood straight up with no other scents added, and it might be better to warm the agarwood than burn it. But, hey ho, this is what we've got, and it is nice, and it does shimmer with a selection of natural scents caught within the young agarwood. 

Available as part of a set of 11 fragrances from Amazon, Temu, and Shein, for around £8. Or by itself from Dylans Den for £3. 

Date: May 2025   Score: 35

***

Xiang Lian

Agarwood incense

Xiang Lian Tianran Tanxiang (Natural Sandalwood)

 

There's sandalwood oil, and there's sandalwood wood. The oil is valuable, and is extracted from the heart of the wood mostly for use in perfume, with enough fragrance left in the wood that it can be used for incense. Most Indian sandalwood incense will use synthetic sandalwood oils as they are cheaper and are widely regarded as more complete than natural sandalwood oil. Indeed, even expensive sandalwood perfumes will support the natural sandalwood with synthetics to fill in the blanks and to give a more rounded and complete fragrance. Asian incense uses sandalwood powder - which will vary from the white wood which has little oil, through the spent dark wood, where the oil has been extracted, to the pure heart wood still rich with oil. The pure heart wood would smell the best, but also be the more expensive. This Xiang Lian Tianran Tanxiang is not expensive, so is likely to be using the spent dark wood. 

The scent, as is common with wood based Asian incense, is quite discreet, and takes its own sweet time to drift across and say hello. If I get impatient and waft the smoke toward me I tend to get the smell of smouldering paper or scorched wood. On the whole I find this too modest and dry and boring for me. 

Available as part of a set of 11 fragrances from Amazon, Temu, and Shein, for around £8. Or by itself from DylansDen for £3. 

Date: May 2025   Score: 24

***

Xiang Lian

Sandalwood

Xiang Lian Incense

 

An attractively packaged box of wood based Chinese incense in 11 tubes of different fragranced wood based thin dhoop sticks. Available from Temu, Shein, AliExpress, Amazon, and other places as the same set of 11, generally for around £8.  Also available as individual tubes in the UK from DylansDen for £3.00.

Reviews

   

Xiang Lian Hainan Chen Xiang
(Hainan Agarwood)
May 2025 - Score: 36

Xiang Lian Yuenan Yazhuang
(Nha Trang Agarwood)
May 2025 - Score: 35

Xiang Lian Tai Hang Ya Bai
(Cedarwood)
Mar 2025 - Score: 31

   

Xiang Lian Chen Nian Ai Cao
(Aged Wormwood)
May 2025 - Score: 29

  

Xiang Lian Ao Zhou Tan Xiang
(Australian Sandalwood)
Apr 2025 - Score: 26

  

Xiang Lian Xing Zhou Shuichen
(Water Sinking Agarwood)
Mar 2025 - Score: 24

   

   

Xiang Lian Tianran Tanxiang
(Natural Sandalwood)
May 2025 - Score: 24

Xiang Lian Eli Zhang Zhong Xiang
(Goose Pear)
Mar 2025 - Score: 21

   

Reviews: 8

Top score: 36

Bottom score: 21

Average: 28

Conclusion: Moderately pleasant. Best burned at a distance in a well ventilated room. The scents are not strong, and are limited in scope - all of them are basically smouldering wood, but with patience and understanding can be attractive. Good value for money when bought as a set. Unlikely to get anyone excited, and some may be disappointed by the narrow scope of the fragrance, and the soft harshness of the burning wood, but overall a moderately pleasant experience involving some legendary fragrant woods.   

***

Chinese Incense

Xiang Lian Chen Nian Ai Cao (Aged Wormwood)

 

Wormwood is mentioned in Revelations in the Bible, and is the bittering ingredient in absinthe. I have had two incenses recently which were flavoured or scented with wormwood: Al Cao Xlang and Fumino Wormwood - both of which I enjoyed.  I've not hugely enjoyed the incenses in the Xiang Lian box, but they've not appalled me either, so I'm feeling moderately hopeful. 

The scent on the burn is slightly smoky, woody, dark, dry, ashy. It's actually more attractive than I make it sound. There's a scent of burned pork fat, tree bark, mild spice, old, dusty pine needles, faint marijuana - grass rather than resin. I like it more as I settle into it, and get used to it. I find that most Chinese and Japanese incense needs a while to settle into. This is a warm, sultry, herbal scent, quite cleansing with echoes of pine. I like it.   

Available as part of a set of 11 fragrances from Amazon, Temu, and Shein, for around £8. Or by itself from DylansDen for £3. 

Date: May 2025   Score: 29

***

Good & bad Chinese incense

Xiang Lian

Seraphim Embracing Love

 

I recently got an email from Benyamin Shoham owner of Seraphim Incense in Israel asking if I'd be willing to review his incense. Gosh, there's a conflict. Yes, of course I'd be interested in reviewing incense from the land which has some of our oldest references to the use of incense. I'd long been interested in exploring incense from the Holy Land - a land sacred to three of the biggest Western religions: Jews, Christians, and Muslims.  But I'm not a supporter of the Zionist State of Israel - I think it was a political and humanist error of profound proportions for the British Government to support the Balfour Declaration in 1917. You cannot displace people who have lived together peacefully for over a thousand years because a religious racist cult claims that land. People and basic decency come before religious beliefs. The way that Israel has behaved toward the Palestinians over the years - especially those on the Gaza Strip, and the disturbing illegal and immoral Gaza war, has appalled all decent people around the world, so I am somewhat suspicious regarding anyone who lives in Israel. However, I am aware that there are people living in Israel who do not support the war. I donate to Standing Together (which I encourage others to do) which consists of citizens of Israel who protest against the war and the appalling treatment of Palestinians by the Israeli government. 

So, before I could answer Benyamin Shoham, I responded with "Because you are based in Israel I'm not quite sure we share the same values. To find out, let me know what your views are on this news report. Sky News: Gaza's Orphans Have Lost Everything." I was reassured by Benyamin's response in which he made it clear he condemned the actions of his government, that he was against all forms of aggression, and that we should first and foremost see each other as human beings and what we have in common rather than what sets us apart. Which absolutely aligns with my philosophy, so I agreed that he could send me incense.  

This is the first of four incenses that Benyamin sent me. The sticks are hand-rolled paste onto plain bamboo splints. The paste is slightly gritty with some powder than comes off on the fingers after being rubbed, but doesn't have the fluffy powder that an Indian masala incense typically has. But this does appear to be a traditional masala style incense in which ground down fragrant ingredients are folded into the paste which has been rolled onto the stick. There is little scent on the stick, which suggests that oils haven't been used. The scent is released when the stick is burned - which is how traditional masala incense behaves. 

There is much about this which reminds me of Pondicherry incense - it is rather dry and earnest. But I am more disposed toward this than I am most of Pondicherry incense - perhaps because of the choice or maybe the quality of the ingredients. Whatever. This works for me. I would prefer it to be a little sweeter and softer. And I would like a more modern and thoughtful approach to scent construction. However, in general, I like this. Yes, a little smoky, so best placed at a distance, but overall attractive and reasonably interesting. Woody, resinous (frankincense), a bit musky and sultry with echoes of cannabis, some herbs - sage and lavender. There's a sense of home-made incense about this - certain ingredients have been selected and blended, and this works to a certain extent - slightly crude, but attractive in the way that home-made stuff can be. Warm, honest, direct, earthy. There's little in the way of sophistication about it. But that straight-ahead simple honesty is a big draw. The lack of modern scent construction means it is a bit limited (for me), but I like it. That it comes from the Holy Land is a bonus for me, which urges me to add extra points, but the limited range of the scent (it remains a little dry and harsh with no balance to give relief) and the simple crudeness (which has its charm, but that can only go so far), holds me back from placing it in my top groupings. 

Available from Israel at $17 for 10 sticks up to $140 for 100 sticks.  Description: "Ignite passion and deepen emotional connection with Embracing Love. This hand-rolled incense blends rose, lavender, cinnamon, frankincense, and sandalwood, opening the heart chakra for love, intimacy, and self-care. Perfect for tantric rituals, romantic evenings, and spiritual healing." 

Date: May 2025   Score: 39 

***

Incense by Country

Indian's Champa

 

This pack had been put out into the outhouse where we burn incense to keep flies away from the cat food, and to cover up the smell. I brought it back in because I liked the smell, and thought it worth another review. And then I found out I'd not reviewed it. I'd reviewed Indian's Sandalwood in 2021, when I liked it, and then again last year, when I wasn't so impressed. It seems I bought the packets in a pound store in Daventry. It's a standard machine-extruded perfumed-charcoal stick. Just to be burned as a room freshener. Nothing fancy. But it has a delightful fruity floral scent on the stick, which is echoed on the burn. I have noted that this is an incense which benefits from a warm day and fresh air. It's a decent, pleasant, agreeable low cost everyday room freshener which does what it says on the tin. 

It is made by Indian Agarbatti Manufacturers of Bangalore, who have been making incense "for years".  

Date: May 2025   Score: 25

***

Best of Champa

Temu Solana Wooden Box Budzhuang Agarwood

 

An attractive wooden box filled with over 50 thin dhoop incense sticks, £4.39 from Temu, sold by Solana. The name given is Budzhuang Agarwood - which may be a rough translation for Vietnam or Yellow Soil Agarwood, but that's a wild guess. 

There is a faint savoury, spicy, woody note on the sticks, which is similar to the note I sometimes pick up from Japanese agarwood incense, particularly Baieido. When lit there is a soft gentle scent, which echoes that on the stick, though perhaps warmer, and maybe rougher. There is a savoury, herbal warmth here, which reminds me of vegetarian hippy food. It's an attractive scent, though perhaps not the sort of scent I'm looking for when burning incense. Along with the herbal, spicy, woody notes, there is also an awareness of burning, like smouldering paper. 

Japanese and Chinese incense is not really my thing, though I have learned to lean back and allow the scent to come to me, and then to focus on it. It's not really the way I want to enjoy incense, but I acquire the patience in order to come to an understanding of this form of incense. I have learned that sometimes the appreciation comes in fleeting moments. And that it may take several burns to come to an understanding of each incense. I appreciate that many folks feel that "you get what you pay for", and that an incense costing less than £5 wouldn't be worth spending time on, while a £50 one would clearly be worth it. For me, it's not the price that keeps my attention, but a sense of curiosity and desire to learn. I'm not sure I'm learning much from these sticks, other than that they modestly smell of smouldering paper, herbs, and spice. But it seems most people who buy these sticks find them "Excellent" according to the reviews on Temu's website. I find them not unattractive, but not my thing. But then I tend to find Japanese agarwood incense on the whole to be not really my thing. I think I align with those who feel that agarwood should be warmed rather than burned. 

Date: May 2025   Score: 22

***

Good & bad Chinese incense

Agarwood incense

Thurga's Sunrayn Champa

  

Sunrayn is the incense  brand name for Thurga's Industries of Malaysia. The sticks are Asian in appearance, but distinctly Indian in style. Bright, floral, and heady. Champa is tricky to pin down, as it is a name applied to a number of flowers, and is sometimes just a generic name for flower. If an incense is simply named Champa it will generally be plumeria (or frangipani); while if an incense is named Nag Champa is will generally be magnolia champaca (blended with sandalwood). The image on the cover of this Sunrayn Champa is the Golden Champa, which is a magnolia champaca. This, however, does not smell like a Nag Champa, it has a floral scent, somewhat glossy and creamy, and more - to me - in the direction of plumeria than champaca, though there are jasmine elements which are more champaca than plumeria. Sigh. That is part of the problem of naming a scent after a scent, we tend to go hunting for the named scent, and when we find that the scent is different to what we expect, we are a little disorientated. But, of course, the maker wants to give us some idea of what the incense will smell like - and I suppose, given the vagueness of the term "champa", that this scent does fall within that broad spectrum. It's floral, slightly waxy, and with jasmine qualities. There's an element of acidic coal dust smell which doesn't sit well with the floral notes. 

On the whole I like it for being bright and floral, but I'm not enamoured by it.    

Date: May 2025   Score: 25

***

Thurga's (Sunrayn) Incense

Best of Champa