Top-Op Nag Champa Agarbatti

Bought from a local shop in our high street which has just opened. Though also available online in the UK. Cheap as chips - less than a pound for 15g of decent quality (albeit rather mainstream)  masala incense. Top-Op are UK based importers and distributors of Asian food and supplies who were founded in 1975. Their own brand incense is made in India by any one of a number of white label businesses based in Bangalore or Mumbai. 

Nag Champa is a classic Indian incense blend - a mix of sandalwood and the flowers from  magnolia champaca (or the champak tree), which was created by Satya in 1964, and has been widely copied since. It is the world's most popular incense blend. Pretty much every Indian incense company has a Nag Champa in their range. There would unlikely be much or any natural plant fragrance in this incense - the costs of natural fragrances are high, and most synthetics are low cost and very effective. The champa floral accord will likely come from something like benzyl acetate and/or linalool, with perhaps natural ylang-ylang and/or synthetic rose. There is possibly some vanillin for attractive sweetness and light, and some natural benzoin with synthetic sandalwood for a woody, lightly resinous base, and perhaps some white musk. All wrapped up with agarbatti oil/DEP.  An easy, low cost, and popular recipe. 

The stick is machine extruded and has a white musk perfume on the cold throw, with a tickle of aldehydes at the finish. Sweet and pleasant, with a pale sandalwood base and soapy linen as the floral top notes.  While Nag Champa is an easy low cost recipe, this feels a little too cheap and crude. Not offensive. The result is pleasant. But this is far from the classic Satya Nag Champa. 

It's warmer and more attractive on the burn, though still rather on the economy end of the scale. I'm not getting much of the Nag Champa character I love. This is basic everyday incense. It's quite harmless and largely inoffensive, so it's fine as an everyday room freshener, though more suited to the smelly areas that are less travelled, such as the kitchen, toilet, and outhouse where the cats are fed. 

Date: Apr 2026   Score: 23/50

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Nag Champa

Top-Op Sai Flora Agarbatti

Bought from a local shop in our high street which has just opened. Though also available online in the UK. Cheap as chips - less than a pound for 15g of decent quality (albeit rather mainstream)  masala incense. Top-Op are UK based importers and distributors of Asian food and supplies who were founded in 1975. Their own brand incense is made in India by any one of a number of white label businesses based in Bangalore or Mumbai. 

The name and image indicates this is intended to be in the flora style based on Sri Sai Flora Fluxo, and there is some weight to the sticks, and an oil rich, somewhat heady floral scent, though the stick, albeit with some weight, is lighter, thinner, and dryer

The scent on the burn is as expected. It's a standard flora/fluxo style scent - a blend of sandalwood and florals. Nicely balanced - not too sweet, and not too woody. Likeable and great value. A little too mainstream and familiar to get me excited, but decent and cheap enough to get stocks in for everyday burning around the house. Nice one. 

Date: Apr 2026  Score:  30/50

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Happy Hari Cultures of Eden Hari Krishna Incense Krishna Balaram

Another of Paul Eagle's imported incenses that was sold under the Cultures of Eden brand ten years ago, and is now discountinued. I looked to see if this incense is still sold, and found incense called "Krishna Balaram" sold by Brijvrindavan.in - a devotional shop in Mathura next to Vrindavan; Srijistore.com, an Indian store in Australia; and VedicVanni, an online devotional store formed in Mumbai in 2013.  

There isn't a scent called Krishna Balaram, so this is a devotional blend aiming to invoke aspects of Krishna and Balarama who were brothers. My assumption is that it will be in line with much other Vrindavan devotional incense made for temple tourists - it will be soft and pleasant with a creamy sandalwood base, a floral nose, and a sweet heart, possibly based on vanilla or benzoin. It may aim for a balance of strength and playfulness to suggest the strength of Balarama and the playfulness of Krishna. 

The scent on the stick is delightful - very light, fruity, and jammy with a sense of fermentation. Healthy dollops of sherbet give it an aldehyde fizz and sparkle. Promising, if a little child like and commercial. There is some warm wood, but at the moment it is rather swamped by the jam. 

The incense gets more serious on the burn with a burst of resin, close to frankincense. As the burn settles there is a balance of light, playful fruit with solid, grounding resin. The heart is a little vague, though doesn't present as sweet vanilla - it's a more a vague smokiness. What most impresses is the red fruit - not quite raspberry (too sweet), and not quite strawberry. There's a sense of old school trifle combined with a Black Forest gateau. There's sweet cake and sherry in the mix. I like this. It's perhaps a bit too full on sweet to really impress me - I'd welcome a naughty or stronger grounding counter balance - but I do like the playfulness of the fruit, and can see this becoming a favourite. I wonder if any of the Krishna Balarams being sold today are anything like this. If so, I would be pleased. 

Date: Apr 2026  Score: 40/50 

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Happy Hari Incense

Happy Hari Cultures of Eden Egyptian Mystery Electric Musk Incense

It's a bold and eye-catching colour: electric blue. The stick is machine extruded, and there is a heavy whiff of cheap old fashioned perfume, the sort that old ladies with pee-dribbled knickers wear. It's not a good image. Very soapy and floral. Not much in the way of musk, though it is in there somewhere. I mean the stick looks great - its shiny like silk, and the colour is like an iridescent butterfly; but the cold throw scent is quite plastic and off-putting. Still, it's not uncommon for the cold throw scent to be unimpressive, but the burn scent to be magnificent. 

The burn scent on this Egyptian Mystery Electric Musk is not magnificent. It's rather tired and ordinary, and smells of burning wood and stale perfume. This is less than average. Though some folks will like it. We have individual tastes. Anyway, as Temple of Incense appear to be continuing this incense, or at least the spirit of it, I hope their version is a little more considered and developed than this. I hope that it has some awareness of musk, at least. 

The Happy Hari Cultures of Eden brand has closed, so this is an historic review for the record; however, Temple of Incense, which has suggested that Paul Eagle of Happy Hari passed on his sources to them, sells an Electric Musk, which looks the same as this Happy Hari, and has been reviewed by ORS who call it a charcoal incense, which I'm not convinced this is. This is a machine extruded incense, though the combustible appears to be wood dust rather than charcoal. Either the ToI sticks are from a different source to Happy Hari, or the recipe has changed, or ORS has made a mistake, or I have made a mistake. But the paste is as hard as wood paste, and when I crumble it in my hand it doesn't smudge like charcoal, and it smells like wood when burned, so my assumption is that either ToI have got an incense house who use wood powder instead of charcoal to make a close copy of this stick, or ORS have made a mistake about the combustible being charcoal. 

Date: Apr 2026  Score: 22/50 

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Happy Hari Incense

Musk

Happy Hari Kings of Incense King of Saffron

I've had this in my backlog for over ten years - possibly eleven. I'm reviewing it now because we had mice in the room where the incense was stored, and I had to go in to sort them out, and while there brought out my box of Happy Hari incense because I wanted to give some sticks to Brief Chemistry of the Reddit incense forum. While sorting through the sticks I found a few packs I'd never reviewed. This had been sent to me by Paul Eagle back in the day as he wanted a review. I do say to folks that it may be some time before I get around to reviewing incense sent to me, but I never envisage that it would take eleven years!  

Saffron (sometimes named kesar in Indian incense) is an expensive spice that doesn't do well when burned, so is not actually used in incense. It will be plants and/or synthetics. Synthetics will usually be the restricted safranal or, more likely, the use as much as you want safraleine. There will be some floral notes put in - rose or jasmine (usually synthetic), and the usual woody base. The aim will be to create something which is spicy, floral, woody, leathery, with notes of rich Virginia tobacco. 

The scent on the stick does contain those aspects which I expect to find in a saffron incense. it's warm, woody, quirky, kinda mouldy, musky, mild spice, some soft sweetness, both fresh and aged leather - there's a sort of tannery smell, which is the mould and fresh leather and, yes, raw meat, which I remember from a time when I worked in a tannery. Probably most unpleasant job I ever had. Anyway, I find this scent compelling, interesting, and attractive, but not hugely yummy. 

The scent on the burn is warmer and more charming than the cold throw scent on the stick. It is sweeter, more rounded, and has less of the meat and mould which made the cold throw scent interesting, but not actually delightful. A little note of faecal matter in a perfume can make it richer, deeper, more realistic and attractive, grounding the florals and sweetness so they are not too cloying, but too much and it draws too much negative attention. There's a little too much in the cold throw, but just the right amount in the burn. Indeed, there's even a gourmandy quality in the burn. At heart this is the standard woody base with sweet florals that is found in pretty much all Indian incense, but the safranal element in the middle of the accord marks the difference with the mild spice, fresh leather, and hint of Three Castles tobacco. This is a relaxed and attractive incense, with a pleasant balance of wood and floral and that intriguing pinch of saffron spice. 

While the original Happy Hari closed in 2016, the line continues somewhere, and this King of Saffron is possibly the same as the King of Saffron that Cory of Absolute Bliss had which is now sold by Everest Trader in the US at $8 Canadian dollars, and by Padma Store in Germany with authentic labels at 4.25 Euros.

Date: Apr 2026  Score: 36/50 

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Happy Hari Incense

Saffron

Reviewed in Germany
Padma Store Happy Hari 

Reviewed in USA: Historic
Everest Trader Happy Hari  

Happy Hari Cultures of Eden Heavenly Garden Jasmine Masala Incense

These sticks, imported and packaged by Paul Eagle of Happy Hari, and sold by Holly Paige on her (now closed) EdenicStates website, are over ten years old. While others from the Edenic States collection, also over ten years old, and stored with this Jasmine, are in excellent condition, the six sticks in the (unopened) pack have crumbled somewhat - a couple of the sticks have barely any paste left at all. As others of the same age and kept in the same storage conditions are OK, the fault must be in the making of the sticks rather than too much heat or sunlight during storage, or that the sticks are too old - especially as the entire batch is disintegrating. The cause is possibly either due to incomplete drying (surface was dry, but centre remained damp which over time has destabilised the paste) or there wasn't enough binder in the mix. Anyway, the scent remains unaffected. 

The fragrance on the stick is floral, herbal, citric, sweet, with a satisfactory woody masala-incense base.  It is warm, delicious, juicy, and decidedly has jasmine characteristics, including a little whiff of fresh female feline pee. 

The scent on the burn is warmer and more woody than that on the stick, and it takes a while, but not too long, before I notice the florals, which are honeyed and jasmine-like. At this point the scent is quite pleasant and enjoyable; however, after a while I get scent fatigue with the jasmine, and the cat pee element starts to become a little too prominent, and the overall accord becomes a little too dry and bitter for my taste. A little dusty and bitter, with a note of stale nuts. I'm not really a fan of jasmine fragrance. I like it when its fresh in the garden, and it wafts in and out. For me, jasmine is a fragrance to catch glimpses of rather than something to be covered in for nearly an hour. 

Count this as an historic review - a record of an incense over ten years old. It is possible that this is the same incense sold today by Everest Trader as Vintage Jasmine. But I don't actually know. 

Date: Apr 2026  Score: 29/50 

Happy Hari Incense

Best jasmine incense

Happy Hari Cultures of Eden Hari Krishna Incense Tulsi Holy Basil

I got this incense ten years ago, and now I get around to reviewing it. Cultures of Eden / Edenic States was a website project set up by Holly Paige who also writes health books and runs the FoodForConsciousness website. Paul Eagle of Happy Hari had an arrangement where he imported and packaged incense for Holly to sell under her brand name, though sometimes it was under joint brand names. Usually the incense was also sold simultaneously by Paul under his own Happy Hari brand.  

There is something mysterious and legendary about Paul's sources, which he always kept a secret until just before he died. The incense he imported tended to be very enjoyable, and people became attracted both to the incense and to the myth of Happy Hari. Before he died he sold the details of his sources to Corey Topel of Absolute Bliss; though Corey was never 100% certain about what Paul had given him, especially as the girls who run Temple of Incense have hinted that Paul gave them details of his sources as well. In truth, when you start to explore deep into the world of Indian incense, you find that there are many incense makers who are producing very similar incense. Indeed, on a blind scent test, it can be difficult to tell one maker from another. Paul's incense is good. But then so is the incense from many Indian incense makers - the majority of whom are as yet unknown in the West. Grab a random bunch of masala incense from Vrindavan, from Pune, from Mumbai, mix it with Happy Hari incense, and on a blind scent test nobody could pick out which sticks are Paul's. It's all a wonderful and compelling myth. It's all incense and mirrors.

Tulsi is the Indian name for Holy Basil, which is used in India for religious and therapeutic purposes. It is also associated with the holy city of Vrindavan where the god Krishna played as a child. Basil has an attractive scent (we use it a lot in cooking) - it smells fresh, green, herby and minty, with a pinch of pepper and aniseed. And those are the notes I pick up from the cold throw scent on the stick, along with a delightful musky warmth and a resinous benzoin sweetness. It's an engaging and compelling fragrance, which well fits in with the legend of Happy Hari, though also with the incense sold in Vrindavan. There is a cool volatility to the fragrance which is like brilliant diamonds in the nose, and hints more than a little at aldehydes. 

The scent on the burn is divine. Fresh, sweet, herbal, resinous, floral, musky. It is a fluid and moving fragrance, yet at times also quite powdery like sherbet. It is joyful and uplifting and genuinely quite beautiful. 

This may be the same incense as Radha Madhav Tulsi / Vrinda Chandan

Date: Apr 2026  Score: 44/50 

Happy Hari Incense

Tulsi / Basil

Om Sai Om Brand Red Wood

This luxury box of very attractive cedar spicy Red Wood got soaked in storage. Absolutely soaked. I don't know how, but it wasn't damp, it was dripping water when I picked it up. I dried out the sticks by putting them in the window in the sunshine, and they are ripe with flavour. Seems no harm was done. I've burned a few sticks around the house and find them very tasty. 

Hand-rolled charcoal paste on a purple coloured bamboo splint. The paste has been covered with a fluffy orange-red melnoorva/masala powder. The cold throw scent is ripe with spicy sweet oriental or amber warmth - there's some powerful almost icy volatiles with some awareness of aldehydes. This is a beautifully perfumed incense, that is mainly focused on the attars used rather than on anything resinous or plant like. I find the scent quite compelling and addictive and very smooth. Quite Arabian. 

The hot throw scent on the burn mirrors the joys of the cold throw scent on the stick, but softer and deeper, and more beautiful. This is honeyed amber with gentle woody spice, a blend of red fresh spiky cedar and soft creamy nutty beech. The more it burns, the more the wood comes through, and the amber blanket eases away, though remains in touch. There's chocolate and jasmine in the mix. I love this. 

Available direct from Om Sai at 100 Rupees for 50g (in India only), or from Aavyaa for same price, who will ship internationally if you contact Vishesh on WhatsApp (+91-9710009184) with your order and address. 

Date: March 2026   Score: 45/50 

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Om Sai (Om Brand) Agarbatti

India luxury box incense

Vedic Vaani Royal Javadhu

Royal Javadhu is a traditional South Indian divine body perfume using a soft, creamy sandalwood-powder base with delicate florals and fresh herbs. There are a number of javadhu incenses (such as sold by Rajpal, Giri, and Mangaldeep) though as it's a little known perfume outside India, it's not often seen in Western stores. I had one earlier this year, Jaygee's Javadhu, and loved it. 

Vedic Vaani is a modern online distribution unit based in Mumbai, which sells puja items including own-brand incense. I've been mildly curious about them for a little while; though its dubious reputation, own-brand philosophy, and bulk buying prices, put me off. So I was pleased when Brief Chemistry sent me some from a bundle he bought last year (2025).  

   

This is a fat, hand rolled stick made from a very firm charcoal paste, and coated with a fine melnoorva/masala powder. The cold throw scent on the stick is quite pungent. This is initially repugnant. The polar opposite of the experience I had with Jaygee's Javadhu. This arouses my interest. Icy aldehydes compete with something very barnyard and feral. The olfactory experience is an almost vomit heaving spin of the bizarre and fascinating juxtaposition of sweet chemical perfumes sparkling in the writhing heart of the manure. Aged wood and leather, kinda oudh based, and then glimpses of florals. It's compelling and fascinating, though not exactly pleasant. It smells like something has  gone wrong. It certainly does not smell like Javadhu. The main floral note starts to emerge as rose, and there's sweet powdery sherbet, and the rotting mass that is the base feels more identifiable as something close to oudh.  

It is more acceptable when burned, though still not initially delightful. It is softer than expected with none of the pungency displayed on the stick. The accord is not clear. Woody notes, yes, a little blurry and a tad scorched. But gradually the florals settle - sweet, sherbetty, somewhat fruity - soft berry fruit, somewhere between strawberry and raspberry. There is much to like in this when the burn settles. It's at its best, I feel, in the after-burn. It leaves an attractive fragrance in room - something I also found with Jaygee's Javadhu. 

A fascinating, compelling, sometimes quite challenging incense that develops and finishes very attractively. It's one that I feel needs several separate studies to really get to know it. 

Available from Vedic Vaani at 100gm for £12.75 plus shipping (at least £25). Also available from USA based eBay seller Everest Trader at around $7 per 20gms plus shipping. 

Date: March 2026   Score: 35

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Vedic Vaani Tambulam Paan

Vedic Vanni is a modern online distribution unit set up in 2013 by two businessmen,  Ashish Gandhi and Mayank Goyal. They sell a full range of puja items, including incense, which they sell under their own brand name. The incense blog ORS came across the website in 2022, bought some of the sticks, and enjoyed them.

They are occasionally talked about on Reddit with a wide spread of opinions, but a constant that - like buying from some of the Vrindavan traders - the quality is variable and inconsistent, and what is in the box may not be what it says on the outside. I've been mildly curious about them, but when looking at their shop and prices, and knowing that they were inconsistent and rebranded from unknown incense makers, I wasn't interested in buying 100gms worth of unknown (and apparently fairly random) monoscent incense for £30 including shipping, when for the same price including shipping I could get 20x20gm packs of different incenses from Vrindavan Bazaar. 

Regular readers of this blog will know that while I may really enjoy some incenses from rebranders such as Happy Hari, Gokula, and Sai Handicrafts, I am mainly interested in incense (good or bad) from the authentic brand. (Even though matters may be confused these days with a number of traditional Indian brands, such as BIC and (apparently) Goloka, sourcing out of house, and a number of new brands coming along, such as Mangaldeep and (apparently) Calmveda, who from the outset have been outsourcing their incense, there is still a sense that with an authentic brand I am buying a unique product not something off the shelf or "tweaked".) 

Anyway. Yes. Curious about this Vedic Vaani brand, but when looking at the reality wasn't curious enough to spend proper money on large amounts of dubious incense. But Brief Chemistry from Reddit has been generous enough to send me a bunch from a haul he got at the end of last year (2025). And this Tambulam Paan is the first of the bunch I'm looking at. 

  

Tambulam Paan refers to betel leaf. The two words, Tambulam and Paan, appear to mean roughly the same thing  - the preparation of betel leaf for chewing. The paste on the stick is a semi-moist charcoal extruded onto a bamboo splint, and then coated in dark green powder. The scent on the stick is vibrant, tangy, fresh, slightly medicinal, quite green and spicy with some woody base elements. Rather likeable, and somewhat unusual. This is the first betel incense I've come across, though there are a few made, such as by Betala and Aahil. The scent on the scent is quite promising. 

The scent on the burn is pleasant. Warm, gentle, floral and musky. Initially it is a little more conventional than the scent on the stick, though over time the tangy, somewhat sparkly, green notes come through, and at that point it deepens, and needs to be moved a little further away to give it more space and air to develop. I like this. I find it spicy and aromatic. A little balsamic, and with some eucalyptus notes. Perhaps a touch of fresh cannabis leaf, with a whiff of mint. Very cute and likeable, and something a bit different. It doesn't feel 100% natural - there's aldehyde notes, and a general sense of perfume construction. I'm cool with that, though I know some folks get a bit itchy about their incense not being 100% natural. I think it's a decently constructed perfume or attar. And I look forward to trying the other Vedic Vaani branded sticks.    

Available from Vedic Vaani at 100gm for £5.56 plus shipping (at least £25). 

Date: March 2026   Score: 35

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Jahagirdar First Choice Anarkali Flora

This is part of Jahgirdar's Flora collection. A Flora incense is one that is generally in the style of Sri Sai Flora Fluxo - a masala stick quite rich with oils. The name refers to the mysterious legend of Anarkali, a courtesan of Akbar the Great. In one version she fell in love and had an affair with Akbar's son, and when Akbar found out, he had her walled up in his palace. The son then rebelled against his father, killed him, took the throne as Jahangir, and had a tomb built for Anarkali. The more prosaic version of the story is that Anarkali was a walled pomegranate garden (the name means "pomegranate blossom") which echoes the walling up of Anarkali. 

  

Anarkali embraced by Jahangir

I love such names. Way more evocative and romantic than something like "Rose and Saffron" (though, to be fair, "Rose and Saffron" is an attractive and enticing incense name, and more helpful than Anarkali). 

As with the Sugandh Flora, this is a plump and soft extruded stick coated with melnoorva/masala powder. The powder is more Barbie pink than rose, with a vivid neon quality. The scent is wonderfully sweet and powdery floral. Deliciously yummy! This is such an exciting and vibrant cold throw fragrance - deliciously feminine and fresh and flowery, with a soft and clean woody base, light touches of fruit - melon and apricot, and a soft moment of sweet orange zest. Awesome! 

  

The scent on the burn is green, earthy, floral, woody, lightly animalistic - warm woolly sheep, sweetly, softly fruity - a gentle tang. Wow. What's impressive is not just that there's a lot going on (this is far from a simplistic mono-scent incense), but that it all ties and flies together so well. This is a harmony blend which does reveal the seven generations of experience and skill in fragrance building. This is warm, resinous, comforting, luxurious, fluffy, earthy, floral, uplifting, joyous. It is elegant, sophisticated, and meditative. In short it is bloody gorgeous. From the name and attached story I was expecting a pomegranate scent, and I can't completely rule it out, but while there are fruity elements with some tang, this leans much more in the direction of rose and saffron with its blossomy softness and spicy warmth. 

I've just looked up "pomegranate blossom" and the description I found is pretty much what I've been experiencing: "soft, subtle, and somewhat fruity" and "understated, blending in with the green, slightly earthy undertones typical of blossoming fruit trees".  The accord of this incense is Anarkali walled up. Perfect. 

Only available in India. ₹160 for 100g, direct from Jahagirdar, or from GroovyFragrances.

Date: Mar 2026   Score: 50 

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Jahagirdar First Choice Sugandh Flora

This is part of Jahgirdar's Flora collection. A Flora incense is one that is generally in the style of Sri Sai Flora Fluxo - a masala stick quite rich with oils. They are traditionally quite thick, heavy, and soft, with the stick often bending under its own weight. And they are often coated with the brown wood powder known as melnoorva (or masala powder). The powder was originally used to preventing the finished sticks from gluing together as they dried, and was sometimes perfumed. Over time it has come to signify a masala style incense, and so is now expected. The dough in this Sugandh is perfumed and has been machine extruded, so it doesn't need the powder, but people tend to expect it. Sugandh means fragrance, and is sometimes used as part of the name of an incense house or of a individual incense. 

The scent on the stick is gorgeous - clean, bright sandalwood with citric floral notes, a hint of lemon and a whiff of fresh daisies. Delightful. 

The accord on the burn follows a traditional masala/flora profile of clean sandalwood and cosy florals - in this case quite sweet and rose like. And there are some mild spice notes and a hint of warm woolly sheep.  A solid incense.   

Date: Mar 2026   Score: 35 

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