HEM Spearmint Incense Cones

Yep, smells of spearmint on the cone - a little dirty and musky, which adds to the interest. Makes a change from the usual, though the scent on the burn is a little vague and smoky, and wanders around menthol and camphor with some patchouli. Perhaps not as much on target as it could be, but acceptable as an everyday room freshener. 

HEM incense is available all over the world from your favourite incense dealer, or simply the corner shop. I got mine from Amazon as part of a 12 different boxes for £12 deal. 

Date: May 2026   Score: 25/50

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HEM Corporation

Vedic Vaani Jai Mahakal

Mahakal is another name for Lord Shiva, the Hindu Cosmic Dancer and God of Time, so the fragrance will be ambient and suggestive of divinity and magic rather than specific to any particular scent. I tend to prefer such creative incenses - they tend to be looser, more inventive, and less of a potential disappointment when the incense almost inevitably fails to live up to the expectation of the named scent, be it rose or sandalwood. Here we can either just enjoy the fragrance, or gently engage in contemplation of how the incense creator plays with the concept of Mahakal.  This is the first incense I've had with the name Mahakal, though there are others, such as Jai Mahakal by Ajanta - described as "using high-quality natural aromatic oils inspired by traditional Shaivite fragrances". Shaivite fragrances are such as sandalwood, vetiver, and camphor - natural fragrance products found in India, and those scents are present in the cold throw fragrance on the stick of this Jai Mahakal -pale creamy wood, sweet caramel, warm earth, lamb's wool, brown sugar, and cooling menthol. It's a lovely, beguiling, calming scent. 

The fragrance on the burn is gentle, calming, clean, attractive, and centred on sandalwood and resin. Pleasant, though perhaps a little too everyday to be especially charming. 

Available from Vedic Vaani at 100gm for £5.31 plus shipping (at least £25). 

Date: May 2026   Score: 32/50

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Vedic Vaani of Mumbai

  

Bangalore Incense Store Shubh Flora

 

Flora/Fluxo type incenses are bold and full of character. There was a quirky and tongue-in-cheek ad campaign for the noodle snack Pot Noodles which used the strapline "The Slag of All Snacks", and that could be applied to Flora incense, as "The Slag of All Incense" as it is brash, crude, gaudy, colourful, loud, and exciting.  Slag is a British slang word which has various uses, generally as an insult or playful banter against both males and females to suggest they are not refined or well behaved, following the standard use of the word as industrial waste.  -so it could be used toward a slovenly eater, an overly brightly dressed person, or someone being lazy; though the most notorious use is toward someone who is being overly promiscuous, and is widely regarded as offensive when directed toward a female, so the ad campaign was banned. The defence that the term was being used for the product rather than a person was weak, because it was clear that it was the sexualised female aspect that was being focused on - other uses of the term slag do not have the excitement aspect which is important for the suggested naughty, cheap, crude pleasure. And as they were using a man hunting in a prostitute area, it was obvious to everyone what aspect of the word slag they were focusing on. I don't wish to offend anyone, so I'll not be referring to Flora incense as The Slag of All Incense, despite the temptation. I think perhaps "Less temple, more disco", or "This isn't a church, it's a party", or "The Circus Barker of All Incense", might be more acceptable. 

The scent on the stick of this Shubh Flora is certainly loud, gaudy, exciting, cheap, colourful, and explosive. It makes itself known in a brash way, which will delight some, and offend others, like a loud circus barker, or colourfully dressed hippy. Its floral and woody and volatile with mangled aldehydes, old shoe leather, church incense, and pond water in summer. Fascinating. I love this sort of thing, though I rarely score Flora incense high because it tends to be too loud in one direction, and there's no room for the contrasts and twists and turns I enjoy and respect so much. Also, most Floras are very predictable to me now. They tend to group together and behave the same way. I mean, I know I'm going to have fun with them, but they are more like over excited teenagers or children than mature, educated adults of taste and experience who have interesting things to say. Floras are great now and again, but I wouldn't want to be with them all the time. 

The scent on the burn (typically for a Flora) is softer, warmer, more balanced than the cold throw scent on the stick. The woods come through soft and calming; musky and sweet in the direction of White Musk, though more rounded and natural. There's a gentle sheep's wool accord wrapping around the fragrance. And sweet rose and watery hydrangea florals rounding it all off. The more this burns the more I like it. It's actually rather more refined and tasteful than most Floras. Nice one. 

Available from Bangalore Incense at 50g for £0.78. Bangalore Incense ships internationally.  [As of May 2026 there is a glitch that multiplies  by a thousand the price when it comes to purchase. So a £2 (or $2) incense becomes £2,000. Jaygee has told me that if folks contact him on WhatsApp (+91-8549904990) he'll give them the true (and much lower!) cost. In the meantime he is working to fix the glitch.]

Date: May 2026   Score: 38/50

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Jaygee's / Gurugee

Flora, Fluxo, and Supreme

Bangalore Incense Store Bangalore Sandalwood

A machine extruded stick. Scent on the stick is powdery, slightly medicinal, with sweet sandalwood awareness and light aldehyde sparkles. There is an attractive earthiness about this cold throw fragrance, with a general ambience of an empty and abandoned car workshop on a hot summer's day - notes of dust, engine oil, petrol, and hot metal. Interesting. 

Decent scent on the burn, though leaning a little too much toward White Musk for my taste. This is quite a clean sandalwood, though there are some earthy elements which keeps it interesting. On the whole a decent everyday room freshener based around quite a clean sandalwood perfume. 

Available from Bangalore Incense at 50g for £1.31. Bangalore Incense ships internationally.  [As of May 2026 there is a glitch that multiplies  by a thousand the price when it comes to purchase. So a £2 (or $2) incense becomes £2,000. Jaygee has told me that if folks contact him on WhatsApp (+91-8549904990) he'll give them the true (and much lower!) cost. In the meantime he is working to fix the glitch.]

Date: May 2026   Score: 27/50

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Jaygee's / Gurugee

Sandalwood - Heart of Incense

HEM Attracts Money Incense Cones

Delicately sweet and fruity scent on the cone - quite refreshing. Dark berry fruits fragrance on the burn. Yeah, I'm OK with this one. Decent everyday room freshener. Nothing special, but it does the job. HEM incense is available all over the world from your favourite incense dealer, or simply the corner shop. I got mine from Amazon as part of a 12 different boxes for £12 deal. 

Date: May 2026   Score: 28/50

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HEM Corporation

Wealth Incense

Bangalore Incense Store Sita Swayamvaram

 

The name Sita Swayamvaram refers to a tale in the Hindu epic poem Ramayana, in which a ritual bride-choice (a Svayamvara) takes place, in which the goddess Sita selects her future husband, the supreme being Rama, by challenging her suiters to string Lord Shiva's bow. As such the fragrance is going to focus on ambience and mood rather than representing a certain scent. It will likely be rich and soft to convey the divine nature of the story, and as this is about a woman choosing her husband, there will likely be some romantic and feminine aspects such as joyful florals. 

The incense comes attractively packaged with a slide out tray, and small incense holder. Unfortunately the incense holder is too light and shallow to hold an incense stick. I had to use four spaced out to give balance, and had it held in place by the packet of the rest of the sticks. But its nice gesture. 

The paste on the stick is a standard thickness, but there is an intensity of fragrance oils which is common with flora/fluxo style incense, which is normally thicker. The fragrance is as anticipated beautifully and joyfully floral. The cold throw scent on the stick is a little volatile, cool, and sharp, though not unpleasantly so, and that volatility is common, especially with oil rich incense. 

On the burn some lemon notes come to the fore, which are there on the stick, though I hadn't noticed. Overall there is an attractive lemon sorbet feel to the fragrance which combines well with the florals and the gentle woody base. Yes, an attractive incense. 

Available from Bangalore Incense for £1.93. Bangalore Incense ships internationally.  [As of May 2026 there is a glitch that multiplies  by a thousand the price when it comes to purchase. So a £2 (or $2) incense becomes £2,000. Jaygee has told me that if folks contact him on WhatsApp (+91-8549904990) he'll give them the true (and much lower!) cost. In the meantime he is working to fix the glitch.]

Date: May 2026   Score: 30/50

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Jaygee's / Gurugee

Vedic Vaani Vakratunda

Vakratunda is one of the names of Ganesha, the elephant deity who removes obstacles and brings good luck. Typically such incenses, whose names evoke gods, will be more inclined to be traditional, and so use the masala method of incense making where the main fragrance ingredients along with fixatives and sacrificials, are blended into the paste rather than added externally; though there may be some fragrance elements added to the exterior to create an attractive cold throw. Such divine named incenses would tend to focus on ambience rather than individual scent, and would like to give the impression of something sacred, and worthy of being offered in a temple or as a blessing at home, to invoke the spirit of the named god. 

The look, feel, and scent of the stick is that of a flora/fluxo style of incense  which is rich with fragrant oils. It is heady with florals and oils and some petrol notes, but not unpleasant. And there's candy and caramel and some vague perfume scents. It is certainly impressive in its richness, though there appears to be little craft or delicacy in the accord, nor any prized or valuable fragrance ingredients - it is a somewhat dazzling blast of scents which simply blur into something powdery, floral, oily, sweet, and heady. An elephantine impression of India caught as a hot breeze from an open train window. 

   

On the burn this is a rich, yet soft and floral embrace of fragrance which enfolds and wraps like a cashmere shawl. There's glimpses of petrol, like flashes of rainbows when the light catches a spill of petrol on the ground. And there's strands of caramel dripping through the whole experience. I liked the cold throw scent on the stick, but I had expected the burn scent to be a little harsh or crude and somewhat simplistic because of the clash of scents in the cold throw accord. But somehow it works; and it works because it is not attempting to capture some particular scent, but is wishing to create a space in which to invite  Ganesha/Vakratunda into the home, to remove obstacles. The bright, joyful, floral nature of the scent lifts the spirit and makes me feel happy and positive and capable of dealing with problems, be they emotional, mental, or physical. This is the stuff to give courage and strength to move on. 

Yes, I like this Vedic Vaani Vakratunda. 

Available from Vedic Vaani at 100gm for £3.54 plus shipping (at least £25). 

Date: May 2026   Score: 45/50

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Vedic Vaani of Mumbai