Tulasi is the brand name of Sarathi International Inc, which was was founded in 1945 as a small family business, and has now grown to an operation employing over 300 people from its modern 75,000 square ft factory in Bangalore - which it reports as being the largest incense factory in Bangalore. As Bangalore is the main Indian city for making incense, that is quite a claim. The company exports to 45 countries worldwide.
Their perfumed incense sticks are available from a number of UK internet sites, such as the Asian Cookshop and Incense Essentials, either in hex boxes of 20 or square boxes of 8 sticks for an average cost of around 5p a stick. They produce decent enough scents, and are a fairly consistent if largely unexciting everyday incense company. The sticks tend to be of modest size, and are hand rolled from charcoal paste onto dyed sticks and then perfume dipped. Nothing exciting, but they are cheap, and tend to turn up on market stalls, hardware stores, head/hippy shops, craft shops, mystic/magick shops, gift shops, etc. The little boxes of eight are very limiting - I often burn between four and eight sticks at a time, and the boxes are not that easy to open as they are sealed tight with clear Sellotape.
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| The Sarathi factory in Bangalore |
The company website: sarathi.com, (or worldofincense.in) provides some information on the company. The standard of English is good, and there are details on the product range, though information is limited to name of product and size and shape of the packing. In addition to their core business of making everyday perfume-dipped incense, the company also has a handful of masala incenses, such as the Vidwan, which I found very pleasant. I would be interested in trying out their other masala incenses, but they are not available in the UK.
Reviews
* = Review over 5 years old so may not be reliable
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| Vidwan (masala incense)
July 2018 - Score: 39*
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| Tulasi Moon Exotic Incense Sticks (P) March 2022 - Score: 36 |
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| Tulasi Nag Champa Incense Sticks April 2023 - Score: 35 |
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| Nag Champa & Rose Jan 2022 - Score: 35 |
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| Nag Champa & Lavender (PM) June 2023 - Score: 35 |
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| Tulasi Nag Champa & Arruda Incense Sticks July 2023 - Score: 35 |
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| Jasmine (P) Nov 2018 - Score: 35* |
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| Musk (P) June 2018 - Score: 35* |
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| Tulasi Sandalwood Masala Incense (PM) March 2024 - Score: 33↑ |
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| Patchouli Masala Incense (M) Sept 2021 - Score: 33 |
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| Tulasi Chocolate (P) June 2018 - Score: 33* |
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| Amber (P) June 2018 - Score: 30* |
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| Sage (P) June 2018 - Score: 30* |
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| Frankincense (P)
Mar 2015 - Score: 30*
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| Tulasi Lily Of The Valley (P) Mar 2019 - Score: 28* |
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Tulasi Agarwood (P) Oct 2022 - Score: 27 |
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| Tulasi Violet Floral Incense Sticks (P) Jan 2024 - Score: 27 |
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| Egyptian Musk (P) June 2018 - Score: 24* |
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| Stamford Aromatherapy (P)
Jan 2014 - Score: 24*
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| Honey (P)
Aug 2013 - Score: 24*
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| Aphrodesia (P)
Mar 2013 - Score: 23*
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| Feng Shui Wood (P) Aug 2013 - Score: 21* |
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| Coffee (P) Jan 2023 - Score: 21 |
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| Tulasi White Rose Floral Incense Sticks (P) Jan 2024 - Score: 20 |
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April 2023 - Score: 19↓ |
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May 2022 - Score: 18 |
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| Meditation (P) June 2018 - Score: 18* |
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| Turmeric (P) June 2018 - Score: 16* |
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| Tulasi Citronella Incense Cones (P) Oct 2023 - Score: 11 |
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| Magnolia (P)
June 2014 - Score: 10*
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| Green Apple (P) Aug 2018 - Score: 01* |
Scents rated: 37
Highest score: 40
Lowest score: 1
Average score: 25
Conclusion: I thought Tulasi were an average to lower end everyday synthetic-perfume incense company until I was turned on to the Vidwan. Now I shall keep an open mind on this, and other incense companies. Their everyday perfumed incense is professionally packaged with a good standard of English, and they are fairly ubiquitous in the UK. At one time it was HEM I saw everywhere, but Tulasi appears to be slightly more common. In 2022 they launched a "Nag Champa" fragrance oil perfumed incense range in Europe - decent stuff. They appear to be among the top exporting Indian incense companies along with HEM and Satya.
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| The Best Incense Makers |
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