I've been fairly quiet on my incense blog recently - hoping to get reviewing again soon as I have a huge backlog of reviews to do. But even though I already have more incense in my house than I know what to do with, I saw this and some other Bloome incense in my local 99p store yesterday and grabbed them as I like to encourage the selling of incense in general stores, and also I was curious. I expected them to be pretty poor, as they are 99p for 80 sticks, and there is a wooden incense holder included with each pack. But they're not bad. This is not sophisticated incense, the scent is basic and uninspired - this one is strawberry, others are cherry and apple. Anyway, regardless of the simplicity, the scents are fresh and lively, and brighten up a room. This one does have a garden strawberry aroma both on the stick and while burned.
I've never seen these before, and on looking on the internet I find they are available all over the place in online 99p stores (as well as the usual Amazon and eBay, though at much higher prices). Here's a typical outlet, the Just99p site. They are distributed by a company called OTL, who are based in Yorkshire, and offer a range of goods for discount and 99p stores. No indication of where they are made, but they are a basic charcoal paste hand rolled round a long stick, and then coated in a fine coloured powder which contains the fragrances, such as linalool, which is found in plants such as lavender, and which produces what we typical call a "floral" aroma; and citral, which is found in lemongrass, and gives, yes, a lemon aroma; and is then dipped in perfume chemicals such as limonene which gives an orange scent; and benzyl benzoate, which is used in the perfume industry as a fixative, plus having a sweet balsamic aroma of its own - a kind of modern version of halmaddi, which is both a fixative in traditional incense, and has its own aroma. I should image the sticks are made by one of the modern Indian incense companies such as HEM, GR International, or Sarathi.
Not sophisticated, interesting, or in any way uplifting, this is bargain basement everyday incense. And it works fine. I burn a lot of incense. I will typically get through 15 sticks in a day. I like to have pleasant scents around me, and use incense for a variety of purposes, and to help create various moods. This incense is not for any special occasions, but works perfectly well as an everyday room freshener, and to give a lift to a tired room. I like it. And I think it's the best value incense I have ever bought. I wouldn't normally think of buying such cheap incense twice, but I'd be happy to buy this again. 99p for 80 sticks that actually smell sweet, fresh, and attractive. I'm surprised and impressed. Nice one.
Date: April 2016 Score: 33
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