Ranga Rao Cycle Brand Yagna Natural Incense

Second review - for earlier scroll down

Ranga Rao (Cycle Brand) make very decent scented and masala incense, and are a well established incense house in India, though don't export as much as they could and should. The availability of this excellent masala incense is variable, though is currently [Dec 2023] available in the UK from the online general Indian goods website DesiKhazana for £2.29, and in the US from ExoticIncense for $5.00. In India they are available from the Cycle website for 50 Rupees - all prices are for a pack of 14 sticks. 

The pack is a large rectangular packet, slightly larger than a standard pack but slightly smaller and a tad less elegant than a luxury box.  There is a clear sense that this is being presented as a quality incense with no gimmicks.  There is a blurb on both sides - the front side has a picture of the founder Ranga Rao, and says this: "This series of natural incenses was skilfully created by founder N. Ranga Rao in late 1940s and passed on through generations. Consumer love has made Cycle Pure Agarbathies the industry leader."  While Ranga Rao/Cycle are being overtaken by newcomers Mangaldeep and Moksh, they are still one of the domestic top-sellers, and are highly respected.  A sub-title on the front side is "Light and Experience".  Not sure what that signifies. The incense name Yagna appears to be another name for Yajna, which is a ritual offering involving fire. The term "Light and Experience" could relate to Yajna. On the reverse side (I am assuming front and reverse) the image is of someone sitting before a bowl in which they are stirring or grinding something. My assumption is that it is someone making incense. The wording on this side says: "The purest of incense, this agarbathi forms a part of the vast knowledge of our ancient sages, a knowledge that finds expression in the age-old Indian texts of Ayurvedda and Agamashastra, where the wellness properties of natural ingredients are described." 

I think this is an incense to respect. 

The sticks are 9 inches long, with 7 inches of crumbly black paste hand-rolled onto plain hand-cut bamboo splints. The paste has a covering of brown powder which has a lovely fragrance. When I started this blog I thought that the powder on the outside of the incense sticks was the fragrant masala. As I learned more, my understanding was that the fragrant ingredients (ground dried ingredients and/or oils and perfumes) was mixed into the paste, and that the powder is there partly to stop the sticks from gluing together as they dry, and partly as a decoration and/or a sign that this is a masala style incense. However, there are texts which indicate that the powder (called Melnoorva) can also be fragrant. There are two powders - Noorva, which is the dried fragrant ingredients (or masala), which is added to the paste before it is rolled (or extruded) onto the bamboo, and Melnoorva, which is the powder on the outside, which may or may not also be fragrant. The difficulty I find is that the powder often absorbs the fragrant oils in the paste (or added later by spraying or dipping), so it can be difficult to identify if the powder is fragrant in itself, or has absorbed the fragrance from elsewhere - perhaps from dipping or pouring after the stick has been made. There is a certain cool volatility which always suggest to me that a liquid perfume or oil has been used. This is a sherbet sweet, flowery fragrance supported by creamy woods, mostly sandalwood. It is sublime. Very inviting. 

The burn is steady and gentle, throwing up an acceptable blue grey column of smoke - neither too much nor too little. The sticks last between 45 and 50 minutes.  The scent is gentle but affirmative, unfolding meaningfully but unassertively into the spaces in the room. It's a little dry for me, holding me back from a really high score. Spicy, woody, with some floral notes. It's kind of sombre rather than fun. I note that I made similar comments last time. This is a blend rather than a single fragrance, so is one of the early blends - much earlier than  Sugandha Shringar which appeared in 1963 and is claimed as the first blended (as opposed to single scent) incense stick.  I do have an interest in historic incense - especially incense milestones, so I have respect for this Cycle Brand Yagna. Last time I gave this a score of 40, which tipped it over the line from Decent Stuff to Heavenly, and is my highest rated Cycle Brand incense. I'm not sure I can keep it in that category, and will lower the score slightly. This may be because the packet is old, so I will buy a fresh packet and revisit this later. 

Date:  Dec 2023   Score: 38

First review

Oooh, these are lovely. Proper job masala - £1.75 for 15 sticks from Popat Stores (a very efficient internet shop) [2023 comment - not currently available from Popat Stores] . In America they are available from IncenseOnTheWay [2023 comment - IncenseOnTheWay closed in 2022 after the sole proprietor died of cancer].

As soon as I opened the pack I loved these - it's a very yummy scent. There is dense deep dark tropical fruit, so rich you could cut it with a knife and eat it. And high, but not sharp, citrus peaking over the jammy tropical fruit - and there's freshly cut wood - little wood shavings of pine and cedar. There's some flowers as well - violets and frangipani. It's a sort of mature, grown up scent. Kind of old school and old fashioned. Like being in the headmaster's study on a late summer's day with the leather and polished wood, and the fragrance of flowers and fruit drifting in through the open window. There's a calm authority about the scent, which makes it suitable for lowering tension, and creating calm. It would also be suitable for preparing the home for an awkward visitor, transferring the authority of the smell onto your and your home.

I am pleased to have this Cycle brand. In 2013 I bought a few Flute brand sticks from a market stall in Gillingham, and on looking up the maker I read about their Cycle brand, and it sounded interesting, but nobody in the UK was selling it at the time. I wasn't impressed with the Flute brand - they are just cheap, everyday perfume-dipped sticks. OK, but nothing special. But I do like this Yagna from Cycle Brand - which is based on the original recipe by N. Ranga Roa in the 1940s, and which has been passed on through the family.

I just checked again, and the Cycle Brand is not generally available in the UK - I can see a couple of places where I can pick up a pack here or there, but not the complete series, which is shown on cyclepure.com - but is available only in India and USA,  You lucky guys in the US. I think there is much more of an interest in the US for proper job masala incense.

Date: Feb 2017  Score:  40

***

Ranga Rao 

 What's The Best Incense In The World?

Reviewed on Ratnagandh