SAC (Sandesh) Sandalwood (masala)

I reach into my incense box for some everyday perfume-dipped incense to freshen and brighten up the house after lunch, and also do a quick review before settling down to work. I find a hex box of SAC, and think that'll do. Open it up and it's a a proper job masala incense. 

OK, fair enough. I'll give it a go. I like masala incense, but because it can sometimes be a bit heavy, and I can have a negative reaction to some of the ingredients, particularly halmaddi, I don't burn it as often or as casually as perfume-dipped incense, and review it rarely, because when I do burn it, I prefer to burn it in a different room to me, or burn it when we're going out so we have the benefit of it when we return (masala incense tends to linger longer and more pleasantly than perfume-dipped). Reviewing masala incense I find difficult, because to be close enough to it to do it justice can give me a headache at least, and often also set up a throat irritation.  [2023: This is no longer how I feel about masala incense]

This incense has a charcoal base onto which is rolled the dried masala ingredients [2023: I have since discovered that the wood powder on the charcoal base is not the fragrant masala ingredients, but usually powdered tree bark put there partly to stop the sticks gluing together as they dry, and partly as decoration and/or to identify the stick as a masala type incense] - there is a solvent on top, so this has also been dipped.  Hmmm. Maybe it's not a proper job masala. There is a very thin covering of powder. The scent on the stick is citric and pure alcohol, there's pine, and some vague floral notes. Hmm. I'm just getting a bit of wood - cedar and sandalwood. But this is not a pure, quality sandalwood. The scent from the burning stick is quite soft and mild, so there doesn't appear to be any halmaddi. The base charcoal comes through first - a little hot and harsh, but there is also an awareness of sandalwood. Hmmm. It's OK, but this is more like a perfume-dipped stick than a proper-job masala. There's a bit of both, but the main scent appears to be driven by the perfume solvent that the stick has been dipped in. It's OK, but it's going into my everyday box rather then my good stuff.

Date: April 2017   Score:  25

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SAC (Sandesh)

Sandalwood

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