Balaji Red Premium Flora Sticks

Second review - for earlier review scroll down

These are the same sticks I reviewed back in 2017. And I'm still blown away. Indeed, I am even more impressed today than I was six years ago. I've noticed that about some proper job masala incense, the scent matures and improves - becomes more rounded. To be fair I should get a more recent box and do a comparison. But as it stands right now, burning these sticks, I am loving them! 

The description - fair enough

These are still available from Popat Stores - £1.10 for 14 sticks. The box I bought in 2017 had 12 sticks - perhaps they are making them not as thick. Not that these are thick. Balaji call them Flora Sticks, though by appearance alone that couldn't be determined. Unless it is an Indian custom to use a red coloured powder on the sticks for a flora. The sticks are just shy of 9 inches, with between 6 1/2 and 7 inches of paste hand-rolled onto a bamboo splint which has been dyed green at the end. The paste is somewhat soft and crumbly with some moisture still present.  The sticks burn for around 40 minutes.

Though not consistent, I have found that most sticks called flora are moist. Most sticks tend to be thick and heavy, while these are not. The scent on the stick has some volatility, cool and pleasant, with a distinct floral nature, underpinned with sandalwood, slightly prickly with faint warm wool - something I personally associate with halmaddi. 

The scent on the burn is pure heaven. Soft, creamy wood base with heady bold rose top notes and nips of dark chocolate bringing the floral and the woody together, and weaving through it all whispers of honey and vanilla.   This is a mighty incense - gorgeous and dreamy.  You can go to a reseller and pay £10, and not even know who made your incense, or you can go direct to a genuine Indian incense house and pay little more than £1 for beautiful incense. You pays your money and takes your choice. 

Date: Oct 2023 - Score: 46 

First review

Oooh. I like this. Straight from the box these sticks make an impression - not just the musky, balsamic, sharp perfume, but also the soft glowing red - a colour echoed in the box design. There's some thought gone into this. The sticks are handrolled with a thin charcoal paste onto consistently sized, smooth round sticks, each tipped with a light green, and then a masala mix of colour and scent is added. There's an alcohol volatility on the sticks which suggests that there may be some solvent dipping as well, but I'm not certain of that. Why would a company use both a dried masala scent and a solvent scent on the same stick? On burning there is some suggestion of halmaddi, but used in small proportions so I'm not getting ill effects, just a pleasant warming musky scent. The overall impression is like a summer evening with musky flower scents drifting in on the warm breeze. There are prickles in the scent, but these are like delicate champagne bubbles that burst with sharp giggles inside the sensual and comforting warmth of the fragrance duvet. Oh - I'm getting twisted and drunk with this scent and starting to write nonsense. I like this. It was 75p for a box of 14 sticks from Popat Stores,  I have a few other Balaji to try. I'm really looking forward to that!


Date: June 2017   Score: 42

***

Balaji Agarbatti Company

Flora, Fluxo, and Supreme

Halmaddi

Reviewed on Rauchfahne