Visiting my son Piers and his Romanian girlfriend in Leytonstone, and we pop into a charity shop where I pick up a few packets of incense. All the incense was £1 a packet. I didn't give them much attention, but on getting home and looking them up I find I have incense from Sri Lanka and incense from Indonesia - rather rare finds, as those countries don't export much incense.
These Bhakta sticks are from Indonesia, and are made by the Gopala Bhakta Sakti company who were founded in 1995 by Wayan Sudiara. They employ ten people, and are capable of making 1,000 units a month, which doesn't sound much, but it's not clear what they mean by a unit. They have a Facebook page, but it appears not to be have been used for several years.
The incense sticks are quite thickly and crudely cut, and then a wood powder is rolled onto the stick along with a masala of fragrant ingredients. There is barely any scent on the stick, and little clue of any perfume or solvent being applied. The sticks were all kept in an air-sealed plastic bag, and there was no scent at all on opening the bag, On burning, the aroma is coconut, but quite old and stale and rather artificial, and it mingles with the base wood dust so it's not an especially attractive scent. I have tried it now in several situations, and I find it is most suitable in the outhouse to keep away the flies from the cat's food.
Date: June 2017 Score: 15
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| Incense Around the World |
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