I'm going through some sandal cones and finding that with my Satya cones there is a difference in batches due to the Satya company splitting in two between the two brothers. The cones on the left are the older ones, and they have the old Satya symbol, with both the Mumbai and Bangalore address. They are not good quality - they are machine made, they burn quickly, and while the scent on the cone is the same as the new ones on the right, when burning the scent is weak and is mainly of the base sawdust. The ones on the right, the darker cones, have the logo, name, and Mumbai address of Nagaraj Setty, the brother who took charge of sales, and who when he first set up did sell poor quality machine made incense using the logo and addresses of the old Satya company. This is the same cone as I reviewed (below) in June 2017 as it burns like a cigar. It has an oily scent, and it is quite sharp, so I'm not as enthusiastic about it this time as I was last year, but is by far the better quality of the two, and is a decent enough scent.
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| The cigar style burning of the cone |
Date: April, 2018 Score: 38
I recently stocked up on my supply of Satya's Sandal, and thought I would update my review; to my surprise I've never rated it. This is one of my favourite incenses. This is top quality stuff. It burns for a long slow time like a tightly rolled Cuban cigar - indeed it looks like a cigar as it burns. The scent is soft, sweet, and gently woody. There is a lot of playful fruit and light wood in this, which makes it quite uplifting as well and pleasantly sensual. On the big box it says: "Sandalwood acts as a sedative & an aphrodisiac. Inhale the fragrance to instil spirituality & inner quiet." I would agree with that. This is top stuff. I reached for it after burning a fairly bottom end everyday cone that smelled a little too much of the base charcoal. This scent is heavenly. Whatever it is that Satya does, they do it well. And at £8 for 144 cones from an Amazon dealer, this is an absolute bargain!
Date: June 2017 Score: 40
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| Satya (Shrinivas Sugandhalaya) |
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| Sandalwood |
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| Top Ten incense cones |
Shrinivas Sugandhalaya has split into two companies, so now it is important to indicate whether the product you reviewed is Shrinivas Sugandhalaya LLP or Shrinivas Sugandhalaya (BNG) LLP. Their product lines are diverging and are made using differing methods.
ReplyDeleteOooh. Thanks for that info. I wasn't aware. I'll take a look into that.
ReplyDeleteWow. Fascinating. What what I can gather, the Satya company was founded in 1964 by Satyam Setty. After his death in 1999 the company was taken over in partnership by his sons Balkrishna Setty and Nagarj Setty who had premises in Bangalore/Bengaluru and in Mumbai. At an unclear time in 2014, and for unclear reasons, the partnership between the sons was split, both retaining use of the name and logo of the original Satya company.
ReplyDeleteNagarj Setty formed Shrinivas Sugandhalaya LLP in Mumbai on 8 Sept 2014.
Balkrishna Setty formed Shrinivas Sugandhalaya (BNG) LLP in Bangalore on 21 Nov 2014.
According to some websites (not verified as fact) Balkrishna had been involved in the manufacture of the incenses, had worked closely with his father, and had personally developed Super Hit. The Bangalore site had been the centre of the manufacturing for the original Satya company. Nagarj had been in charge of distribution, and had all the distribution contacts. The Mumbai site had been the centre of distribution for the original Satya company.
In Dec 2016 a case was filed in at least one state court in America by Balkrishna Setty (Shrinivas Sugandhalaya (BNG) LLP) alleging unfair practises by Nagarj Setty (Shrinivas Sugandhalaya LLP). The claims are that Nagarj Setty sometimes uses machines to make incense, while Balkrishna Setty only uses hand rolling methods; the claim is that customers prefer hand rolled incense, and so Balkrishna Setty's incense is more popular. In order to mislead people, and to suppress competition, Nagarj Setty advertises his products using Balkrishna Setty's Bangalore address. He has also sent out cease and desist notices to all USA distributors, claiming that Balkrishna Setty is infringing on his trademarks and copyrights.
I don't have any information on the outcome of the court case - I don't know if it has been heard yet.
I checked my packet of Super Sandal and it has the Mumbai address and the Shrinivas Sugandhalaya LLP name. It is solvent dipped and machine moulded. But it smells fine.
I shall dig out my other Satya products later to see which of the two companies made them, and make notes on all my reviews accordingly.
Thanks for bringing this to my attention. It's fascinating!
After searching though my reviews I was able to tell by the date on the older ones and by the box on all but one of the recent ones that all the incense I have reviewed so far has been from the Bangalore Satya (either the original company or the new one), apart from this Sandal.
ReplyDeleteI have an original (pre-2014) Bangalore box of Super Hit cones and a Mumbai box of Super Hit cones, so I will compare those two little beauties later today!
I discovered this when I bought a box of Mumbai Super Hit sticks and thought I was going to choke to death from the reek of the still-sealed box. I don't have the courage to take it out of the shopping bag and light one...
ReplyDeleteHow well does incense store? I just bought a sealed box of 2014 Super Hit and its like I'm just burning a piece of wood compared to my (poorly cared for) ca. 2012 box.
Storage depends on a number of factors, so there is no simple answer. In general, a masala incense which has been made with a good fixative will hold its fragrance for a long time if stored in a neutral container in cool, dry, and dark conditions. Solvent dipped (or perfume dipped) incense tends not to last as long, but in reality that is more to do with the quality of the solvent, the fixative, and the core material than with the solvent dipping method. If quality materials and methods are used for solvent dipping, and the incense is stored in optimum conditions in an air sealed container, that will also last for many years.
ReplyDeleteI am unable to speak for the science of this, or if others have experienced the same thing, but my own personal experience is that wood powders hold the solvent fragrance for longer and cleaner than charcoal powders.
Some of the worse incense I have experienced for holding their fragrance are the cheap solvent dipped ones, especially from companies like Ancient Wisdom, or the stuff you can get on eBay in job lots in unmarked bags. The bigger the brand name the more likely you are to find that the fragrance tends to hold. You may not like the fragrance, but others will, and the fragrance will stay for a long time because the brand name company will have invested some time and money on good quality fixative.
Solvent based incense tends to have a much more powerful scent straight out of the box than masala incense because the solvent scent is more volatile, and will evaporate at room temperature releasing its scent. If you are getting strong scents from your shopping bag this is indicative of the incense being solvent based rather than masala, that the fixative isn't holding the scent very well, and that it hasn't been packaged adequately. This usually happens with less experienced or knowledgeable incense makers. From my understanding of the Satya situation, the Mumbai brother was not experienced or knowledgeable in incense making as he was in charge of distribution, so he will be making such mistakes as he learns the business of how to make incense. But the Satya name is big business, so he will be able to buy in top advice, and should soon be able to fix these sorts of mistakes. It is even possible that he has already fixed these errors, and what we are buying now is old stock.