Incense in The Wind: Sandalwood cone aroma test

Sunday, 29 April 2018

Sandalwood cone aroma test

I had these five boxes out on my desk and noticed that two of them I'd not reviewed, while the other three were among my favourite incenses, so I thought it would be fun to do an aroma test and see which I liked the best. The GR International Sandalo and Chandan should be the same incense cones, but in a different design box, but on burning them I noticed a distinct difference. This could be down to different batches, but that they have different names and box designs, it may be that they are aimed at different markets. The Satya Sandal was very interesting, because the cones were very different. I suspect both are by Nataraj Setty, the Mumbai based son of Shri Satyam Setty, the founder of Satya Incense, who left the company in the hands of his sons Nataraj (Mumbai) and Balkrishna (Bangalore). The brothers have been fighting each other in the courts over the rights to the company and accusing each other of bad tricks. Apparently Nataraj was selling machine made copies of Satya incense in the original Satya packaging, though recent output is hand made, of good quality, and clearly marked as being by the Mumbai based Satya. I have both of Nataraj's Sandal cones, and compare them side by side. The SAC Chandan is interesting because it's either that the cones were put in the box by mistake, or SAC are producing fruity sandalwood cones! The best of the bunch is without a doubt Goloka's Chandan. Goloka are one of India's best incense makers, and it is reassuring that the profits go to help women and children in India.

The sharp eyed among you may note that my wooden mouse is not in the picture. I have been busy on other projects for a while, and have only just come back to my incense blog. I totally forgot about the mouse! Eeek! Anyway, in all photos from now on, he will be there.