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| Fourth review - scroll down for earlier |
Machine extruded charcoal masala paste on a red coloured bamboo splint, and then coated in a perfumed melnoorva/masala powder. Scent on the stick is damp, mouldy, volatile, slightly off-putting. Scent on the burn is generic masala incense - kinda prickly (I don't know what causes that, but I associate it with using halmaddi in the mix). It's heady and typically Indian and Balaji. The scent centres on sandalwood. A sort of damp sandalwood. The scent is occasionally smoky. It's an acceptable burn - it makes itself known, but there's nothing clear here, other than the generic woody masala incense scent, so there's little joy in the scent. But it's not offensive, and it works quite well on its own terms.
Date: Dec 2024 Score: 32
Average of four reviews: 33 |
| Third review |
A makeover and relaunch for Balaji's Om Shree Sai. The deliberate association with
Sri Sai Flora Fluxo, the original flora/fluxo incense, has been replaced with original styling, and a softer pack colouring. Even the name has been altered, such that there could be some misunderstandings regarding the name. The "
Om" is placed in
Devanagari script just behind the lettering of Shree Sai, and in a different colour, such that it may appear more of a presence or invocation of the Divine, rather than a part of the incense name. It gives weight to Om's significance. Though places an uncertainty in the reader (at least this reader), as to if it is intended to be part of the name. Initially I did not recognise it as the incense I had previously reviewed because of the new stylings, including changing the descriptor from Natural Incense Sticks to Premium Incense Sticks, but then I clicked, and realised it was the same incense in a new package. I may have some left from the original red pack, and if I have, then I'll dig it out at some point and do a head to head, to see if there's any difference. In the meantime....
This is a typically Balaji incense - very heady and Indian. There is a perfumed scent on the stick - fairly chemical, and vaguely unpleasant, but not actually ugly. Tobacco, damp, sweaty leather, rose, sandalwood. The stick appears to be machine extruded, and then hand-rolled in brown melnoorva powder. When lit it burns with a hungry flame, producing some black smoke. The scent on the burn is way more pleasant than that on the stick. It's quite earthy, woody, a bit dry and prickly, with a sense of the warm wool aroma I associate with
halmaddi. As the paste is formulated for a machine extrusion, the ash remains firm and intact for long periods - it may even be possible for the whole stick to burn, leaving the ash intact to the end.
I like this incense. It's warm and traditional, with those earthy, woody notes combining with a rose-like floral. There's a calming and cleansing nature to it. I feel this is an incense to use as a smudge around the house - you can put a stick in the centre of the house and let the scent permeate everywhere, or you can walk around doing joss-stick smudging. I like doing that - I like to create little smoke rings by jerking an incense stick upwards, and then make another ring to go through the first. I try to make a third to then go through that, but haven't yet succeeded.
Date: March 2024 Score: 34
Average of four reviews: 33
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| Second review |
A
masala style incense - a dry, soft, crumbly woody, fragrant paste has been beautifully hand-rolled onto a machine-cut pink-dyed bamboo splint, and then covered in a melnoorva powder to prevent the sticks from gluing together as they dry. Fragrant oils have been used in the mix, and it is the oils that deliver a lot of the scent.
The scent on the stick is vague sandalwood, wool, some warmth, some cool floral, some volatility - it's neither inviting nor off-putting. There is an awareness of fragrant oils, but they are not yet making themselves fully known. The aroma is bold enough, it's the specific identity or general character of the aroma that is not fully known.
It burns rather quickly and hot, leaving a long clinging trail of ash that waits ages before falling. The scent on the burn is still vague, but certainly falls within the flora fluxo style - a bold mesh of sandalwood and floral. It has a warm woody base, with the medium sharp, moderately fresh melange of floral scents that don't quite settle on any particular flower, and don't quite give a sense of perfume, or lightness, or outdoors garden joy, but which can be said, yes, to be floral. There are sharp notes in the scent; not unpleasant, but not exactly uplifting. There's some awareness of smoke in the scent.
This is a bold, though not too assertive incense, that warms the house in a reasonably pleasant matter, but never really fully delights. I guess, on the whole, it's a decent enough incense, which fits in with the flora fluxo style in a less heady or less overbearing manner. It doesn't go anywhere; despite - or perhaps because of - the mix of floral oils, so remains a vague okayish scent. Not top level certainly, but quite acceptable as a warm, harmless vaguely floral background scent. Borderline decent and everyday average. It does have a pleasant after scent which sustains to the next day - a reassuring "Indian incense" scent, which I quite like.
Date: March 2023 Score: 31
Average of four reviews: 33
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| First review |
There is a base paste, which appears to be perfumed in itself, and contains a mix of charcoal and wood pastes and any dried fragrant ingredients. That paste is rolled in a wood powder that clings to the mixture. The aroma is quite muscular - big base wood notes, with some citric highs, and a floral mid range. There isn't much subtly here, and there is nothing particularly fine. This is all about the weight, and the impact. It's not aggressive - that isn't the impact - the impact is the heady heaviness of the incense. The grinding mix of wood and florals, the heat and the warmth. It's like going into a floral hot house in the height of summer. This is clearly a copy of
Sri Sai Flora Fluxo, the name, the packaging, and the scent, are all based on that original fluxo incense. Another copy is
Hari Om's Fluxo, which on a comparison we here slightly preferred. I haven't yet set up an aroma challenge on all three, but I will do. I suspect, at the moment, that this Balaji will come out as favourite because it's not quite as heavy as Sri Sai Flora, and has more fragrances than the Hari Om. But it'll all come down to personal taste - the three are burning in the same direction.
Date: May 2018 Score: 35
Average of four reviews: 33***
