Ancient Wisdom are a UK importer and wholesale distributor of incense which they brand under their own name, as well as marketing Satya and Aargee products. When I first encountered their products, it was bargain basement unbranded stuff from Vietnam and Thailand - aimed at an undiscriminating audience. I grew cautious about buying anything that they sold under their own brands because my experiences tended to be of faded generic scents and crude organic core material, which I didn't enjoy; although, their foil-wrapped Red Dragon Incense I found quite enjoyable. However, I do like to keep an open mind, and when browsing the ReallyRelaxing website for some Mahendra incense, I picked up a couple of Ancient Wisdom's new Freedom range to check them out. They were only 75p for a 15g box, so nothing to lose really.
I'm glad I did, because this Nag Champa is not bad. It does help that Ancient Wisdom have commissioned the sticks from Mahendra Perfumery Works of Bangalore, whose everyday perfume-dipped charcoal sticks are quite decent. The sticks look unpromising on getting out of the packet. They are shorter than average, and of inconsistent thickness on flimsy sticks; there is a whiff of volatile chemical scent which reminds me of cheap pine scented toilet cleaner, and it's also quite candy sweet, like Wild Berry or Juicy Jay's smells on the stick, but which rarely deliver on that tease.
However, while appearing to be unpromising they do smell quite attractive when burned. Not heavenly, but quite acceptable, with a gentle sweetness and no harsh notes. As with other Mahendra/Betco incenses it tends to the floral, but with an underlying musky sweetness that I find quite pleasant. This is not a divine incense, but it is certainly a very acceptable everyday incense that you could use around the house for a variety of uses.
Date: June 2018 Score: 31 [This score is over five years old so may not be reliable]
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| Mahendra Betco - Best of |
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