Purchased (as Luxflair, but arrived branded Raj) from Amazon for £7.90 including postage. Luxflair are the German based importer, the incense is made in India by Raj Fragrance of Bangalore.
Sambrani cups are a growing trend in India, and are spreading to Europe and America. They are generally self-igniting charcoal cups which are filled with sambrani (Indian name for benzoin) and a fixative added to keep the resin in place. They are very convenient and easy to use. Resins other than sambrani are also used, but they are still called a sambrani (or loban) cup.
These Raj Guru charcoal cups are not self-igniting, so they took a REALLY LONG TIME to ignite. You couldn't use a lighter or matches or your fingers would burn. I used a gas burner which I use to light my BBQ. It then burned very quickly and generated a lot of heat. I used two clay stands inside my metal burning cup, but the heat quickly got through onto the cup, so I had to use tongs to move it on top of my burner so it wouldn't start to scorch the cloth on my table.
It produced a lot of ghostly silver grey smoke. The aroma is neutral benzoin. A chalky mineral aroma. It's clearly intended for ritual purposes and would work very well. Lots and lots of smoke, which is not offensive, even to me, and I am sensitive to too much smoke. The room filled with smoke, so I had to close the door to the room with the smoke alarm. The room does now feel charged with a cleansing mineral energy. Hmmm. I don't use incense for ritual purposes - I use it for the scent, as a mood lifter, room freshener, to cover up odours, to make the house welcoming, etc. But I know a lot of people use incense mainly or exclusively for ceremonial or ritual purposes. This is the first time I have got close to understanding that.
This Guru Vandana Sambrani Cup is not my thing - too fiddly to light, too much smoke and not enough aesthetic scent, but it has brought me closer to understanding the ritual aspect of incense burning, and that has a value in itself.
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