Satya (BNG) Reiki

 

Fourth review - scroll down for earlier

I have found a box containing various packets of older incense, much of which I'd not reviewed, such as Satya (Mumbai 2015) Rain Forest and Satya/Stamford (Mumbai 2014) Enlightenment, and in there is this unopened pack of  pre-2017 Reiki. For some odd reason I had got out on my desk the inner sleeve of a pack of Satya Mumbai Californian White Sage, and over the past few days I've been burning that thinking it was the Reika, and feeling somewhat confused because I felt that it was a rather flat incense, and nothing like the pre-2017 Reika I'd previously been raving about. Today I picked up the packet of Reiki and realised that it was unopened, and the sticks were still inside in a sealed inner sleeve.  I've just sniffed the stick, and, ah!, this is more like it! 

The stick is quite perfumed and a little heady - not bad for an incense over seven years old. It is an attractive blend of cologne and honey and vanilla and sandalwood. There's talc and baby powder - soft florals like jasmine, light sweet rose - Turkish delight, and lotus. Some playful light citrus fruits - a touch of sherbet lemon. The scent on the burn is a little flat after the scent on the stick. I think it is more than possible that some of the oils and perfumes have faded over time, albeit the pack was sealed and kept in a cool dark place. But gradually the fragrance settles and unfolds, and bit by bit the scents on the stick emerge in the burn. It is a slow and steady burn - for my personal preference I'd like a bit more oomph: more speed, vigour, energy and power. I like my incense to be noticed without me making an effort. However, bless it's pointed little head, it does build. I just need more patience! Yes, it unfolds attractively, revealing the sweet, light florals floating on a clean, creamy sweet sandalwood. It informs the room, and does linger pleasantly for some hours afterwards.  

I like this incense. I like the light floral sweetness and playfulness. But I'm not liking it as much as I did originally. Now, is that because it has faded over time? Quite likely. Is it because since 2018 I have encountered a lot more incense, some of which has been more interesting and exciting than this? Quite possible. Is it that my tastes have changed? Again, this is plausible.  Indeed, it is probably a mix of reasons. Marking this now, as I have it front of me, I'm giving it a mid to high 30s score (Decent incense) rather than the Heavenly I originally scored it. I'll then do an average of all the scores for both the pre-2017 and the modern incense, given that they all have been made by the same person in the same factory and presumably to the same recipe. The only identifiable difference being age, which - in my experience - deepens and enriches the fragrance, but also makes it less strong or heady. 


Date: Jan 2024   Score:  36 

Overall score (average of the four reviews): 41 

Third review

I now have a freshly purchased new logo Reiki to compare with the pre-2017 Reiki. The packaging is slightly different - there's the logos, but also the inner packaging is markedly different (transparent on the pre-2017, white on the modern), and the text on the white label is slightly larger, with the addition of a "Green Product" stamp, as well as the Reiki name being even more embossed (barely embossed on the pre-2017, visibly embossed on the modern). 

 

Pre-2017 top, modern (2023) bottom

The sticks appear the same. The scent on the stick is slightly different - though this is likely to be more about aging and maturing than any recipe change. The pre-2017 (vintage) is sweet and mellow with vanilla and parma violets being prominent; the modern is sharper and more lively with lavender prominent, and more evidence of oil/perfume being used (a prickly volatility in the nose). I much prefer the more rounded, mellow, complex, and intoxicating scent of the pre-2017. I like them both - but I absolutely love the pre-2017.  

Hmmm. The burn is rather disappointing - the stick burns fairly quickly and quite hot, and the scent is fairly modest. The modern stick burns almost twice as fast as the vintage stick - though that might be because the vintage stick is fatter. I have selected a fatter modern stick and set that on the go to see how it compares. Hmm - still faster. The scent is pleasant, but not divine like the vintage. Overall this has an attractive floral scent with some pleasant sweetness - the colour of the floral scent is purple, so in keeping with lavender and parma violets. Yes - it's a decent, mild, everyday masala incense. Not World Class, but quite decent. 

  

Vintage at the back, two modern
in the front

There is a part of me that is putting the difference down to maturity. But then I look back at my original review and note that I was excited back then when the vintage sticks were still fresh, so I think that the formulation has changed. The vintage is more interesting and more woody. The modern is simply pleasant, though also quite light and more floral. I'm scoring the modern as low to mid 30s - probably 33, while the vintage still retains enough character for me to hold it at 47. And that has prompted me to consider having a Vintage list. Incense that is either no longer made, or which appears to have changed character over the years. And the pre-2017 Reiki is the first incense I'll place in that Vintage list. So I'll list this post twice - once for the modern Satya (BNG) Reiki (which will go in the Decent list), and once for the Satya (BNG - pre-2017) Reiki (which will go in the Vintage list) 

Date: Feb 2023    Score:  33

Second review

This incense has been in my Top Drawer (now World Class) listing since 2018. I am reburning all incenses in my World Class listing which have not been burned in more than a year. My first thought is that this is not just an old review, but is also an old incense, and I should get a recently made one to see if it is still the same. Thankfully, there are two sticks left, so I'm burning one now, and keeping the last one to do a comparison with the fresh pack. My second thought is that as I've been burning a lot of Japanese incense in the past few days, how pleasant it is to get back to some decent Indian masala incense. 

This is a good incense. Warm, woody, sweet - quite delicious. And, unlike with the Japanese incense, there's no work to do - the scent comes to you, enfolds you, and fills you up with sensual warmth and comfort. I am enjoying it. But is it genuinely world class? Well - there's lots going on.  There's not just the warm wood, there's other playful scents weaving in and out. Talcum powder, jasmine, honeysuckle, jasmine. It's hinting at Turkish delight, but not quite getting there. It teases a bit. Vanilla, creamy sweet sandalwood, burnt orange - a sort of caramelised orange.  We've all had a go at it, and find it dreamy and playful, and hard to pin down the scents which remind us of pleasant things and pleasant moments, but don't quite step out from behind the veil to reveal themselves. Oooh - it could be World Class. I'm now getting some masculine notes - some old fashioned cologne and faint tobacco and tweed jackets. Phew, if it's not quite World Class, then it's damned close. I'm inclined to put this at a hesitant borderline World Class, and will wait until I burn a more recent example before moving it out of Purgatory. 

Date: Feb 2023   Score: 47 

First review

Oh gosh this is good. There is so much going on here, it is fascinating. As soon as you open the box, the aromas rush out excitedly - fresh, woody, fruity, sensual, perfumed. The stick is lush with intoxicating scents criss-crossing and weaving their playful sexy spells.  There is jammy fruit and exotic fresh tobacco, spicy moments of baby powder -  the combinations are endless, and each person will find their own. And what is truly joyful is when the incense is lit, the game continues. I love it when the burning incense lives up to - or exceeds - the promise of the stick. And this one does. Stunningly gorgeous.

[Added 2023:] I wandered off a bit here into general Satya comments, and I think most of this is covered in my Satya (Shrinivas Sugandhalaya) post.

 My two favourite incense companies are Goloka and Satya. They are the major masala producers in India, exporting heavily to the West. There are no incense companies to compare to them.  Other major Indian producers such as Hem, Moksh, and Tulasi, focus on perfumed incense, and other well known masala companies such as Happy Hari, The Mother's, Gokula, or Fiore D'Oriente are distributors rather than producers, and don't have the market penetration of the big players. In 2014, the two brothers who owned the Satya company split it up. The brother who had the marketing connections in the West but not the production facilities, Nagraj Setty, was selling poor quality products under the Satya name to the same Western distributors who had made the Satya name famous. During this period the reputation of the company suffered, as Nagraj Setty based in Mumbai was using modern synthetic perfume methods rather than the traditional masala recipes of the original Satya production centre in Bangalore.  After a court case, the Bangalore brother got an agreement that all Satya products would clearly show where they are made, so customers would know if the Satya they are buying is made in Bangalore by the original Satya production team led by Balkrishna Setty, or the new production made in Mumbai by Nagraj Setty. This Reiki I am burning was made in Bangalore between 2014 and 2017 as it uses  Balkrishna Setty's Shrinivas Sugandhalaya (BNG) LLP name, which was introduced in 2014, but still uses the original Satya logo which was replaced in late 2017 / early 2018.

The Reiki name relates to the Japanese reiki healing system, which is a form of faith healing or alternative therapy. The name is also used by Goloka. Anyway. Prior to reviewing this Reika, I burned a Goloka incense - Goloka Divine - and enjoyed it, as I always enjoy Goloka. But when I lit up this Satya Reiki I was blown away.  I love the Goloka company - I love that they run the company as a non-profit company, using the money to help women and children in India, and that they are environmentally friendly, using roasted coconut shells instead of charcoal, for example. And I really want to like Goloka products more than the argumentative, profit-driven, Satya brothers. But when Satya are able to produce an incense as fascinating as this one, I am just blown away.  Awesome. This is going straight into my Top Ten.

Date: July, 2018    Score:   48

***

Satya (Shrinivas Sugandhalaya)