Jaycia Passion Spicy Wood

 

Second review - scroll down for earlier

The Jaycia Passion range of perfumed charcoal incense is fairly utilitarian - it has no pretentions to be anything other than a basic set of  air fresheners. And, to be fair, it reaches that basic aim. Not very well, but not that badly either. I like this Spicy Wood. The wood in the name is not clear, as there is just a general generic woody scent - it's not sweet enough for agarwood, nor warm enough for cedarwood, or creamy enough for Indian sandalwood - the nearest equivalent would be Australian sandalwood. It's rootsy, woody, and a little bit spicy. I like woody incense so I am inclined towards this. A pleasant, harmless, synthetic scent that works well. I might keep it in the house rather than put it out for the cats. 

Date:  Oct 2023   Score: 29

First review

Fairly ordinary room freshener charcoal perfumed-dipped incense. I bought a bundle of these cheaply wholesale as an add-on to a more serious wholesale incense purchase. Then wasn't sure what to do with them. They're not bad, but they're nothing special either. Just an everyday room freshener. This one is Spicy Wood, and it's got those characteristics. So it works well enough for what it is.  It's long burning, though fairly light, and is consistent through the burn.  

Manufacturer unknown. Packaged and distributed by Jaycia,  a wholesaler in Birmingham. 

Scent is mildly spicy with some gentle woody notes. It inclines toward sweet in a restrained way, with notes of vanilla and coconut. The longer this burns the more I like it, and it gently informs and warms the room in an attractive way. Would work as a modest everyday welcomer for guests, particularly in winter. Would work well as a general Christmas scent. 

Yeah. Not bad.  

Can be bought on eBay. 


Date: Dec 2019    Score: 28 

Passion by Jaycia

Wild Berry Shorties Fairy Dust

 

Regular, or irregular, readers of this blog will know that I don't think much of "America's most popular incense" - Wild Berry. In my experience Wild Berry were all about the marketing rather than the quality of the product. They appear to aim their product at those with little experience of incense. Grabbing the customer's attention by having the perfume-dipped incense sticks open in jars in stores so the customer would be attracted to the scent. But perfume-dipped incense evaporates when left in the open, so the customers were buying an illusion. All perfume-dipped incense smells great when left open, but the scent doesn't last long that way, and when burned, the high notes have already left the stick due to evaporation so what is left will be some middle notes and the heavier bottom notes which in the case of Wild Berry tend to be the tar coming from the sawdust and charcoal and binding agents which hold the perfume and allow the stick to burn. Not good. 

But over the internet the sellers don't need to leave the sticks exposed in order to attract customers, and so can take better care of the product by keeping the sticks in plastic zip-locked pouches, such as The Scenter, which is where I got these little shorties from a little while back. (Yes, still working through my backlog!)

The scents I experienced were not my thing either. I like modern perfumed incense, as it offers a greater range and more fun than traditional natural incense. Different moods and different moments call for different types of incense, and sometimes what is needed is something a bit funky, something a bit cheeky, something a bit naughty, something which invokes the right atmosphere.  Stamford's Mythical Black Incense series is great fun, and the foil wrapped incenses have delightful scents. Along the same lines as Wild Berry in terms of the modern perfumes, but better packaged and overall better quality, are Juicy Jay's Thai Incense - if you like Wild Berry, it might be worth giving Juicy Jay's a try. 

Anyway, these Wild Berry Shorties Fairy Dust sticks are cute - they are a little longer than a finger and can sit in the palm of your hand. There's fairy dust glitter sprinkled on the base of the stick. The sticks are machine made from a paste that appears to have been pre-impregnated with the perfume as the perfume has remained on the stick, and has not evaporated. 

The scent is delicate and not unpleasant. It is quite light, and that may be due to the age, but has attractive mid range floral notes. A little smoky at the base, but not intrusive. Few top notes - and that is likely due to age. On the whole I quite like this. A fairly modern and low key scent. 

Date: Dec 2020   Score: 23

***

Wild Berry

Gokula Incense Agarwood & Musk

 

I've been a little harsh on this incense over the years. It's a standard masala incense: 6 inches of hand-rolled masala paste on an 8 inch bamboo splint. The paste, around four years old, is rock hard, and when fresh was covered with a thin layer of brown melnoorva with a light dusting of gold sprinkles (a subtle glitter now and again). Scent on the stick is fresh and agreeable, though a little volatile - it's a green scent, slightly damp and earthy, with aspect of Earl Grey tea. The scent on the burn is attractive and warm and woody; and, though a little dryer and peppery than I like, is a decent companion in the house.   

Date: Feb 2024    Score: 32 

Second review

Hah! For the past few days I've been burning some masala incenses which appear to be perfume dipped. To get a contrast I burned a Moksh perfumed incense, and then to get away from all that I thought I'd burn a proper masala and quickly grabbed this Gokula as I know that Gokula are reliably proper masala, only to be somewhat stunned that what I was experiencing appeared to be perfumed dipped, so I started doubting my sense of smell. Glad to check my initial review to note that I felt it was perfume dipped incense.  I have no patience with this at the moment. I don't think I am properly in the mood for a perfume dipped incense, this doesn't smell any better than the Moksh I just had (to be fair, Moksh are a decent perfume dipped company), and while, yes, I can detect the ghosts of agarwood, the main thread here is sharp solvent. Sigh. Not what I wanted at all. I'll be classing this as a perfumed masala. 

Date: Jan 2022   Score: 26 

First review

Neatly made incense stick from one of my favourite suppliers, Gokula Incense, based in Worcestershire. There is a volatile quality to the scent on the stick which indicates that the bulk of fragrance is carried by a perfume or essential oil. What's the difference between a perfume-dipped incense and an essential-oil dipped incense? Well, while perfumes can and sometimes are made from essential oils, what is normally referred to as perfume in the essence trade is a synthetic scent. That is, a scent created mostly out of chemicals than out of natural ingredients. Can you tell the difference when burning? Sometimes, yes. Sometimes, no. Poorly made incense will smell bad. Quality incense will smell good. And you can get poor quality incense made from rough essential oil, and good quality incense made from refined perfume. 

This is a decent enough incense which doesn't smell great on the stick (too much like solvent) but has an OK scent when burned which approximates but doesn't exactly match the scent of agarwood. There isn't much of the musk. It comes over more as a perfume-dipped incense than a natural incense, so that's how I will classify it. 

It's OK, top end of decent, everyday incense. It's warm, slightly seductive, and with that exotic Persian feel that comes from oil soaked agarwood or bakhoor. Not one I'd buy again, but one I'm enjoying burning, and I will enjoy burning the rest of the pack. 

Date: Dec 2020 Score: 29

***

Gokula-incense

Monastery Mount Athos Frankincense Holy Great Monastery Vatopedi Aroma Amber

 

Mount Athos is a Greek peninsular-island named after the mountain at its far end. It is a religious area with 20 monasteries, and, like the Vatican, it has  autonomy to run things its own way, which means only men over the age of 18 are allowed to visit. Incense sold from the area is popular for religious services, particularly among Catholics, and it has a reputation for the quality of its frankincense.  Frankincense is a resin from the Boswellia tree which grows in parts of Africa and India. The Boswellia tree doesn't grow in the Mount Athos region, but the monks there have developed their own recipes for grading and blending the resins they buy in. 

This incense resin comes from the Monastery Mount Athos website, monastiriaka.gr, which sells products from several of the monasteries. This resin comes from the Vatopedi monastery, which is officially ranked as the second most important in Mount Athos. It is pure white, and appears to be a fine white powder which has been rolled into a firm dry tube, like a dhoop stick, and then sliced into manageable chunks. It is very powdery, like chalk, and the white powder gets everywhere! The powder smells gorgeous - very frankincense! Sweet soft citric with a mild base of musk. 

My learning about frankincense indicates that the colour can be an indicator of quality, or at least of the nature of the scent. The most highly regarded frankincense resin is white, which has a light lemony scent, then comes gradually darker tones though amber until the least regarded brown which has the strongest or roughest scent - the base, musky tones which tend to be more commonly associated with frankincense, though lacking in the lightness, freshness and citric quality of the white resin. 

My experiences with electric incense burners (I have a third burner now) reveal to me that the hotter the burner, the quicker the resin burns. When a resin starts to heat up it lets out the top notes, the citric notes, first, then as it gets hotter the middle, flowery, notes come though, and finally the heavier, musky notes. At the end the tough tar in the resin has collected and that now burns, giving off some smoke and at this point the resin scent can become unpleasant. When burned quickly at high heat, as on a charcoal disc, all these scents happen very quickly, almost at the same time (depending on the size, hardness, and quality of the resin); when burned on a low heat the scents emerge in order. For those who like the light, citric notes, the first stages of the burn will be the most attractive. For those who like slightly more complex notes, a little bit flowery, the next stage will be the most attractive. Then it goes on to woody scent in the next stage. And for those who like particularly heavy, dense, musky scents, the final stage before the resin starts to char and smoke will be favourite. 

On my new electric burner I have a grill which keeps the resin raised above the hot plate. This slows down the burning a little, and helps prevent scorching. I like it. 

Though the resin appears to be white, it is actually just a coating of white powder. As the incense burns the resin itself becomes apparent as the white powder burns off, and the resin inside starts to melt and reveal itself as a mostly pale amber colour which gets darker as it heats up. 

This frankincense is sold as "Aroma Amber". So is the resin amber or frankincense? What is the white powder? Is the white powder the frankincense, and the resin amber? Or is it the other way round? 

As the incense burns the first citric notes emerge, first it is a light lemon that gradually becomes deeper, turning into orange, and then more woody and flowery with honey, caramel, and apple coming forward. AS the resin melts and turns dark, so the darker base notes come through. Suggestions of musk and biscuit and candy dough. As it begins to scorch I turn off the heat, as I don't like it when the resin  gets smoky. The room is filled with a warm, sweet scent more aligned with amber than frankincense, and it lingers all day. 

This is a top quality incense. 

Date: Dec  2020   Score:  38 

***

Frankincense

SifCon Pixies Dance

Second review - scroll down for earlier

Found this in one of my incense boxes. It's the same packet I reviewed in 2020, nearly four years ago. In my experience the scents on the cheaper perfumed charcoal sticks tend to evaporate fairly quickly - though much depends on the packaging and storage. I keep most of my incense in boxes away from light and heat, which helps. These are machine extruded sticks; my observation on these is that they tend to last longer than hand-rolled sticks. Not sure why - possibly due to the charcoal paste being firmer. There is a pleasant fragrance on the stick - floral, sweet, suggestions of chocolate, some bubble gum, vanilla, and baby talc. Nice.  

The scent on the burn is soft, and takes a while to make an impression. There is a mild burnt note, though on the whole the fragrance is similar to that on the stick - a little woodier and heavier, but still pleasantly light, sweet, and floral with vanilla or tonka bean notes. 


Date: Nov 2024    Score: 24 

First review

An attractive everyday perfume-dipped incense. The scent on the stick is fairly acidic with alcohol fumes and toilet cleaner. More attractive when burned, though it never lifts out of the everyday. There is a mild chalky sweetness with hints of candy sugar and vanilla. It's OK, but it's not rocking my world. 

Date: Dec 2020   Score: 24

***

Sifcon International

(Auroville) Meadows Spice

 

Meadows are a UK aromatherapy company founded 30 years ago in Kent, who commission the Indian fair trade community in Auroville to perfume dip incense sticks with natural perfumes Meadows make in the UK.  Their incense is available from their own online shop, or at other places such as Tibetan Dawn. 

This is a machine made perfume dipped (or perfumed) incense using fine charcoal. The sticks are "mini" - just under 9cm or 3 1/2 inches, and burn modestly with barely any smoke or aroma. There is a dry spice scent inclined toward woody, possibly cedar. There's a suggestion of nutmeg, and a hint of clove (though clove is not an ingredient), but very soft. Possibly a vague waft of fruit. 

It's an OK perfumed incense. It's quite modest. Quite dry. Quite soft. Gently spiced with an inclination toward wood. Fairly sombre. It didn't lift my world, but it didn't offend either. It's OK. 

Date: Dec 2020   Score: 28 

***

Fair Trade Om Frankincense

 

There's little awareness of frankincense here. This is a harsh, hard, mineral scent. Not much in the way of aroma, more smoke and heat. A little hot halmaddi comes through, quite prickly. 

I don't think Fair Trade are generous with their ingredients, nor with their imagination. This comes across as a bare minimum machine made halmaddi masala, almost certainly aimed at the Western rather than the local market. 

I can't see myself buying any more Fair Trade, nor burning this one very often. I think this is going to be consigned to the outhouse to keep away the flies. It's not bad, it's just not very attractive or interesting, and it contains halmaddi which prickles my eyes and throat. 

Date: Dec 2020    Score: 21 

***

Fair Trade Incense Works

Frankincense

Fair Trade Om Exotic

 

Machine made masala incense of limited appeal. Attractive enough but lacks weight. There is a gentle and pleasant scent on the stick, quite sweet with musk and sandalwood supporting soft orange tinged citric tones. A mid range of wet, slightly sour, leather adds interest. But it's the candy sweetness with suggestions of white chocolate that mostly holds the interest. Sadly the promise of the stick is not delivered when burned. The scent is very modest, and what mainly comes through is the base elements, such as the halmaddi and the sandalwood. I am sensitive to halmaddi, so what I mostly get from burning this incense is a headache, and little in the way of interesting or attractive scent to compensate. There's heat, smoke, some rubber, and a few other things to add to the halmaddi and sandalwood. Based on my previous experience with the Fair Trade Incense Works, they are well meaning, but fairly limited. 

Date: Dec 2020    Score: 27 

***

Fair Trade Incense Works

Fair Trade Incense Works / Nitiraj / Om / Bombay

 

Fair Trade Incense Works  are based in Mumbai and mostly make incense for others to brand as their own, though they did have some brands of their own which they distributed themselves, Om Incense, Nitiraj Incense and Natural Incense. Of those, only Om and Nitiraj appear to still be available under individual distribution deals. In the UK,   Bombay Incense (dead link) - a British based company who do (did?) most of their business in America, used to distribute Nitiraj and Om in the UK and America, though, by 2018, Ian Snow had taken over the UK distribution. However, as of 2021, Ian Snow no longer sell Nitiraj or Om. 

Fair Trade make masala incense using halmaddi, but the ingredients tend to be thin, poor quality. They tend to use machines. This is a reliable and economical method of making incense sticks. 

I tend to quite like Fair Trade products, but never get excited by them. They are always decent scents, and the incense is well made, professional, and consistent. But there is not much excitement, creativity, or heart about them. This is professionally made incense, made with a clear eye on the profit line. Job done. There is nothing wrong with them, except, like HEM and SAC Sandesh, they lack soul. Companies like this show that it doesn't matter if the incense is masala or perfumed, what matters is the attitude and spirit of the makers.

Reviews

Fair Trade Nitiraj Original

Score: 35

Nitiraj Red Nag Champa

Score: 33

Fair Trade Om Amber 
Score: 30

 

Fair Trade Om Dragons Blood

Score: 28

Fair Trade Om Exotic 
Score: 27

 

 

Fair Trade Om Temple 

Score: 25

 

Fair Trade Nitiraj Premium Frankincense 

Score: 23

Fair Trade Nitiraj Green Champa 
Score: 21

 

Fair Trade Om Frankincense 
Score: 21

 

Fair Trade Nitraj Premium Om Natural 
Score: 20 

Incense reviewed: 10 

Highest: 35 

Lowest: 20 

Average: 25  (Everyday Incense)

***

The Best Incense Makers

Cenacle Qualitätsweihrauch Weihrauch fein (Quality Incense Frankincense)

 

A gentle and fine lemony Frankincense resin from Cenacle - a British based online Catholic book and gift store who sell Christian-associated incense such as Prinknash Abbey resins and  Sacred Heart by Aromatika, plus their own range.  

The resin is in small fine pieces which burn easily, and can be easily blended with other resins to form your own unique scents. There is a slight inclination toward soapy, but on the whole this is an appealing resin which burns well if modestly. 

Date: Dec 2020   Score:   33

***

Frankincense

Al-Afdal Perfumes Swiss Arabian Oud Muattar Sahra

A bakhoor incense bought from Al-Afdal Perfumes on eBay. The image used was of a pack of Swiss Arabian incense called Oud Mauttar Sahra. "Oud Mauttar" mean "old fragrance" and appears to either be another word for bakhoor or another word for agarwood, the fragrant wood which is soaked in perfume to make bakhoor (or bukhoor). Oud by itself is another name for agarwood. What I am thinking here is that this agarwood has been soaked in a Swiss Arabian perfume called "Sahra" which means "bright". 

The eBay advert. I didn't get the box,
I got a plastic bag. 

It is, like the other bakhoor I have tried, very sweet and intensely perfumed. This is a vibrant experience. Quite heady. Quite delicious. Quite intoxicating, romantic, and erotic. This is a very seductive scent, and certainly one to burn to infuse the house before a lover (or potential lover) arrives. While being seductive, it is also alive with energy which it easily transmits. This is potent stuff! 

Date: Dec 2020   Score: 47 

The best agarwood incense

Cenacle Mount Athos Incense Frankincense

 

Cenacle are a British based online Catholic book and gift store who sell Christian-associated incense such as Prinknash Abbey resins and  Sacred Heart by Aromatika, plus their own range.  

Mount Athos is a Greek peninsular-island named after the mountain at its far end. It is a religious area with 20 monasteries, and, like the Vatican, it has  autonomy to run things its own way, which means only men over the age of 18 are allowed to visit. Incense made in the area is popular among Catholics.  

Frankincense is tree resin from the Boswellia family. It grows in parts of Africa and India. Its qualities as an incense have been known for over 6,000 years, and it gained its Western name of Frankincense from the French for "quality incense". There are many grades of resin, and some specialist sellers, such as House of Frankincense, will spend a lot of time in grading the resins they receive, and putting a premium price on the higher grades. 

This resin is Cenacle's own branded Mount Athos incense.  The Boswellia tree doesn't grow in the Mount Athos region, but the monks there have developed their own recipes for grading and blending the resins they buy in. I'm not sure what grade this Frankincense is, but it doesn't look top quality - the colour is a dirty yellow with some tending toward orange, many with dark flecks, and some very dark, almost red, and it doesn't burn top quality. The resin before burning has a gentle lemon aroma, slightly soapy, slightly powdery, with vague flowery elements - white blossoms, perhaps gardenia, and a hint of musk. It's mild and pleasant. When burning, however, it tends to scorch and get smoky and become quite acrid. I put some foil on my burner to slow down the burning and that stopped the scorching, but there was little in the way of aroma, certainly nothing like Frankincense. I then got a piece and set fire to it. It burned vigorously and for a brief moment there was mild but pleasant Frankincense aroma, then the smoke turned black and there was just a hint of burning petrol and turpentine in the aroma. So if it is burned slowly, normally or fast, this resin does not give out quality Frankincense aromas. It is too mild, and appears to contain too many impurities. I am disappointed with this. 

Date: Dec 2020   Score:  12  

***

Frankincense

Underworld Apothecary Djinn Incense

 

I love this! I bought this from Misha of Underworld Apothecary over three years ago after her Facebook incense page was tagged on my Facebook incense page. She sent me this and some Bon Po Astral Incense as a sample. As is often the case - I either order or get sent stuff as samples, and then more stuff arrives and I get distracted, so it can take ages; sometimes - as in this case - years before I get around to burning it. I dug this up today after having to clear out stuff under my desk for a visit from an internet engineer. But the wait was worthwhile because this is cool stuff. It's a handmade incense consisting of a selection of loose dried ingredients which need to be burned on charcoal or a burner. I don't know the ingredients - they may have been mentioned at the time, but that's a long time ago! There's resin - amber I think, and various dried herbs and spices. It's a wonderful combination. I bought this incense at a time when I was exploring craft made granular incenses. I was (and still am) fascinated that there are so many different ways of burning incense, and particularly interested in this area of burning incense as part of witchcraft and links with the past. Of the craft made granular incenses I have tried this Djinn is by far the best. Proper job incense. As it was three years ago, and these incenses are craft made, I suspect the Djinn will no longer be available, but the craftwomanship that went into blending the incense will still be there, so it would be well worth checking out Misha's Facebook page to see what she's currently blending.

Date: Dec 2020   Score:  38 

***

Spiritual/Ritual Incense