Sampler pack of "natural" incense made in Auroville for Meadows, a UK based company. These are charcoal mini sticks, dipped in fragrances, so not what are normally understood as natural, which in India usually mean a masala incense. I assume the company call these natural, partly for the marketing value (perfume-dipped charcoal incense has an unfortunately low reputation), and partly - perhaps - to differentiate the Auroville incenses which use natural or essential oils from the incenses which use perfumes made in a lab. These sampler packs can be bought for around £4 from Meadows own website, or other websites such as BuyWholeFoods.
I got my pack last year, and it appears that some of the oils have leaked out, as the packs were awkward to remove from the packaging. As some of the fragrant oils may be missing from the sticks themselves that will possibly reflect in the score (could be higher or lower). It a common occurrence with perfumed incense that the scents reduce over time. Masala and other incenses which are based on solid ingredients tend not to have the fragrances evaporate over time.
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| Lavender |
I started with the lavender, and because of my concern that some of the oils might have evaporated, I burned two sticks together. The scent was certainly strong enough, and I'll be quite happy to burn just one at a time for the rest. Though this is a lavender fragranced incense, the predominant aroma is quite woody like cedar, with some touches of cinnamon. As the sticks are quite small and thin, they burned quickly, so it was difficult to pin down anything more sophisticated than that. The scent is quite pleasant, but nothing special. I'd be quite happy to burn these when I want a woody, sombre fragrance, but, to be fair, for that I would turn to something like Sifcon's excellent value Cinnamon Cedarwood.
Score: 26
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| Patchouli |
I like patchouli, but this one also smells of cedarwood. I checked the pack, and there is a little booklet (folded piece of paper) which gives a description of each of the scents, and both this and the Lavender, have also got cedarwood in the mix. This Patchouli also has vetiver, which is a fragrant grass related to lemongrass. There is something a bit lemony about this, and it's not quite as full on cedarwood as the Lavender, but there's not much in the way of patchouli (for me). It's possible that the more subtle scents have evaporated, leaving only the deeper, more woody scents. Though the pack was seal wrapped, some of the oil has possibly soaked into the paper and cardboard packaging. Anyway, a modestly pleasant scent which I like just a tad more than the Lavender.
Score: 27
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| Relax |
Woody and herbal. Softest one so far, Relax is reasonably pleasant. My quibble is that it is perhaps too soft, and doesn't make itself felt. And that the scent is just a little too similar to the others in the Meadows range. It's all starting to be a little samey. This is the weakest so far. it's almost not here.
Score: 24
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| Sage-clearing |
As with the others there is a woody, spicy quality here which I associate with cedarwood, though there is no mention of cedarwood in the notes, which instead refer to sage, artemisia, pine, and frankincense. There is a herbal sage quality, though a light faint. It's OK, but rather mild, and quickly gone.
Score: 25
"Top notes of heady Ylang Ylang oil, middle notes of Orange progressing through to a base of earthy Veltiver and sweet Benzoin." Hmm, sounds good - I wish I was experiencing that incense, instead I have this fairly mild spicy wood smelling charcoal incense which is so small it hardly makes any presence at all, let alone develop those intriguing fragrances. OK, I have worked at it a bit, wafting the scent under my nose, and I could be convinced there is some orange and some parma violets in there. It is promising. But it's not a wow by any means.
Score: 26
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| Revitalise |
As with the Sensual, there are claims what for sounds like a wonderful fragrance combination: "top notes of Lime, May Chang, Orange, Lemongrass, mid-transitional notes of Coriander and Geranium leading to a base of lemon-scented Eucalyptus". Well, that does sound wonderful, except that conventionally both lemon and eucalyptus are top notes rather than base notes, so I am starting to wonder what is going on here. This smells pretty much like the others - a spicy woody scent reminiscent of cedarwood. It is possible that some cedarwood oil was spilled onto this sample packet before it was sealed, or that some cedarwood oil in one one of the fragrances was applied too heavily and has leaked out across the range. That might account for why there is a distinct cedarwood aroma in all of the sticks I have tried so far. Anyway, this is a modest spicy wood scent. OK.
Score: 25
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| Spice |
Regardless of the name, or what the notes say, all these Meadows scent smell approximately the same. The scent is made by Meadows themselves in Kent, and then shipped out to Auroville in South India where the locally made charcoal blanks are dipped into the scent, packaged and sent back to Kent. Not sure why the Meadows people don't trust the Indian incense experts to make the scents in India, and so go to the additional expense and global damage of transporting their home made scent to India. A bit like sending coals to Newcastle. It would be OK, if the scents were somehow special, but these are not. I'm kinda getting pissed off now. These little bits of "natural" incense have travelled at least twice, and probably three times (collecting the ingredients which are not indigenous to Kent, but are to India) 7,000 nautical miles. Totally unnecessary - and all the bumf about "packed into boxes made from recycled card and newspaper" has to be balanced by the fact that most incense made in India from local ingredients is less damaging than these sticks. And that they use charcoal which damages the atmosphere and is a health risk, yet keep claiming they are "natural" and "authentic", is not endearing me to them.
I reviewed this incense last year: (Auroville) Meadows Spice. It was in a pack of its own. My comment at the time was: " There is a dry spice scent inclined toward woody, possibly cedar." So, any notion that the sticks have been somehow contaminated with cedarwood oil is now dispensed. I suspect the perfume created for these sticks is not sophisticated enough to do what Meadows intend, so they all end up smelling pretty much of cedwarwood.
Score: 22
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| Meditate |
Kind of ghostly cedarwood. I'm not impressed by these sticks. And that the perfume has been made in Kent rather than made in India is somewhat stupid.
Score: 22
Conclusion:
The sticks pretty much revolve around a fairly basic cedarwood scent. To be fair, the scent is not bad. But the sticks are very small, and there is little impact from the incense. Making the perfume in Kent rather than utilising the local knowledge and experience of incense makers in India is somewhat insulting and definitely unnecessarily harmful to the environment, and so to people in the future. These are not interesting incenses, are not good value for money, are not authentic, and are harmful to the environment. I'm not impressed. My suggestion is simply to avoid Meadows, and to buy authentic incense made in India.
Date: Aug 2021 Overall Score: 24
