Returning to Sunflora. I last burned this when doing A little Scent Comparison. We liked it then, scoring it around 35, noting that it was flowery and like sweet dark orange chocolate. The stick is very generous - a hand rolled crumbly charcoal paste onto a machine cut bamboo splint, then liberally coated with a melnoorva or wood based finishing powder. The sticks tend to be fatter in the middle than the ends. The scent on the stick is like orange water - a pleasing essential oil, quite light and joyful, with some mild sandalwood underneath.
The burn is not aggressive - it is quite light and pleasing with floral and mildly fruity notes rather than woods or spices. The burn is OK, albeit occasionally ragged and untidy, releasing a consistently pleasant aroma which gently fills the room - never overpowering, but certainly making an impression. The longer it burns the more pleasing it becomes, so it never over stays its welcome, indeed, it becomes more intimate and rewarding.
I like it. Certainly more than I did during the scent comparison, when my appreciation sort of dipped - perhaps because I wasn't giving it the space and time it needs to create its own mood, and I think I like it a tad more than I did during the first review.
[Note: Oct 2023 - I've not seen these available for over a year, the website is down, and there's no response to emails, so I'm moving this company to Vintage]
The second of the luxury brand Indian incense sent to me by Umraz Ahmed of ELIF (EL Incenses and Fragrances). The company is very good at marketing - the website is very professional with good English, and the boxes are solid and well designed. The company are aiming for and could do well at the top end of the market, particularly in the West among consumers of "connoisseur" incense where people feel reassured by well designed packaging and a price tag to match their aspirations. These are big boxes, 50g with around 20 - 25 sticks in each. The sticks are, as is usual with incenses termed "flora", quite fat and heavy, which is why there are fewer sticks than would normally be the case in a 50g box. The domestic price is 200 Rupees, around £2 (or $2.75). Given transport costs, tax, and normal mark up (where a 12 Rupee box is sold for around £2 in the UK), this could end up at around £25 - £30 in the UK. That would make it around the same price (or perhaps a tad more) than Temple of Incense and Pure Connoisseur, which is no doubt the market ELIF are aiming for.
We liked this in our house. Liked it a lot. We compared it with Satya Karma, the classic Sai Flora, ELIF's own Capture, a world class incense from Koya - Nirvana, and the brilliant Bengali Jungle, sold by Absolute Bliss in America, and made by an undisclosed factory in India. It felt comfortable in the presence of those incenses, and was liked more than the Satya, and more than the Sai Flora. We felt it to be lighter, more flowery, more edible and sweet than Capture, so liked it a little more. It did sometimes burn a little ragged and uneven, and at times perhaps a little slower than it could, which held back some of the intensity normally found in these fat masalas, but that isn't really a bad thing in our book - we tend to like the quality of a scent more than the intensity, and sometimes need to draw back from a strong incense.
There is a fruity lusciousness about Sunflora which is very appealing. It's not a divine scent, or very complex, but it is hugely pleasant and bright and uplifting. It is sweet, flowery, and fruity, with some suggestions of dark orange chocolate. I'd be happy to have a pack in the house - it's not an incense we'd be likely burn on a regular basis, but rather when we wanted something with a little more oomph than normal, but didn't want something too complicated or spiritual; at that time, a bright boost of Sunflora would do the job. I'm not sure on price though. If this were to be pitched at the price of Temple or Pure incense then that would put me off. But then, I'm probably not the target audience. We like it, we enjoyed it, and for £3 to £4 a pack we'd buy it. More than that, then we'd hesitate.
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| Flora, Fluxo, and Supreme |
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| Vintage Incense (Incense not available from this brand for over a year) |
People have different ways of measuring value. For myself, the first thing I look at is my impression of the stick. How much do I like it. Price always takes a back seat but it doesn't mean I will spend any amount for something I like. So focusing on price is also a valid issue and I do take it into account.
ReplyDeleteRegarding ELIF sticks, this is a premium line, IMO. All their sticks are slow burners which means you can probably look forward to enjoying them for twice the amount of time that you burn the vast majority of commercial sticks. All are handrolled, fat dusted sticks that are halmaddi enriched, and vary in their scent from each other. As the box says, they use spices, herbal oils, essential oils, resinoids, patchouli oil, and sandalwood oil.
The Sunflora is a champa-like scent, rich in halmaddi and slow burning. The fragrance is sweet, with florals, spice, and herbs, along with patchouli and sandal oil. The quality is high and this one is the subtlest of this line. The overall feeling is mellow, rich, and luxurious. Start here, then compare the others. A great daily burner. This is a lot of value for the money.
The slow burning I was talking about was slow burning to the point of not producing much smoke or scent, and almost stalling or going out. The Capture burned at the rate one would associate with a masala of that thickness. This Sunflora burned at a variable rate. Perhaps I should amend the review to make that clearer, though the wording "It did sometimes burn a little ragged and uneven, and at times perhaps a little slower than it could" seems clear enough to me. What do you think>
DeleteI don't recall any of the Elif line not producing much smoke or almost going out. The sticks I got were not wet. It's possible they could vary from batch to batch. Because the sticks are fat and hand rolled, I think there could be some variability. Did you also get Gold Dust, the 3rd stick in their premium lineup? and some samples of sticks they are working on?
ReplyDeleteI've had sticks of greater variability in thickness than Sunflora. But it's possible that it's due to the thickness. In my experience, inconsistency of burn is usually down to the flammable ingredients. The way the Sunflora burned and stuttered is something I've sometimes noticed on coconut charcoal. It tends to be more fibrous than wood charcoal. I'll burn another one and see what happens, if it starts to burn slowly or stutter I'll take a photo.
DeleteI've noticed some sticks not being able to burn continuously. I've attributed this to the halmaddi that doesn't have the right ratio of dry/wet ingredients. The Shanthimalai
ReplyDeleteNag Champa comes to mind. I can't keep any of their sticks lit continuously. The Elif sticks seem to have a better ratio, whatever that may be.
After burning Gokula sticks for the better part of a week, I returned to Elif's Sunflora for a change of pace. What I mean by change of pace is what I wrote as my definition of Floras being more horizontal than vertical in their scents. Gokula is oriented towards specific scents in their lineup with the appropriate names attached. You know you are getting sandal or amber or saffron. These are vertical scents to me. Sunflora is all about fullness and ambience. Champa sweet and massive is what floras are without focusing on a specific scent. All halmaddi loaded to produce that luxuriousness. Sunflora is a beautiful burn and I classify it as a standard for Floras. It's fragrance is truly intoxicating as all Floras should be.
ReplyDeleteYou have an individual view of what a flora is or should be. It seems to be a view that is shared by the folks at Elif, so it is no wonder you like their SunFlora so much. It is satisfying when that synergy occurs.
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