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Saturday 2 October 2021

Tulasi Jasmine Masala Incense



A masala style incense. A generous amount of soft crumbly charcoal paste hand rolled onto machine cut plain bamboo splints and then coated in tree bark powder. There is a volatile alcohol aroma on the stick, quite sharp, which is the jasmine scent. On the burn the scent is basic woody with whiffs of garden fire and some idea of jasmine in among the general smoke. It's not offensive, but there's little here for me to like. A little harsh. This is now going into the outhouse. 


Date: April 2023    Score: 19  




There's an intense fragrant oil on the stick which gives the jasmine scent, though it's not a natural scent, it's just like the scent you'd get from a jasmine perfumed stick. The scent when burning is fairly modest - there's the rather typical perfumed jasmine incense scent dominating the top notes, mildly sharp, with soapy notes of silky cotton and breezy lemony jasmine, then there are wafts of  "masala" incense - the rootsy, woody, hippy, indefinable suggestion of masala, and sliding down to base notes of sawdust and charcoal. 

All in all this is not a great incense. It's not offensive, and should please those who like the soapy jasmine aroma typical of cheap everyday perfumed incense - it's bright and floral and perks up a room.  But it's not that satisfying for those who are expecting something more solidly masala, and there is something overall lacking about it that it sort of slides down into a rather dull ordinariness. Not an incense to throw away, or consign to the toilet, but damn close. 

Date: Oct 2021    Score: 21

***

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2 comments:

  1. Tbh, this incense smells like every cheap, jasmine or mogra scented wet dhoops. The usual dirty note of most jasmine incense outshines in this incense. Apart from BIC’s Panchavati Gajra, Balaji Jasmine and Sree vani Indian heritage jasmine, I did not find any masala jasmine incenses enjoyable. I have ordered one jasmine masala incense, Cycle Flute Masala Jasmine and I’ll be trying that to see if it’s good or not.

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    Replies
    1. I think the best Jasmine incense are those which don't actually smell of jasmine. ;-) I don't think burning jasmine oil (or synthetics) is a favourable way of producing an attractive scent. But then I'm not sure that I'm that enthusiastic about jasmine scent anyway, so am probably not the best person to decide.
      I'm probably, to be honest, not that keen on single scent floral incense. I like when an incense house uses their judgement (or just luck) and makes a blend - putting two or three or more scents together which create something new and unique. The most successful incenses tend to be blends rather than single scents. And the house which creates a successful blend (Satya with Nag Champa for example), keep the blend to themselves, while other incense houses attempt to copy - and sometimes may do a better version than the original.

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