Incense In The Wind

Radiating Incense In The Wind - a painting by Hai Linh Le

Tuesday 29 March 2022

Hari Darshan Myrrh Incense Cones

  


A standard everyday perfumed cone from Hari Darshan, part of a box of 12 different fragrances from Amazon for £14. All the cones in  the range are a decent size and burn slowly and consistently. The cones are hand made from a charcoal and wood paste. The scent on the cone is perfumed - volatile, sweet, balsamic, with notes of myrrh. The burn is pleasant and has some of the fragrant qualities on the cone, but is also a little smoky. It does inform the room with the warm, musky, gently sweet fragrant notes of myrrh, though it remains grounded.  It's a sensual, warm, reassuring, calming scent - good to use in the evening. Though a modest everyday cone, it is decent quality - I like it. I'd be happy to buy this again. 

Date: March 2022    Score: 30   

***

Hari Darshan

Myrrh

Monday 28 March 2022

Ranga Rao Cycle Brand Heritage Chandanam Prayer Sticks

 


A Cycle Brand masala incense picked up from my local incense shop. This is a fairly crude masala - there is sandalwood here, but it's not creamy and sweet, it's quite rough and earthy and dark. There is an appeal here, but quite a basic one - like a cuppa with spotted dick at Joe's Caff compared to cream tea at the Ritz.  Both have their charms, but in a different way. 

The stick itself is quite rough. A paste made from fragrant ingredients, binder, charcoal dust, and water has been hand rolled onto a plain bamboo splint, and then rolled in a finishing powder to prevent the wet paste from sticking to other finished sticks.  The paste has dried hard. The appearance is what you might expect if you shoved a stick up the arse of someone with diarrhoea. The stick itself feels rough and bumpy. It's not promising. The scent on the stick is OK. Not great, but OK. It is quite flowery - the scent propelled by a fragrance oil or perfume. 

On the burn the scent is woody and earthy. The tones are dark and heavy, and the flowery fragrance that was on the stick doesn't really show up here. I have found it is often the case that lighter fragrances (such as fruits and florals) can get swamped by heavy ones (such as musks and woods), and that oil or perfume scents are often lovely on the stick, but can burn off quickly, so are sometimes unable to make themselves noticed against the organic material which burn more slowly. 

Overall I'm not impressed with this incense, though it is sturdy and workmanlike, and I have a modest liking for it. It's not a good sandalwood, but the general spicy wood aroma is cleansing and reassuring.   

Date: March 2022   Score: 24 


 



Though there is an appearance of this being a masala incense, it smells and behaves like a perfumed incense. There is a sharp volatility to the scent on the stick, with that petrol/alcohol tang you get with perfumed products such as car air-fresheners, disinfectant, etc. It's not an unpleasant scent - far from it: it has a solid sandalwood scent. But it is not pure. It is not magic. It is not natural.  

  




The burn is acceptable. It is a sandalwood scent. It burns at a decent pace - never getting too hot, too false, too smoky, or too intrusive. It gently informs the room with the scent of sandalwood. But it's not sandalwood. It smells like sandalwood, but lacks the beauty, the sweetness, the sexiness, the calmness, the essence of sandalwood. It is simply a pleasant scent that reminds us of sandalwood - like looking at a photo of a field rather than being in the field. 


Date: Jan 2023    Score:  24

***

Ranga Rao 


Sandalwood



Tuesday 22 March 2022

Balaji Gem Premium Fragrance Sticks

Second review - scroll down for earlier review

Yes, this is a pleasant everyday incense. Machine extruded perfumed incense stick. A modern scent - perfumed, attractive, a decent, refreshing light floral room freshener. Reminds me of the foil-wrapped incense that I also like as an everyday room freshener. Cheap and cheerful. 


Date: Oct 2023   Score:  28



First review
  

One of a bunch of incense grabbed at The Loft Ladder in The Marlands shopping arcade in Southampton, Southern England. A groovy shop which also sells old vinyl records and some cool t-shirts.  This is a wood paste machine-extruded lower priced everyday perfumed incense from Balaji, who also sell dhoop and masala incense. 

It's a reasonably pleasant scent - modest, light, clean, modern. The blurb on the bottom of the box says: Brings Divine Fantasia Fragrance", a Google search for which brings me to Anna Sui Fantasia, a perfume created in 2017 which is sold in a delightful bottle topped with a prancing unicorn. The scent description of Fantasia is remarkably similar to this Balaji Gem, which is lightly floral, jasmine and rose, with gentle citrus top notes,  some raspberry middles notes, and the merest touch of cedarwood at the base. 
 




One of the better everyday perfumed incenses, though not top end. It retails for 12 Rupees (12p) for 10 sticks in India, and can be bought from the excellent Poppat Sores in the UK for 75p


Date: March 2022   Score: 26

***


Balaji Agarbatti Company



Friday 18 March 2022

Patanjali Aastha Agarbatti Jasmine

Patanjali's Aastha is, apparently, one of the top incense brands in India.  That means, inevitably, that the bulk of their output will be budget everyday perfumed-charcoal incense. Patanjali is a general goods brand. It is not clear, though it is probable, that Patanjali don't make the Aastha incense themselves, but commission it from others. I have asked, though I'm not certain I will get a clear answer. 

We did a Jasmine v Jasmine burn off earlier this year. To be fair the results were in a fairly narrow band, with 25 being the average. Our comments: "Initially we found this attractive with a sweet, jammy, fun, bright floral scent.  But  after a while we found it a little soapy, and then a little vague. While floral, there isn't a distinctive jasmine aroma to it, and after it settles it just becomes a vague perfumed-charcoal scent. Faintly and vaguely pleasant, but not distinctive. Score: 24" I would largely agree with the view burning this stick today, though feel that the positive aspects we noted then somewhat outweigh the negative ones. This is OK. Clean, fresh, uplifting. It has a jasmine scent. It's OK. 


Date: Oct 2023   Score: 27 





"Exquisite, Soothing & Lasting Aroma". Well, that's not exactly been my experience. I bought four Patanjali incense online because I'd read that the brand is one of the top five popular incense brands in India. All have been machine made perfumed incense of little imagination, thought, or quality, though they have been professionally made. I have, to be fair, had worse. At least they do have clean scents which are not offensive, though they have all been clearly artificial. The Rose I did not get on with at all, and I am having a similar, though lesser, struggle with this Jasmine. 

Patanjali are not for me. The incense brand name Aastha means hope or faith; the blurb on the back says: "Patanjali Aastha Pooja products are made from best quality ingredients & aimed at creating a divine atmosphere. It helps the devotee to keep the connection between Aatma (inner soul) & Parmatma (almighty God) intact." So be it. All nonsense. 

There is a sharp scent of artificial jasmine. It's not good. Borderline rubbish. 

 
Date: March 2022    Score: 19 
***



Patanjali Aastha Agarbatti Rose

 


Patanjali Agarbatti - a branch of  Patanjali Ayurved, a manufacturer and distributor of various foods and goods in India, who were founded in 1956 in New Delhi, are considered one of the Top Incense Brands in India, so I'm trying them out.  AyurvedaProducts.co.uk sell Pantanjali incense for a modest price - 20g boxes for £1.49, which retail in India for 10 Rupees (10p or 13 US cents). The sticks are machine-extruded charcoal paste on a machine-cut bamboo splint, impregnated with a perfume. This is standard perfumed incense, the most popular form of incense in India. It can be used to freshen a room, to cover a bad smell, to create a mood, to keep away flies, or to be used as part of a pooja ritual. 

This is my third box, and I am not enjoying these Patanjali. Indeed, there is little to enjoy - the boxes are not attractive; little thought has been given to the design of any of them - they look like what they are: cheaply designed and made. My conclusion is that Patanjali could only be a popular incense brand in India due to low cost and ready availability, and that they are not actively obnoxious. The price of 10 Rupees for 20g is competitive, and there are few incenses which match that price. 

This is a crude rose perfume. I don't find it attractive. It's no more or less bad in terms of quality than the other two I have tried, but the scent really doesn't work for me. I find it a little cloying, and bordering on unpleasant. This is not an incense I am likely to burn in the house again.


Date: March 2022   Score: 17 
***

Best rose incense



Patanjali Aastha Agarbatti Pooja

  


Even though I have been doing this blog for 10 years (woohoo, ten years - I missed the anniversary date in Feb, and only just noticed that it's been ten years), and have burned some incense in that time, mostly Indian, I feel I'm only now starting to get some understanding of the Indian incense market. The bulk of the market is this incense - everyday perfumed incense. Not expensive, but well made, and producing pleasant, consistent, and reliable scents. These 8 inch sticks, with approx 6 1/2 inches of extruded charcoal paste impregnated with a synthetic perfume, are standard fare, and are sold in an oblong cardboard packet with 20g of sticks for 10 Rupees (around 10p). The sticks light up with a black smoke, then settle into a modest burn for around 50 minutes. 

The top companies, such as Cycle, Moksh, Mangaldeep, Zed Black, HEM, Patanjali, Hari Darshan, and Nandi, succeed domestically through producing reliable, professional sticks with attractive, commercial scents at a low cost, and with good marketing and distribution. Some, such as HEM, will also succeed in exports, aiming, as with the domestic market, at an audience who are mainly looking for pleasant, everyday scents at a low cost. There are some customers who are willing to pay more for incense with scents that are less synthetic and more natural, and which are, or give the appearance of being, masala incense, and this is a growing market, which has for years been mostly dominated by Satya. Some customers look for something other than or "beyond" Satya, feeling that Satya is too "big business" or commonplace for them to identify with (and image is key in all products); so there are small, traditional companies, "artisan" or "cottage", who don't, perhaps, have the will, the desire, or the means to go into large production, and so remain small and traditional. They may wish to remain traditional, hand-rolling with as close to natural products as they can because that is their ethos and way of life, or they may feel a little trapped in the marketplace, unable to expand  into synthetic and/or larger scale production without losing their existing customer base. These small, traditional producers may hope to develop a name for themselves, though many find it more economic to sell their incense in bulk to own brand or resellers, such as Happy Hari, Absolute Bliss, Prabhuji's Gifts, or Berk. 

In and around these incense makers, are the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of incense companies, mostly small, but many medium sized, who aim for one or more of the existing markets - either directly under their own name, selling in their own branded packets, or in bulk stick order to a distributor, who may themselves be quite small, or may be quite large, such as Mangaldeep.  

Anyway, enough waffle.... 

These sticks are quite mild and gently informative. The scent doesn't have a big impact, and doesn't remain for long, but there is no unpleasant ashy after-smell. They are what they are. An inexpensive everyday modest room freshener. Light up a handful and wander round the house doing a low key, low cost, synthetic smudging. Because they are so modest, best grab something more assertive if the dog has just farted. 

Date: Oct 2023    Score:  22 



Patanjali Agarbatti - a branch of  Patanjali Ayurved, a manufacturer and distributor of various foods and goods in India, who were founded in 1956 in New Delhi, are considered one of the Top Incense Brands in India, so I'm trying them out.  AyurvedaProducts.co.uk sell Pantanjali incense for a modest price - 20g boxes for £1.49, which retail in India for 10 Rupees (10p or 13 US cents). The sticks are machine-extruded charcoal paste on a machine-cut bamboo splint, impregnated with a perfume. This is standard perfumed incense, the most popular form of incense in India. It can be used to freshen a room, to cover a bad smell, to create a mood, to keep away flies, or to be used as part of a pooja ritual. 

This one is called Pooja, though it has no special characteristics to differentiate it from any standard/everyday perfumed incense stick. There are the familiar volatile aromas on the stick, reminiscent of a pine disinfectant. The stick burns evenly, and at a good pace, dispersing the scent into the air so the room becomes informed by the scent, but not overwhelmed. This is not bargain basement shit which simply smells of cheap sawdust and burned ash, but nor is it pleasingly engaging. It is just there - a perfumed incense scent. The scent is not clearly defined - it's a generic perfumed incense smell, though it's in the floral area, inclining toward sweet. It's generally sort of pleasant, though has tones of chemical, and is kinda sharp. 

Essentially this is not great, but neither is it obviously offensive. I am a little surprised it is considered a market leader, as this is just above bargain basement stuff. I guess price and ready availability, coupled with it not being offensive, would incline people toward buying it and then repeat buying it. 10 Rupees is a competitive price - though Koya's have some incense at this price, which is more characterful and pleasant than this dull stuff. 


Date: March 2022   Score: 22  
***




Thursday 17 March 2022

Patanjali Aastha Agarbatti Tathastu


Revisiting this. It has a rather pleasant and interesting spice aroma, quite savoury. Cumin. Wood. Musk. I rather like it. I'm now starting to see why this is popular in India. 


Date: Jan 2023    Score: 30  




I came upon a series of Top 10 lists of top Indian incense companies, and made a post about them: Top Incense Brands in India. One of the companies that figures fairly high on most lists is Patanjali Agarbatti - a branch of  Patanjali Ayurved, a manufacturer and distributor of various foods and goods in India, who were founded in 1956 in New Delhi.  I had not heard of them before. I sought out some of their incense and found a UK supplier: AyurvedaProducts.co.uk who sells them for a modest price - this 20g/16 stick Tathastu box was £1.49. It retails in India for 10 Rupees (10p or 13 US cents). The sticks are machine-extruded charcoal paste on a machine-cut bamboo splint, impregnated with a perfume. This is standard perfumed incense, the most popular form of incense in India. It can be used to freshen a room, to cover a bad smell, to create a mood, to keep away flies, or to be used as part of a pooja ritual.  

Tathastu, according to Google translate, means "so be it". Hmm. It must be a popular expression because there was a Hindi-language film made with that title in 2006. Oh well, so be it...   

There are petrol tones on the stick, but the scent is pleasant, if a little hard to pin down. Sandalwood, prune, wool, jasmine, leather.... various notes, but nothing really specific. It's kind of cool - mostly neutral, modest, pleasant, inoffensive, meh. It's OK - not something worth spending time over.  It's an OK everyday perfumed incense. 

Date: March 2022   Score: 22  
***
  
Patanjali Agarbatti


Hari Darshan Black Sandal Incense Cones

 

A standard everyday perfumed cone from Hari Darshan, part of a box of 12 different fragrances from Amazon for £14. They're a decent size and burn slowly and consistently. The aroma on the cone is musky and woody, which works for me. The scent on the cone is brighter and more attractive than on the burn. It's a little cheap and smoky on the burn initially, though the woody musk does come through, especially once the burn reaches the fatter parts of the cone. 


We use cones in the bathroom rather than air freshener, so I'm always OK about getting job lots of cones - apart from bargain basement or unbranded perfumed cones  which always just end up making the bathroom smell like an ashtray. But perfumed cones from a respectable company, no problem.  These are a tad better than a toilet freshener; though, to be honest, that's probably all they'll get used for.  They'll do a good job, though. I like 'em. 


Date: March 2022    Score: 25  
***
Hari Darshan

Sandalwood



Shroff Channabasappa Suganda Bathi

 


Two stick sample from Padma Store in Germany - the name roughly means scented light or incense stick. The paper bag has had to be wrapped in cling film - presumably because it was absorbing so much of the fragrant oils that had been used in the stick. 

I like this incense. It's rich and fragrant, with a sweet, heady floral bouquet.  Quite fresh with notes of rose and gardenia - creamy, zesty, little touches of spice to keep the interest and stop it becoming cloying. The stick has a dry, crumbly charcoal paste hand-rolled quite well onto a roughly cut bamboo splint dyed pink, and then finished with a wood powder (melnoorva). It smells very Indian - Indian incense. A sort of typical, ah, yes, that's Indian incense. And there's some prickly warm wool there as well, so a bit of halmaddi. The scent is mainly floral. 

 


I was unsure about the name, as I have seen it written various ways, Shroff, Channabasappa, Shroff Channabasappa & Sons, Channabasappa Company, etc. I looked into it, and it appeared to me that the family had diverged, with one side (Shroff) dealing with the incense making and the other side  (Channabasappa) dealing with the retail, so I asked, and Prathik Shroff confirmed: "To your question, yes, it’s two sides of the same coin. Channabasappa & Co is our official trade name and Shroff is our family name and we decided to keep that name as we have for the past 100 years or more."  The family have their shop on Avenue Road in Bangalore - this is a busy retail street with numerous  other incense families making and/or selling incense as they have done for around a hundred years. 

Avenue Road in 2021, three doors down 
from the Shroff  shop

The company was founded in 1882 by Shroff Channabasappa. They sold incense to the Maharaja of Mysore (Mysore was the original name of the state of Karnataka), and they had a stand at the 1930 British Industries Fair in Olympia. In 1949 they were one of the founding members of the All India Agarbathi Manufacturers’ Association, along with other leading Mysore/Karnataka incense companies. Mysore is the region where incense with a bamboo stick was first developed, and the Mysore manufacturers T.l Updhayay and Attar Khasim Sahib  had displayed this idea at the British Empire Exhibition in 1924, so the Shroff Channabasappa family were well placed in the region that was at the heart of the early development of modern Indian incense.  


  

The Shroff family stand at the 
1930 British Industries Fair in Olympia

The company still use some of the original, secret family recipes (some of the recipes were stolen in a data breach,  so clones may turn up), though are also keen to develop new recipes to expand the range, and to utilise some of the positives of new technology, particularly to use high-quality man-made fragrances to replace the original raw materials which are no longer readily available, in order to keep some of the old recipes alive. Some of  Shroff's original recipes can contain up to 20 fragrances, a number of which are rare and valuable, and so quite costly. 


The scent on the burn is gorgeously bright and floral, living up to the promise on the stick. It is driven by the fragrance oils (which are possibly a blend of traditional and modern, as there is a bright, clean, modern feel running on top of an earthier floral note), though some of the heavier, woody, herbal notes of the powdered masala are present underneath, grounding the playful florals. 

I like this. It's a happy, rich scent - the sort I like. And I like the history and background of Shroff's story. I do like knowing who makes the incense - it makes it more real for me.  

Shroff can be bought from EssenceOfTheAges in the US, and Padma or Raeucherwelt in Europe. 


Date: March 2022   Score: 43 

***

Shroff Incense


Wednesday 16 March 2022

Koya's Shanthi Nivas Premium Incense

 
Second review - scroll down for earlier


Machine extruded onto a machine-cut bamboo splint. Synthetic scent. Yet it's pleasant. Scent is a little soapy - a bit like Camay, all light florals, jasmine and honeysuckle. It's not an exciting or meaningful scent, but it is pleasant, bright, joyful, and uplifting. It's an OK room freshener. There's some cutting crispness to it on the burn that keeps it sharp and lively. Very acceptable.  

Koya's website says "Home is the comfort of our lives, where we are safe, sheltered and happy. The serenity we enjoy at home is incomparable to anywhere else. Maintain the beautiful balance of your home with Shanti Nivas. Blended with a mixture of floral and woody scents, Shanthi Nivas is created to calm the mind and enrich the soul. Let the beautiful, rich fragrances come together and illuminate your house in a blanket of peace and tranquillity like no other."  

Perfume soaked, hand-dipped incense sticks. Eco-friendly and nontoxic
Length - 9 inches
Burning time - 60 mins
Retention time - 3-4 hrs
Fragrance coverage area - 1000 sq. ft

Date: Feb 2024    Score: 29 



First review


"For Peace & Prosperity". This is a perfume rich stick from Koya's Incense with an uplifting blend of floral and fruity notes. It is quite bright and joyous on the stick, though initially a little too smoky and assertive on the burn for my liking, though that settles down, and it becomes more integrated in the room, so it becomes a part of the environment in a pleasing way. 

The stick is a wood powder paste that has been machine-extruded onto a machine-cut rounded bamboo splint. It has dried very hard. When crushed it releases a fruity scent closer to an essential oil than a perfume. The scent on the stick, though, is a little more volatile, so this may be a blend of essential oil and agarbatti oil.  

Overall a pleasant everyday incense with little in the way of off-notes. This is not a crude HEM, this is somewhat more subtle, gentle, and refined. Likeable. 


Date: March 2022    Score: 28 
***


Tuesday 15 March 2022

HEM Kaamasutra Incense Sticks

 


It's been a long time since I reviewed any HEM perfumed incense. HEM are not my favourite incense company, but they are cheap, decently made (you always get the scent of the perfume), and can sometimes surprise with a delightful scent, such as their Frankincense-Myrrh, which I rate higher than their masala incense.  I was tempted by this Amazon offer of 22 packs for £10, and got it. This is the sort of casual incense that we use around the house to brighten up the place, or cover up stale or bad smells. We don't generally use HEM to sit and enjoy the scents, though sometimes a scent just hits the spot. 

This is not really one that hits the spot. It has a generic "perfumed incense" smell with petrol tones to the fore initially, and all through the burn there is a sense more of fabric conditioner than incense. However, it is not unpleasant. It is floral, with notes of rose, some lemon, some berry fruits. It's OK. Not offensive. Not great. It's kinda clean and bright and fresh. The package came straight from India by air, so the perfume in this, and the other 21, will be fresh - which is important with perfumed incense as the perfume can and does evaporate over time. 

The sticks are machine made, and the burn is consistent, lasts a long time, and fills the room with perfume without being smoky, over-bearing, or irritating. As a room freshener, for around 50p for 20 sticks, it's OK. Cheap and cheerful, a little utilitarian, but does the job if your needs are modest.   


Date: March 2022  Score: 24 

***




Prabhuji's Gifts Swadhisthana Chakra Sacral Energy Center Sensuality & Creativity Vanilla, Rose & Vetiver

 



This is the fifth of the seven single stick samples of Prabhuji's Gifts Chakra series of masala incense. Prabhuji's Gifts are a spiritual American based company who commission their incense from India. The sales of the incense are used to finance their mission to spread the teaching of their founder, the Chilean born mystic, Prabhuji.  So far I have found the sticks to be modestly pleasant, especially on the stick, less pleasant on the burn, and leaning toward dry, woody, earthy, and plant-like, though with occasional moments of pleasurable and interesting scents. I was more engaged with the first scent I tried in the series, the Muladhara, though whether this was because it is genuinely more appealing,  because I spent more time on it and discovered more, or because I was simply being more generous I don't know. I note the oil marks on the packet of this one, and those are of essential oil - which certainly makes the packet smell nice - distinctly floral and sweet and soapy. I don't know yet what scents are in this stick, as my samples don't say - the only info I have is: Sacral Chakra Swadhisthana. I'll look up for more information after I have started the review. 

All the sticks in the series have been made the same way - a fragrant masala charcoal paste has been hand rolled onto a usually hand cut bamboo splint dyed pink. The differences have been in the dryness of the paste. This one is damp. It is also a little fatter than the others. The scent on the stick is richer than the others, though less rich than the scent on the packet. I suspect a lot of the essential oil fragrance has been absorbed by the paper packet. I guess this is why a lot of incense distributors use plastic sleeves instead of the the more planet friendly paper ones. There is a faint note of parma violets, some rose, soap, lemongrass, and underneath, just a bit of wood, sandalwood. 

As with the other samples, the scent on the burn is dry, spicy, woody, with little sense of the aroma on the stick. I was patient with the first stick, the Muladhara, and burned it in several sessions over two or three days. It was my first experience with this company,  Prabhuji's Gifts; I knew nothing about them except what I learned as I burned that first stick - that they are a spiritual company reselling/commissioning Indian incense in order to fund their project; so I had no idea what they would be like. I have been less patient as I have gone though the rest of the range, as I feel I am getting a handle on these sticks now, and I am not that impressed. They are OK, but they are not for me - the quality is not here. The best part of the aroma is conveyed by essential oils which are not fully integrated into the paste, so are barely noticeable during the burn. I don't know if the "artisans in India’s cottage industry" who make this Chakra range make other incense for  Prabhuji's Gifts, but as it stands I'm not encouraged to seek out more of  Prabhuji's Gifts branded incense if they are anything like this.   

  


I've looked up the details, and this is  Sensuality & Creativity, which contains vanilla, rose, and vetiver. 

The customer reviews on the sales page of the Chakra range are very enthusiastic five stars. 


Date: March 2022   Score:  23 



Prabhuji's Gifts Vishudda Chakra Throat Energy Center Communication & Wisdom Oriental Woods & Amber

 


Fourth of the single stick samples from Padma Store in Germany of Prabhuji's Gifts masala incense in their Chakra range. I liked the first sample, and enjoyed the scents on the stick of the others, but felt that those scents did not come through on the burn. All the stick appear to be made the same way: a fragrant charcoal paste has been hand rolled onto a bamboo splint, either hand cut or, as here, machine cut, and then dyed pink. A pleasantly fragrant finishing powder has been rolled onto the wet paste to prevent the sticks from clinging together. The consistency of the paste varies from moist and crumbly, though soft and crumbly to this which is fairly rock hard. The amount of paste on each stick is fairly modest. Each stick has a pleasant fragrance suggestive of essential oils and/or perfume. The scent on this stick is, as with the others, modestly pleasant and promising. It has a creamy sandalwood and floral tone, with some mild hints of halmaddi - a floral halmaddi. 

As with the others, the scent on the burn is less delightful than the scent on the stick. None of the burn scents are unpleasant as such, simply a little crude compared to the stick scents, and fairly dry, spicy, and prickly -  akin to the earthy plant based incenses of Tibet. Dry incenses are not among my favourites. This does have some OK woody notes, though it remains fairly simplistic, and doesn't take me anywhere.  

 



On looking up details on this, I find that the name is Communication & Wisdom, and the scents are  Oriental Woods and Amber. I'm certainly getting the wood, and - yes - the amber, now my attention has been drawn to it. There are moments of sweeter warmth with a sense of herbs and hedges. Mild, but giving the whole a little more interest. I'm liking this a little more than I was anticipating after the previous two in this Chakra series. 


Date: March 2022   Score: 24 


Prabhuji's Gifts Anahata Chakra Heart Energy Center Love & Sensitivity Patchouli, Geranium & Rose

 


This is my third Prabhuji's Gifts incense - all are in their Chakra range. Prabhuji's Gifts  are an American based spiritual company who commission their incense from India. The sales of the incense are used to finance their mission to spread the teaching of their founder, the Chilean born mystic, Prabhuji. The first sample I found to be pleasant, the second I found to be quite weak, so I am curious as to how this one will go.   

The stick is a soft, moist, crumbly, fragrant charcoal hand rolled onto a hand cut bamboo splint dyed pink, then rolled in a finishing powder. The scent on the stick is quite heady with a balance between floral and musk, and some warm woolly notes of halmaddi. It's nice, and quite promising. 

The scent on the burn is mildly pleasant, though doesn't quite live up to the promise on the stick. It's a little acidic and dry, almost harsh, with more plant like notes than aesthetically pleasing scents. Burning grass and cow dung come to mind, with some peppery sprinkles. Little of the floral and musk tones from the stick are really coming through. This does present more as low end masala incense than the more refined promise of the scent on the stick. I suspect that the scent on the stick is produced with modest doses of oils or perfumes, which evaporate quickly during the burn, leaving us with the baser, heavier notes of the plant material, which only come to life during the burn. 

 

I've now looked up images of the packet (I got my sample from Padma Store, who sent me single sticks with minimal information) - and I now see the full name (Love & Sensitivity), and the intended scents: patchouli, geranium, and rose. Well, floral and musky tones are present on the stick, which matches with the intended scents, though cruder, heavier, ill-defined plant-like scents dominate in the burn.  I like the scent on the stick, though I'm not at all keen on the scent on the burn. 


Date: March 2022    Score: 21 




Top Incense Brands in India

 

I've stumbled upon one of those list articles that are so popular on the internet - you know "Ten Best ...."; though this one is about incense companies (brands) in India: Top 10 Best Incense Sticks (Agarbatti) Brands In India. There is no criteria by which the Top 10 Best had been selected, though my assumption is that these are (among) the companies achieving highest domestic sales. Of the names on the list I know that Cycle (Ranga Rao), HEM, and Moksh, are among the most popular in India - all of them leading perfumed incense companies (perfumed incense dominates the popular Indian market - masala incense is also popular, though is regarded as premium, and tends to be sold at a premium price point). And while I recognise most of the others, there are some names I don't know, such as Patanjali Agarbatti (some now ordered) and Tataf Agarbatti. Curious about the authenticity and accuracy of this list of the "Top10 Best", I searched for similar lists, and found a few more. Most had the obvious names, and the order is largely the same in each list, with differences at the bottom of each list with a changing array of other companies, while some had no known incense companies - just a list of unknown companies, so appeared to be purely promotional, with no research having been conducted. 


I thought it might be interesting to gather these lists together:

The top companies, such as Cycle, Moksh, Mangaldeep, Zed Black, HEM, Patanjali, Hari Darshan, and Nandi, succeed domestically through producing reliable, professional sticks with attractive, commercial scents at a low cost, and with good marketing and distribution. Some, such as HEM, will also succeed in exports, aiming, as with the domestic market, at an audience who are mainly looking for pleasant, everyday scents at a low cost. There are some customers who are willing to pay more for incense with scents that are less synthetic and more natural, and which are, or give the appearance of being, masala incense, and this is a growing market, which has for years been mostly dominated by Satya. Some customers look for something other than or "beyond" Satya, feeling that Satya is too "big business" or commonplace for them to identify with (and image is key in all products); so there are small, traditional companies, "artisan" or "cottage", who don't, perhaps, have the will, the desire, or the means to go into large production, and so remain small and traditional. They may wish to remain traditional, hand-rolling with as close to natural products as they can because that is their ethos and way of life, or they may feel a little trapped in the marketplace, unable to expand  into synthetic and/or larger scale production without losing their existing customer base. These small, traditional producers may hope to develop a name for themselves, though many find it more economic to sell their incense in bulk to own brand or resellers, such as Happy Hari, Absolute Bliss, Prabhuji's Gifts, or Berk. 

In and around these incense makers, are the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of incense companies, mostly small, but many medium sized, who aim for one or more of the existing markets - either directly under their own name, selling in their own branded packets, or in bulk stick order to a distributor, who may themselves be quite small, or may be quite large, such as Mangaldeep.  


Top 10 Best Incense Sticks (Agarbatti) Brands In India

4. Zed Black Agarbatti
7. Tataf Agarbatti
9. Kalpana Agarbatti
10. Nandi Incense Sticks


This is the same Top 10 list as The Daily Records 2019 list. It seems pretty solid, though as the same names keep cropping up in the lists I wonder how much the web sites are simply copying the same list (with a little variation at the end), and how much they have done their own independent research. 


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1. Cycle Agarbatti
2. Moksh Agarbatti
3. Mangaldeep Agarbatti
4. Zed Black Agarbatti
5. Hem Agarbatti
6. Patanjali Agarbatti
7. TataF Agarbatti
8. Hari Darshan Agarbatti
9. Nandi Agarbatti
10. Nag Champa Agarbatti
11. Kalpana Agarbatti
12. Mysore Sandal
13. Tatva Yoga
14. Blue Aroma
15. Sambarani




1. Cycle Agarbatti
2. Moksh Agarbatti
3. Zed Black Agarbatti
4. Patanjali Agarbatti
5. Mangaldeep Agarbatti
6. Charu Agarbatti 
7. Nag Champa Agarbatti
8. Hari Darshan Agarbatti 
9. Nandi Agarbatti
10. Kalpana Agarbatti
11. Hem Agarbatti
12. Shubhanjali Agarbatti



1. Cycle
2. Moksh
3. Mangaldeep
4. Zed Black
5. HEM
6. Pantanjali
7. TantaF
8. Hari Darshan
9. Kalpana
10. Nandi
11. Shubhanjali
12. Nag Champa



 
13 Best Agarbatti Brands in India


1. Mangaldeep
2. Cycle Pure
3. Amazon Brand – Solimo
4. The Aroma Factory
5. HEM
6. Zed Black
7. Batala Fragrance
8. Phool
9. Parag Fragrances
10. Darshan
11. Song of India
12. Vringra
13. Moksh
  



1. Simply Vedic Shiva’s Valley Premium Incense Stick Agarbatti
2. Zed Black Incense Stick Agarbatti
3. Cycle Pure Agarbatti
4. Hem Precious Chandan Incense Sticks
5. Darshan Incense Stick Agarbatti
6. Bharat Darshan Agarbatti
7. Cycle ECO Classic Handcrafted Incense Sticks
8. Hem Precious Lavender Incense Sticks
9. Mangaldeep 4 in 1 Agarbatti
10. Parag Fragrances 6 Flowers Incense Sticks


This list is a little different in that it is about particular boxes/fragrances rather than companies; though it does list 10 different companies. 




1. Pavitra Guggal Agarbatti
2. Cycle Speciality Woods Incense Sticks
3. MYSORE SANDAL 100 Agarbathi Pack of 12
4. The Aroma Factory Chandan Sandalwood Incense Sticks Agarbatti
5. Mangaldeep Sadhvi Agarbatti 
6. Tatva Yog Soulful Desires Long Lasting Incense Sticks 
7. Aroma White Sage Smudge Smudging Leaves and Patchouli Incense Sticks Agarbatti
8. Zed Black Sandal Incense Sticks Long 
9. BAC Perfume Mysore Sandal Incense Stick 
10. Bharat Darshan Wood Agarbatti & Agarbatti Stand 
11. Satya Sai Baba Mix AGARBATTI Sticks 
12. Koyas Maya Supreme Sambrani Incense Sticks 
13. Blue Aromas Incense Sticks Agarbatti 


Another list that is about the individual packet or fragrance rather than the company. 


 
Agarbatti Manufacturers in India [Top 10 Manufacturers]


1. Tirupati Industries
2. Lotus International
3. M/S BHAI JI ATTAR WALE
4. Gulmohar Incense India Private Limited
5. Indiflora Products LLP - Vandanam Agarbatti
6. Sheetal Incense
7. TBS Forever Retail Pvt Limited
8. Megha Aromatics
9. Hari Darshan Dhoop & Agarbatti
10. Dharam Darshan (Paul Sales) Pvt Limited


I've not heard of most of these companies, and the only big name is Hari Darshan, so I suspect this is a list that the companies paid to be on. The same names (though in a different order) appear on this list.  I'm not going to consider this list in my analysis, and may remove it eventually; but keeping it here for the time being just to explore the companies mentioned. 


An article in SMB Story, focuses on four companies who have grown big. Cycle, MDPH (Zed Black), Hari Darshan, and Chamundi Agarbathi. 


Conclusion

The name that appears in every list, and at the top of most, is Cycle (Ranga Rao) of Mysore.  The company is regarded as India's largest in the incense market with a 20% share. They were founded in 1945, and make masala, perfumed, and dhoop incense.  Though big in India, and though they export to several countries, they are not well known in the West; yet they do some lovely masala incense: Darara, Yagna, and Parampara, for example, which - when available - are sold at bargain prices. 

The name that next appears the most as a company, though it does not appear in the individual fragrances list, is Moksh of Bangalore.  Formed in 1996, and backed up by an intensive TV ad campaign, they concentrate on the domestic perfumed incense market with traditional scents.  They have, as yet, little penetration in the West, though some stocks appear now and again. 

Hari Darshan appear at number eight in the main lists. Mostly a domestic perfumed incense company, they have been exporting to the West recently.