Sample of Prabhuji's Gifts masala incense in the Chakra range. The Seven Chakras are a popular theme in incense - the UK distributor Aargee had a chakra series (Anja, Anahata, Muladhara, etc), Aromatika had some chakra cones, German distributor Anvenor had a chakra series (Muladhara, etc). On my sample this is named simply as Crown Chakra Sahasrara (sahasrara is the crown chakra, the highest and most spiritual chakra), though the naming on the packet is more complicated: Sahasrara Chakra - Crown Energy Centre - Enlightenment - Lotus Blossom.
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Given that this is called Lotus Blossom, I would consider this to be a lotus incense. The best lotus incense I have had is Happy Hari's Queen of Lotus - (sadly that is no longer available, though the maker would likely still be making it and selling it in India - perhaps under a different name). Lotus is the national flower of India due to its significant status among several cultures and spiritual beliefs in ancient Indian traditions - it is regarded as a auspicious flower, largely due to the beauty of the petals and the heady sweetness of the scent, and that it rises above the dirty water where it is found. Most lotus perfumes are not made from the lotus plant itself, but from other plants, such as hyacinth, which have similar scents, or simply from chemical formulations. The organic compound 1,4-Dimethoxybenzene (sweet floral scent) is the primary constituent in the lotus plant that produces the characteristic lotus scent, and that would be used in most lotus perfumes. Also present in the lotus scent are eucalyptol or eucalyptus oil (woody, camphor, minty, fresh scent), terpinen-4-ol or tea tree oil (camphor scent), and linalool (floral, spicy, woody scent).
The stick is a dry, crumbly fragrant charcoal paste hand-rolled onto a crudely machine-cut bamboo splint which has been dyed pink, and then rolled in a wood finishing powder or melnoorva, which prevents the damp paste from clinging together with the other sticks. The scent on the stick is quite mild - gently floral, jasmine, like a bar of soap. Pleasant, but not engaging, and rather faint.
On the burn the aroma is woody, spicy, a little crude, dry, poor quality cedarwood. Nothing like lotus. No sweetness. No high notes. It's possible that the stick is old so the more fragile higher sweet and floral notes which were based in oils and/or perfumes have evaporated. But I received these samples just over a month ago, and they have been kept sealed, and in a cool, dark place in my desk, so if they are old, and/or have been stored poorly, then that occurred before I got them. Anyway, I'm not impressed with this. It presents as crude, dry, woody with some woody spice and some prickles. Not my thing at all. I've had three separate goes at this, and simply don't like it.
Date: March 2022 Score: 20
Steve, Temple of Incense's Lotus Flower is reputedly the same stick as HH Queen of Lotus. So you're assumption is correct that it is still being made.
ReplyDeleteThat's good to know. I have some ToI samples here which I've not yet got round to reviewing. I'll check later to see if Lotus Flower is among them.
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