Shroff Green Durbar

 

A pack of Shroff "dry" incense from American site Exotic Incense - sold at £2 for 25g. The incense is imported into America by The Incense Sampler Works, who have the sticks crudely bundled into 25g or bulk 250g packs, tied with string, and then wrapped in cheap cellophane with a small paper slip giving minimal information. It's not the most attractive nor the more useful way of packaging the incense. All incense, including masala, will fade and diminish over time, so needs to be stored away from heat and direct sunshine, and wrapped well to stop the scents from degrading. The cellophane will keep the incense fresh while wrapped, but once opened it is difficult to rewrap it appropriately, unlike the standard resealable incense packs. It's best to keep the incense wrapped and sealed after opening - or, you could open it at the stick end, and gently tease out a stick (hard to get the first one out, but gets easier after that). 

These are masala sticks*[Note, I assumed these were masala when first reviewing, but now I have my doubts, and will revisit the sticks. Actually, when I first reviewed one of these "dry" Shroffs, I thought they were perfumed, and I have returned firmly to that thought with my latest review.]  - a charcoal based paste has been hand-rolled onto hand-cut bamboo splits, and then coated in a woody melnoorva powder to stop the sticks gluing together as the paste dries. The melnoorva has a green tinge which makes the stick look a little like the patina on a copper garden statue. The aroma on the stick is pleasant, soft, slightly floral, soapy, rose petals, musky - the closest approximation would be a bar of Camay soap. It's clean and pleasant, though nothing to get me excited. 

This stick is called Durbar - a name I have occasionally seen applied to incense, though I have had few of them myself. A glance around the internet, and nobody seems to know exactly what a Durbar incense is, though are comments that it is an indication of a floral incense like a champa would indicate frangipani and nag champa would indicate magnolia. The term Durbar in India means a royal court, and given that this has a scent which includes rose, which in India is associated with gods, higher spirituality, supreme beings, and royalty, it would seem to me to be likely that a durbar could be a name given to refined floral, rose based incense. It is sometimes associated with floras and fluxos, which tend to be rich, heady incenses, often using  fragrant oils, though this incense is quite dry, with the scent coming from dried ingredients. It burns reasonably slowly, and gives out a soft, pleasant perfume similar to the scent on the stick; though a little less soapy and floral, and a little more woody, and a little more "green", in the sense of burning green plant-life. It's a little more earthy on the burn than on the stick. 

Overall an attractive incense, and at £2 for 25g, it offers excellent value for money. I'd be happy to get more Shroff incense, and if I were younger and had more energy, I would definitely be bulk importing Shroff into the UK to sell.

Date: Nov 2022    Score: 35

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Shroff Incense

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