HMS Classic Patchouli / Blue Pearl Patchouli

Second review - scroll down for earlier

 

I love patchouli, so most patchouli incenses will seduce me - it doesn't take much!  This is a pleasant room-freshener incense with sweet spots and some musk, and it approximates patchouli, though wanders a little too far from the core essentials to hold my interest. It's sugar sweet, and is more vanilla sweet than the musky, earthy sweetness of the patchouli I love. There is vanilla on the stick, and a frosty volatility. It's attractive in a commercial way - an easy draw, like doughnuts with sugar icing. Yes, it's like Krispy Kreme. The vanilla content is no doubt why some people feel the source for this incense from American based distributor Blue Pearl, is Haridas Madhavdas Sugandhi whose incense tends to be vanilla scented. And, after comparing with HMS Patchouli, I agree. The scent profile, and the appearance is spot on - too close for coincidence. 

  

HMS Patchouli

I like this incense, though more as a sweet and rather limited room freshener than as a proper patchouli. It's gentle, pleasant, moderately uplifting and quietly fun. A charming and sweet little burner. 


Date: Feb 2024    Score:  31

First review

Earlier this year (Jan 2022) I received an order from the excellent American incense site ExoticIncense which included Blue Pearl Classic Champa, which we absolutely loved, and this Patchouli. I was very excited by the Blue Pearl brand, and found a UK stockist, Vitamin Grocer, so made a small order of samples.  I was a little surprised on opening the pack to discover that, unlike the Classic Champa, which is a masala incense, this is a perfumed charcoal. However, as I've become aware more and more this year, there is not exactly a solid divide between perfumed incense and natural/masala incense. It's not a yin yang thing, it's more of a spectrum.

On that joss stick spectrum, this Blue Pearl Patchouli has been hand rolled with a charcoal paste, dusted with a melnoorva powder, and impregnated with an essential oil rather than a perfume. It smells bloody good. The scent on the stick is not exactly pure, despite the claim on the pack that "Aromatherapy Grade Essential Oils" have been used - it's a little darker than a pure patchouli oil is (I have several patchouli essential oils, as patchouli is one of my favourite scents, and I like to wear it). There's a woody base, along with some old satchel leather, and some light fruit; the whole creating a warm and pleasing and very attractive scent, but without the sexy, sensual, musky quality of patchouli. 

The scent on the burn is again very attractive but without being heavenly or special. It is an expansion of the scent on the stick - modestly sweet with some vanilla, some light woods, and some waxy florals - jasmine, magnolia, and frangipani. It's all very nice, and certainly very commercial, so I'm not surprised that Blue Pearl sells in both incense stores and Walmart in America. It breaks down now and again - the fragrance scent fading slightly, and a basic charcoal scent coming to the fore, but on the whole this is a decent everyday incense. It burns for nearly an hour, and informs the room with a warm, sweet, gentle and attractive scent. Yeah. Nice one. Not what I was expecting after the Classic Champa, but acceptable. 

Date: Dec 2022    Score: 33 

***

  

Haridas Madhavdas Sugandhi

Blue Pearl

Patchouli

Reviewed on Rauchfahne

Shanthimalai Nag Champa

 

I do like trying new incense companies, especially those which have been around a while, and which have a reputation or history. I got this from the excellent ExoticIncense, who do ship internationally. Shanthimalai Nag Champa  is an incense which has been sold in America for some years, and has a positive reputation. It is fondly known as "Red Nag Champa" because it comes in red box, and to differentiate it from Satya's Nag Champa, which comes in a blue box. 

There is information on the back of the box that a proportion of the sales of this incense will be donated to the Shanthimalai Trust; while the Aruna Partnership handles queries in America. This, however, appears to no longer be true. *[See below]

Text on the back of the box

I can find little information about who makes the incense, nor who imports it. And I'm reading rumours on the internet that neither the Shanthimalai Trust nor the Aruna Partnership have had anything to do with the incense for some years, so the boxes that are sold now are "fakes" - inasmuch as they are claiming any association with the Shanthimalai Trust. I see boxes on sale in India, and in the UK, as well as in America. I have written to the Shanthimalai Trust and the Aruna Partnership to see if they can give me more information. The implication on the box is that the Shanthimalai Trust is the organisation which makes the incense, or at least facilitates the training of women to make the incense. Some sellers, such as the highly regarded Essence Of The Ages, provide the information that it is "handmade by village women at the foot of the sacred mountain Arunachala in Tamil Nadi, India" (presumably Tamil Nadu), that this has been happening since 1985, and that a "beautiful reciprocal working relationship has now been established with 40 villages."

I do like stuff like that. It puts me in mind of Goloka and the Auroville community (who are connected in some way to The Mother's, One Aromatics, Maroma, and The Meadows incenses). While it doesn't make the incense any better, it makes me feel more positive towards it - I tend to feel less positive to incenses sold by folks who conceal whose making the incense. I like openness, honesty, sharing, compassion, etc. I don't mind at all a business being a business - it doesn't have to be a charity, as long as nothing is concealed, so we know that the workers are being treated fairly and with respect. So, I am warm to the whole idea of Shanthimalai - though a little unsettled by the rumours I have been hearing.

This is a decent incense. A masala charcoal paste, still soft, though not moist, has been expertly and tidily hand-rolled around a plain machine-cut bamboo splint and then coated in a woody melnoorva powder to aid drying. The scent on the stick is modest, though quite pleasant. Sweet, creamy, slightly floral, mainly sandalwood, some vanilla, some jasmine, some magnolia, some frangipani, some hints of halmaddi (prickles of warm lambs wool). It's an attractive, slightly sexy scent, quite uplifting and positive. 

The scent on the burn is equally, indeed even more attractive than the scent on the stick - something I experience more with masala incense than with perfumed. The scent is soft and subtle, and very pleasant. It doesn't lift beyond the pleasant - it remains a pleasing, mostly decent, sandalwood scent with floral and sweet elements. A tad smoky now and again, but nothing inappropriate. It doesn't do a lot, but what it does it does well. A decent everyday masala incense. 

It might be fun to do a Nag Champa scent comparison....

Date: Dec 2022   Score: 35 

*Marian McClelland, President of the Aruna Partnership, has been in touch to let me know that they are not involved with the production of the incense, and never have been. The incense was imported into America by the owner of The Incense Works, who occasionally donated money from sales of the incense to the Shanthimalai Trust because the owner was touched by what they do. The donations stopped some years back. Marian believes the business was sold. Boxes of Shanthimalai Nag Champa should no longer carry information on the back that the Shanthimalai Trust receives money from the sales. Nor should websites selling the incense give the impression that donations go to the Trust.  I have written to The Incense Sampler / The Incense Works / The Incense Sampler Works asking what information they could provide. I've not yet had any response.  

Jan 2023 

***

Nag Champa

HEM Morning Mist Incense Sticks

Second review - scroll down for earlier

I'm not sure what a morning mist is supposed to smell like. This has some mineral qualities akin to the marine or sea breeze elements in some room-freshener or bath foam products, which are produced by Calone, a scent molecule devised by Pfizer in 1966.  It has a cool volatility on the stick which nips the hairs on the inside of my nostrils. It's not an unpleasant scent, though it's no more interesting than an average room freshener, and doesn't really engage my attention. The scent on the burn is a sort of scorched sea breeze. It's not ugly, but it's not impressive either. I have little time for it. It's small and boring and way too chemical. 

Date: May 2024   Score: 20 

First review

It's HEM time!  HEM do tend to divide opinion. They are a popular company, and many people like HEM because the incense is bright, simple, and straightforward; but others dislike them because the scents are not natural, and can be a bit brash as well as simple. There are better quality incenses available, even among the perfumed incense, but HEM succeed because they are readily available and are very cheap.  I am not a fan of HEM, but I don't dislike them, and I was tempted by this Amazon offer of 22 packs for £10 back in April and got it. The package came straight from India by air, so the perfume in this, and the other 21, is reasonably fresh - which is important with perfumed incense as the perfume can and does evaporate over time.   

HEM incense is 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. HEM 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  HEM scent just hits the spot; and, like drinking a straightforward pale lager can be palate cleansing and refreshing after sampling a range of imperial stouts, so it can be diverting to burn a HEM after a period of burning some complex masala incense.  

The chemical origin of the scent on this Morning Mist is clear straight away. The scent on the stick is sharp, volatile, and plainly chemical. It is again quite chemical and artificial on the burn. It burns rapidly and quite hot, throwing up an abundance of blue smoke which does look quite attractive. Perfumed charcoal incense tends to burn more rapidly than masala incense, though this can vary depending on the quality and thickness of the masala as well as the lengths of the sticks. In general a decent masala will burn for around an hour, while a decent perfumed charcoal will burn for around 30 minutes. This HEM Morning Mist burns for around 50 minutes. 

It is difficult to pin down the scent. It is a fairly generic perfumed charcoal scent. It is sharp, bright, perfumed, slightly floral - jasmine, inclining to pine disinfectant, with some familiar and fairly attractive notes that I can't quite pin down.  On the whole it's a fairly clean and acceptable scent that is better than I'm painting it. I'm not going to rave about it, but I like its fresh boldness, and that it is crisp and uplifting. I like its simplicity and directness. It is uncomplicated and unpretentious. It is what it is - a simple chemical scent soaked onto a charcoal paste. It quickly and boldly brightens the room, penetrating into several rooms. The downside, as is the case with much perfumed incense, is that, unlike masala incense, it doesn't leave a lingering incense smell in the house. However, it is OK.

Date: Dec 2022  Score: 25

***

HEM Corporation

Koya's Agarbathi

 

Koya's was founded in Bangalore in 1970 by Ahamed Kutti, who came from Kerala in Southwest India. The three best selling brands are Vishnu Leela, Maya Supreme, and Intimate.  They are a well established Indian incense company with a wide range of products including perfumed and natural/masala incense sticks, and currently export to several Asian countries. They don't yet have an export deal with the West, though some incense was available in America through Amazon, and received a positive response. 

Their perfumed incenses are decent quality - long lasting, no off-notes, and with attractive perfumes. They are decent everyday perfumed incenses. But it is the masala range that has really impressed me. The everyday masalas are damn good, and excellent value for money based on their domestic prices, while some of the premium masalas, such as their Rasta and Nirvana, are world class, and are either in my Heavenly collection or my Wall of Fame.  

I can't recall why Koya's sent me some samples back in 2021 - I seem to have the early part of our communication missing, and the guy dealing with me, Junaid, has moved on, so I don't wish to bother him again. But it is possible they were looking for some feedback on how their incense would be received in the West. I found their perfumed incense professionally made, long-lasting, heady, and generally good quality everyday room-fresheners. I found their masala incense great, and a number of them I consider world class. Yet they still don't appear to have an outlet in the West. I know that Eugene of Bhagwan approached them to set up a rebadge deal, but they were  only interested in selling under their own name - I have full respect for that. I did consider doing a deal with them, and they said they would sell to me at factory price provided I pay for shipping. But I pulled out because my health and energy is variable. It's a shame that such a decent quality incense house should not be available in the West. 

Reviews

Koya's Rasta Natural Incense Sticks
Dec 2023 - Score: 50=

 

Koya's Heavenwood Premium incense Sticks
Jan 2022 - Score: 50

 

Koya's Nirvana Premium Incense Sticks
Nov 2021 - Score: 48

Koya's Maya Supreme
Sambrani Premium Incense Sticks
June 2023 - Score: 45

 

Koya's Vishnu Leela Herbal Incense Sticks
Dec 2022 - Score: 38

Koya's Intimate Premium incense Sticks
Oct 2023 - Score: 33=

 

Koya's Oudh Premium Incense Sticks
Nov 2021 - Score: 32

Koya's Eva For Ever! Rose Premium Incense (P)
Dec 2024): 30↑=↓[Average 31]  

Koya's Eva Sandal Premium Incense
July 2022 - Score: 30

 

Koya's Shanthi Nivas Premium Incense (PM)
 Feb 2024 - Score: 29↑

  

Koya's Wild Stone Premium Incense Sticks (P)

Sept 2023 - Score: 28 

Koya's Nexa Premium Incense
Oct 2023 - Score: 28↑

Koya's Malabar Sugandh
March 2022 - Score: 27

 

Koya's Pineapple Premium Incense Sticks
March 2022 - Score: 27

 

Koya's Bajrangi Darshan Premium Incense Sticks
Jan 2022 - Score: 23

Scents tried: 15
Top score: 50 

Low score: 23

Average Top 5: 43
Average all:  32 
Score: 38

***

The Best Incense Makers

Happy Hari's Nag Champa Tru Blu

 

Nag Champa Tru Blu was one of the last things that Paul Eagle was working on before his death on Christmas Day 2016.  A nag champa (magnolia and sandalwood) incense in the style of the original Satya Nag Champa, which sold in blue boxes. There was some anticipatory discussion, such as this on Fragantica.  And the incense was listed for sale on some sites around Aug 2016.  

Print of the label

Stocks were quickly sold out, as here on Amazon. And I'm not sure where or when I got my pack.  

Promotional post of the incense packs

It is quite a modest amount of paste thinly rolled onto a pink dyed hand-cut bamboo splint, and then meagrely coated in a melnoorva powder. The paste has dried firm. The scent is quite heavenly. Sweet, lush, candyish, floral, vanilla, creamy, quite light and feminine. Out of interest, I compared it to a 2017 Satya Nag Champa. 

 

Happy Hari Tru Blu top
Satya Nag Champa below

The Satya has a generous amount of still soft charcoal paste rolled around a plain machine-cut bamboo splint, and then given a fluffy coating of melnoorva powder. The scent is very similar, though much softer - less clear, and not as sweet or joyful. Very attractive, though. And really, very, very similar. 

On the burn the Tru Blu is pure - not smoky, and with few or no off notes. Bits of basic wood scent do dominate briefly now and again, but mostly it is the heart notes that are apparent, candied violets, a touch of parma violets, magnolia - waxy floral notes underscored by some wood. Few of the delightful sweet, light, feminine notes apparent on the stick survive the burn, but this is fairly common. Though the paste is quite thin, the scent is bold enough to be detected from a distance, and will inform a small to medium sized room. 

Satya's Nag Champa takes a while to settle into the burn - initially it is burning wood that is mostly detected, then come heart notes of warm, prickly sheep's wool, which is what I associate with halmaddi. Some sweetness comes through, quite gently, with a subtle range of other scents that keep the incense interesting, but at no point does it really become profound. It's a warm, comforting, pleasant scent that hovers between sweet and dry, and between woody and floral. An attractive, reassuring, and calming scent, but not one to really delight the mind or senses. 

The experience of the two incenses are very similar on the stick, but do somewhat diverge on the burn. I think Paul's intention was to have an incense stick that was similar to Satya's Nag Champa before the brother's split. At that time in 2016, it was largely believed that the reason for the decline in quality of Satya Nag Champa was due to the Indian government banning the extraction of halmaddi resin because it was harming the trees which were grown and valued for their wood. My own researches have shown that a few years after the death of their father in approx 1999, his two sons jointly owned Satya. One brother,  Balkrishna Setty, remained in charge of production in Bangalore, while Nagraj, based in Mumbai, remained in charge of international distribution. In 2014, the brothers split up. Nagraj had the distribution, but not the original production, so for some years he sold Satya incense that was not made to the original recipes. Balkrishna sold the original incense, but struggled to get international distribution because his brother had all the contacts. Balkrishna took his brother to court around 2016-2017 to stop him from distributing poor quality incense under the Satya name.  That appears to have worked, as the quality of  Nagraj distributed incense has improved. See Satya (Shrinivas Sugandhalaya) for more details.

Anyway, back in 2016 when Paul contracted for the Tru Blu, he would have believed that the decline in Satya Nag Champa was due to Satya not using halmaddi in the recipe. I suspect that he ordered some nag champa to be made with halmaddi. However, by 2016 the ban on halmaddi production had been lifted, so there would be no reason for Satya not to be using it. Plus, halmaddi is not an essential ingredient in a nag champa, which gets its aroma from magnolia champaca not from the resin of  the ailanthus triphysa tree. And, of the two incenses, I detect more halmaddi in the Satya! 

Both of these incenses are attractive, but both deliver more on the stick than they do on the burn. I am a little disappointed in both, and I may be in a position where I may consider down grading my score on my review of Satya Nag Champa. I've largely held it at 50 (my top score) over the years because it was the incense that got me into exploring the world of incense. It was the first incense that really knocked me for six. I have romantic and nostalgic reasons for keeping it at 50, but I have already knocked it off the top spot by Koya's Rasta (which is an astonishing incense), so I might as well give it the score I would give it today, as if approaching it for the first time, which would be 40. 

As for Tru Blu. It's good, but nothing really special. 

Date: Dec 2022    Score: 34  

***

Happy Hari Incense

Nag Champa

Happy Hari Kings of Incense Absolut Sandal

 

Sealed pack of a Happy Hari Absolut Sandal in my collection, now opened! There is still a bit of moisture in the paste, though the aroma on the stick is not great when straight out of the pack. Somewhat musty, and more like shoe polish than sandalwood, though there is clearly creamy sandalwood from the absolute oil. 

The burn is a little smoky, and there is a lack of clarity about the scent. It's woody, and there are sandalwood notes, but it's not what one would expect from an absolute sandalwood oil. 

Not all of  Paul Eagle's Happy Hari incenses were great, and not all have survived over the years. I don't recall having this one fresh, so I have nothing to compare it to. The Kings of Incense brand was particularly variable - some sticks under that name were among my favourites: Kings of Incense Queen of Roses and Kings of Incense Queen of Lotus in particular, but Kings of Incense King of Sandalwood and Kings of Incense King of Myrrh were rather ordinary. 

Anyway, this vintage, original Kings of Incense Absolut Sandal is not good. 


Date: Dec 2022    Score: 21 

***

Happy Hari Incense

Sandalwood

Radha Madhav Nag Champa

Radha Madhav are a Mumbai based incense company who are followers of Krishna. All their incense is traditionally made using natural ingredients. They are distributed in the UK by Gokula, who are also followers of Krishna. Available at £8.99 for 180 gm from Gokula. 

Standard masala stick - a fragrant charcoal paste hand-rolled onto a hand-cut bamboo splint, and then covered in woody melnoorva powder to dry. There is a pleasant scent on the stick which is mostly informed by essential oil. Quite sweet and floral, with magnolia aspects.  Very enjoyable. The paste is quite dry, though this is a vintage stick from May 2013, so drying out is to be expected. 

The scent on the burn is quite acceptable, though is more woody than floral; however, this is quite typical of even fresh masala sticks as the higher floral notes are more detectable on the stick, while  they tend to be obscured during the burn by the heavier woody notes. The experience here is somewhat similar to that with Ramakrishna's Nag Champa, which I reviewed very fresh. Indeed, there is little to separate the two, other than in age. The scents on the Ramakrishna stick were brighter and more delicious mostly, I feel, due to the freshness of the stick. 

On the whole this is a pleasant and acceptable nag champa masala; and, as with other Radha Madhav I've reviewed, is what would be expected from a decent everyday masala. Something has been lost due to the age, though Happy Hari Meena Supreme incense I've been burning steadily for the past seven years still burns true and brilliant. 

Date: Dec 2022     Score: 29

***

Radha Madhav Agarbatti

Gokula-incense

Nag Champa

Shroff Channabasappa Mogra

  

This is a very decent jasmine (mogra) scented incense. The hand-rolled masala paste is moist and pliable and redolent with fragrant oil - it is like an old fashioned hair oil or cologne. Though floral, it is quite masculine - woody, spicy, aromatic, slightly citric, rather like Brut cologne. Well, actually, it is better than Brut - more interesting, more varied, sweeter and more musky. Fascinating scent. I love this. 

The scent on the burn is a little smoky, but mostly quite clean, and strongly related to the scent on the stick: floral, masculine, woody, sweet and spicy. It quickly and boldly informs the room creating a scented and comfortable warmth. Masculine without being manly or aggressive. It is a scent to reassure with confidence, and to delight with the interplay of floral notes - hints of heather and jasmine, and of woody, spicy notes. This is lovely.  This is the best mogra/jasmine incense I've burned, and I think it may be the best Shroff that I have burned. The interplay between the essential oils and the dried ingredients produces such an assured and delightful range of scents both woody and floral. Nice one.   

Date: Dec 2022    Score: 45 

***

Shroff Incense

Best jasmine incense

Jasmine v Jasmine (a burn off)

Reviewed on ORS

Happy Hari / Cultures of Eden Dragons Blood Incense

 

I still have stocks of Happy Hari incense in my collection. This is some Dragon Blood incense Paul Eagle, the owner of Happy Hari, imported for Holly Paige of Cultures of Eden, who no longer sells incense, but continues to sell cool things via her FoodForConsciousness website. The label is a little faded with age, but the incense is still fine. 

This is quite a dry incense. I have burned two of the sticks previously, though I can't remember when, and I didn't do a review, so I'm not sure if they were always quite so dry. There is a sharp volatile aroma on the stick, indicative of a perfume or oil. The scent, though, is fresh, crisp, quite mineral, a little bit marine, neutral but uplifting. The colour of the paste is Dragons Blood red, though quite dark, almost black. 

To be fair, I think the bulk of the scent on these sticks are carried by the perfume or oil, and because the packet had been opened, some of the finer aspects of the scent has evaporated. On the burn the scent is not as crisp or fresh as on the stick, indeed, it is a little smoky. However, it is still a fine scent, and still carries enough of the significance of dragons blood to make it a worthwhile if not exactly transcendental burn. 

Date: Dec 2022   Score: 28 

***

Happy Hari Incense

Dragon's blood