As with many Western based incense companies, the Indian makers of this incense are not revealed. The West is a promising market for Indian incense makers, but it is difficult to break into without contacts or money. So, deals such as anonymously making incense for a Western company is the next best thing. And it makes clear business sense for the Western company not to reveal who their source is because other companies may approach their source. It's a shame, though, that proper contracts can't be drawn up which gives the Western company exclusive rights in certain markets, and allows the Indian makers to be named and known, so they don't remain invisible, and can take more credit and benefit for their work.
The Jasmine is a little sharp on the stick - there is the sense of a waxy, heady jasmine scent, though it's just a little too concentrated on the stick, with enough volatility to indicate this is some form of fragrance or essential oil. It's a proper hand rolled charcoal paste on a machine-cut green-dyed bamboo splint, then coated in a woolly noorva powder. I'm still not entirely clear on the name and purpose of melnoorva or noorva powder. At this point, it appears that melnoorva powder is a wood powder used to coat damp fragrant paste on finished joss sticks to prevent them gluing together as they dry, while noorva powder is a fragrant powder used to coat an otherwise mostly non-fragrant damp paste - and the main scent comes from the noorva powder.
It's a little woody on the burn, then gently settles into jasmine underscored with woody notes. There's the woolly warmth of halmaddi. It's a pleasing, warm, gentle, fragrant scent - quite uplifting, though in a calm, settled manner. Uplifting as in positive thoughts rather than energy. It quickly but non-aggressively informs a medium size room, and lingers pleasantly for a while afterwards. All in all this is a good incense, a decent everyday masala that I'd be very happy to burn again. I like it.
Score: 30
The Maharaja has been quickly and crudely hand rolled onto a machine-cut green-dyed bamboo splint. The charcoal paste is soft and slightly moist. The scent on the stick is fruity (dark fruits, cherry sweet, blackberry sharp) and mildly volatile with warm sandalwood undertones. It's warm, attractive, and slightly sexy.
It is a woody burn, slightly smoky, though it gently informs the room with a soothing and pleasant warmth. It does burn a little hot and fast now and again - perhaps the blend needs adjusting; and that heat and speed may indicate why it is a little more smoky and basic woody without the fruity qualities on the stick: the combustible material is burning the fragrant ingredients too quickly, not allowing them to reveal themselves. Another batch may burn differently. This is pleasant, but on the whole is modest everyday masala, and is unlikely, in this formulation, to be something I would buy again.
Maharaja is an occasional name that makers use for their incense, though it is not very common, and combined with the green tips, I wondered if I could track down who makes these sticks. I found Incense Sampler and Moondance branded examples (other Maharaja named incense didn't have green tips), which look similar, and suggests that the company behind these sticks are a private label, such as Fair Trade.
Score: 26
As with the Maharaja, the burn is a little quick, not allowing much of the floral and fruit qualities to come through. It's not too smoky, though there's little of interest or delight going on. It's a fairly flat and mediocre scent. Rather disappointing after the somewhat interesting scent on the stick.
Score: 20
The Forest Champa is more neatly and firmly rolled than the others - it is also the thinnest. The paste is dryer, though still soft and crumbly. With the name Forest, I was expecting a more woody, perhaps pine, quality, and it does have that. Sandalwood is prominent. A sort of everyday sandalwood. And there are pine elements, though that could be suggestion. Certainly something a little sharp and volatile. It's clear that the prime influencer on the fragrance in all these sticks is a fragrant or essential oil (or blend).
Another hot burn. There is a distinct similarity in all these sticks which indicate poor formulation along with not particularly special ingredients. Not quite budget masala, perhaps, but certainly in that area. I'm not convinced that Sita Sharan is that knowledgeable about incense, nor has much of an input into the formulation and manufacture of these sticks. The scent on the burn is pleasant - it is warm, modest, attractive, friendly, though a little woody, occasionally sharp, somewhat thin, and doesn't take me anywhere. This is fairly average or just under average masala.
Score: 23
The scent on the burn is one of the better one from this sampler. The burn is slower, and allows some of the more delicate fragrances to make themselves known, and it reasonably approximates what is on the stick. There is some of the Julien Empire Blend which I found on the Nag Champa, and a general pleasantness. It's an acceptable modest everyday masala.
Conclusion: The summary is that these are modest everyday masala incenses with poor formulations, and ingredients which are not top quality, which don't display the scents at their best. The scents are acceptable, with the Jasmine being the one I personally found most appealing, though your mileage may vary. I'm classing these as perfumed masala as I feel the bulk of the work is being done by a fragrance oil rather than pure dry ingredients or pure essential oil.
Working through this sampler I feel that I have got to know the Surya range, and it's not something I'm interested in exploring further. I like that Surya donate 10% of their profits to widows, but I'd prefer that the company threw open the curtain on who makes the incense.
Nag Champa |
Jasmine v Jasmine (a burn off) |
Hey Steve,
ReplyDeleteregarding who is making the incense, you might find this Reddit comment interesting: https://www.reddit.com/r/Incense/comments/tj2lob/floral_incense_recommendations/i1nx3pa/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3
That's interesting, as when I was looking around for uses of the name Darbari, I came upon Hare Krishna Das. I've just made an order from Hare Krishna Das - be interesting to compare what I get with the Surya Sampler.
DeleteOh, cool! I don't know Darbari but I got the Rasbihari Lal & Sons sampler from Padma Store last year and enjoyed most of them quite a bit.
ReplyDeleteBut I also need to remark that it seems to me, they have quite drastic fluctuations in their recipes/quality. :(