Cottage Industries Heritage No. 11 Mattipal

Sample from Padma Store in Germany.  There is an old fashioned (or, rather, an older style) scent on the stick that is kind of a blend of Indian joss sticks from the Seventies and an old ladies rose perfume. It's a more attractive scent than that description, but at the same time there's nothing exciting, new, or interesting about the scent.  I suppose, familiar, undemanding, and reassuring could be positive words to use instead of old fashioned and unexciting. It's each to their own.  

  

Though given the number 11, this is apparently the first scent created for The Mother at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry. It seems it took 11 attempts before The Mother was satisfied with the scent.  It is part of Cottage Industries Heritage Range - other scents follow in number sequence from 12 to 20. 

 

A bodhi tree at Mahabodhi Temple, said to be a
direct descendant of the tree Buddha sat under

Mattipal is the sacred fig or peepal tree, Ficus religiosa, also called bodhi because Buddha obtained enlightened while sitting under a fig tree. The essence of the leaves of the tree has a pleasant spritzy, figgy, honey fragrance. It is used in some fine perfumes, such as Teone Reinthal's Bodhi, and 4160 Tuesdays Bodhi Language.  There is occasionally some confusion regarding mattipal being another name for halmaddi,  the resin which is used, like gum arabica, as a binder to slow down the burning and hold and intensify the scent of the fragrant ingredients in an incense. This is because mattipal is a name given to two different trees - the Ficus religiosa, which produces the mattipal fragrance essence, and Ailanthus triphysa, which produces the halmaddi gum resin. Halmaddi does not have an attractive scent, and there are no perfumes, even cheap ones, made from halmaddi as far as I know. So while mattipal can refer to the halmaddi tree as well as the sacred fig tree, when it comes to the fragrance, mattipal only refers to the sacred fig. 

On the burn the scent is warm and friendly with a decent sensual musky base. I can be convinced there is some fig in the aroma, though it is a restrained sweetness, and a modest fruit. There is little zest or life. I am picking up few top notes, which could just be me, but at the moment this incense is not doing a lot for me. Now and again, just drifting by on the breeze, there is a suggestion of rose petals. 

On the whole I find this a modest and somewhat old fashioned perfumed-charcoal scent. Given that it was developed in 1949, that it is old fashioned is understandable; that it is somewhat limited for an incense that has been moderately successful for over 60 years is a little more surprising. 

Date: March 2023    Score:  24 

Cottage Industries