A single stick of Padmini Sai Kasturi from SamsaSpoon who runs the PlumeOfSmoke blog, as part of an incense exchange we did. Kasturi is deer musk - originally sourced by cutting the musk glands off a slaughtered male deer, these days the scent is typically prepared from plants and resins such as myrrh, patchouli and lemongrass. The Sai of the name, and the image, are references to Sathya Sai Baba, who stated that he was a reincarnation of Sai Baba, who is referenced in a number of incenses, including Sri Sai Flora and Satya Sai Baba Nag Champa.
The stick is composed of a soft, dry, crumbly paste (unclear if wood powder or charcoal powder - possibly a mix of both), which has been hand rolled onto a machine cut undyed bamboo splint. There is a liquid scent on the stick - soapy, mild alcohol, pine, delicate, perfumed, faint patchouli. Mildly attractive.
I've been recently looking for (and often finding) black smoke when a stick is first lit. I've read a claim that this indicates that the stick contains DEP or some other chemical. When lighting this stick there is some black smoke until the flame is blown out. But this seems to happen even with some pure incense, so I am unsure if the claim is true. I suspect that when the stick is alight it burns quickly, so there is a degree of material not being fully burned, and the soot or denser particles of this partial burn will colour the smoke black.
Anyway, when settled there is a range of mainly dry, sombre, brittle scents. It doesn't feel pure. I get the impression that the bulk of the aroma is coming from a man made scent. The aroma is not assertive - it introduces itself to the room and wanders around softly. Some elements that were on the stick are present, though ghostly - faint soap, faint wood, but mostly the aroma is vague smoke. Now and again there is some faint green patchouli with a hint of mint.
All in all not an incense that I find attractive, and not an incense that is drawing me in. It's not offensive, but it's not doing much.
Wow! This seems to be like a completely different incense to you!
ReplyDeleteSai Kasturi is one I put in because I was curious how you'll like it.
I'm with you with "dry and sombre" but everything else reads like we are talking about 2 different things! lol I really wonder how much of this difference is purely perception and how much is caused by different environment.
I witness this effect on a ragular basis with a friend I often share incense with. An incense can smell so diffrenent, depending on we are buning it at my home or his. It impresses me everytime again.
I think it's like with people and perfumes.
Sai Kasturi is actually one of my favorite Musk incense sticks.
I should totaly bring one of them with me when I visit my friend next time, to see if it smells anything like what you describe at his place!
I have found a variety of reasons why an incense experience can differ (indeed, any sensory experience - I first noticed this when doing beer ratings on RateBeer). Sometimes it is what has been experienced previously, one's mood, what one has just eaten or drunk. Sometimes it is the environment, as you say, the temperature, the space, etc. I hadn't considered temperature until you mentioned it to me a little while ago - and then I read an Indian incense maker talking about certain Indian incenses which are more appropriate for a hotter climate.
DeleteThere are host of reasons: sometimes it is expectation or assumption. Sometimes it is suggestion. Sometimes it is the product itself, varying in some aspect. I've had sticks which smelled awful, rather like burning hair. Then I wondered if what I had experienced was actually burning hair that has been caught up in the paste at some point. Sometimes it might be the condition the product was kept in.
And of course, people themselves are different, and will focus on different things.
I have always been wary of the notion that there can be an absolute reading of a product. There can be objective observations, for sure. Length of stick, length of burning time, colour, texture, etc. And there can be informed assumptions made from the objective observations, such as that the product uses a liquid fragrance, that the fragrance presents as man made or natural, etc. The informed assumptions may be right or wrong. The more experienced or knowledgeable a person is about the product in question, the more likely it is that the assumptions will be correct. But they can't be relied upon, as assumptions can sometimes be wrong.
My own intention when writing a review, is to give my experience of an incense, and all the personal baggage that comes with that, such as prior experience and knowledge of Padmini which will prejudice me either positively or negatively depending on that prior experience and knowledge. In this case I had just recently been looking at Padmini. I like Padmini Dhoop sticks, and early on in my exploration of incense, I had liked some of their perfumed sticks, such as the Clove, which got me very excited back in 2019. And then recently I had the Cinnamon, which I didn't rate very highly, though moved it up after approaching the same incense in a different room, and a different way. I didn't burn all of the Kasturi stick, as I was aware I wasn't get much out of it, and so stopped it and put it aside to see how I would feel later. A part of what may have coloured my approach to the Kasturi (as well as the Cinnamon), is that I had updated my link to the Padmini web site. The old website (which gave information about their incense sticks) was down, and I found a new one which focuses instead on their aroma chemical factory: padminiaromatics.com. The sad thing, like finding out your partner has had an affair behind your back, is you can't unlearn that info. So, I'm approaching Padmini now with that info in my head. When you are aware that the company who makes the incense stick makes chemical aromas, you tend to (consciously or unconsciously) look for that in the stick, and you tend to find it. But I am aware of my sudden prejudice against Padmini, and I was aware that I wasn't getting much from the stick, so I will burn what I have left in a different place to see what happens.
Oh, yes these are all factors too! They all fall under the "perception" point for me. I often wonder how much -being biased- affects my reviews. I'm a over-thinker, so when I know I'm biased about a brand or a certain scent, I'm in a constand discussion with my self, if I am to harsh or to forgiving when writing the review.
ReplyDeleteI only had one other Padmini incense before, and that was "OM" - a dipped stick with a vague amber note, lightly spicy, rather faint and I could smell the charcoal base. Not entirely bad but I eventually gave it away as I just didn't use it.
I maybe want to try the dhoops you mention but otherwhise, Padmini is not really interesting for me, for their focus on dipped incense.
I remember, that I had one of the "gold figure" ones as a teen. I kept the empty packaging on a pin bord because I liked the design, but I can't remember for the life of me if I liked them.
Let me know what you find when you try them again.
I'll update when I got to try them at my friends place.