Just checking in on this one again, as the box is so attractive, and I gave it such a low score. Having burned a few Phool incense since July, it is fairly clear that Kailapira are copying Phool. The pull out drawer type of packaging, the style and colouring of the packet design, the story of saving sacred rivers, helping the poor and marginalised, and reusing temple flowers, are all copied from Phool. And, like Phool, the finished product smells of dirty water and damp, decaying flowers. Though, mostly, it smells of sawdust. It really presents as though the company just got together some old flowers petals and sawdust, and made a dhoop incense stick out of it. Oh, guess what, that is exactly what has happened. Piss poor stuff. Smells like cheap perfume-dipped incense where the perfume has all evaporated. I think I may just throw this away. I'll keep the box though, that is useful.
Date: Dec 2023 Score: 18
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| First review |
Bought from Aavyaa for ₹240 (approx £2.40). Kailapira is a new company for me; I was attracted because they are another company, like Phool with all their incenses and Ranga Rao with their Pushkarini, who make incense from discarded temple flowers. Kailapira is a brand name of Jagrati Associates, a small company founded in 2021 by Rajeev Bansal in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, in the north of India. They employ youngsters on a drug rehabilitation programme, and ensure that the incense is organic and bamboo and charcoal free. They have a video which explains how they work. The flowers are collected, cleaned and sorted, then dried and powdered, and mixed with other ingredients before being formed into dhoop sticks by machine. The main scent is delivered by fragrant oils.
The packaging is attractive and well made, giving the impression of a quality product. As with Japanese and Phool incense, the packaging is in the form of a tray which slides out - useful to keep when the incense is finished, as it can be reused to store other incense or watches or ear-rings, etc. The name, Alaknanda, comes from a Himalayan river, one of the two sources for the Ganges river. Part of the aim of the company is to prevent rivers from being polluted by discarded temple flowers and general waste - which is, of course, the main aim of Phool. There is a square dhoop holder included, which is made from cow dung and red earth.
The scent on the dhoop is perfumed, delicate, floral, faintly room freshener pine, and pleasant without being especially appealing. Floral scents are generally not among my favourites, nor are delicate scents ones that get me excited. And this one just feels too synthetic. At which point I look to the back of the pack to read the ingredients: Temple Flowers, Saw Dust, Joss Powder, Surokhar, Guar Gum, & Synthetic Compound. "Suokhar" is Potassium nitrate, also known as saltpetre. The only fragrant ingredients are the dried flower powder, and possibly the Synthetic Compound. So the scent on the dhoop must be a synthetic perfume.
It takes a while to get fully lit, but the upside of that is that it burns slowly and evenly. A slow burn tends to favour the fragrant release of top note perfumes. In this case that doesn't happen, and mostly what is noticed during the burn is the aroma of smouldering sawdust and garden waste. Which is, essentially, what this product contains. A note on the sawdust. The company make a claim of being charcoal free and eco-friendly, but we must be aware and accept that burning sawdust is not eco-friendly and is considered more damaging to the environment than burning charcoal. The best use of wood is as furniture or building material, that way the wood keeps the carbon locked inside. Any form of wood burning, be it charcoal or sawdust, puts carbon back into the atmosphere. It is what it is. Pretending that burning sawdust is eco-friendly is pulling the wool over our eyes. Let us be honest and upfront about our activities.
For all the quality packaging and good intent, this is essentially a poor quality product which produces a faint smouldering sawdust smell. It is not worth ₹240 (or even ₹160, when bought direct from the company) - it is style and image over content. Because the smell is so modest it is not actually offensive, and would be suitable for some forms of cleansing around the house. Because of the auspicious nature of the temple flowers, this would also favour modest everyday spiritual cleansing. We'll be burning ours in the outhouse.
Date: July 2023 Score: 24
The packaging is attractive and well made, giving the impression of a quality product. As with Japanese and Phool incense, the packaging is in the form of a tray which slides out - useful to keep when the incense is finished, as it can be reused to store other incense or watches or ear-rings, etc. The name, Alaknanda, comes from a Himalayan river, one of the two sources for the Ganges river. Part of the aim of the company is to prevent rivers from being polluted by discarded temple flowers and general waste - which is, of course, the main aim of Phool. There is a square dhoop holder included, which is made from cow dung and red earth.
The scent on the dhoop is perfumed, delicate, floral, faintly room freshener pine, and pleasant without being especially appealing. Floral scents are generally not among my favourites, nor are delicate scents ones that get me excited. And this one just feels too synthetic. At which point I look to the back of the pack to read the ingredients: Temple Flowers, Saw Dust, Joss Powder, Surokhar, Guar Gum, & Synthetic Compound. "Suokhar" is Potassium nitrate, also known as saltpetre. The only fragrant ingredients are the dried flower powder, and possibly the Synthetic Compound. So the scent on the dhoop must be a synthetic perfume.
It takes a while to get fully lit, but the upside of that is that it burns slowly and evenly. A slow burn tends to favour the fragrant release of top note perfumes. In this case that doesn't happen, and mostly what is noticed during the burn is the aroma of smouldering sawdust and garden waste. Which is, essentially, what this product contains. A note on the sawdust. The company make a claim of being charcoal free and eco-friendly, but we must be aware and accept that burning sawdust is not eco-friendly and is considered more damaging to the environment than burning charcoal. The best use of wood is as furniture or building material, that way the wood keeps the carbon locked inside. Any form of wood burning, be it charcoal or sawdust, puts carbon back into the atmosphere. It is what it is. Pretending that burning sawdust is eco-friendly is pulling the wool over our eyes. Let us be honest and upfront about our activities.
For all the quality packaging and good intent, this is essentially a poor quality product which produces a faint smouldering sawdust smell. It is not worth ₹240 (or even ₹160, when bought direct from the company) - it is style and image over content. Because the smell is so modest it is not actually offensive, and would be suitable for some forms of cleansing around the house. Because of the auspicious nature of the temple flowers, this would also favour modest everyday spiritual cleansing. We'll be burning ours in the outhouse.
Date: July 2023 Score: 24
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Is the Saltpetre noticable smell wise?
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments Rajeev. I'm not against synthetic perfume. Some of my favourite incenses primarily use synthetic perfume. Nor am I against the ingredients in your incense, and I really, really like and appreciate that you list them.
ReplyDeleteMy point is that when you lead the customer in one direction, but then deliver something quite different from what is expected, there is going to be a sense of disappointment. As the impression given is that you are a caring, considerate company, and you are reusing temple flowers, I had expected a more natural product, so I felt disappointed that the scent (which is the main point of incense) is synthetic.
But I would have overcome that disappointment if the scent had been pleasant. Unfortunately, the scent didn't really make enough of an impression. Perhaps there isn't enough of it in the mix? Or perhaps I had old stock and the perfume had faded? There was a pleasant scent on the stick (which is where synthetic perfumes are mostly noticed), but is wasn't very strong. And when burned, even though the stick burned slowly, the perfume evaporated too quickly, leaving just the aroma of the burning sawdust and flower dust.
I really like your company Rajeev, and I want it to do well.
ReplyDelete