This is the third of the four Om Brand incenses I bought on Aavyaa as a combo deal. I've not got on with the previous two, which were perfumed-incense rather than the masala I was expecting, and complained in my reviews about the price and packaging leading to a certain expectation which was not met. This prompted Rahul Kairamkonda of Om Brand to get in touch to offer their latest and improved products for sample, which have "several enhancements and refinements" which he feels will address some of my concerns. These samples are now on their way, and I look forward to trying them. I like the confidence of a company to send new samples to a blogger who has been critical. Added to this incident, a regular reader of IncenseInTheWind, whose opinions and knowledge I respect, has been in touch to say that he is concerned that Aavyaa may be conducting a scam, and have somehow swapped the true Vedamrut incense for an inferior product. This is not my belief at all. There are several perfectly plausible explanations for me not liking the perfume-dipped Vedamrut - the most obvious is that I simply did not respond to them personally. Scent appreciation is highly subjective. Proust's madeleine moment was entirely personal to him. One person's aphrodisiac scent is another one's turn off. The next most likely is that there was a packaging error in the factory. Another is that there was a production error. And so on. I have 100% confidence in Vishesh Mehra of Aavyaa, and the authenticity of the products he sells. However, I am intrigued that folks feel I have been harsh on the two Vedamruts so far.
Meanwhile, this Vedamrut is a different stick of incense entirely. This is a masala - perfumed, yes, but delightfully so. And this is an interesting scent which has several facets so is somewhat more compelling. The sticks resemble a dried flora or fluxo style - those incense sticks that tend to be rich with fragrance, and are often moist and heavy, though can be dry. The scent on the stick is heavy, earthy, compelling - the sort of scent I like. The sticks are 9 inches long, with 7 inches of dry, crumbly paste that was hand-rolled onto a chunky bamboo splint. The paste is thicker than average, and has been scruffily coated in a thin brown finishing wood powder. The sticks burn for around 70 minutes, and there are around 25 sticks in the box, which is weighed at 50g. MRP is 200 Rupees (approx £2).
When lit, the flame is wild, and produces a lot of black smoke. It is advisable to blow out quickly. Once the flame is blown out, the burn produces copious amounts of thick dusky grey and blue steel smoke. The scent is rich and flavoursome - heady and bold without being aggressive. This is my sort of incense. Very Indian, very intoxicating - a total experience.
When lit, the flame is wild, and produces a lot of black smoke. It is advisable to blow out quickly. Once the flame is blown out, the burn produces copious amounts of thick dusky grey and blue steel smoke. The scent is rich and flavoursome - heady and bold without being aggressive. This is my sort of incense. Very Indian, very intoxicating - a total experience.
There's a decent amount of warm wood in the scent, and a naughty candy sweetness that will generally seduce me, plus some tropical fruit top notes just out of reach - pineapple, melon suggestions, and a cool mineral middle that holds the fruit and the wood together. It's in the area of oudh; and though not quite as delicious and musky as top examples, it is still attractive enough to hold my attention. I think it's the fruitiness combined with the soft, seductive, overwhelming cushion of impact, that really make it for me. While perhaps not a great example of oudh, it has other delights that make this stick quite compelling.
Om Sai are primarily a maker of Flora/Fluxo sticks. This is what they do and I really like what they are doing with their Vedamrut line. I will also go as far as saying they make the best Floras today. This Oudh is not a masala as you seem to think it is. It's unfortunate that Om Sai didn't label these as Flora which they do on the other sticks in this line. Labeling them as perfumed incense misses the mark and puts them into a trashy category, IMO. They do use some synthetic oils which they introduce into the mix but that doesn't make this into a perfumed stick. What makes this stick so unique is the balance of the base with the added high notes of florals and fruit. I don't recall any Oudh stick smelling like theirs. But this is a flora and not a typical masala and not comparable to comparing it with Oudh Masala from TOI, let's say, or AB. That focus is on the oudh oil alone. This is something else and that's what intrigues me. Floras are devotional incense, made for certain occasions of worship. They have a different focus and purpose than the normal masala incense. Because we are not Indians, we don't really get it.
ReplyDeleteThe black smoke you mention is present in about every stick I've tried from them. I noticed no off smelling odors from the sticks. The grayish ash is produced by the coconut ash they add to the mix to help it burn according to what Om Sai has told me. It is a natural product. Their sticks are generally smokey. They are floras and probably should be burned in larger rooms.
My experience with their Vedamrut Lavander is also a positive one. There is nothing perfumed about this stick. Just about every company uses synthetic oils today. It is not a deal killer unless you absolutely hate a particular scent but none of the quality floras including the Lavander, which is also a flora though not marked as such, is perfumed in the sense that the majority of the stick is not dipped into oils as are the very cheap sticks of some lines. Halmaddi is also a feature in these floras.
FYI, the boxes of Shivmani, Nargis, Tirupati, S.F., Veda, Vithoba are all high quality floras which get high marks from me. The only one from the Vedamrut line that I didn't like is the Saffron Sandal which is not for sale yet. I think they've missed it on this one but they are still working on it so we'll see. I think we have a new champion of Flora/Fluxo replacing the Elif brand and giving Meena a run for their money, also.
I have discovered over the years that the whole notion of what is a masala and what is a perfumed is rather flexible and unclear. Though I have this blog, and it is successful, I am not an incense expert. Indeed, I started this blog to learn about incense, and that is still what I am doing. I ask Indian incense makers what they understand by masala and by flora and by perfumed, and the answers are never the same. I have at times wondered if I should even be classing the incense I review as masala or perfumed.
DeleteThis incense presents as masala in that it gives the appearance of a masala. Some incense makers have said that they place a finishing powder of scentless noorva or melnoorva (wood powder) on the stick not just to prevent the sticks from gluing together but also to give the appearance of masala because that is what people expect. I've also read that the noorva powder itself may contain fragrant ingredients, but I'm not clear on that. Nor does it really make much sense as the fragrant ingredients would be the most expensive and important, so it would, from both a crafting and an economical viewpoint, be better to place a measured amount of fragrant powders into the paste as it is being made to ensure consistency and prevent waste.
So, the understanding is that if an incense stick has a finishing powder it is intended to be perceived as a masala. That is generally, so I informed, one of the reasons why a number of incense companies are reluctant to make masala style incense using extrusion machines, because extruded sticks don't give the appearance of being masala. Though a number of decent incense houses do use machine made sticks using a masala based formulation because of the consistency and economy. So it varies.
DeleteAs regards flora/fluxo and masala. Here the makers are pretty much consistent in their conversations with me that flora is a type of masala. So my understanding is that a true flora is a masala, though one that relies heavily on liquid fragrances such as essentials oils, usually well mixed with an agarbatti oil.
I have noted, however, that some companies make an incense which they term a flora, but which is clearly a perfume-dipped incense. So, we get into the whole notion of what constitutes "perfume-dipped" or simple "perfumed".
In my wanderings and explorings I am finding that all companies that use essential oils will dilute them with something like an "agarbatti oil" such as diethyl phthalate (DEP), and that almost all companies will make use of synthetic scents as they are more reliable, flexible, and economic.
So, it appears to me that we have some obvious everyday perfumed-charcoal or perfume-dipped sticks, which are not presented as anything other than perfumed incense. And we have some purely natural incense blends such as I find from individuals or wiccan folk or from Tibetan companies. And in between that we have a wide range of incenses that make use of a variety of fragrant ingredients such as plants, woods, resins, essential oils, perfumes, and synthetic scents.
Anyway - this is to say that when suggesting that an incense is perfumed is not intended as an insult. Many of the best incense houses have their own perfume department and will spend much time, money, and care into researching compelling scents. Whenever I use the term perfumed I am thinking of liquid scents, which may range from something cheap and nasty up to something exquisite like Chanel No. 5, but which are not crushed resins, woods, or plants. That a scent is based on a natural plant, cut, dried and crushed, does not necessarily make it attractive. That a scent is based on a perfume does not necessarily make it trashy. But there is a different way a liquid scent behaves to a dried scent. Liquid scents have a volatility that dried scents do not. Liquid scents disperse more rapidly than dried scents. Liquid scents are more rapid and immediate and variable and complex and flexible. Liquid scents, well made ones that is, will have interesting scent journeys, and will create fascinating accords. This, at least, is what I am discovering. And I am discovering more all the time.
I am currently reporting on the colour of the smoke from most incense I am reviewing because there has been some discussion that the black smoke is indicative of DEP, and that the better quality incenses don't have black smoke. I'm at the same time reporting on the nature of the flame, as I see some sticks where the flame flares up, and others where it is small and reluctant to keep going, but is happy to smoulder.
DeleteI don't know what these observations mean at the moment, but I think it's worthwhile recording them to learn more. Please don't take any observations of black smoke to be an insult to your favoured incense. It is an observation not a criticism.
I don't think I mentioned ash. I mentioned the colour of the smoke. I found the colour of the smoke attractive. I find it interesting that you are leaping to defend this incense even when I am saying positive things.
DeleteBy coconut ash I assume you mean coconut charcoal. It is replacing other forms of charcoal, though willow and bamboo charcoal are still widely used as they are cheaper.
Charcoal of any sort is not the main cause of smoke - the particles that create smoke have already been burned off in the creating of the charcoal. It is other ingredients in a stick that create the smoke, including the bamboo stick and the perfumes/fragrant or essential oils.
Thanks for your comments. I found them interesting.
DeleteSteve, according to Om Sai, the Oudh is the only vedamrut without halmaddi. They don't consider this line to be Floras. I stand corrected and masala would be more correct. One could argue that floras are also masalas, but there is something similar that runs through a traditional flora. Halmaddi is one of the constants and probably other resins that make up the base. Basebatti is another term that some makers use for masalas. I know, it gets confusing and the definitions change from one maker to another.
ReplyDelete"the definitions change from one maker to another" has been my experience. That, and much misunderstanding here in the West. Halmaddi, in particular, is something that appears to be widely misunderstood. And I'm still not completely clear on its use, though I have spoken with several makers about it, who vary in their response. Some seem to simply want to say what they think I want to hear, while others are clearer and more helpful. My understanding from what I have been told is that halmaddi is sometimes used in perfumed incense (not the perfume-dipped incense, but the incense where the perfume ingredients are put in the paste before rolling), and is not always an ingredient in a masala or flora/fluxo. Using halmaddi appears to be a decision by the incense maker. Some makers always use it. Some never use it. And some will use it in this, but not that incense. And some will use it for different reasons than their neighbour. Its promotion as an ingredient appears to be due to market influence - the Western market has a fascination with halmaddi, and so incense packets aimed at Western markets may mention the use of halmaddi. Anything to get an edge. Like brewers who say they use spring water or water from their own artesian well. Sounds good. But all water in brewing is treated to give the best brewing results. It's not the water that makes the difference in the taste of the beer, but the way the water is treated. Same with incense. Ingredients by themselves do not make great incense - it's how the ingredients are used. It helps to have the best or most appropriate ingredients. But if those ingredients are not well blended and formulated, then the end result will be poor. I feel that weak ingredients properly formulated can make a better smelling incense than great ingredients poorly formulated.
DeleteCan you give an example of a flora or fluxo that doesn't contain halmaddi?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I could identify when an incense doesn't use halmaddi - same as I can't always tell when a coconut charcoal hasn't been used - some coconut formulations burn in a particular stringy way, so it's easier to say when a coconut has been used rather than when it hasn't. I can tell when a synthetic perfume has been used, but not always when a synthetic hasn't been used. Etc. Also, the exact nature of a flora seems to vary from company to company. Moksh Swarna Sai Flora Batti is very different to Sri Sai Flora Fluxo Incense. Some may say that the Moksh doesn't meet their definition of a flora. I don't really have a definition, but my experience is that incenses called flora tend to be rich with fragrant oils - mostly fragrance oils and/or essential oils in DEP. The exact balance of natural oils to synthetic oils/DEP will be down to the incense house in pitching the incense at a target audience. In my experience, I find the Moksh doesn't match the norm. And I tend, also, to use Sri Sai Flora Fluxo as the template for a flora (as that stick is what the others are copying) - rich, wet, heavy, cheap as chips, heady and strong. Dry sticks on the whole don't match the template, but if the majority of incense houses are making dry sticks which they call flora, then that is also a flora. So, for me, I like to observe and note rather than to proscribe. So, I'm not one to say that the Moksh is not a flora; I'm one to note that is what Moksh call it, and it's a little different to most others.
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