Some Indian incense houses concentrate mainly or exclusively on incense for one market - budget perfumed, or everyday perfumed, or quality perfumed, or everyday masala, or quality masala, etc. Many, such as Hari Darshan, will produce incense across a range of markets. This is part of a series of three "Premium Flora Battis" or "Temple Flora" which are aimed at the luxury box or quality masala market. The marketing on the website says that they are hand-rolled, and that generally would be the understanding for a quality masala because the target consumers prefer the idea of hand rolled; however, these sticks give the appearance of being machine extruded, and then finished in sandy brown wood powder.
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The box is attractive and glossy, catching and reflecting the light. It does look and feel luxury. There are twelve sticks, well made and good looking, 9 inches long with approx 7 inches of paste. RRP is 60 Rupees (approx 60p). I got mine from Aavyaa, where they sell for 120 Rupees (£1.20) with free international shipping. I also bought the other two in the Temple series, so will review those later. These sticks are aimed at the domestic Indian market - I have not seen them on sale outside India (they may well be available somewhere, but a search didn't turn up any sources outside India). The sticks burn for around 75 minutes.
I've not quite pinned down exactly what is meant when Indian incense companies describe their sticks as "Flora". There appears to be a sense that it means "premium", and that it is highly likely to be a masala style incense, another term with flexible and variable meaning. The main sense of a masala is that it only uses ground natural ingredients - flowers, plants, herbs, woods, resins, spices - for the fragrant ingredients. However, it appears to have long been acceptable to use fragrant oils to supplement the dried ingredients, and while it may originally have been pure, natural essential oils that were used, these days the fragrant oils may be mostly or entirely fragrance oils - that is the oils may be synthetic, or may be essential oils diluted with a carrier such as DEP. The fragrance in some masala style incense may be mostly or even entirely based on fragrance oils, with the stick given a dusting of wood powder to give the appearance of being a traditional masala stick. I say this without pointing any fingers, and without hard evidence - this is just my speculation based on discussions with Indian incense houses, and my experience with a variety of masala style sticks. Anyway - a Flora stick, from my experience, appears to be a stick that is influenced by Sri Sai Flora Fluxo, and will tend to be weighty and rich with oils. However, I have encountered a number of sticks which are termed Flora, which are not weighty, and which may be quite dry. Discussions with Indian incense houses tends to give me the impression that a Flora is regarded as a traditional incense of some quality, though the specifics beyond that vary, so the main sense appears to be "a premium or quality masala style stick". There are no actual scents or ingredients or production methods which appear to define Flora - it appears to be mainly a designation of quality. The preference would be that it is a hand made masala style stick rich and weighty with fragrant oil, but it is up to each incense house to decide themselves what they term a Flora, and how they make it.
I've not quite pinned down exactly what is meant when Indian incense companies describe their sticks as "Flora". There appears to be a sense that it means "premium", and that it is highly likely to be a masala style incense, another term with flexible and variable meaning. The main sense of a masala is that it only uses ground natural ingredients - flowers, plants, herbs, woods, resins, spices - for the fragrant ingredients. However, it appears to have long been acceptable to use fragrant oils to supplement the dried ingredients, and while it may originally have been pure, natural essential oils that were used, these days the fragrant oils may be mostly or entirely fragrance oils - that is the oils may be synthetic, or may be essential oils diluted with a carrier such as DEP. The fragrance in some masala style incense may be mostly or even entirely based on fragrance oils, with the stick given a dusting of wood powder to give the appearance of being a traditional masala stick. I say this without pointing any fingers, and without hard evidence - this is just my speculation based on discussions with Indian incense houses, and my experience with a variety of masala style sticks. Anyway - a Flora stick, from my experience, appears to be a stick that is influenced by Sri Sai Flora Fluxo, and will tend to be weighty and rich with oils. However, I have encountered a number of sticks which are termed Flora, which are not weighty, and which may be quite dry. Discussions with Indian incense houses tends to give me the impression that a Flora is regarded as a traditional incense of some quality, though the specifics beyond that vary, so the main sense appears to be "a premium or quality masala style stick". There are no actual scents or ingredients or production methods which appear to define Flora - it appears to be mainly a designation of quality. The preference would be that it is a hand made masala style stick rich and weighty with fragrant oil, but it is up to each incense house to decide themselves what they term a Flora, and how they make it.
The scent on the stick is perfumed, cool, car freshener style, lightly woody - beech and sandalwood, some volatility, some fruit top notes, sandalwood soap. It's clean and attractive, acceptable rather than compelling. I've burned several of these over the past couple of days, and they've not made a huge impression on me or the house. They are very mild. Mild to the point of indifference. When wafting the thin, lazy smoke in my direction I get as much a smell of smouldering garden plants as a I do of perfume. There's not a lot here to get excited about. There is a great deal of packaging and presentation, and a premium price, for a product that feels to me to be less pleasurable and interesting that most of Hari Darshan's everyday incense. I am aware that I can sometimes, for reasons of mood or atmosphere, get over excited about a product, and also at times be overly negative towards a product. And burning a stick again and again while in that mood or atmosphere is really not going to change much. So, I will give this my score for now (an indifferent 24), and return again in about a month to see how I feel then.
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