There is a very rich scent on this stick - oily, heavy, laden with orange fruits, nips of soft creamy vanilla, soft, young leather, faint tufts of wool, a cool bed of sandalwood. There's a general memory of my first encounter with Nag Champa - the legendary Satya Sai Baba Nag Champa Agarbatti; that same delightful exotic sweetness, and an accord of scents just out of reach of understanding. Yes, this is promising. It feels young, fresh, and while warmly familiar, also enticingly mysterious and unknown.
The promise on the stick is carried through into the burn. There is that vague but familiar accord of warm wool (which I associate with halmaddi) and sandalwood which for me says "masala", and which has been a common accord with all four Namaste India sticks that I have tried, though there is also that Nag Champa accord, a blend of sandalwood and floral champa which works so divinely. This really works for me, and there are moments when I'm totally caught up in the scent and thinking this is the best Nag Champa - a warm honey sweetness infuses the room creating feelings of joy and comfort and some sensuality; then other times I find it pleasant, though not quite as joyfully overwhelming or quite on target. I wonder if it's me or if there is some inconsistency in the formulation. Whatever, this stick is a joy, even in its weaker moments. I love it. I'm going to hold back on a really high score because of my suspicion of inconsistency. But, no worries because as well as my intention to do a burn off of Namaste India against Nandita and Nikhil's, I am setting up to do a Nag Champa v Nag Champa burn off, so in the next few weeks I'll be seriously revisiting these sticks to get a fair assessment.
Available from Ephra World at €1.95, where it is described as having a "honeyed, resinous and sweet woody floral scent".
Available from Ephra World at €1.95, where it is described as having a "honeyed, resinous and sweet woody floral scent".
Date: Nov 2023 Score: 44
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An interesting review Steve. The sticks in your pic' have a purple base like Orkay Vedika Nag Champa but the masala coating looks a little darker. Your description also differs from my impression of their Vedika one, which to my nose is drier (mildly astringent) and spicy with a floral high note. I'll keep my eye open for the Namaste version at a reasonable price and compare them. I'm a fan of the Vedika one so if this is as good I may buy a few.
ReplyDeleteI've put in a link to where I bought mine. Ephra World in Germany at €1.95. It's a good site, with a lot of decent incense at reasonable prices, and very helpful descriptions.
DeleteEphra World also sell these: Orkay Namaste India Natural Smudge Incense Sticks Nag Champa
DeleteHiya Steve, I bought a pack of Orkay Namaste Nag Champa and I'm glad I did (Unlike their Botanical Nag Champa, more on that later). I agree with your review comments, its very good and strongly reminiscent of the original Satya Nag Champa of the 80's. Its very different from the drier Orkay Vedika Nag Champa, both are very good and I'm having a hard time deciding if I prefer one or the other. I also bought a pack of their botanical series 'natural masala' Nag Champa, thick fluxo style sticks with a thick soft paste coated in a course ground woody chips (Melnoorva). The stick itself smells very nice, but once lit they are a disappointment. The sticks burn too hot and the result is a full-on air freshener bomb with no depth, variation or subtlety. The box claims each stick burns for 2 hours, mine burned for 50 mins and made me nose-blind :D There seems to be a recent trend emerging for these chunky roughly coated sticks, other brand lines such as Tribal Soul, Native Soul, Sagrada Madre, Green Tree, and Banjara are churning them out.
DeleteI was curious about those Orkay chunky "smudge" sticks - I'm glad you're the one to experiment and find they're a bit of a bomb. I wasn't aware that other Indian companies were also doing these "smudge" sticks. I think that's the first time I've seen one outside of America. These bobbly style sticks appear to be popular there.
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