Elbenzauber Mattipal

 

Ooh, as with Elbenzauber Patchouli, I am immediately seduced by this incense. The scent on the stick is gorgeous. It is vanilla sweet but blended with some wild herby, hoppy, spicy notes.  The sticks are eight inches with six inches of either very neatly hand-rolled or machine extruded charcoal paste, covered  with a delicate dusting of melnoorva - a tree bark powder used to stop the sticks gluing together as they dry, though also to give an attractive finish and presentations as a masala style incense. the melnoorva may sometimes be fragranced.  

Mattipal is the sacred fig or peepal tree, Ficus religiosa, also called bodhi because Buddha obtained enlightenment while sitting under a fig tree. The essence of the leaves of the tree has a pleasant spritzy, figgy, honey fragrance. It is used in some fine perfumes, such as Teone Reinthal's Bodhi, and 4160 Tuesdays Bodhi Language.  There is occasionally some confusion regarding mattipal being another name for halmaddi,  the resin which is used as a plasticiser like DEP to hold and intensify the scent of the fragrant ingredients in an incense. This is because mattipal is a name given to two different trees - the Ficus religiosa, which produces the mattipal fragrance essence, and Ailanthus triphysa, which produces the halmaddi gum resin. Halmaddi does not have an attractive scent, and there are no perfumes, even cheap ones, made from halmaddi as far as I know. So while mattipal can refer to the halmaddi tree as well as the sacred fig tree, when it comes to the fragrance, mattipal only refers to the sacred fig. 

Having said all that, there is the presence of halmaddi in this incense, which I tend to pick up as as a sort of raw, warm sheep's wool scent, and also as a slight irritant in the nose and eyes - a minor prickling. It used to be more pronounced (and can still be, depending on the amount of halmaddi), but mostly these days I find it quite acceptable. The scent on the burn is really quite faint. The burn itself is slow and thin and meagre with very little smoke. I might have a duff stick - however I can only review what I have. This stick, and four others by Elbenzauber, were sent to me as samples by SamsaSpoon of the excellent blog Rauchfahne, who is enthusiastic over some of the Elbenzauber incenses - particularly their Nag Champa, which I intend to review later this week, and then include in a general Nag Champa v Nag Champa burn off. 

I find this incense seductive and intriguing on the stick, with a curious sweet, herby scent - notes of sage, cologne, honey, etc. I find it less interesting on the burn: too faint and too indifferent to attract let alone hold the attention. I suspect there's been a formulation error. 

I can't find a review of this incense on Samsa's blog - but she has written on my sample: "It's earthy and rooty like vetiver with a hint of that special freshness that vetiver can have."  Vetiver is a grass whose roots have a masculine earthy woody scent popular in perfumes.  

The company's blurb reads: "Mattipal: After a rainfall on a hot, dry summer day when the earth is left steaming, it gives off a beautiful and intoxicating scent. In India, this fragrance is called Mattipal or 'milk of the earth'. These incense sticks are dedicated to this unique variety of aromas. They provide strength, trust and harmony and in their deep sensuality they represent a fragrance for the celebration of life. A composition of flowers, roots and woods with a hint of vanilla." 

Date: Jan 2024    Score:  28 

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