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| Ramakrishna's Kasturi Drop Jan 2023 - Score: 43 |
During 2022 I became aware of a bit of a buzz around Ramakrishna's Natural Handmade Incense, which was on sale in the popular American tourist destination of Goa. I secured a bundle of packets, and started reviewing them Dec 2022, and into Jan 2023, and my favourite was Ramakrishna's Kasturi Drop. I had got a little side-tracked by discovering Shekhar's Natural Handmade Incense which originates from the same market in Mapusa, Goa, and looks as though it is made by the same people. And then by discovering Milo's Temple, which is a chap in Bristol who is importing incense from the same source. My intention was to review all three and compare them. But first I wanted some info from the guy who runs Milo's Temple. Unfortunately he has proved to be a little shy, and interest faded, and I got distracted by other stuff. So, that is on my tick list for 2024. Reviewing my stocks of Ramakrishna, Shekhar, and Milo's Temple.
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| B.G Pooja Store Nag Champa March 2023 Score: 48 |
One of IncenseInTheWind's readers, Eugene from Ukraine, has been chatting with me for some time, and at the end of 2022 was in India sourcing incense for an online own brand shop he opened earlier this year - Bhagwan Incense. We did an incense exchange, and he sent me some of the incense he had sourced and was interested in. I particularly liked the B.G Pooja Store Nag Champa. We had discussed his shop, including names for it, and he asked if he could use stuff from my blog, and I of course agreed. When he did open the shop I had forgotten about it (as I do), and folks got in touch to say that there was this new shop that was copying info from my blog. After some moments of confusion, it was all sorted out - and a positive outcome was that I was able to put Eugene in touch with Irene from my favourite incense blog, Rauchfahne, which I feel has really grown in stature this year. She has a particular insight into incense which I find very valuable, and I think is informed by her own incense making, which is profound and gifted.
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| Bhagwan Incense Hari Leela Masala Incense Oct 2023 - Score: 44 |
My favourite of the incenses that Eugene sells that I have tried so far has been Bhagwan Incense Hari Leela Masala Incense. Eugene buys incense in bulk from several sources, and then boxes it and puts on his own label. As such, a quantity of his incense is likely to be available from other sellers, and it is up to the buyer to sort out who is selling what, and who has the best price, etc. I noted some similarities between the Bhagwan Hari Leela and a vintage stick I had of Gokula Gaura Absolute Hari Leela (Oct 2023 - Score: 44), which is now sold by Gokula as Bakula Flower. There may well be other sellers, possibly at higher prices. I continue to have some uncertainties about the rebadging of incense, but it certainly can be a more convenient way of exploring Indian incense, and a number of my favourite incenses have been supplied by British own brand importers.
I can't remember when I first bought from Padma Store in Germany, but this year I delved a little deeper into what Ashok has available. He really has put together an impressive selection of incense, and he provides valuable information about the incense houses he represents from India, Tibet and Japan. And I explored some of the samplers he has, such as Shoyeido Magnifiscents Gems/Jewels (not my thing), as well as the sample packs he puts together himself of Indian incense houses, such as Cottage (not my thing), and the Happy Hari branded incense he secured from Cory of Absolute Bliss. I have a number of other sample packs which I've not yet had time to review. But, for certain, Padma Store is an outlet to check out.
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| Heera (P&B Foods Ltd) |
On New Years Day 2023, a reader asked me about Heera masala incense. Curious, I decided to explore. Heera is a brand of P&B Foods Ltd, a large and successful importer and distributor of goods to the Asian community in Europe and the UK. Heera incense is available in many Asian online stores and corner shops for reasonable prices (under a £1 for 15g). Like Bhagwan, Absolute Bliss, and Happy Hari, they re-sell incense made in India under their own brand name. I picked up a selection from my nearest outlet for under £10.
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| Bought from local corner shop for less than £10 |
The cones are standard everyday perfumed incense. The masala sticks are decent quality, and offer excellent value for money. I liked them all, with Heera Krishna Leela (Feb 2023 - Score: 36) just edging with the top score. As they are a reseller rather than a producer, they are not a company I'm interesting in exploring further, but I'd be happy to pick up any of their masala when in an Asian shop that stocks them. And I'd recommend UK readers to check them out.
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May 2023 - Score: 29 |
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| GP Industries Pandhari (M) Aug 2023 - Score: 43 |
Earlier in the year the remarkable Chris Burns recommended a useful eBay seller, home-giftsolutions121, who import decent quality incense that is otherwise not available in the UK. Prices are £2.32 per packet if buying three packets. There is generally a good selection to choose from. My favourite so far has been the GP Industries Pandhari. Popat Stores is still going to be my first choice UK based online incense shop, and I have been introduced to a couple of good stores in Germany this year, plus the amazing Aavyaa shop in India, all of whom are also going to be preferred, but home-giftsolutions do have unique stuff at acceptable prices. Worth checking them out.
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| Aavyaa shop |
I think Aavyaa has been one of my most exciting and worthwhile retail discoveries this year. I can't recall how I came upon this store, but it is unusual in that it sells at close to domestic Indian retail prices, and it not only offered international delivery, but did so at a reasonable price, which made it the most cost effective outlet for some of the most interesting and exciting genuine Indian incense houses. I enthused about the shop while reviewing some of the incense I had bought, such as Balaji Bakhoor (Oct 2023 Score: 41) and Ranga Rao Cycle Pushkarini (June 2023 - Score: 39) where the owner of Aavyaa, Vishesh, got involved in a little discussion regarding Aavyaa's pricing, and he agreed to a sliding scale of shipping charges so that orders over £50 would be shipped for free. I've ordered a fair bit from Aavyaa in 2023, and I can see myself ordering a lot more in 2024 (but only when I get my backlog into a more manageable state).
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| Rauchfahne |
I think I started chatting to SamsaSpoon who runs the Rauchfahne incense blog last year, but it's really in 2023 that I got to know her and discover how informative and enthusiastic she is about incense. We set up an incense exchange which I found great fun, and while I haven't had time to go through all that Samsa sent me, I did particularly enjoy her home made incense. As an incense maker she is perfectly placed to understand incense, and I find her reviews to be perceptive, insightful, honest, and informative.
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| SamsaSpoon Homemade Swiss Stone Pine Oct 2023 - Score: 50 |
This is one of the incenses that SamsaSpoon (Irene) makes which she sent me. I loved it so much that I have placed it as my number one incense for 2023. I then commissioned Irene to make a batch for me, which she did, and we arranged a fair price. I have asked her if she's willing to make the Swiss Stone Pine and other incense for other people, and she has said that she will sell per request and to contact her via the Rauchfahne blog. The price she quoted me for the Swiss Stone Pine is 50 cents per stick, plus postage and exchange fees. So I bought 20 sticks for 10 Euros plus 12.50 Euros in postage and packing.
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| WhiffOfAmbrosia |
I discovered a new incense blog this year, WhiffOfAmbrosia, which started in summer of 2022, but almost as soon as I found it, and started to chatting with the owner, who is based in India, she stopped reviewing for personal reasons. Shame. Hopefully she will come back to it later. We need more incense blogs.
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I created a new category for my incense reviews in 2023 - Vintage incense. The intention was to signal when an incense was no longer available, and that the reviews may be out of date. At first I wanted to move all such vintage incense reviews out of my list of reviewed incenses - Top of the Dhoops!. However, after creating it I'm not sure how useful it is. I have started to move reviews back into the main list, and am instead starting to date reviews on the list, keeping the dates updated, as I feel that is more useful. And I'm also playing around with marking if an incense is no longer available. So, I may get rid of the Vintage incense category, or change it considerably.
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We did a jasmine incense burn off in 2023. Jasmine is such a popular scent for incense - particularly perfumed incense, that it seemed such an obvious and fun thing to do. We enjoyed doing it, and I plan more such burn offs - indeed, I have box full of nag champa incenses all ready to go. While we had fun doing it, I don't think jasmine is really my sort of fragrance. Indeed, the incenses we enjoyed the most, were those that weren't exactly on target for the jasmine scent, which tended to be the masala style incenses. Jasmine seems suited as an everyday room freshener, and so it seems appropriate that it is the everyday perfumed-incense that use the scent the most, and are actually better at portraying it.
To be discussed:
Absolute Bliss and Cory, and relations to Happy Hari
Phool and using temple flowers
More considerations on masala and perfumed incense
BIC and Balaji
Ephra World and Aargee
Best selling incense companies in India - Zed Black, etc.
Best incense moments of 2023
Summary of the year
Best incense moments of 2023
Summary of the year
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