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| Second review - scroll down for earlier |
Hari Darshan are a well established and popular Indian incense house domestically who have recently, mostly via the Dutch distribution company Green Tree, been gaining a toe-hold in the West with some everyday perfumed cones and sticks, and some perfumed-masala sticks under the Tribal Soul and Native Soul brands. This Sandalwood is part of Hari Darshan's Temple series - just three scents. They are for the domestic market only - they don't appear to be available in the West. I bought mine from the Indian online shop Aavyaa - current price 180 Rupees, approx £1.80. Aavyaa do ship internationally, with a sliding scale of cost the more incense you buy.
This is in an attractive box - the type I describe as a luxury box: larger than the standard, and usually with a decorated and shiny finish. Luxury boxes tend to be sold at a premium price, and usually contain Flora style incense: quite rich with oils. These incense sticks are rich with oils. The box I have has an image of a temple, which looks to me to be the Shore Temple at Mahabalipurum, and each of the three Temple boxes I have share the same picture - though on the Hari Darsham website each of the three scents has their own named temple. On either side of the picture of the temple is an elephant. I have noted that it is quite common for sandalwood incense to have an image of an elephant. And carved sandalwood elephants are quite popular. I assume that a popular brand of sandalwood incense had an image of an elephant, and so since then other incense houses have used elephants. It somehow feels appropriate. Elephants and sandalwood are both associated with traditional India.
The scent on the stick is beautiful. Pure creamy sandalwood. Sharp, sweet, fruity with citric touches, and a floral whirl. It feels powdery and fluffy, and warm and cuddly. Quite dreamy and divine. There's hints of cat pee to keep the interest. And lavender and sage. Oooh, it's lovely.
This is in an attractive box - the type I describe as a luxury box: larger than the standard, and usually with a decorated and shiny finish. Luxury boxes tend to be sold at a premium price, and usually contain Flora style incense: quite rich with oils. These incense sticks are rich with oils. The box I have has an image of a temple, which looks to me to be the Shore Temple at Mahabalipurum, and each of the three Temple boxes I have share the same picture - though on the Hari Darsham website each of the three scents has their own named temple. On either side of the picture of the temple is an elephant. I have noted that it is quite common for sandalwood incense to have an image of an elephant. And carved sandalwood elephants are quite popular. I assume that a popular brand of sandalwood incense had an image of an elephant, and so since then other incense houses have used elephants. It somehow feels appropriate. Elephants and sandalwood are both associated with traditional India.
The scent on the stick is beautiful. Pure creamy sandalwood. Sharp, sweet, fruity with citric touches, and a floral whirl. It feels powdery and fluffy, and warm and cuddly. Quite dreamy and divine. There's hints of cat pee to keep the interest. And lavender and sage. Oooh, it's lovely.
The scent on the burn is gorgeous. Warm sandalwood. It's mostly white sandalwood - leaning more in the direction of the sandalwood used in Asian incense, and leaning away from the dark, oily, sexy heartwood oil. But it has elements of both: white and dark sandalwood - clean and sexy fragrances. That blend of both is sublime. I assume that natural and synthetic oils have been used here to layer the sandalwood scent in order to give that blend of dark, sweet, musky, sexiness with the clean, spicy, white woodiness that - for me - are the two extremes of the sandalwood scent profile. This is very, very yummy sandalwood, and it does for me right enough. It sits beautifully in the room. No off notes, no excess. It fully informs the room - it's not a shy scent, but it's not loud or aggressive. This is a gentle cloudy envelopment. I love the florals and the citric and herby notes. This scent has the full range from deep, dark, sexy musk, up to floaty white jasmine florals, passing through the white woods, the gentle spice, and the herby notes. Damn fine. Damn lovely.
Date: March 2025 Score: 46
First review
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. I reviewed the Gold a little while ago. 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, before being finished in a sandy brown melnoorva powder. Looking more closely, I think they are hand-rolled - very neat and tidy. The girl who rolled these must be very experienced.
I'm becoming aware that most luxury boxes contain "Flora" style incense, and that most "Flora" style incense is sold in luxury style boxes. There is a relationship. At least in India - when Flora style incense is packaged for a Western reseller such as Happy Hari, TOI, or Bhagwan, they use the same packaging as for the rest of their output.
The scent on the stick is very heady - there is a volatility, but there is also the impact of the perfume, which is rich and indulgent. There is a sense of wetness in the scent, and the feel of oils and perfumes rather than resins and dried plants. There is sandalwood in the scent, also some light florals - jasmine with a touch of rose. It's a very beguiling scent. A little lighter and floral than is my particular taste, but there's enough sweet meat and temptation to hold my interest.
The burn is more gentle and refined than I was expecting. I tend to like my top incense to be a bit heady, rough, and wild, though I'm happy with a more refined and well behaved incense for everyday use. Which puts me in a small dilemma here. As I tend to view luxury box / flora incense as something a little special rather than everyday. And this is more weighty than an everyday incense, though not quite weighty enough (for me) to be an incense I'll sit down to consider and enjoy by itself. Though, to be honest, the only times I really sit down and consider an incense is when I'm reviewing it. The rest of the time I'll be burning an incense to perfume my home, cover a bad smell, or create a mood. You know, more practical, everyday things than following something like the Kodo - the Japanese art of appreciating incense. I'll burn a special incense at certain times - though they'll generally be when I'm doing something else. I like a decent incense when I'm cooking a decent meal as it gets me in the mood, sometimes when I'm relaxing with a book or some good music, or in the bedroom on date night, etc. Yeah. This'll do nicely for one of those occasions. Woody, gentle, lightly floral, touches of violets, jasmine, hints of citrus fruits, supported by a refined musky, sweet patchouli style of creamy wood. Good stuff.
The burn is more gentle and refined than I was expecting. I tend to like my top incense to be a bit heady, rough, and wild, though I'm happy with a more refined and well behaved incense for everyday use. Which puts me in a small dilemma here. As I tend to view luxury box / flora incense as something a little special rather than everyday. And this is more weighty than an everyday incense, though not quite weighty enough (for me) to be an incense I'll sit down to consider and enjoy by itself. Though, to be honest, the only times I really sit down and consider an incense is when I'm reviewing it. The rest of the time I'll be burning an incense to perfume my home, cover a bad smell, or create a mood. You know, more practical, everyday things than following something like the Kodo - the Japanese art of appreciating incense. I'll burn a special incense at certain times - though they'll generally be when I'm doing something else. I like a decent incense when I'm cooking a decent meal as it gets me in the mood, sometimes when I'm relaxing with a book or some good music, or in the bedroom on date night, etc. Yeah. This'll do nicely for one of those occasions. Woody, gentle, lightly floral, touches of violets, jasmine, hints of citrus fruits, supported by a refined musky, sweet patchouli style of creamy wood. Good stuff.
I like this incense. My favorite Hari darshan incense is their Masala khus and temple gold.
ReplyDeleteI didn't get on with the Gold, though when I finished reviewing this Sandalwood I said to myself that I would return to the Gold. I perhaps wasn't in the right mood or frame of mind when I first reviewed it because I gave it a low score. I know that I always emphasise that it's the scent that matters not the method of production or the incense house, but I felt that there is such a discrepancy between the scores of the two incenses in the same range, that it would be worth a revisit to see if I had been a bit mean.
DeleteHi Steve, thanks for mentioning us. We import incense in bulk, print out boxes in Europe and pack it ourselves, I think TOI do the same, I've seen a video of them packing increase in their Croydon warehouse. Best wishes, Eugene
ReplyDeleteThanks Eugene. Yes, I've understood that packaging is often done in house by Western resellers. I was surprised, though, to learn from Ashok at Padma Store that the Happy Hari he has sold, be it from Paul or Cory, he has packaged himself, even creating the labels himself from templates that Paul sent him.
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