Cheap as chips and long lasting and a huge packet. I'd hesitate to say value for money, or a bargain, despite these being so cheap (mine were 50 Rupees (approx 50p) for 90g), as these are not sticks we're going to burn around the house. Not that they are bad. Just that they're not good. Chandanam is sandalwood - in this case synthetic sandalwood. Synthetic sandalwood is highly regarded, and is used to supplement natural sandalwood, as it can have greater strength, range, and depth. But this is not a quality synthetic, and has, anyway, been applied sparingly, so there's almost as much charcoal scent on the burn as there is sandalwood scent. It's not an offensive incense, but is definitely one of the poorer incenses I've had from the normally reliable Ranga Rao.
The blurbs are "Divine & Soothing" and "Majestic woody fragrance of sandalwood". Available in India direct from Cycle for 55 Rupees.
https://ratnagandh.wordpress.com/2024/02/25/cycle-lia-chandanam/ Cycle Lia Chandanam is a good synthetic sandalwood incense for me. Tbh, this incense does not retain its fragrance for that long, it looses its fragrance after 8 months. In my review, the box I got was 2 months ago.
ReplyDeleteAgree, the scent on dipped sticks doesn't always last very long. Certainly not as long as the scent on masala paste sticks. And with both masala and dipped I find that in my experience the more genuinely "premium" (awkward vague term) an incense, the longer the scent will last both in storage and on the burn. I think there's no doubt that this is not a premium product - it is very cheap, and has been created for the budget market. As such, corners will have been cut, and I think you're right, it would be in making the scent last a long time where they have cut a corner. I think the aim is that these sticks will be for frequent casual everyday burning rather than for keeping for special occasions, and so Ranga Rao will be aiming for a short sweet hit of sandalwood and frequent repeat orders. I got these sticks in Feb of last year, so are at least 12 months old. It appears that 12 months is too long.
DeleteAnd you've just given me a thought. I'd kinda always thought that "perfume-dipped" incense was something like a simple unscented charcoal stick dipped into a perfume solution. I had not considered that the perfume solution would be formulated for features such as perfume retention.
DeleteAnd I say that even though I've seen a video of one Indian perfume maker using halmaddi when making "perfumed" incense.
Lia range is meant for everyday use. There are most of the Lia range where their retention is very long. So far, I have not seen Cycle Brand making sandalwood masala incense except for their flute masala sandalwood which is nice.
Delete