Aromatika Ace Scents Nag Champa

     

Second review - scroll down for earlier

 A pleasant Nag Champa fragrance-oil scent on the stick.  A decently acceptable Nag Champa fragrance-oil scent on the burn, though a little thin, and somewhat intruded by the smell of burning paper. I've just crumbled the dried paste. It appears to be wood powder rather than charcoal, which would account for the burning paper smell. 

Date: Dec 2024  Score: 22

First review

I bought a bundle of Aromatika Ace Scent sticks off Amazon, and am re-reviewing some scents that I rated quite highly in the early days of this blog, such as Dragon Blood, plus scents new to me, such as this Nag Champa. Fuller details can be found on my post on White Sage. 

All of the sticks in the Ace Scents range are machine extruded and left bare, but this Nag Champa is one of the few that are machine extruded and then coated in a melnoorva. Melnoorva is traditionally used to finish off sticks which have been rolled in a masala paste which will still be sticky, so this dry powder will help prevent the sticks being glued together as they dry. Sometimes the melnoorva will be scented and/or coloured. While not strictly necessary on an extruded stick as the extruded paste is not sticky, it sometimes added for the appearance - which is attractive, also for the association with traditional masala, so underlining that the stick is better quality than an everyday perfumed stick, and it carries its own scent to please consumers when the open the pack. 

The scent on the stick is pleasant, and somewhat less "perfumed" than some of the other Ace Scents I've tried, though there is some vinegary volatility. There's some warm sandalwood and/or beech wood, a moist, sandy, earthy, light wood scent, plus a light floral which hovers around jasmine, along with hints of honey, and light citric. It's a pleasant, though not engaging scent. I like it, and keep returning to it, but I'm not compelled or transported. However, it is quite attractive. 

When lit the stick has a low, slow flame, and there's no evidence of black smoke.  The fragrance does not make itself known, and wafting only produces a burning cardboard aroma. Leaving the stick to burn alone in the room, and then re-entering does not reveal anything new. Burning cardboard remaining the key fragrance, which manages to creep around the house. Toward the end some faint musky notes are noted, but it's really too little too late. Shame, as the scent on the stick was quite promising. 

Date: March 2024  Score: 18

***

  Aromatika

Nag Champa

Aromatika Ace Scents White Sage

  

Machine extruded, perfumed-charcoal incense sticks. Pleasant perfume on the stick. It smells of lavender, and the sticks are dark, but are purple in colour, which would be appropriate for a lavender scent. The scent is sweet, floral, perfumed, chocolate, vanilla, musky, vaguely everyday men's cologne. It's an OK scent, though it feels like someone simply blended together a few popular fragrance oils without much thought to the end result. Scents that have something ugly hidden within the beauty are the more interesting and compelling. 

OK. The scent on the burn is less sweet than the scent on the stick. That chocolate again. A bit of vague burning smell. It's quite  a soft scent. Nothing distinctive. There was a moment I thought I could smell white sage, but then it went. It's a fairly generic room freshener perfumed incense scent. There's nothing special about it, but nothing ugly either. It's moderately OK. 

Date: Dec 2024    Score: 27 

First review

One of my main intentions this year is to make deep inroads into my backlog, and I made a good start on that, but then I got bronchitis, so haven't been burning any incense. We also had some friends over, so I cleared away boxes of incense from my study, which is also our main dining room, and cleared my desk. I still want to finish off the remaining  Gokula incense samples I have, and also delve deeper into HMS, but I thought I'd get back into the swing of things by polishing off a pack of Aromatika incense I got off Amazon a little while back. 

Aromatika  is the brand name of V Expo, an Indian incense company based in Jaipur, who have been making incense for over 30 years.  I reviewed some of their Ace Scents range in the early days of this blog, and rated them quite highly, even though I felt the packaging was poor, and the appearance and presentation was more of a perfumed incense than a proper masala. I have felt for some time that I rated them too highly, especially after I went through 12 packs of their scented cones, such as the Rose, and found them, on the whole, pleasant but rather ordinary and not good quality, so when I saw a bundle of the Ace Scents range on Amazon, 10 packs for under £10, I thought that would be an opportunity to catch up, and see if I still felt they were decent sticks. 

The bundles are organised oddly in cardboard folders containing five different scents, but with some scents appearing in different folders more than once. I was sent two folders, but instead of 10 different scents, I only ended up with 8, because two scents were duplicated. The individual scent packets are stapled several times to the cardboard folder, which makes removing the packets quite awkward. And the packets are designed to have a resealable zip close, but they are cheaply made, so the plastic zips don't usually work, and are hard to access, while the seal at the bottom of the packets is not secure, so breaks open easily. This doesn't create a good impression. The foil packets all have the same dull design, with a coloured name sticker placed on them to indicate the scents.  

I've been through all the packs, and all the sticks are crudely machine extruded paste onto plain machine-cut bamboo splints. They vary in colour, and some have a coating of melnoorva powder, while others don't. The sticks are 8 inches with 6 inches of paste. There are 20 sticks per pack. They all tend to give off an unimpressive standard synthetic room freshener fragrance which inclines to be a bit soapy. Not unpleasant at all, but not very engaging either. The quality of the scent on the burn varies, with at times a little too much of the core material being noticeable through the modest fragrance. On the whole a disappointing experience, and not really worth £10, though the bulk of the sticks are acceptable albeit modest everyday room fresheners. I will rattle though the reviews as they are not worth spending much time on. 

There's not much awareness of white sage on these sticks - there's a a sense of a cheap, slightly sweet and musky, male perfume. Reasonably attractive - sort of chocolate, musk, and soap.  The scent on the burn is much the same, though now and again there's some burning cardboard. I find it quite likeable, though nothing to get excited about. I'm happy to burn this in the house to cheer up a room, or to cover up poor smells, but nothing more than that. 

Though the claim is that these are "Natural Masala", and on the carboard folder we have "made by natural gums, resins, crystals, aroma oils blended with halmaddi and honey",  they present as machine extruded charcoal paste infused with a synthetic fragrance.  

Date: March 2024  Score: 27

***

  Aromatika

White Sage

Vinasons (VNS) Patchouli Neo

 

A sample of Patchouli Neo by Vinasons of Pune, which came to me via Eugene (of Bhagwan Incense), who had met with Shreyas Sugandhi of Vinasons when researching incense for his shop. My understanding is that Vinasons are not a source for the Bhagwan incenses, as Vinasons prefer not to do own brand deals. 

This is a masala style incense, though informed by fragrant oil blends. The sticks are 8 inches, with approx 7 inches of hard/dry charcoal paste which was hand-rolled onto a plain bamboo splint, and then thinly coated in a green dyed fine powder.  I'm unclear on the Neo aspect as the name - and I can't find a Patchouli Neo on the Vinasons website. There is a Patchouli, and a Patchouli Dhoop, but nothing that matches this.  I assume it's a new patchouli scent that Vinasons are trying out. 

There's a soft, powdery,  sweet green, spearmint scent on the stick, some cool volatility, and floral hints. No deep notes - all top.  The stick burns steadily, with a thin to medium column of grey smoke, producing a light scent that slowly and gently warms the room. The fragrance on the burn is quite light so I end up wafting  the smoke in my direction (not encouraged due to health risks), where I find the scent to be a little smoky with not enough of the perfume coming through. This is an incense which requires patience rather than wafting.  

Given time, the scent does come to me and settle. It is sweet green, slightly floral, with few deep notes and little depth. I like patchouli, and am usually seduced by even the crudest and cheapest incense which uses patchouli, but this one doesn't have the sweet musky and sexy elements that attract my interest. It's a nice incense - light, playfully cool green, commercially sweet, and over time herbal and floral notes dance together in an attractive manner. But it's simply not ballsy enough for my taste to be an incense I'm going to enthuse over. Nice, though. 

Date: March 2024   Score:  29 

***

Vithaldas Narayandas & Sons
Vinasons

Patchouli

Thurga's Industries Sdn. Bhd. (SunRayn)

 

Thurga's Industries of Malaysia are a "manufacturer" and distributor of a range of goods. It is not clear how responsible they are for the manufacturing of these sticks; though, given the diversity of the products they sell, it seems likely that they commission the sticks rather than make them at their own premises. They market the incense under the brand name SunRayn, though some products are branded Thurga's. 

They make highly perfumed machine-extruded perfumed-charcoal incense sticks at bargain prices. Not generally found in the usual incense outlets, but in Indian grocery stores including online such as DesiKhazana, and AlliBhavan.  The sticks are a generous length - over 10 inches, with approx 7 1/2 inches of machine extruded charcoal paste which has been infused with a synthetic room-freshener style fragrance.  Thurga's packets are eye-catching: bold and colourful and fun, and larger than the average. The perfumes used are also bold and vibrant and fun. They are decent quality and good value (10 sticks per pack - over 10 hours of incense for less than 70p) everyday room freshener that pleasantly inform a large room 

Thurga's premises in Malaysia

Reviews

Thurga's (SunRayn) Paavai Vilakku (P)

Mar 2023 - Score: 33 

Thurga's SunRayn Parrot (P)
March 2024 - Score: 30 

Thurga's SunRayn Kalam (P)
Oct 2023 - Score: 25

  

 

Scents: 3 

Top score: 33

Bottom score: 25 

Average: 29

***

The Best Incense Makers

Incense by Country

Thurga's SunRayn Parrot Incense Sticks

 

Fruity and floral everyday synthetic perfumed-charcoal incense from Thurga's Industries of Malaysia.  Not generally found in the usual incense outlets, but in Indian grocery stores including online such as DesiKhazana, and AlliBhavan.  The sticks are a generous length - over 10 inches, with approx 7 1/2 inches of machine extruded charcoal paste which has been infused with a synthetic room-freshener style fragrance. The scent on the stick is mildly candy sweet, volatile with chemical notes, floral (mainly rose) and fruity (possibly strawberry, plum, and something softly citric). 

Thurga's packets are eye-catching: bold and colourful and fun, and larger than the average. The perfumes used are also bold and vibrant and fun. The first I tried was Paavai Vilakku, in March last year (2023), which I got from  Desi Khazana for 69p. It was cheap and cheerful, so I bought a big batch of them to explore further as a fun, and quite decent everyday perfumed incense. 

This is a long burning stick (over 60 minutes) with no off-notes. It settles into a pleasingly sweet and slightly heady rose.  This is a decent quality and good value (10 sticks per pack - over 10 hours of incense for less than 70p) everyday room freshener that pleasantly informs a large room with a sweet, feminine, and uplifting floral fragrance. 

Date: March 2024   Score: 30 

***

Thurga's (SunRayn) Incense

Best rose incense

Om Sai's Vithoba Flora Sticks

 

Wow! This is intense. Everything about this is big and generous. A large box crammed with 100g of fluffy masala incense sticks. The melnoorva powder is heaped on, and will dust your hands and clothes and surroundings quite liberally. There is a waft of  evaporating liquid scent as soon as the box is opened - it's explosive milky honey, leather, and alcohol solvent and/or DEP. The solvent is potent and should come with a health warning. Indeed, frequent inhalation of DEP is considered more damaging to the liver than frequent drinking of alcohol (and both together is even worse).  This is an incense that should only be burned outside, or in a large room with plenty of ventilation. There's no need to ruin your health just to enjoy the fragrance of incense. 

On the burn this is eye-smarting intense. It's an attractive, warm, woody fragrance, but the generous use of DEP means that this is not something for domestic or intimate use. Burn in temples. Burn outdoors when having a picnic. Smudge the house when you're going out - light a stick, go out, and on your return the house will be cleansed. But don't use in the room while you're still there. I love heady incense, but this defeats even me. It's not the fragrance that is defeating me, it's the solvent. Way too much for me. 

Date: March 2024   Score:  27

***

Om Sai (Om Brand) Agarbatti

Satya (BNG) Yoga Series Meditation

 

Satya Meditation is part of Satya's "Yoga Series", which consists of: Bliss - Orange and lemon; Harmony - Amber and acacia; Meditation - Sandalwood and cedar; Serenity - Violet and mint; Tranquility - Cinnamon and vetivert.  This is not the same box design used for the original Yoga Series (see Satya Harmony for a picture of the original box), and the inner sleeve has (BNG) in the name so this is after 2014 when the Setty brothers who own the company split up, but there is no date on the box, and the logo is still the original family logo, so this is likely to be soon after the split. I am assuming this is 2015.  

I love the appearance of Satya incense sticks - they are all soft and fluffy with generous amounts of melnoorva powder. The scent is mildly perfumed - a cool citric, some floral - lotus and lily, and faint sandalwood. The burn is sharper and, indeed, slightly harsh, especially after the softness of the fragrance on the stick. There's some peppery, prickly raw sheep's wool - a scent experience I tend to associate with halmaddi - a tree resin used as a plasticiser to amplify and sustain the fragrance. As the burn settles, the woods make themselves more known, though there's an element of burning, and the prickly wool remains insistent. It's a pleasant scent, reminiscent of night-time bonfires. There's warmth, and fresh human sweat - in a pleasant, intimate, companionable sense. The experience is calming and relaxing, though not soporific - I feel calm but alert. And, curiously, the Satya website suggests the same - that the experience is tranquil, but leaves you alert. 

It's a cleansing and attractive fragrance, though is fairly limited - the scents are mainly huddled in a middle ground of cedarwood and bonfire smoke. There's a lack of high notes and base notes, and no contrasts. The scent on the stick promises more, with its florals, but this is not delivered during the burn. A pleasing scent to smudge around the house, though too limited to enjoy just for its scent.  


Date: March 2024 Score: 28

***

Satya (Shrinivas Sugandhalaya)

BIC Strawberry Incense

 

I like the idea of a strawberry incense - bright, fresh, uplifting. But all the strawberry incenses I've tried over the years have been pretty much like this one - an everyday synthetic-perfumed charcoal stick in which the light and sweet strawberry scent gets muddled with the ashy charcoal.  

Date: March 2024   Score: 23 

***

BIC / Panchavati

Fruit Fragrances

HMS Ab Lavender sold by Sacred Boutiques / KrishnaShopping.Com

  

Second review - scroll down for earlier

First review

I am currently curious about the situation regarding  Haridas Madhavdas Sugandhi (HMS) of Pune, who make very decent and distinctive vanilla accented and sparkle crusted incense sticks which they sell to various distributors to retail under their own branding - such as Pure Incense, 

Bhagwan, Gokula, Prasad, etc. This is another such example; sold via the UK Krishna temple, Bhaktivedanta Manor (which was bought for the UK branch of  the international Krishna movement by George Harrison in 1972), via their online site Sacred Boutique/KrishnaShopping.com. It sells at £1.50 for a basic plastic sleeve of 10g (approx 10 sticks). This is a low price for Haridas Madhavdas incense, comparable to Gokula, who also generally sell at very tempting prices.  

  

HMS Classic Lavender 

This is the same incense as sold by Bhagwan, and which I reviewed in November last year: (HMS) Bhagwan Incense Lavender Bliss Masala Incense, and also the same as Blue Pearl Lavender, which I reviewed in Sept last year. I will be comparing all three side by side to see what, if any, differences there are.  It's a perfumed charcoal incense, with a toilet cleaner sharp volatility on the stick.  There is some lavender on the burn, faint hints of vanilla, and some cool charcoal. It presents and performs as an everyday perfumed incense. It's not offensive - it's clean, sharp, and cleansing, but it's not doing much for me.  

Date: March 2024   Score: 24

See also:

(HMS) Blue Pearl Lavender
Sept 2023  -  Score: 37

   

HMS Bhagwan Incense Lavender Bliss (P)
Nov 2023 - Score: 28

***

Haridas Madhavdas Sugandhi

Best of Lavender

(HMS) The Dhupa Collection Bhaktivedanta Manor Sandalwood Incense Sticks

 

I'm currently very curious about Haridas Madhavdas Sugandhi (HMS) of Pune, who make very decent and distinctive vanilla accented and sparkle crusted incense sticks which they sell to various distributors to retail under their own branding - such as Pure Incense, Bhagwan, Gokula, Prasad, etc. This is another such example. Imported by the UK based Dhupa Luxury Incense, this is being sold via the UK Krishna temple, Bhaktivedanta Manor (which was bought by George Harrison for the UK branch of  the international Krishna movement), via their online site Sacred Boutique/KrishnaShopping.com. It sells at £1 for an attractive little pack of eight short sticks (about 3 1/2 inches of paste).  This is the first time I have encountered short sticks made by HMS, and is an indicator to me (along with (HMS) Pure Incense Connoisseur Laos Agarwood, which Adi-Guru says is unique to Pure Incense) that HMS may vary their production for some clients. I have heard rumours and stories of this - particularly in relation to Pure Incense, though I'm unclear on how much this happens. 

These little sticks are nice; though - apart from size, appear to be no different to HMS Primo Sandalwood / Gokula Sandalwood & Vanilla. These sticks are fresher than my Gokula sample, and so there is more sparkle and lightness in the fragrance, though less depth and richness. The sweetness is both appealing and off-putting - there is something sort of babyish and obvious about it, which is not entirely to my taste. I like my incense to be a little wilder and more grown up, and more challenging and interesting. None the less, the scent on the stick is very yummy. Perfumed, sweet, vanilla, with an awareness of sandalwood oil, though without the depth and richness of sandalwood. As with other HMS I have burned, the scent takes a while to make itself known on the burn. The paste is quite thin, so there isn't a significant body of fragrant ingredients to make a big impression. There is a temptation to waft the smoke towards my nose - though I am aware of the health risks. Inhaling incense smoke is not good for the body. The healthier way to appreciate incense, is to allow the fragrance to inform or empower the room, or your surroundings, so you only breathe in the fragrance not the smoke which contains toxic particles. However, I get impatient as I see the stick burning down, and the fragrance has not yet made an impression, so I waft.... 

The scent on the burn is warm, less bright  and sweet as on the stick, and so - for me - more appealing. There is, perhaps, more awareness of sandalwood, but not significantly so, this is still more of a vanilla incense than a sandalwood one. I think that the decision by Mark of Gokula to give his Connoisseur packet the name Sandalwood & Vanilla is both wise and helpful.  The scent on the burn is a little flat and neutral and doesn't have the youthful vitality and promise of the scent on the stick. 

Though this is a fresher stick than the Gokula (and shorter!) there is no significant difference that I can detect. I have a preference for the longer stick because of the time it takes for the mild scent to inform the room. On the back of the Dhupa packet it says: "Using one or three sticks, this incense can be offered to Lord Krishna, creating a sacred atmosphere in the home or temple." I think that using three sticks would be a good idea. 

Date: March 2024   Score:  28

***

Haridas Madhavdas Sugandhi

Sandalwood

Balaji Escentials Cinnamon

 

This is  lovely incense. Cinnamon has such a gorgeous fragrance - warm, spicy, inviting, and uplifting - that it makes a wonderful ingredient for incense. Mankind has been beguiled by the fragrance of cinnamon since the dawn of civilization. It was known to the Phoenicians - the great early traders and city builders of the Mediterranean; indeed, the name cinnamon comes from the Phoenician language. And it was known to the Ancient Egyptians, who, according to the Ancient Greek historian Diodorus of Sicily, used it during mummification: "they carefully dress the whole body for over thirty days, first with cedar oil and certain other preparations, and then with myrrh, cinnamon, and such spices as have the faculty not only of preserving it for a long time but also of giving it a fragrant odour."  It is sometimes named as one of the ingredients of Kyphi, the legendary incense of Egypt.  It was such a prized product that dealers concealed where they obtained it, leading to fantastical stories of the Cinnamon bird which built its nest out of cinnamon sticks.

Cinnamon is made from several related trees: true cinnamon comes from the bark of Cinnamomum verum, also known as Ceylon cinnamon; though there are other cinnamons from the related cassias trees, giving Indonesian, Saigon, and, the most common, Chinese cinnamon, which accounts for almost half of all cinnamon sold. Cinnamon is mainly associated with food flavouring, especially in things like milk puddings, apple pies, pastries, curries, and Chai tea or coffee, though also has various health properties.  The active ingredient in cinnamon, and the one mainly responsible for the familiar scent, is cinnamaldehyde, which can be synthesized, but natural cinnamaldehyde is cheap and easy to obtain via steam distillation. If an incense house wanted to cut costs, they would more likely dilute natural cinnamon oil or powder with something like DEP rather than use a synthetic. And they would likely use the cheaper Chinese cinnamon rather than Ceylon, and also use an oil that was distilled from other parts of the tree, like the leaves, rather than the bark. 

I find this Balaji Cinnamon so attractive that I feel cinnamon should be used more often as an incense ingredient, and if I didn't have such a mind-boggling back log that MUST BE REDUCED, I would go off and investigate more cinnamon incenses. I have tried around 11 so far, with  HEM Cinnamon Masala Incense, being the one I enjoyed the most. Many of the cinnamon incenses I've tried so far have been fairly basic perfume-dipped, though HEM seem to specialise in cinnamon, as their perfume-dipped example I've also enjoyed: HEM Cinnamon. 

Anyway - back to the Balaji. The paste on the sticks has been crudely hand applied - it looks like dried sandy mud. It's a hard and crumbly paste. It smells gorgeous - warm and spicy with some apple notes, clove, and a very mild, faint volatility. I love it. It's a warm, mature, sexy aroma. There's a confidence about it, like an older, more experienced sexual partner; and also something slightly intimidating and off-putting, but not in a negative way. The scent on the burn is absolutely heavenly. I love it. It's an exotic, erotic, warm, spicy, attractively and sexily sweet aroma  which for some reason puts Arabia in my mind. It's not a perfect burn - it can be a bit crude, suggesting that this isn't true cinnamon but the cruder Chinese. The uneven rolling means there is an inconsistency in the burn - some sticks have a sort of backflow experience with darker smoke emerging from little cracks lower down in the paste. There's woody elements to the fragrance, which though a little harsh, add some variation to the scent experience, which otherwise can be a little overbearing. Those little quibbles aside, I adore this incense. 

Date: March 2024    Score: 40

***

Balaji Agarbatti Company

Best cinnamon incense

(HMS) Pure Incense Oud Laos / Connoisseur Laos Agarwood

 

A sample stick from Pure Incense, sent as Oud Laos, and now being sold as Connoisseur Laos Agarwood at £12.95 for 20gm.  The information on the website is "BEAUTIFUL new edition to our Agarwood masterpieces, hand made in small batches with the best 100% pure Agarwood oil from dealers around the world. This Laos masterpiece is truly wonderful and has spicy mid-wood notes with a soft edge. *Fresh batch just in December 2020. Mind blowing Oud quality incense sticks truly the best Oud incense sticks on earth can be found exclusively from Adi-Guru at Pure Incense." 

The scent on the stick is lovely, quite perfumed and sweet, and with perhaps too much vanilla for my taste, but musky and attractive. This is a scent I would love to wear, as it is very much me. Musky, sweet, rich, enveloping, with notes of patchouli. I'd like it a bit rougher and more earthy and natural (less smooth and perfumed), but, still, it's a divine and compelling scent. Some cool volatile notes which inhibit repeated exploring - a shame.  The stick has a thin covering of now quite dry and crumbly charcoal paste, which has been thinly rolled in an orange-brown melnoorva powder. The bamboo splint is plain and machine-cut. The appearance and the scent indicates that this stick has been made by Haridas Madhavdas Sugandhi (HMS) of Pune. The Pure website indicates that this stick is "found exclusively from Adi-Guru at Pure Incense", so it's possible that  HMS have made an exclusive blend for Adi-Guru. I will write and ask. 

The burn, as I find typical of HMS, is quite thin and meagre. I like my incense to produce a decent volume of smoke, and for the incense to be a little heady, or at least fairly noticeable quite quickly. Each to their own, but generally with incense I prefer big and bold to shy and subtle. The scent is dry and woody. It leans more toward cedar than agarwood - or , at least, the sort of things I like about agarwood: the sweetness, the richness, and the sexiness. It is possible than much of the best qualities of the oil have been absorbed by the paper bag. I received this sample about three or four months ago, and I'm burning this now, as I noticed the  oil stain on the paper bag. 

On the whole this is a pleasant incense which smells better on the stick than it does on the burn, though - given time to breathe - it does inform the room with a quite delicious scent. Hmm. The more this burns the more I like it. I don't think this is an incense which reveals itself quickly, which suggests that a lot needs to be burned to get at the heart of the scent. Each to their own, though I would prefer fatter, more generous sticks. And perhaps trapping the scent inside the paste more firmly - being more generous with the melnoorva for example.  

Date: March 2024   Score: 39 

***

The best agarwood incense

Haridas Madhavdas Sugandhi

Vijayshree Golden Nag Forest cones

 

Quite a heady and perfumed cone. It's not great - there's some warm plastic, gloss paint, mineral, marine, and a vague greenery. It's not unpleasant either, but it's not an experience that has appealed to me. 

On the whole I'm not as impressed with these Golden Nag cones as I had expected to be.

Date: March 2024    Score: 24

***

Vijayshree Fragrance

Vijayshree Golden Nag Patchouli cones

 

This really pops. I've really like the Vijayshree incense I've had so far, but last night I burned the
Golden Nag White Sage cones, and I wasn't impressed. It's possible that I'd got saturated with incense reviewing, because I did a lot yesterday. I'll try the White Sage again today, because I'm really enjoying this Patchouli. Of course, I tend to always like patchouli, so even a poorly made patchouli will spark a positive response in me because the scent just works for me. 

This isn't, to be honest, one of the most exciting or luscious patchoulis I've had, but it has enough of the patchouli scent to attract me. It's warm, sweet, and musky. It lacks earthiness and sexuality, and it lacks the green or herbal aspects which give balance to the musky sweetness, and there is some burn notes in here, but it's decent enough to be pleasing. 

Date: March 2024    Score: 32

***

Vijayshree Fragrance

Patchouli