Bhaktivedanta Manor / Sacred Boutique The Dhupa Collection Sandalwood Incense Sticks (discontinued)

 

Second review - scroll down for earlier

 

This is an attractive incense. Yummy vanilla and caramel fragrance on the stick, which is echoed in the burn, and also points ghostly toward frankincense (rather than sandalwood). Nicely designed packet. I'm not sure of the history of this, nor the provenance. It is no longer available on the Sacred Boutique site, which is the outlet for sales for the UK branch of the Krishna Movement, based in Bhaktivedanta Manor.  Dhupa is the religious or ritual offering of incense to a god or spirit. It appears that Bhaktivedanta Manor / Sacred Boutique set up a separate website, Dhupa Luxury Incense, (now defunct) to promote a set of incenses they named The Dhupa Collection (as of August 2025, there is one fragrance left in the Dhupa Collection - Kasturi). I originally thought that the Dhupa website imported the incense, and was separate from Bhaktivedanta Manor / Sacred Boutique, but on looking further it appears they are the same.  Sacred Boutique say they import from Vrindavan, and other incense of theirs that I have burned, such as the Ab Lavender, is very similar to incense I have burned from Vrindavan Bazaar. However, the vanilla in this stick reminds me of incense from Pune, such as that from HMS, and DBS, and Vinasons. But I don't know where it comes from - other than somewhere in India! Hah. It used to irritate me that various traders (in India as well as the West) wouldn't be transparent and honest about where the incense they sell is made, but I've come to accept that is the way of Indian incense. And the more experience I get with Indian incense, the less sure I am that I (or indeed anyone else) can accurately identify where an incense has been made. There are more similarities than differences in Indian incense. Incense makers share (or copy) ideas and techniques and recipes quite regularly and openly. So be it. We can of course have fun guessing, and sometimes there are clues and logical reasoning which will point fairly convincingly toward a source, but only rarely can we be absolutely certain. I suspect many of us are wrong more often than we are right. 

Anyway. When I reviewed this incense last year, I think I was a little mean. It is quite delightful on the burn, and while not heady like a Balaji stick, it does project the fragrance quite confidently. I like this. I actually like it quite a lot! 

Date: Aug 2025    Score: 39

First review

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).  I don't know who makes the sticks. Sacred Boutique say they import from Vrindavan (and a number of the incenses they sell are also sold by Vrindavan Bazaar,  and Gokula and Sai Handicrafts as well as some others do source from Vrindavan Bazaar or other outlets in Vrindavan, and sell similar incense). Because of the use of vanilla in the mix I have wondered if the sticks are made by HMS, or DBS, or Vinasons, all of Pune, and all of whom are known to use vanilla. And Mark of Gokula does sometimes source from HMS. But I don't actually know where the incense is sourced from. Somewhere in India! Hah. 

These little sticks are nice. Apart from size, they appear to be very similar to 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. 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

***

Sandalwood