Pure Incense + HMS + Ensar Oud Laos = Connoisseur Laos Agarwood

   

Second review - scroll down for earlier

Scent on the stick is gorgeous.  Rich, heady, sexy, creamy, sweet, musky, woody. It's a compelling aroma. Honey, caramel, shoe leather, fresh horse sweat. Just tiny little odd notes which lift it above the ordinary and make it special and interesting.  When I spoke with Adi-Guru he told me that he had just sourced some oils from Ensar, and that he had used Ensar oil in this Oud Laos. The stick base is made by HMS, and then the Ensar Oud Laos oil is added by HMS in the presence of Adi-Guru to make an incense stick that is unique to Pure Incense. 

The scent on the burn is divine. There's much going on which is there but elusive. There's the usual suspects - caramel, honey, Indian coconut ice-cream; there's a sweetness which is natural rather than commercial, soft and delicious but not satiating, there's a calm dryness like the end of summer; and there's something almost orgasmic but just out of reach - it's more an emotional ghost of a moment than something tangible or describable. The scents tend to the soft, light sweetness - an air of almost floral, almost fruity - really soft, aged raspberries, hints of strawberry, coconut, young banana. I wondered if there was a lack of base notes, a lack of wood, but in discussion with Chrissie we felt there was some dry leaves - quite light, but enough to provide a base. And that the ephemeral lightness was the essential beauty of this incense. Coming back a third time to what was left of the stick, I felt there were gentle herbs and spices deep in the mix which do provide a base to balance the lighter more divine notes. 

I love this.  And looking down at my review last year, I love it much more than I did then.  This is available from Pure Incense at 20gm for £12.95 plus VAT and postage. Or from Exotic Incense at $16 plus postage. 

Date: Aug 2025   Score: 47

First review

A sample stick from Adi-Guru of 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, and Adi-Guru's known association with HMS, points to this stick having been made by Haridas Madhavdas Sugandhi 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

Reviewed in USA