Absolute Amber from Rasbihari Lal of the holy city of Vrindavan. Part of a sample pack from Padma Store who sell it at 5.45 Euros for 20gm. "Absolute" is a term used in perfumery when a fragrance is extracted from a plant via a solvent such as ethanol before being distilled. It is a longer process than steam distillation, though is needed for certain fragrances which are otherwise difficult to extract via steam distillation. Amber is one such fragrance. Amber fragrance is extracted from the gum rockrose or labdanum - it is named after ambergris, a waxy substance found in sperm whales, as it has a similar fragrance, and is a suitable substitute as ambergris is no longer used for fragrance. The term "absolute" is occasionally used in incense - HMS of Pune tend to use it, and I assume it is used to signify that the fragrance is good quality. How much weight of reliability one can put on this use is uncertain, as companies are fairly free with using descriptions such as "Premium" or "Top Quality" for even the most basic of products. I would assume, though, that if a company is selling several amber fragrances, and one is labelled "Absolute", and is a higher price, that the Amber Absolute will be their best amber fragrance. But it doesn't mean it will be a better quality amber than another company's amber.
I like this Absolute Amber. The paste on the stick is quite thin - it is dry and crumbly, and appears to be charcoal based. It is covered with a very thin layer of reddish melnoorva powder in which the black paste can be clearly seen. The machine-cut bamboo split is dyed green. The scent on the stick is quite musky and very attractive. It has an earthy sexy sweetness which is always going to beguile me. There's little evidence of volatiles - they are there, but very soft in the background. The scent, though a little perfumed (a bit soapy and smooth), feels natural.
When lit, the flame doesn't flare - it's a modest flame, and there's no black smoke. The burn is steady, with a very thin grey smoke (as to be expected by the sparseness of the paste). The scent is slow and modest. It drifts gently across the room, and when caught in the air, it is fairly clean and divine. This is an incense for the room rather than for personal meditation or smudging. Though with patience it will surround you and become part of your aura. Down points are that the amber fragrance has been applied sparingly, so sometimes the charcoal comes through. It's a shame, because it really is a divine scent. I do like my incenses to be fairly robust, even gentle, delicate ones like this. I want to be able to smell and experience them. And while this does have its moments, it is a little vague on its own. I ended up burning the two sample sticks simultaneously because I enjoyed the scent so much, I wanted to be more engaged with it, more enveloped in it. I want more of it!
It's a lovely scent. And I'm going to be getting more of this. I tend to like amber anyway, so I am predisposed to liking this. But this is, nevertheless, a very attractive amber. Down points are that there's not quite enough fragrance in the mix for my taste, and the scent is, though divine, a little simple. There's not a lot going on. Not enough to hold my interest, other than the pure and simple emotional joy of it - which, though, does count for a lot.
I'm classing this as a perfumed masala. The stick has a melnoorva powder, so it appears the intention by the maker is to present this as a masala in the sense of a quality product, rather than the paste mix has been prepared as a masala. The incense stick looks and behaves like a perfumed charcoal stick. The perfume is a quality amber scent, and it doesn't appear to have been cut with an agarbatti oil or DEP, so this is a good perfumed incense, but it is a perfumed incense.
I like this Absolute Amber. The paste on the stick is quite thin - it is dry and crumbly, and appears to be charcoal based. It is covered with a very thin layer of reddish melnoorva powder in which the black paste can be clearly seen. The machine-cut bamboo split is dyed green. The scent on the stick is quite musky and very attractive. It has an earthy sexy sweetness which is always going to beguile me. There's little evidence of volatiles - they are there, but very soft in the background. The scent, though a little perfumed (a bit soapy and smooth), feels natural.
When lit, the flame doesn't flare - it's a modest flame, and there's no black smoke. The burn is steady, with a very thin grey smoke (as to be expected by the sparseness of the paste). The scent is slow and modest. It drifts gently across the room, and when caught in the air, it is fairly clean and divine. This is an incense for the room rather than for personal meditation or smudging. Though with patience it will surround you and become part of your aura. Down points are that the amber fragrance has been applied sparingly, so sometimes the charcoal comes through. It's a shame, because it really is a divine scent. I do like my incenses to be fairly robust, even gentle, delicate ones like this. I want to be able to smell and experience them. And while this does have its moments, it is a little vague on its own. I ended up burning the two sample sticks simultaneously because I enjoyed the scent so much, I wanted to be more engaged with it, more enveloped in it. I want more of it!
It's a lovely scent. And I'm going to be getting more of this. I tend to like amber anyway, so I am predisposed to liking this. But this is, nevertheless, a very attractive amber. Down points are that there's not quite enough fragrance in the mix for my taste, and the scent is, though divine, a little simple. There's not a lot going on. Not enough to hold my interest, other than the pure and simple emotional joy of it - which, though, does count for a lot.
I'm classing this as a perfumed masala. The stick has a melnoorva powder, so it appears the intention by the maker is to present this as a masala in the sense of a quality product, rather than the paste mix has been prepared as a masala. The incense stick looks and behaves like a perfumed charcoal stick. The perfume is a quality amber scent, and it doesn't appear to have been cut with an agarbatti oil or DEP, so this is a good perfumed incense, but it is a perfumed incense.
Date: March 2024 Score: 43
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Hmm looks like very much like my Gokula Connoisseur Amber. A HMS Stick..
ReplyDeleteI'm suspecting the Rasbihari Lal sticks are HMS for several reasons. The shared names. The shared appearance. The shared scent (they are dry and prickly and have vanilla). And that when I looked up Rasbihari Lal on Google, they are clearly a shop - incense downstairs, books upstairs. None of this is 100% certain, of course, but there's just too much pointing to Rasbihari Lal buying from HMS for it not to be ignored.
DeleteThat is intriguing. It seems quite a number of brands use HMS for at least one of their lines. I've also had quite variable experiences between batches of the same incense fragrance (Blue Lotus).
DeleteIt might already be on your radar Steve but I'd recommend taking a look at Bhagwan's amber offerings namely balsamic amber as I think this may even top HMS's interpretation in my mind.
Eugene sent me all his incenses to review, so I'll have the amber in my stock. We communicate a lot, though I would prefer not to be told who makes which incense because Eugene doesn't always want it to be known who he sources from (he sources from both the usual places - HMS for example - and some new places he discovered himself).
DeleteIt is surprising me how much HMS is sold under different names, and yet the style is so recognisable as HMS. It seems this has been going on for years in America and the UK. It also happens in India. I'm aware that Ramakrishna of Goa resells the incense of others as his own, and some of that is HMS. Ramakrishna was originally the main source for Paul Eagle, who did sell HMS under the Happy Hari brand. And now we have Rasbihari Lal who also appear to be reselling HMS as their own brand.