Shroff Holy Incense

 

I got a sample pack of  Shroff "Dry Masala" from the excellent Padma Store last year - time I reviewed them! (The sample packs are currently sold out) Shroff divide their incense into "Wet Masala" and "Dry Masala". The wet masala is more expensive, and I have a preference for the wet as being richer and sweeter, though the dry masala is also attractive. 

25g for €3.95 from Padma Store

The sticks are 6 1/2 inches of brown paste roughly hand-rolled onto an 8 1/2 inch hand-cut bamboo splint dyed pink. The scent on the stick is very alluring. Candy, baby powder, floral, sweet, light, playful, iris (orris root), touch of Parma Violets, some sandalwood. It's lovely. 

The upside down incense stand in the photo was sent to me by Aida of IncenseBurnerHolder.com - I like the look of it, and like the way it neatly catches the ash, but I haven't yet used it to burn a full stick. I am curious, though also a little concerned that the incense will burn too hot. I intend to investigate more fully later. In the meantime, I am only using it for photos. I then do reviews using a conventional flat wooden burner. 

I chose to do the review of this Holy Incense before the rest of the set, as I was impressed by the scent on the burn as I was doing the photo. Now that I have the stick on my conventional flat burner at an approximate angle of 25 degrees, the scent is not quite as impressive. Hmm. Maybe the upside burner is not as bad as some people have been saying. Anyway, while the scent is not quite as impressive as when on the upside down burner (I will transfer the stick to that burner shortly) it is nevertheless attractive. Yes, the wonderful sweet, playful notes on the stick have mostly gone - burned off fairly quickly,  though still present albeit softer. But what we have instead is something quite green and woody. Touches of sweet musk. 

OK, I have transferred the stick to the upside down holder. Now, I have the stick in a different place in my room - it's on the table behind me rather than on the desk in front. On the table it is more open, and I note the smoke rises more readily in a steady upward column, looking very beautiful, then fanning out as it reaches the ceiling. The smoke, and also the scent, then starts to come down. I'm getting a cleaner scent than when burned flat on my desk. It's soft, subtle, musky with touches of milk chocolate. I then put the stick back in my flat wooden holder, put put that holder on the table instead of on the desk. Yes. It's the position in the room that seems to have a greater impact on the scent dispersal rather than if the stick is flat or upside down. There are a  number of ingredients to this scent, and it wanders around pleasantly as it burns. I like it. Woody, herby, occasionally floral, touches of sweetness, but mostly a warm, soft, dryish sandalwood with a dry citric herbal accord like sage or lavender informed by mossy notes and some faint warm patchouli. It's a chypre style accord. Subtle, engaging, and very attractive. I've really got into this! 

Date: Jan 2022    Score:  41 

***

Shroff Incense

Reviewed on Rauchfahne

HEM The Star

 

As with The Planet, a machine extruded black paste on a machine cut bamboo splint. Volatile household cleaner aroma on the stick - not unpleasant, but not exactly sublime either. Scent on the burn is moderately attractive - vaguely warm amber. Indeed vague and warm are the key terms. It's an OK burn scent, with musky undertones, but nothing to excite interest or attention.  A harmless and acceptable everyday room freshener. 

Date: June 2024   Score: 26

***

HEM Corporation

HEM The Planet

 

I have six Hem hex packets left from a cheap bundle I bought off Amazon about a year ago. There's a planets and elements theme, but that's not why I grouped them - they are the ones left because the title and design is arranged vertically rather than horizontally, so is a little trickier to photograph. This one is called The Planet and has an image of some planets in the solar system. 

A machine extruded black paste on a machine-cut bamboo splint. Volatile aroma on the stick. Initial hit is quite chemical and off-putting, with sharp top notes that quickly meld down into something floral and heady, roses, before moving into something darker and deeper, something faintly primeval and woody and musky. Of course, whatever is on the stick is largely irrelevant, because we buy incense to burn. The whole essence of incense is in the burn. And therein lies the rub. Because much perfumed incense, such as this HEM, smells better on the stick than it does on the burn. And I think some incense, like those American ones they sell loose in jars, are designed just to make an attractive scent when left open in a jar. They are not designed for the scent when burned. I think HEM do make an effort at making their incense smell OK when burned. But  I have noticed that light top notes, floral and citrics, don't burn well, and certainly don't store well (either masala or perfumed); while heavier, darker base notes, woods, ambers and musks, do burn well, and last well (both masala and perfumed). I'm not attracted to this scent on the stick - and I don't think these perfumes have been chosen for how good they smell on the stick. I am quietly assuming that this will smell ok (or least better) when burned than it does right now evaporating slowly on the stick. 

The scent on the burn is warmly musky and quite acceptable and attractive, which bears out my comments that this was designed with the burn in mind, and that deeper notes work better in incense than top notes.  

Date: June 2024   Score: 30 

***

HEM Corporation

New Age Black Copal

 

Black copal is, as Wikipedia says: "a tree resin, particularly the aromatic resins from the copal tree Protium copal (Burseraceae) used by the cultures of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica as ceremonially burned incense.".

This is spicy, citric, pine, herby. It's like a walk through a Mediterranean pine forest on a hot summer's day. It's clean, pure, natural, emotionally relaxing yet intellectually refreshing and stimulating. It smells wonderful, and it feels emotionally and intellectually positive. Job done. 

Niggles? Yes. There's a burning note throughout - so added to the image of a walk through a Mediterranean pine forest there's a smoky bonfire of autumn leaves in the middle distance.  While attractive ("wonderful" indeed), the scent range is fairly narrow - it's a fairly mid-range citrus and pine; which are the scents associated with cleaning products, so there is little excitement or novelty here. There is little contrast, balance, or counterpoint. I'd welcome some base musky scents, and/or light, playful, joyful top notes, perhaps some fruits or florals. After a while this stick feels more functional and worthy rather than the wonderful of the first moment.  Judge it for what it is - a spiritual smudge cleanser, and it really works fine. More than fine, as a spiritual smudge this is glorious stuff. But overall there are details missing which would make this world class for me. But, by heck, it's close! 

I've enjoyed the New Age products I've had, and would be happy to explore further. 

Date: May 2024   Score: 42

***

New Age

New Age Storax Balm

Storax balsam is an ancient incense, here done in the modern form of a joss stick. Joss sticks in this format - a paste of charcoal powder, binders, and fragrance ingredients rolled onto a bamboo splint - were first created around 1900 in Mysore, and have become popular because of their convenience. They have popularised and increased the use of incense, especially in the West, though are often misunderstood. The use of charcoal for example. Charcoal has been used to burn incense since at least the time of the Ancient Egyptians, because it burns hot without producing smoke or odour; yet some folks dislike the idea of using charcoal in joss sticks, and may need to be assured that charcoal is relatively pure compared to non-charcoal flammables, such as wood. 

I like the concept of combining ancient incenses with a more convenient modern form of burning. Yes, there is the part of me that loves the link with tradition and culture that comes with burning ancient resins on a brass censer with glowing charcoal embers - and without any binders or bamboo (which has a faint burning paper aroma when burned), but I'm also attracted to how culture (and humanity) evolves and adapts; and the most popular incense burning method in our society today is the joss stick (or incense stick or agarbathi, call it what you will). We are today a busy people; as such we are willing to forsake some purity and some ritual for convenience and saved time. And, in fairness, my observation is that if the incense formula is decent quality it will easily overcome any olfactory negatives in the use of bamboo splints - it tends to be the poor quality formulations, mostly used in scented ("dipped") incense, especially those which rely on delicate top note florals (which may be natural) rather than heavier, more muscular base notes such as musk and amber (which may be synthetic), as the heavier base notes stay longer, and resist being quickly consumed by the heat of the burn.

I want to emphasise here that in my experience it is not the use of synthetics that is the problem, but the nature of the scent formulation, and the amount of fragrance used in comparison with carriers and fixatives, and the quality (and nature) of those fixatives. Acclaimed fixatives are halmaddi, benzoin, and vanilla - though these can be intrusive on the scent formulation; decried fixatives are ones based on chemicals, such as DEP. A good fixative is the workaday and often ignored gum Arabic - it tends to do its job (and do it well) without drawing attention to itself. In my opinion an incense house which is using gum Arabic, rather than DEP, or halmaddi, or vanilla, is one which is more concerned with creating a good scent rather than with either the cost implication or image/marketing.  A house using DEP is trying to save money (and usually succeeding because most folks don't notice or don't care), while a house using halmaddi will tend to mention it in marketing in the hope of gaining a clientele who have been attracted by the mystery and romance of halmaddi. Anyway....

Storax is an interesting resin. It is also known as styrax, and is sometimes confused with benzoin, a wonderful but equally confusing resin, which is extracted from the styrax (or storax) tree. No wonder it gets confused! But while benzoin comes from the storax tree, storax is extracted from the sweetgum (or liquidambar) tree. But, and here it gets even more confusing, there is a belief in some quarters that ancient storax was benzoin. So, what we get in our "storax" or "benzoin" incense is rather dependant on what the incense maker decides is storax or benzoin. As the sweetgum tree (also known as American storax) is more likely to be found in California than the styrax tree, which prefers Asia and South America, I'm inclined to the notion that this New Age Storax Balm comes from the sweetgum tree, and so, at least, is a modern storax, and also likely to be the ancient storax mentioned by Pliny and other. I have no opinion as to if this is the same storax that was offered to Hecate (at least in popular tradition, as I'm unclear if this traditional belief has been academically researched - the links of storax with Hecate appear to be relatively modern, and come from non-academic sources), though we know from sources such as Dioscorides, who wrote about it in his De Materia Medica, that storax was used an an incense (and perfume and medicine) in ancient times.  

And now the stick....

The stick is nearly 11 inches long, just over 7 inches of which is the incense. The incense is composed of a lumpy, fairly thick and robust, black paste hand applied to a machine-cut splint. The scent on the stick is gentle and very pleasant with an attractive array of mostly heart notes - coconut, vanilla, sweet almonds, with light, playful florals which lift the heart. Some creamy sandalwood at the base, finishes the display. It feels surprisingly modern and uplifting and joyful. 

There is no visible smoke when lit - indeed the flame struggles to stay alight and catch hold, and I have to relight a number of times to make sure it is going. And each time it is alight, I see no smoke, but each time the flame goes, some smoke arises from where the stick is glowing. The scent is fairly gentle, and takes a while to inform the room.  It has echoes of the scent on the stick, though less sweet and much more herbal, much warmer and Mediterranean. It feels very natural and harmonious. It is woody, sage like, nips of citrus - not lemon but more lavender. Though harmonious, it doesn't feel balanced or designed. This isn't like a great perfume with a classic accord (though if it were to have an accord, it would be closest to fougère), but feels more like a bonfire onto which various fragrant ingredients are thrown now and again. The ingredients do work together as they are close to each other in scent, but they are not forming a construction - they are too loose, and too natural. There is an appeal in that. Though, for me, such an appeal is limited. I find this to be very likeable, but not profound or elegant. While I like rough and earthy, I like the rough and earthy to be more passionate and have more energy and sex. This is just a tad too mild. And it lacks passion or focus. For me at least. 

There is about this something like Tibetan incense and/or ritual/spiritual incense where the focus is on the spiritual nature of the fragrance ingredients rather than their scent, and how that scent works with the other fragrance ingredients. I kind of prefer my incense to smell great first, and to have the romance, mysticism, and spirituality second. I want the romance, etc, but first it has to smell good.  

On the whole this is a very likeable incense. It feels cleansing and natural, and evokes nature and spirituality. But it doesn't come together enough on the olfactory front to make this a winner for me. 

This is made for New Age Incense of California who commission incense products from indigenous tribes in California. I got my sticks from Exotic Incense, who sell a pack of 6 for $5. They do ship internationally. I have found them to be very reliable and good value.  

And thanks to SamsaSpoon of Rauchfahne for sending me information on storax. 

Date: May 2024   Score: 35 

***

New Age

 

HEM Iris

 

I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've had an iris incense - indeed, it appears to be an uncommon scent for incense. The root of the iris (called orris root) has been used as a perfume by Ancient Egyptians and Ancient Greeks. The roots are matured for three to six years before being made into what is a rare, precious, valuable, and expensive ingredient in some top perfumes. It is used both for its own scent, and for its ability to fix a scent - to have it linger pleasantly for a long time before fading.  

The scent of orris root has musk and wood at the base, spice and heavy rose at the heart, and violets at the top. As it's an expensive oil to make, synthetic orris/violet is commonly used, and HEM would have made their own synthetic blend in their own laboratories. 

The scent on the stick is simply gorgeous - very floral and sweet: violets (Parma Violets especially), Morello cherry, at first, then some leather, dusty rose, before sandalwood and musk come through. A wonderful journey, nicely balanced and fresh throughout.  

There is a lot of black smoke when lit, but when the flame is blown out, it settles down into an attractive swirling grey as standard. The scent on the burn resembles that on the stick, though warmer and softer. This is a very gentle incense, and is probably a little too gentle for my taste. While I appreciate the softness and delicacy of it, and that is something I do desire now and again - such as on a soft Sunday morning; my heart will usually be grabbed by mighty scents that swagger in like heavy metal gods. All in all, though, this is a fine, fine scent.  I'll be keeping this packet in the house. I'd love to see more incense houses having a go at making an Iris incense. 

Date: May 2024   Score: 35

***

HEM Corporation