Tulsi is holy basil, which is related to sweet basil, which is commonly used in the West for cooking. Holy basil is a sacred and medicinal herb in India, regarded as the earthly representation of the goddess Tulasi. I got this pack from Aavyaa last year when it cost me ₹330.00 (approx £3 or $4) - it's currently at ₹495.00.
I like the idea of Phool, and the packaging is attractive and top quality - taking inspiration from the way Japanese incense is packaged. Phool recycle flowers left at temples, which is a really cool thing to do. However, my experience of Phool incense is that there is a strong scent of dirty clothes basket combined with damp, decaying flowers. And though each incense has fragrant oils which relate to the named scent on the pack - in this case tulsi or holy basil - the dominant and often off-putting aroma is of dirt and decay, and is quite off-putting. I have noted, though, that over time - after the sealed pack has been opened - the off-putting aroma declines, and can vanish completely. This results in a much better smelling incense, though even then the scents are not impressive, so I'm left somewhat disappointed. Especially as Ranga Rao (Cycle) make a delightful incense from salvaged temple flowers: Pushkarini. But, to be fair, Ranga Rao are a very experienced and knowledgeable incense house with a lot of money and resources behind them, while Phool is a relatively new company, started in 2017 by two young men researching into economical uses for discarded flowers, neither of whom had any prior experience in making incense.
After leaving a couple of sticks out of the box for a week, they still smell a little intense, though much of that is the volatility of the tulsi oil on the stick. The scent is quite green, balsamic, acidic, woody, earthy, with notes of pine, sage, basil, bubblegum, camphor, fresh paint, rotting veg, cumin, and turmeric. It's an active and reasonably engaging scent, though I wouldn't call it a commercial or aesthetic scent. Robust, green, and hearty.
There's some black smoke when lit. The stick struggles to stay lit, but after three attempts does catch, and then initially burning with a moderate amount of grey smoke. The initial scent is simply of scorched wood and plant-life. Some burned toast. After a while it all settles - the smoke column is more lively, and the scent, though still containing rough burn notes, does have some basil elements, along with other scent notes picked up on the stick.
On the whole it's a moderate incense, which does contain basil elements, though touched by burn notes. Not really my thing.
This is the last of the "dry" Shroff samples compiled by Ashok at PadmaStore. I've enjoyed going through them. None have blown me away, but none have disappointed, while some have impressed, and I've found them all quite satisfying. They are actually fairly similar in profile, with a delicate amber-musk base, a soft, light woody heart, and a delicate, feminine floral head. Each "dry" masala in Ashok's sampler seems to play around with variations on that scent riff, and which ones folks prefer will come down to personal choice. I've been entertained by the inconsistencies in the "dry" range - with some sticks in one scent closer in profile to sticks from another scent than to sister sticks in the same scent. At the heart of all of them has been the delicate cool florals. Florals in perfume and incense are not my favourite scents (I'm more inclined toward hearty, passionate musks, woods, and earthy resins), but I do like these Shroff florals, which are always supported by subtle musks to create attractive and satisfying scents.
There's a good old fashioned incense scent on the stick of this Amber Rose. Leaning on a traditional Damask rose, though not in a heady or overbearing manner, the rose is softened and enhanced by some bubblegum (think fruit - banana, strawberry, apple, with vanilla and icing sugar) and creamy, light sandalwood. This fits in nicely with the other dry Shroffs, though with the accent more on rose than jasmine, and with more fruit than I picked up on the others.
The burn is quite soft. I find it best done upright, otherwise it's too woody. It is a relaxing, bucolic scent - quite natural, and evocative of nature. The burn scent is more woody than the stick scent, even when burned upright, and is best experienced at a little distance, and given some space. On the whole an attractive scent, which - for me - is more pleasing on the stick than the burn.
My intention is to return to these dry Shroffs in a month or so, and see how I feel about them then.
I like Balaji - I find them to be one of the best Indian incense houses. They make a wide range of incenses - wet and dry dhoops, perfumed, and masala. The perfumed incense is acceptable, professionally made everyday room freshener, often sold in bargain basement zipper packs. But it is the masala where the company - with just a couple of exceptions - really shine for me. After reading the blog, the company sent me a big box of samples last year, and I've been making my way through them - starting with the perfumed, and now I've moved on to this series of five Dharma branded masalas, where each pack is named after a yoga - this is named after Jnana yoga, a Hindu spiritual path to knowledge. The Dharma range is not widely available, though the decent German online shop, Ephra-World, sell them, and other Balaji, at good prices.
While I am attracted to the romance and organic nature of haphazardly made incense, such as made by small, traditional outlets such as Shroff and HMS, I tend to prefer on the whole when incense is more consistent and reliable. It's more convenient and satisfying. There is a sense of fun and exploration in lighting up a Shroff or HMS in that you don't quite know what you're going to get, or if the scent will bear much relation to the name or description. It's like opening a Christmas present. But I find that's fun once in a while rather than everyday. I'm more comfortable and satisfied on a daily basis lighting up an incense by a company that I find have been reliable and trustworthy, and who clearly pay attention to quality control. I think that a mix of the two experiences makes for a happy life.
I am delighted by the scent on the stick. It's reasonably bold without being too strong, and is alert, lively, and interesting. Sandalwood, fruit, cat pee, sweet tobacco, cedarwood shavings, wet sand, warm leather - a wonderous melange of fresh, natural scents. Some lambs wool, which I tend to associate with the use of halmaddi. Halmaddi is not a scent ingredient - it's use is as a perfume fixative: it binds together and amplifies the fragrance ingredients; however it does have a scent display of its own. Though the scent is not strong nor divine - it is mostly neutral, it does display camphor, citrus, and mostly, for me, warm wool.
I like the little sharp notes, reminiscent of cat pee, in the scent - it makes the accord present as natural and complex and interesting. Chanel No 5 was one of the first perfumes to make use of the cat pee scent (from the sex glands of the civit); these days it has been synthesised as 5-Cyclohexadecenone and sold as Ambretone. There is a compelling animalistic quality to this scent - a musky sexuality. Yet it also presents as refined and intelligent. It's a profound scent, discretely covering a wide range, and so engaging body, brain, and hormones in a subtle and seductive manner.
The scent profile on the burn is a little darker than on the stick (and, after experimenting, is clearer and more complex at the conventional 20 degree angle obtained on most flat incense burners), yet still fruity and lively. Fruits are mango, soft citrus, with some coconut. Then it delves into the woods, and eventually out comes the soft, sexy musk. It's great. I love this.
I've been curious about cow dung cakes for a while now, so in my last batch from aavyaa.com, I ordered these Dhenum Cow Dung Cakes, which are currently available for ₹ 225.00 (approx £2.10 or $2.69). Cow dung is used for fuel, and as incense, and is considered as healthy, though scientific research indicates that the fumes from burning cow dung are toxic and damaging to the environment.
I placed a cake on top of some clay incense cone holders in a brass dish and lit it, but it struggled to catch, so I looked up instructions, and it appears that it's best to pour ghee on the cakes. We don't have ghee, so I tried plant butter, but that didn't help, and just made it smell even worse. In the end I put it in one of my electric incense burners.
The aroma is not good. I got complaints from Chrissie upstairs. To be fair, I don't think this is something to burn in the house, nor is it burned for its fragrance. But I was curious. The smell is a bit like burnt toast, but more green and woody. There's something earthy and organic about it - something like a warm compost heap, or damp grass smouldering. Ultimately it smells like what it is - smouldering cow dung. It's not good. But anyway. Job done. I can tick that off my list. Anyone want some leftover cow dung cakes?
The appearance is similar to the Sandal Flora in that there are pinkish/reddish tones in the melnoorva powder on the paste, though this is darker, more dusky red than dusky pink. There are the floral notes over soft sandalwood which is common to the other dry sandalwood Shroffs I've tried - indeed, the soft floral notes appear to be a Shroff feature as they are there in all the other Shroffs I've reviewed over the years. It's a gentle, somewhat beguiling scent that I find attractive, though doesn't fully excite me or hold my interest. There's some soap, and perhaps a hint of lotus, or, at least, the main scent compound of lotus, 1,4-Dimethoxybenzene, which when synthesised is used in perfumes and skin creams. I noticed it when re-reviewing White Sandal, and I wonder if that lotus scent is in more Shroffs. It's a soft, subtle, creamy, somewhat light and uplifting scent - clean and well behaved. The sort of scent a Vestal Virgin might wear.
The burn is clean and attractive, following similar lines to other Shroff sandals. There's a subtle touch of saffron and clean linen, and somewhat less florals and more woods than the other sandals, maybe even a light touch of musk. It's quite pleasant, but perhaps I've just had too many of these gentle, clean, well behaved floral sandals in a short spell, because this is not doing much for me. As with the others, I like it, find it attractive, and am intrigued by some of the mysteries attached to the unfolding of the accord. It is not an exciting or passionate scent, but it does what it does well.
Another sandalwood incense in the Shroff "dry" masala sample pack from Padma Store. The "Flora" in the name, along with related terms such as fluxo and supreme, is not quite easy to pin down. It may relate to Sri Sai Flora Fluxo Incense, a successful and influential oil-rich incense which was first sold over 50 years ago, so that the term is used to refer to aspects of that incense, which is thick, heavy, and moist with oils; though in my experience the term is also used for incenses which are dry (as here) and thin. It could refer to floral, indicating that there are floral notes in the scent. I noted floral notes in the Mysore Sandal and the White Sandal (which I first reviewed two years ago, and which I have just revisited as there are a couple of sticks in the sample pack); though, looking back at all my reviews of Shroff, it seems that floral notes are present in all the Shroff incenses I've tried - such that it might even be seen as a defining characteristic. If Shroff are labelling this as "Flora" to draw attention to the floral notes, then I would be expecting rather more floral notes than that typically found in Shroff. If the floral notes are standard for Shroff, then I assume the Flora term would be intended to draw attention to a richness of oils in the stick.
The sticks are a roughly average size and thickness - hand-rolled onto hand-cut bamboo splints with ends dyed pink. The melnoorva powder covering the paste is a sandy dusky pink - quite attractive. The scent is what I am now feeling is the signature Shroff floral supported by a light, creamy sandalwood. The floral is light, delicate, jasmine and very fine rose with touches of spice and a prickle of lambs wool which I generally associate with halmaddi. It's attractive.
I burn the stick upright (ignore the photo above - I tend at the moment to take a batch of photos of incense I'm about to review, so I don't need to clear a space to take a photo each time I want to do a review - I have experimented with burning upside down, and find the experience to be poor, with loss of top notes; my preferred method now is to burn upright for both reviews and everyday burning). The scent is soft, light, gentle, floral (slightly more rose than on the stick), gently spicy, with the sandalwood coming along in support. This tends to follow the pattern of the other Shroff dry sandalwood incenses I've been burning. There isn't a lot between them. This is spicier and darker perhaps, and with a heavier floral - rose rather than jasmine, than the others, though is generally in the same ball park.
Silver Rain is a not uncommon name for incense in Asia. Some scents are associated with bringing luck, prosperity, or abundance, and so burning these scents may increase the chances of becoming rich. Which scents are associated with the bringing of wealth depends on who you read and what you believe - if you type "scents which attract money" into Google, you'll get a range of views on the topic, with little consistency between which scents will bring you wealth. At a glance I'd say that the most frequent scents mentioned are patchouli and cinnamon. If you put a dab of those scents on your neck, and you go out and get rich, then I'll expect 10% commission!
This is another scruffy HEM stick with powdery charcoal that comes off on your fingers. The scent on the stick is fascinating, containing a number of the scents I've glanced on the "scents which attract money" lists such as bergamot, cinnamon, ginger, and patchouli - though it also has rose, which I didn't notice on anyone's list (rose is usually associated with love rather than money). It's a intriguing accord, though a little busy, confused, and clashing. It makes a lot of noise, but little harmony. I kind of like it for its vigour - an energetic and powerful accord. There's some green in there as well.
As with the previous scruffy HEM I've burned - Red Apple, the stick flared up when lit, and produced a lot of black smoke. But when the flame is blown out (blowing is important, as you are putting your own breath into the scent - the burning experience then becomes more intimate and personal; shaking out the flame is arrogant and dismissive - please treat your incense with love and respect), the smoke is silvery grey and beautiful. I'm burning upright again - this really does seem to produce finer results. I get similar scents on the burn to those on the stick - a proper display of top, heart, and base notes, and they present wonderfully in that order. I will keep experimenting, though at the moment I'm seriously considering just throwing away all my 20 degree angle burners - and I have dozens and dozens of them - especially those everyday wooden ones that come free with some incense packs. But burning upright just seems to produce a sharper, fresher, more accurate scent experience with fewer off-notes.
The scent on the burn is partly bergamot, with some spice, but mostly, as it builds, it's the damask rose. It's moderately heady, quite powdery, gently sweet, and rather beguiling. I hope it rains money now!
Scruffy charcoal sticks which leave charcoal stains on whatever they touch. Very bright and bold synthetic apple scent on the stick. Like clothes conditioner. It's fresh, lively, uplifting, and does have some apple crispness along with Lady Esquire shoe conditioner (it's an early Seventies British thing), shoe polish, supermarket everyday perfume, and chamois leather. It's actually not bad.
When lit the stick flares up with extreme amounts of black smoke and the flame is reluctant to be blown out - it is hungrily alive, and wants to consume more stick! The scent on the burn (an upright burn as is my favourite at the moment, as that seems best for releasing top, middle, and base notes appropriately) is somewhat milder than the bold scent on the stick. It's milder and more metallic, with vague touches of burning wood. The apple is more faint, but is in the mix, if a little smudgy and smoky. I light a second and then a third stick to give the accord more depth and richness. It works with the third stick. More apple comes through and less wood and smoke. It's an OK room freshener for those times when what you fancy is a bit of crisp apple scent in the room.
In India, Mysore is a traditional source for sandalwood. Outside India, most perfumeries tend to go to Australia or use synthetics, but Indians regard Mysore sandalwood as the most attractive. So a statement that an incense house has used Mysore sandalwood would be looked upon favourably.
The scent on the stick reminds me of the Mysore Musk I've recently reviewed. I have some left, so I pull out the Musk stick to compare. Well, they are actually very different - it's my mind playing tricks as I'd remembered that I felt the Mysore Musk to be centered on sandalwood. But when comparing them, I note now how much musk quality there is in the Musk, and how much richer and complex it is compared to the Mysore Sandalwood. Hmm. It'll be interesting to return to these dry masala Shroffs in a month or so to see how I regard them then. Ah, but... I've just had a sniff of the second Mysore Sandalwood stick (these two sticks are from a sample pack sold by Padma - as of July 2024 sold out), and that is closer in scent profile to the Musk than it is to the other Sandalwood. The Sandalwood has a green tip, while the Musk has a red tip, so they can't be confused. There is a difference also in size - the Sandalwood which has a similar profile to the Musk is thicker than the other Sandalwood - indeed, is closer in size to the Musk. Same with the colour - The thicker Mysore Sandal stick is slightly darker in appearance - closer in hue to the Mysore Musk.
Photo of the three sticks in question - improved quality photo thanks to Irene of Rauchfahne
Two different batches of the Sandal sent by Irene of Rauchfahne - the bottom is an older batch
So, the scent on the thinner stick is quite light and flowery - suggestions of jasmine, while the scent on the thicker stick is gently musky, an amber musk. It has a darker, deeper, sexier scent than the thinner stick.
I will burn both sticks and compare them. I'm now using my upright holders. I have three upright holders - two standard wooden ones, which are commonly available on Amazon - such as this and this, and a useful stainless steel one. The wooden ones are more attractive than the stainless steel one, but don't have good air flow, so sometimes the stick goes out, and there is no place to gather the ash, so when I take the top off, the ash can spill. The stainless steel one has a more efficient air flow, and a small space to catch the ash. My quibble is that I have sometimes got sticks stuck in the holder slots and snapped them off, so they are then hard to remove. But that's probably more me than the holder. I've somehow lost the top so it doesn't look at attractive, so I'm buying a new metal upright. I've just ordered this one from Amazon.
Anyway, the thin stick is light and attractive, quite soft, with the flowery tones from the stick still present in the burn (as has been my experience when burning upright rather than upside down or at an angle). I find it very clean and attractive with modest sandalwood notes, though a general lack of impact. I wouldn't burn just one of these in an average sized room - I'd need two or three.
The thicker stick has, as expected, a more noticeable impact, and a genuine woody warmth accented by iris, musky amber, violets, and a satisfying depth and resonance. It is, for me, a significantly more pleasant and rewarding experience than the thinner stick. Neither stick, though, has an appreciably sandalwood impact. Woody, yes, but it's mostly floral and/or musky tones that dominate - notes that I do commonly find in sandalwood, but also in other scents, so they are not defining here. My general impression is not - "Ooh, that's sandalwood", but more - "Ooh, that's woody and musky and floral", without pining the accord down to any particular source. I like both sticks, though the thicker one more than the thinner one. My score is a balance between the two sticks.
Long waffle ahead (some now trimmed) - skip to the pic of the Mysore Musk box to get to the review.
Waffle
Musk is a deep, warm, rich, sexy scent. I have loved it for years. The scent is based on the secretions from the scent glands of a musk deer. The word musk comes from the Sanskrit for testicle - possibly because the deer's scent glands resemble testicles. There may be examples of true musk available, though as far as I am aware, most musk used these days is a simulation of the original. I hesitate to use the word synthetic or artificial, as I'm unclear what these terms mean. There is the sense in those terms that the product produced is not "natural" - and, again, I struggle to pin down precisely what that means in regards to scents like musk and amber. We know that musk and amber scents are not based on the original, natural sources, and so substitutes are used. Does that make the substitutes "not natural"? Well, if the substitutes are based on or derived from natural substances themselves, would they not be "natural"? Or does it depend on how much processing is used to go from the natural substance to the final product? Is beer more "natural" than whiskey because it has gone through less processing, most of which can occur in nature without human intervention? Whiskey has to be distilled, a process which faintly occurs in nature when water evaporates and then condenses back into water as dew, though too randomly and diffused a manner to actually make spirits. Distillation is essentially a process of physical separation, so may not technically be a chemical process, but it doesn't feel to me as "natural" as the fermentation of beer, which will and does occur naturally.
My thinking is that the less human intervention there is in a product, the more natural it is. And the closer to the original a product is, the more natural it is. So a resin that has been collected from a tree and then warmed or burned to release the aroma is much more natural than an attar, oil, or perfume which has been distilled or processed from that resin. And an oil or perfume made from a resin is more natural than an oil or perfume made from a substitute for that resin. A substitute may be made from a plant or from crude oil (petroleum - which in itself is a natural product), but it goes through a distillation process. But does natural always smell better? Shit, vomit, swamp or marsh gas, and skunks are all natural, but do they smell better than Chanel No 5 - a famously synthetic perfume?
I'm waffling here because I'm reaching out to discover my own thoughts and feelings on the whole natural v synthetic debate that occurs in the incense world. There isn't the same debate in the perfume world (an advanced, sophisticated, and very knowledgeable world as I'm discovering). Though there has been a similar debate in the beer world since at least the early 1970s, and those with a feel for the natural have almost lost the argument as the modern commercial brewers have won over new consumers with their "craft beer" marketing campaign.
My heart goes to natural. I prefer wearing natural fibres, and eating whole foods. I am an old hippy after all. But I don't reject the synthetic. While I prefer "real ale", I do drink and frequently enjoy craft beer - and honestly at times can't tell the difference in taste and flavour. Some of my favourite shirts have synthetics in them, some are entirely synthetic. They look good, wear well, and are easy to care for. I wear essential oils (which, though partly synthesised via distillation, are very close to natural), though I also use both for convenience and pleasure modern perfumes such as Police and Givenchy. I guess I'm a hippy who wants everything to be natural, but I'm also a realist who sees that synthetic can at times not only be more convenient or practical, but also be at least as pleasurable as natural, and sometimes better. It depends on the moment.
I guess I tend to waffle when I come upon a "musk" incense made by possibly the oldest and most traditional of all the great Indian incense houses, who I know from conversations are having to adapt to the modern world. Also, I was caught by the word Mysore. I am curious as to why Shroff have called this a "Mysore" Musk, as - as far as I'm aware - there's no musk tradition associated with Mysore. There is a sandalwood tradition associated with Mysore, though production and export is limited, so modern perfumeries tend to source from Australia or use synthetics.
The scent on the stick is more sandalwood than musk, with attractive floral top notes - rose accented - touches also of iris and violets, with an amber heart. It's a very pleasing and attractive scent. Perhaps a little too pleasant - some spice or counterpoint would really bring it to life.
The burn is fresh and lively - surprisingly so. To be honest I was expecting it to be a little harsh and woody from my recent experiences with other Shroff "dry" masala incense. I'm burning this stick upright, which I'm starting to think is the best way to burn joss sticks. Funny enough, that's the way I have usually burned incense - either holding the sticks upright, or placing them upright in flowerpots, in the soil, or in odd, available crack and niches. Burning upright appears to reveal the full range and complexity of notes, from top, though heart, down to the woody, musky notes at the base. Here I'm getting pretty much all the notes I got on the stick. My assumption is that the top notes are not getting scorched by the heat, and are allowed to simply warm and disperse, followed by the heart and base notes in the proper order. I've tried burning this stick upside down, and it immediately turns crude and ugly, with more of a burning cardboard aroma than the delicate and beautiful scent from burning burning upright. And I've tried burning at 20 degrees, which results in an experience somewhat between the upright and the upside down. More experiments need to be done, as it's possible that the experience would vary depending on the stick. But, at the moment, I am absolutely preferring the Shroff Mysore Musk burned upright.
For me this is all about creamy sandalwood and powdery florals. I'm not getting any musk at all. There's a chalky element between the sweet sandalwood and the restrained florals which links and unifies them. After a time, the musk does come through, though it's a floral or amber style musk. It's not deep, rich and sexy. It's a lighter, delicate, sweeter, musk, such as that attached to a Damask rose or a benzoin.
On the whole I really like this scent. It's light, floral, warm, pleasant. It's also slightly dry, chalky, and restrained. It doesn't quite have the passion or richness or uniqueness or cleverness I really love in incense, but it is a wholesome, attractive, uplifting, and cleansing scent. Nice one.
