This is one of a small batch of Anand incense I got from Exotic Incense earlier this year. It sells for $2.00 for a 15g packet, and Exotic Incense do ship internationally at reasonable rates. Anand Products & Co are based in Mumbai, and were founded in 1973. They sell both scented and masala incense. They put "fluxo" in brackets after masala - suggesting either that the style of masala they make they regard as a fluxo style, or that they regard masala as another name for fluxo. I did write to them, but the only response was a link to their catalogue. Their major export markets are Mexico and USA. The photos on their website indicate a small operation, and they state an annual turnover of around £300,000 - giving a possible net profit of £21,000 - about five times the average decent salary in India. So, a small but solid company. A fairly typical Indian incense company. They probably rely a lot on the Exotic Incense outlet. They have taken over sales of one of my favourite incenses, Mayur Flora.
The sticks are fairly standard modern masala style sticks. 6 inches of machine-extruded paste onto an 8 inch machine-cut bamboo splint, and then coated in a fluffy but thin melnoorva powder. Very pleasant fragrance on the stick. Gentle volatility. Men's cologne. Floral. Soapy. Hint of earth. Creamy sandalwood. This is marketed on the packet as "Traditional Fluxo Incense"; on the company's website it is promoted as "Exotic Masala Incense" (with different packaging).
I've been trying to pin down the terms "masala" and "fluxo" for a little while now, and it seems different people have different views on what they mean, and this includes the incense producers themselves. On the crudest, simplest level what appears to be common to most (but not all) incense called "masala" is that it has a coating of powder. Originally the powder was mainly used to prevent the freshly hand-rolled incense sticks from gluing together as they dried, but these days is mainly used to mark out an incense stick as "masala" style. Machine-extruded sticks (such as these) don't need the powder because the paste formulation for extruded sticks is somewhat drier. But the powder is added for the appearance. The powder is called "melnoorva" - it is generally made from crushed tree bark, and is usually unscented, though I have read of instances where some scented ingredients are added to the powder. Sometimes colourings or glitter is added to enhance the appearance. Happy Hari's Nag Champa Gold famously had (has) gold coloured sprinkles. HMS also tend to use sparkles. I have noted that some people refer to the powder as "masala", and I think that is fair enough, as the powder does signify the intention of the maker to produce a masala style incense. Another thing that crudely and inconsistently could be applied to incense that is termed masala is that the producer will take more care, and will use better quality ingredients. It is more likely that a natural essential oil will be used as the base of the fragrance (albeit diluted by a carrier oil or DEP.), and less likely that the incense stick will be a simple charcoal blank dipped into a synthetic fragrance. If a producer is making both scented and masala, their masala will be the better quality of the products. But one company's masala may be of poorer quality than another company's scented. In my experience, masala in itself doesn't guarantee good quality, and scented in itself doesn't mean poor quality. But I do tend to find that masala incense will lean toward more "natural" and "traditional" scents, will be more sacred and "serious", while scented incense will run the full gamut of scent experiences - from the traditional, sacred, and serious, though the everyday single-scent, just refresh the room, up to modern, playful, and experimental scents. That's not to say you won't find a bubblegum or apple pie scent in a masala incense, but such scents are unlikely and rare. I've had a Goloka Cucumber, a Bhagvati Ppure Black Opium, a Ramakrishna's Sunset, a Nandita Fruit Blast; but mostly it'll be variations on things like Patchouli, Nag Champa, Nature, Chakras, and the Gods.
So, anyway. This is a fragrant masala style incense which has a fairly modern cologne scent with a chypre accord (tones of Brut by Faberge blended with patchouli and honey and lotus flower). It kind of hovers between what is generally encountered in a masala and what is encountered in a scented incense. It's rather in the trend of some of the modern masala style incenses that I have occasionally termed "perfumed masala" for want of a better description. Such as those that are made and distributed by Wonder Incense/Imports under the New Moon brand name. Such perfumed masala incense offers the bolder, fresher scents of perfumed incense that modern incense buyers want, with the reassurance of the quality and tradition that comes with a masala incense. I don't know if that is a deliberate marketing ploy, but it kinda makes sense to me.
As with most machine-extruded incense, the burn is smooth, steady, and consistent, if a little fast - it only lasts around 30 minutes. The scent on the burn echoes that on the stick. A pleasant cologne like scent - a balance of floral, citric, and wood. Attractively sweet, yet masculine. It diffuses gently around the room, and informs it with a warm, lingering perfume. This is a very attractive, decent, everyday room freshener. Good quality. I like it. There's nothing special here, but it's a good price for a decent quality and pleasant room freshener.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please leave a comment: