Pack purchased from UK online oriental shop Tradewinds - £2.85 for 45g, while looking online for some Chinese beers. Noppamas is a female owned Thailand company, founded in Bangkok in 1955 after the grandmother of the currents owners (three sisters) had been selling home-made incense to friends and neighbours, then via a stall near Saranrom Park, since 1940.
Noppamas incense is available from various online stores in Europe and America, such as Zing-Asia, WowOriental, RaanThai, eBay, etc. The sticks are classed as "bamboo less incense"; the dried incense paste is 4 inches in length and is perched on top of a 5 inch stick of bamboo coloured dusky pink. There is 1/4 inch of contact between the incense paste and the bamboo stick. I'm not clear why Noppamas decided to use wood powder instead of charcoal powder in these "bamboo less" sticks. Light one up, and it smells of scorching sawdust or smouldering cardboard, as it usual in most cheap wood powder sticks. Charcoal is the best flammable ingredient in an incense stick, unless you're going to use a top quality wood - which would make the sticks expensive. Charcoal is odourless when burned. Wood powder is not.
There is a floral scent on the stick, as well as a hint of fish and chips with vinegar. It's OK. But very modest both in terms of strength and attractiveness. On the burn it's mostly smouldering sawdust and more of that fish and chips. Faint, far away, the mild floral notes.
I'm not impressed by this. It's not exactly offensive, but there's not a lot to be positive about.
Noppamas incense is available from various online stores in Europe and America, such as Zing-Asia, WowOriental, RaanThai, eBay, etc. The sticks are classed as "bamboo less incense"; the dried incense paste is 4 inches in length and is perched on top of a 5 inch stick of bamboo coloured dusky pink. There is 1/4 inch of contact between the incense paste and the bamboo stick. I'm not clear why Noppamas decided to use wood powder instead of charcoal powder in these "bamboo less" sticks. Light one up, and it smells of scorching sawdust or smouldering cardboard, as it usual in most cheap wood powder sticks. Charcoal is the best flammable ingredient in an incense stick, unless you're going to use a top quality wood - which would make the sticks expensive. Charcoal is odourless when burned. Wood powder is not.
There is a floral scent on the stick, as well as a hint of fish and chips with vinegar. It's OK. But very modest both in terms of strength and attractiveness. On the burn it's mostly smouldering sawdust and more of that fish and chips. Faint, far away, the mild floral notes.
I'm not impressed by this. It's not exactly offensive, but there's not a lot to be positive about.
Date: Oct 2024 Score: 16
Hahaha, what a misleading packaging!
ReplyDeleteThose sticks remind me of the cigarettes in The 5th Element! :D
Ha! Yes, very long filters.
DeleteTo be fair, when I was in Thailand, I saw a lot of such sticks being burned at temples. The incense was often very long and colourful, though usually smelt of smouldering cardboard. It made me think of those claims on incense sold to the Western market - "Temple grade", as though the best quality was used for temples, while I think the reverse is true - at least in Thailand. People just buy cheap and colourful.