(Wonder Incense) New Moon Aromas Shree Sandalwood

 

I like sandalwood, though I've not yet had success with burning sandalwood by itself. Sandalwood is a common fragrance in moulded incense (such as sticks, cones, dhoops, etc); and in East Asian countries, such as Vietnam and China, it is the main ingredient in their joss-sticks. It is used both as a fragrance ingredient and as a combustible. 

The Shree range in the New Moon Aromas brand by the Shah family (owners of Wonder Incense and Wonder Imports), appears to be traditional single scent incense - Frankincense, Patchouli, Musk, etc.  It is a machine-extruded perfumed-masala style incense. The scent on the stick is volatile, perfumed, sweet, moderately musky, creamy sandalwood. It has a focus on the high sandalwood notes so it's quite floral. It's not a genuine sandalwood, and I miss the  sultry, sensual base notes. But it is, however, quite attractive and commercial. 

The burn is soft, clean, light sandalwood. Somewhat perfumed. It is attractive, though lacks the pleasure of the deep, sultry, earthy parts that I associate with sandalwood. It's a nice cleansing, calming, and mildly lifting room freshener. Good for afternoons. 

Date: Nov 2024   Score: 27 

***

New Moon Aromas

Sandalwood

(Wonder Incense) New Moon Aromas Shree Frankincense

 

I like frankincense. I'd like to explore it more in resin form. Unfortunately the frankincense resin I have tried so far has not been great quality, though I am aware that the quality of frankincense resin can vary widely. Once I have ploughed through my backlog, I can feel comfortable exploring resins and other forms of incense, such as bakhoor. In the meantime, my main experience of frankincense has been through masala or perfumed incense sticks. Frankincense works well as a blend with myrrh - they compliment each other very well. Frankincense is sometimes used as a fixative in incense, though it will be the lower quality resin. The scent itself will often be generated by an oil - sometimes an essential oil, but more often a human-made oil, such as Amphora's Frankincense Oil with 14 different ingredients. 

I am less keen on New Moon, though I have liked (a lot) some individual scents. However, I'm not that keen on the ambiance of the brand, which appears to be a commissioner rather than a producer, because of the detachment between company and product when someone simply buys or orders an incense rather than making it themselves. There is no pride in the creation, just in the purchase. Sure someone can feel pride in owning Starry Night, but that's not quite the same as the pride in having created it. 

The scent on the stick is perfumed and volatile with a menthol coolness. It's a very sweet and perfumed and artificial frankincense. It's moderately pleasant, especially as a room freshener, but it doesn't excite or interest me. The scent on the burn is gentle, attractive, sweet, perfumed. There are woody, musky elements. Yeah, it's nicely done. It's a good room scent, though it does start to gather pace and issue rather a lot of smoke, which is moderately intrusive, and it starts to become a little too intrusively heady. This is better as a room freshener when nobody is in the room while it is burning. I do like the scent. And it does cleanse and warm, up the room. I like the sticky, resinous, honeyed, dark musky sweetness of it, and the sensuality. And I like the playful florals along the top. Sigh. Yes, the more I burn this, the more I like it, which is always a positive sign.  

Date: Nov 2024   Score: 37 

***

New Moon Aromas

Frankincense

Lovely Incense, Kathmandu

 

Lovely Incense is an incense shop in the Nepal capital city, Kathmandu, owned by Dipendra Dangol.  The current brand, Three Lotus,  decorates packets with a hand pressed Himalayan flower, so they are sometimes known as Himalayan Flower. Previously the brand was called Eyes of The Lord Buddha. 

There is so much to like in just that. This is clearly a long way from process, machines, and corporate business. There is human life here, and respect for the natural. The incense is made for Dipendra Dangol, who founded his shop, Lovely Incense, about 25 years ago, and who now employs 11 women to make and pack the incense. He has a wholesale website, Lovely Incense, though his incense is available retail from online sites across the world. 

In my experience of Nepal incenses made for Dipendra Dangol, who founded his shop, Lovely Incense, in Kathmandu about 25 years ago, they are crudely and simply made; they do not appear to use sophisticated fixatives (which protect, magnify, and disperse the fragrance when burned), and they use basic sandalwood powder in place of charcoal (so there will be a smell of smouldering wood which will mix with the scent of the fragrance), 

Reviews

   

(Lovely Incense) Buddha Heart & Soul (M)

Dec 2024 - Score: 33

Three Lotus / Himalayan Flower
Super Nagchampa 
Nov  2024 - Score: 30

   

Eyes Of the Lord Buddha
Pancha Buddha Incense Sticks (M)
 Sept 2023 - Score: 25

Eyes Of The Lord Buddha Royal Nepal (M)
Aug 2023 - Score: 25 

    

Three Lotus / Himalayan Flower
Aromatic Grape Fruit (P)
 Nov 2024 - Score: 24

Three Lotus / Himalayan Flower White Musk 
Nov 2024 - Score: 23

  

Scents reviewed: 6
Top score: 33
Bottom score: 23
Average: 25

Conclusion: This is not the best made or most aesthetically pleasing or exciting incense I have burned, but I love the ambiance and the style, and the romance of this operation in Kathmandu. I particularly like the basic, home-made, rustic feel of the packets and the incense, and the use of real Himalayan flowers to decorate the packets. Charming. 

***

Himalayan incense
Nepal, Tibet, and Bhutan

The Best Incense Makers

Incense by Country

Gonesh

 

Gonesh is a popular US made everyday room-freshener perfumed-incense company based in Chicago. The company behind the brand are the Radkins family - third generation Lithuanian immigrants who in 1923 took over an existing American incense company called The Hindu Incense Company, then formed Genieco Inc. as the holding company. This means the company are over 100 years old - so are one of the oldest continuously operating incense companies in the world. They have thrived, and are now one of the most popular incense brands in America. Gonesh is a variant spelling of Ganesha, the popular Hindu elephant head god, who is revered as the bringer of luck and intelligence, and the remover of obstacles.  

The company make much of the quality of their charcoal, which they have registered under the name HighCharcoal; they claim that they have "the highest charcoal content of any brand currently on the market". Ambiguous wording which could be read as they have more charcoal on the stick than any other brand, which given it is smeared on quite thinly is obviously not true, but would presumably and sensibly mean they have the purest charcoal. The best charcoal is that which has heated the source material (usually wood, but could be other sources such as coconut) to very high temperatures, and so burn off any impurities. The best quality charcoal has no scent of its own, and is able to absorb and hold scents very well. The purest charcoal is used for medical purposes because it has no toxins itself, but can absorb toxins. The best charcoal can be detected by rubbing some ash on the back of your hand - the smoother it is the finer it is (I did the test, and this is a fine charcoal). All incense sticks (joss sticks) contain some form of combustible material, and, if there are oils or perfumes, some form of absorbable material. Charcoal is widely considered to be the best combustible, and the best absorbable material, and the better incense companies will strive to secure the best charcoal. So, it is promising that this American company seems to be aware of this.  The sticks are thin, and a little longer than average, with just the merest smearing of charcoal and perfume. They appear to only be available from America. They can be bought from the very decent American ExoticIncense shop who ship internationally.  

There is a video which shows the incense sticks being hand-dipped in their factory in Chicago, but it is not clear if they make the charcoal blanks themselves. The sticks are probably made in China or Vietnam (most likely China - Vietnam tends to make budget sticks), and then shipped to the Genieco industrial unit in Chicago where they are dipped in a fragrance oil as shown in this video. Gonesh are available in various shops in the US; they don't have an official outlet in the UK, though are available in various deals on Amazon and eBay.

Reviews

Gonesh Extra Rich Cedarwood (P)
Nov 2024 - Score: 35 

    

Gonesh Extra Rich Nag Champa (P)
May 2024 - Score: 33 

   

Gonesh Extra Rich Cherry Blossom (P)
Nov 2024 - Score: 32

  

Gonesh Extra Rich Black Cherry (P)
Nov 2024 - Score: 29 

   

Gonesh Extra Rich Amber (P)

Nov 2021 - Score: 23 

   

Scents reviewed: 5

Top score: 34

Bottom score: 23
Average: 30

Conclusion: Acceptable decent quality room freshener perfumed-incense. Interesting as a long established (over 100 years) incense maker, and as a rare example of successful commercial incense making outside of Asia. It's likeable stuff, but it doesn't really grab me. Now I've explored a few packs, I'll not be seeking out new ones, unless they come my way cheaply. 

***

The Best Incense Makers

Incense by Country

(Wonder Incense) New Moon Aromas Shree Patchouli

 

Patchouli is one of my favourite scents in incense - either as part of a blend or as a single scent. It just works so well in incense, and it is such a robust and earthy scent, that it is difficult to fuck up. Some incense makers do fuck it up, but not as often and not as badly as most other scents. I always tend to feel positive when I get a patchouli incense. 

New Moon Aromas I feel less certain of. I've had some scents from them that I really enjoyed, but mostly I've been somewhat underwhelmed. The brand is owned by the Shah family in  the UK and Australia, who run Wonder Incense from the UK and Wonder Imports from Australia. I was told by Navan Shah that they have their own manufacturing premises in India, but I've not been given an address or evidence of these premises - and various people have said to me - privately - that they know who makes the incense for New Moon. As such I'm no longer listing them as a producer of incense, but as a commissioner. I don't think they rebadge incense. I think they have the incense made for them. Pretty much as ITC (India Tobacco Company) get various small incense houses to make Mangaldeep Incense for them. I think, like Mangaldeep and Zed Black, there is an aim to make money by producing acceptable incense to a target audience. I think the pride of ownership is missing. There is a lack of love for the incense. A lack of knowledge of and joy in the process of making incense, and of wanting either to preserve traditions or to explore new ideas and push new boundaries.  Asking someone to make something for you is not the same as making it yourself. Though, fair enough, commissioning specific scents and styles from a maker is a step above simply purchasing a bundle of sticks, putting them in packets with your name on them, and selling them. 

The box is the standard Satya sized masala box. The sticks are the standard masala length of 6 inches of paste on an 8 inch bamboo stick. The paste has been machine-extruded and there is an external perfume. This is a classic modern perfumed incense. The scent on the stick is perfumed, mildly volatile, somewhat citric with notes of lemon and pine, so it leans toward a toilet cleaner smell. It's sweet, with some floral notes and some low musky, woody notes. It's fairly generic so far, and there's little here to get excited about. 

The scent on the burn, however, is much more agreeable. Warm, woody, sensual, with delicate floral notes. It is an attractive and pleasant musky scent. Not top end patchouli, but quite acceptable.  It is pretty much what I expected. A decent enough everyday perfumed masala incense based on the patchouli scent, though not really capturing its delights.  It's OK. 

Date: Nov 2024   Score: 29 

***

New Moon Aromas

Patchouli

Berk Holy Smokes Good Night

 

This is the first perfumed incense I've had under the Berk brand name - the others have been masala style incense. Berk is the brand name of a German importer of Indian goods; they source their incense from HMS and The Mother's ashram - this incense is unlikely to be from either of those, as they don't make perfume-dipped incense as far as I'm aware.

The dried paste on the stick has been coloured purple. The scent on the stick is light and floral - hovering between lavender and violet, but not clearly identifying as either. I assume from the name and the colour that the intended scent is lavender, as lavender aids relaxation and sleep. Ah, I've just looked at the box for confirmation and it contains "Maidal nuts ... combined with fragrant lavender and balsamic myrrh".  Maidal is the Mountain Pomegranate - the nuts are apparently burned beside the bed to aid relaxation. A quick Google only show Berk (or other online shops) proving that information - I've not yet found an independent source saying that. Most reputable sources say the nuts have medicinal properties, but not related to relaxation or sleep. 

The scent on the burn is quite light, a little dry and spiky, some smoky wood, though has some burning herb notes and something sweet and hearty and dark that could be myrrh. It does develop in a dry resinous direction, developing a bit like Cottage incense - so my assumption at the start that this wasn't made by The Mother's ashram may be in error. And perhaps, despite the appearance, this isn't a perfume-dipped stick at all, but a masala stick that has been coloured. Whatever, being faint, dry, and prickly, this isn't an incense that excites or relaxes me. If anything it mildly irritates. 

Date: Nov 2024    Score: 24

***

Berk

Best of Lavender

Vakratund Super Sandal Premium Masala Dhoop

 

In each slide out box of Vakratund dhoops you get a clay dhoop stand and a box of matches, so you are good to go.  The dhoop sticks are foil sealed to keep in the scent freshness. The scent on the sticks is mildly volatile with soft scents of sandalwood. The volatility indicates this is not actual sandalwood, but either essential oil or fragrance oil or both. Using both is generally considered best as synthetic sandalwoods fill in the gaps missing from a sandalwood essential oil. The scent is pleasant, but tilts strongly toward sandalwood top notes rather than the sensual base notes which are my genuine love. The base notes are there, but they are rather battered into submission by the high flying rapture birds of the top notes. 

Dhoops are, I think, one of the unsung heroes of Indian incense. This is a very fragrant burn. It is quite heady, but soft and deliciously so. It is a little floral for my taste, and doesn't deliver enough sandalwood - certainly not the sultry base notes that I love. Give this a non-scent based name like Indian Evening, and suspect I would enjoy it more. Give something a scent name, and then fail to deliver on that scent, and there's going to be some disappointment and/or frustration. But put that aside, and what we have here is something quite delicate and beautiful. Nice one. 

Date: Nov 2024   Score:  41 

***

Vakratund

Dhoop

Sandalwood

HEM Watermelon

 

Watermelon is an unusual incense scent. This is the first watermelon incense I've come across. But I do recall we had a watermelon car freshener once. We like those dangling car fresheners. In our last car, which was a seven seater with three rows of seats, our daughter, Phocea, made a collection of them, dangling from the front to the back. Because she's both artistic and autistic, she arranged them in colour order (not fragrance order!). 

The scent on the stick is watermelon, but it's also a weird bunch of other things as well, not all of them pleasant. HEM is fairly random. On the whole they are a very popular and professional organisation, and some of their perfumed incense is very attractive. The bulk is acceptable everyday room freshener. But sometimes they offer up some shit like this. If people burn a handful of the shit stuff, it's no wonder they think that HEM as a whole is shit. The odd scents are an open tin of paint, dirt, dust, warm plastic, shoe conditioner. There's also touches of raspberry, though on the whole I'm not enthusiastic about what it's going to be like on the burn. 

Well, to be fair, it's a lot nicer on the burn than on the stick, and not as bad as I was expecting. It is, though, very faint. However, it does have a watermelon scent. Well, the watermelon scent you get in car fresheners and on sweets. Meh. It's OK. Subtle, and cute. 

Date: Nov 2024    Score: 24

***

HEM Corporation

HEM Precious Rose

 

There's a distinct sweet damask rose scent on the stick. A little simple, but acceptable and moderately attractive. I reviewed Precious Rose as a cone over five years ago, and I wasn't impressed then. I tend to prefer sticks over cones, though I've not yet done a side by side with the same incense in cone and stick variations to see what (if any) difference there is between the two forms. I finds cones more convenient in certain places because they are tidier. But I do find that they can deliver too strong and heady a fragrance in a short space of time, so on the whole I prefer not to burn cones in the same room as I'm in. We use them mostly in the toilet. 

One of the first incenses I reviewed was Hem Precious Musk in the cone. I really didn't like it, and gave it a very low score of 8. Much of the scent on the burn of this Precious Rose reminds me of the negative issues I had with the Precious Musk. It smells old and damp. Yes, there's rose here, and it is light and floral, but the overall impression is not something I find attractive. I don't find it so offensive I would rate it as low as an 8, but on the whole this is not a scent for me. It is, though, on this showing, more pleasant than my experience with the cone. 

Date: Nov 2024    Score: 22

***

HEM Corporation

Best rose incense

HEM Lord Shiva

 

I tend to prefer incense which have names rather than scents. They are usually blends, and if the name is unique, the scent blend will likely be unique. This is generally where the incense fragrance blenders can show their creativity and originality. And a successful blend can really make the reputation of an incense house. And, in general, I prefer a blend to a single scent because blends tend to be more interesting. This incense is, as is popular in India, named after a god - Shiva, an ancient and powerful  pan-Hindu god, respected and feared from Nepal down to Indonesia. 

The sticks are 6 1/2 inches of charcoal paste thinly hand-rolled onto 9 inches of plain bamboo splint, and then dipped in a liquid scent.  The scent on a perfume-dipped stick will generally be quite vivid - if not, then the stick is either quite old, so the scent has evaporated, or it's a poor quality stick, and the scent is weak - or both. If the scent is not vivid on the stick, then - unlike with a traditional masala incense - the scent on the burn is not going to be effective. The scent on this stick is vivid. It smells like a room or car freshener scent. There's some dark berry fruit, some shoe conditioner, some farmyard, some faint woods and herbs and violets. It's a little sweet and synthetic, but it's acceptable. 

The scent on the burn is a little mild and modest for my taste, but is reasonably pleasant. It echoes the scent on the stick, with a focus on the violets, and with a little more warmth and depth. It's not a scent to excite or interest me, but it's an acceptable and pleasant everyday room freshener. 

Date: Nov 2024    Score: 25

***

HEM Corporation

HEM Black Opium

 

I burned some Black Opium incense recently - Fumino Black Opium Cones - which I found quite pleasant. The scent is based on Yves Saint Laurent's Black Opium, a variation of Opium, and cloning the perfume is a popular source for Indian incense.  I'm kinda into oils and perfumes at the moment, so I have some sample vials of Black Opium - it's one of our favourite scents at the moment. It's a lovely rounded, musky-vanilla accord, with plenty of activity - floral blossom, patchouli, woods, and faint, bright fresh coffee grounds (not espresso, but proper coffee). This HEM incense smells nothing like that. Sadly. 

The scent on the stick is bright, chemical, more toilet freshener than perfume. All top notes. Somewhat volatile. Not great. The scent on the burn is faint, slightly smoky, somewhat banal, generic perfumed-incense. It does settle into something vaguely musky, but there's not a lot going on here. And I'm getting nothing that resembles Black Opium. HEM are very inconsistent. This is one of their weaker efforts. 

Date: Nov 2024    Score: 23

***

HEM Corporation

Opium

Sree Vani Little Gopala

 

Mixed fruits and bubblegum are my first impression of the scents on the stick. Sweet florals and creamy sandalwood. Perfumed and pleasant, and on target for modern perfumed masala incense. 

On the burn there is the comfortable fragrance of masala incense with halmaddi.  The scent is informed with sweet florals and fruit. It is light and pleasant. Decent stuff. It doesn't really touch me. It is a little too sweet and floral for my taste. But it is pleasant and likeable, and good to have around as a quality masala incense room freshener that will lift the house. I feel this is a Sunday morning incense. 

Date: Nov 2024   Score:  34

***

Sree Vani Perfumery

Sree Vani Little Buddha

 

Toward the end of last year (Aug 2003) I reviewed Sree Vani Little Ganesh, and I was impressed. I wanted to try more, but was held back by the knowledge of my backlog, and that several incense houses and distributors had sent me samples which I hadn't got to reviewing. So I held off. Then I returned to Little Ganesh earlier this year, and I liked it even more than the previous time. So, yes, I got more of the Little Gods. Bless them. 

The box is a standard Satya size and shape. This is the most popular box for masala style incense exported to the West. The sticks follow the standard Satya format of 6 inches of  masala-charcoal paste hand-rolled onto an 8 inch bamboo splint, and then coated in a fluffy covering of brown melnoorva powder. This powder serves to dry the paste and prevent the sticks from gluing together. Each incense house will have their own melnoorva recipe, using tree bark or sandalwood powder, and perhaps adding a fragrance so the sticks smell pleasant and inviting when the pack is opened, and the sticks are taken out.  The main scent is mixed into the paste before it is applied to the stick, and the fragrances in the paste are treated with fixatives which protect, heighten, disperse, and lengthen their scent. But the fragrance on the outside of the stick - be it mixed with the melnoorva powder or poured as a liquid scent onto the finished stick - will add its character to the scent on the burn. It is the incense maker's task to take into account how the scents in the paste and the scents on the stick will work together as the stick is burned. From my experience, it appears to be relatively simple to get a great smelling stick. Anyone can dunk a charcoal blank into a fragrance oil, and the stick will smell of that oil. The trick appears to be to get a great smell when the stick is burned. For here it is so easy to go wrong, and so hard to get it right. 

Shree Vani have got the scent on the stick right. It is a kind of standard "masala" scent. A little woody, a little floral, a little fruity. It feels natural and traditional. It doesn't excite me, but it is acceptable and pleasant, and certainly within expectations of a standard masala. It displays coconut - a creamy, milky coconut - which sits between the woods and the florals and holds them together. It's a nice scent. It works. 

The scent on the burn is steady and attractive. It is professional and well done. There's no clash of scents or accords, no off notes, no smouldering wood powder or garden waste. This is a well made and well judged incense in line with the top masala houses such as Satya and Goloka. The scent echoes what was on the stick - there's woods, and florals, mild fruit, and a memory of the coconut. It is a warm, pleasant, attractive and entirely competent incense such as Satya make. But it does little for me. I like it as a top quality room freshener, but it doesn't quite move me the way that Little Ganesh did.  

Date: Nov 2024   Score: 34 

***

Sree Vani Perfumery

Gonesh Extra Rich Cherry Blossom

 

The scent on the stick is floral, lightly fruity, spicy. Surprisingly complex and interesting. Clove, I think, is the main message I take away from sniffing the stick. 

The scent on the burn is pleasant, professional, warm and spicy. I am more fixated on the clove and spice than on the floral. I like this. It's not heavenly or anything, but is a solid and decent perfumed-charcoal room freshener a cut above the average. 

Date: Nov 2024    Score: 32

***

Gonesh