I've been hunting down incense for over ten years now, and I have found and burned well over 1,100 different incenses. The good, the bad, and the indifferent. Along the way I've come upon great incenses, interesting incenses, beautiful incenses, historic incenses, fun incenses, and weird incenses (Dhenum Cow Dung Cakes for example). I've burned resins, and dhoops, and ropes, and Bakhoor, and sticks from India, Tibet, Japan, Egypt, Germany, the UK, Peru, Brazil, USA, Indonesia, etc. Perfume-dipped incense, traditional masala incense, and modern perfumed-masala incense. I've burned incense from incense families that have been making incense for over 100 years, including one in Chicago, USA. And I've burned incense from emerging companies, some of whom have not survived. Sometimes as I've tracked down and found a particularly noteworthy incense, such as Sri Sai Flora Fluxo - a hugely influential incense which has been much copied, sometimes blatantly, I have thought it would be interesting to keep a list of such incenses. This is my first attempt at such a list. At first I thought I might do 20, then 50. At the time of writing this note, I have quickly gone through my reviews and put in a selection of what I feel are interesting, and it comes to 125. I guess I might even add to that as I work on the list. I think 125 is too much, so I have decided on a figure of 101. So I will start to whittle down the weak entries until I have 101, and then keep to that. If I want to put a new incense in the list, I will have to drop one out.
These are not necessarily the "best" incenses (however you view what you think a "best" incense is), nor necessarily my favourites (though some are my favourites and some are what I think are "the best"). The criteria is that these are incenses I feel I would like to have been directed to when I was starting out hunting. Perhaps because they are culturally or aesthetically or historically significant, perhaps because they are popular, perhaps because they are well known, perhaps because some people acclaim them, perhaps because some people pick them out to hate, perhaps because they are trendy or trending - such as the Kuumba branded incense sticks, or perhaps simply because they are cute (matchbox incense) or have caught my attention for some reason.
Any such list is going to be subjective, and also limited to the experience or knowledge of the compiler. Over the past few years I have gathered a fair bit of knowledge of Indian incense - rather less so on incense from other parts of the world. I have decent knowledge of incense sticks (joss sticks, agarbathi, etc) - rather less so on resins and cottage industry blends (such as Underworld Apothecary Djinn Incense). So my list is going to be limited, Please feel free to point me in the direction of interesting or worthy incenses I have missed.
These are not necessarily the "best" incenses (however you view what you think a "best" incense is), nor necessarily my favourites (though some are my favourites and some are what I think are "the best"). The criteria is that these are incenses I feel I would like to have been directed to when I was starting out hunting. Perhaps because they are culturally or aesthetically or historically significant, perhaps because they are popular, perhaps because they are well known, perhaps because some people acclaim them, perhaps because some people pick them out to hate, perhaps because they are trendy or trending - such as the Kuumba branded incense sticks, or perhaps simply because they are cute (matchbox incense) or have caught my attention for some reason.
Any such list is going to be subjective, and also limited to the experience or knowledge of the compiler. Over the past few years I have gathered a fair bit of knowledge of Indian incense - rather less so on incense from other parts of the world. I have decent knowledge of incense sticks (joss sticks, agarbathi, etc) - rather less so on resins and cottage industry blends (such as Underworld Apothecary Djinn Incense). So my list is going to be limited, Please feel free to point me in the direction of interesting or worthy incenses I have missed.
The list is given in no particular order. At the moment it is fairly random - and there are loads of names fairly quickly selected from my Top of The Dhoops! and other lists, and I'll be sorting it out as I go along - adding some and removing some. I'm publishing it in unfinished form as it'll never be finished anyway, but more importantly I think this will take some time, and if I leave it in draft form it'll never get published!
The list
First on my list is Satya Nag Champa as this was my gateway incense. I'd been casually burning some cheap everyday perfumed incense for years. I was quite happy with it. Then my local incense shop were out of stock of what we usually bought, and suggested Satya Nag Champa instead. What a revelation! I soon learned that this has been a gateway incense for many people, and is possibly the most well known and revered incense. Though, curiously, increasingly these days, also sneered at - mainly because it is a gateway incense, and some people have moved on to "better" incense, and claim it's not as good as it was in their day. Subjective opinions based on memory are difficult to assess. I have found I am less impressed with Satya Nag Champa these days, though I don't think that's because the recipe has changed or been dumbed down - indeed I will sometimes burn old stock, and find that my appreciation of the old stock is pretty much on a par with the new stock. I suspect it is partly to do with the Satya company splitting up, and the incense sold by one brother was - initially - rather poor. Incense from both brothers is OK these days. There's also been a general trend in all incense making, particularly Indian masala incense, to use less expensive ingredients, so all incenses, not just Satya Nag Champa, will have altered their recipes.
Why should you try Satya Nag Champa? Because it is possibly the most famous incense in the world, and because from my researches it appears to be the original Nag Champa scent - which is a blend of magnolia champaca and sandalwood. And Nah Champa is possibly the most revered incense stick scent.
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| 2: Frankincense |
Frankincense is an obvious choice. It is one of the oldest and most celebrated fragrances is the history of humankind, and is possibly the original incense. Indeed, the word incense comes from frankincense. There are a number of frankincense fragranced incense sticks and cones - it is a popular scent, and frankincense is also used in masala incense as a fixative to hold and project the scent in the masala paste. However, I feel to really experience this incense it should be a resin, as that is how it has been enjoyed for thousands of years. I fully intend to really explore resins, but at the moment I've only had a few. The sweet, flowery, lightly citric Frankincense Resin from Dutch distributors Pheonic Import is currently my highest rated pure frankincense resin.
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| 3. Bukhoor / Oud |
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| 4. Balaji Red |
Balaji are a well established Indian incense company. They make a full range of incenses from perfumed to masala. All their incenses are heady, and very Indian. I find their masala incenses to be among the most divine in India. Their new Dharma range, created by Ashish Shah, takes the traditional masala incense into the modern world with bright, joyful scents. And I shall put a Dharma incense on this list. But here I will list Balaji Red, as this is the incense that made their reputation - it is their signature scent, and justifiably so. Their Chandan is very popular, but I feel there are better and more interesting sandalwood incenses I can put on the list. Balaji Red is a sensual combination of deep red florals (Damask rose) and sultry, musky woods.
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| 5. Meena Perfumery Meena Supreme |
This is the incense that Paul Eagle sold as Happy Hari's Meena Supreme - and it took on a legendary status.
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| 6. Modern Egyptian Incense |
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| 7. Aravinda Sugandha Shringar |
Sugandha Shringar by the Aravinda Parimala Works of Mysore, has a claim to being the first blended (as opposed to single scent) incense stick in India. H.S.Rao created Sugandha Shringar ("cosmetic fragrance" or "makeup fragrance") in 1963 - blending floral scents with woody scents - which became the basis for the heart and soul of much incense in India, and would likely be the inspiration for Nag Champa. The incense is a modest perfume-dipped everyday room freshener, but its influence and importance is huge.
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| 8. Happy Hari's Nag Champa Gold |
The original Flora / Fluxo incense. This has been hugely influential. Much copied - sometimes quite blatantly as with Hari Om's Fluxo.
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| 10. Cottage Industries |
I want to again point out that I'm not listing these in any order of importance - I am putting these up as they occur to me from the selection I made below. The numbers are to help me keep track of how many there are. I may remove the numbers later, though they kinda look good with numbers. My intention is to post this list before it's complete, otherwise it will simply get forgotten among my drafts, as are a number of other abandoned projects - some dating back years....
Cottage Industries Heritage No. 16 Amber
Cottage Industries Heritage No. 16 Amber
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| 11. Lovely Incense, Kathmandu |
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12. Koya's Heavenwood (M) |
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| 13. Shroff Mogra (M) |
Fair Trade Om Nagchampa - As an example of a modern incense house who make incense on commission for others
Monastery Mount Athos Frankincense Holy Great Monastery Vatopedi Aroma Amber - As an example of legendary Mount Athos resin
HEM - "Notorious" maker of perfumed incense: HEM Frankincense-Myrrh / HEM Church Incense (masala) / HEM Baby Powder
Sai Handicrafts UK Gold Sandal - UK based home-made incense
HEM - "Notorious" maker of perfumed incense: HEM Frankincense-Myrrh / HEM Church Incense (masala) / HEM Baby Powder
Sai Handicrafts UK Gold Sandal - UK based home-made incense
Kuumba Carhartt - Very trendy and expensive perfumed incense / Balarama Zam Zam The Lick
- same maker - very popular and reasonably-priced foil-wrapped incense in the UK
Moksh Swarna Divya Sugandh - Modern commercial maker of Indian perfumed incense. Very popular. Decent quality.
Match Incense: Daisy, Kiwi, & Pineapple - Dreadful incense, but cute, collectable boxes.
Knox Weihrauch-Myrrhe Räucherkerzen - Run of the mill perfumed cones - listed for the German tradition of burning cones in cute, collectable wooden smokers.
Raj Guru Vandana Sambrani Cup - New form of incense. Very popular in India and among the Indian diaspora
Kemet Design Hathor Incense / Underworld Apothecary Djinn Incense - Home-made incense
Dhenum Cow Dung Cakes (July 2024): 2
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