Is higher priced incense truly better?

While there is some logic behind the thinking that the more expensive a product the better it is, this is not always the case. Indeed, sometimes this thinking can be exploited by some retailers who may spend money and effort in promoting their shop to give it an upmarket and glamorous image. It is not uncommon to find an "upmarket" outlet selling the same product as a "budget" outlet, but at a higher price. When we don't know much about a product - be it smart phones, blue jeans, or incense, then we can default to brand and/or price as a guide to what is quality. With brands there is the thinking that the brand may be more expensive than a comparable lower priced product from an unbranded or unknown brand, but at least it won't be rubbish - and this is generally true. And if we are buying a product from the same retailer, and that retailer has X incense and Y incense, but X is more expensive than Y, then we may gravitate toward the X with the thinking that it is more expensive because it uses better quality ingredients. And this may well be so.

But once we get to know more about the product: we have some experience of smart phones, and we know what we want and what we don't want (battery life is important to us, but a high spec camera is not), then we can make an informed decision about what to spend our money on. When we get to know about incense, and we find we like musky, woody scents more than floral, then we can make an informed decision about what to spend our money on. There's little point in paying a lot of money for a rose scented incense if we hate the scent of roses.

Sometimes, in incense forums or blogs, I see opinions being voiced that expensive incense is going to be better than lower cost incense. It may be. Or it may not be. In my experience, it's not the price that matters most, it is other factors. Recently I came upon comments on a forum, voiced toward someone who had bought "inexpensive incense and didn’t like any of them"; someone said "Learning experience I guess", another said "you usually get what you pay for", and a third said: "Inexpensive incense ingredients often fall short compared to pricier ones, with scents that are either too overpowering or lacking in quality. You truly get what you pay for."

I pondered for a while, then gave my response to the "Inexpensive incense ingredients often fall short compared to pricier ones" comment: 

 

In general, that has not been my experience.

I have found that these are the factors that have most impact on whether I will enjoy an incense are:

1) The scent. If I like patchouli, but don't like rose, then I am more likely to enjoy a cheap incense that has the scent of patchouli than an expensive incense that has the scent of rose.

2) The skill and experience of the maker. I have found that some incense makers not only know which scents make a good blend, but they also know how to make that scent perform well in an incense stick as it burns. Do you recall an Indian incense company from three years back - EL Incenses and Fragrances? They launched some expensive and beautiful packaged incense. But the recipes were not good. The sticks didn't burn well, and there was a lot of inconsistency. They used expensive ingredients. But with little understanding. And Phool. Fantastic idea. Brilliant marketing. Beautiful packaging. But the two entrepreneurs behind Phool have no experience in incense making, and the incense doesn't work.

3) The imagination of the maker. Some makers, like Cottage, have rolled on for decades with the same old tired scents (though have recently moved into making some new, modern blends). But there are imaginative makers out there who really know how to blends scents, like Ashish Shah, formally of Balaji, and now with BIC. And Alok Pandey of Malaan Gaudhoop, who is making beautiful incense out of cow dung biochar.

4) The pride and involvement of the maker. There are a lot of incenses made by white label incense houses. This is simply a business deal. Person A wants to sell some incense. Person B is willing to make it for him. They do a deal, shake hands, and the incense is made. But nobody knows who makes the incense. It is just a business deal done behind closed doors. But, thankfully, most makers do put their company name and address on the incense, and are proud to do so. Like Shroff. I prefer buying incense where the maker has put their name on the product. 

So I find that any combination of scent, skill, imagination, or pride will count for more than price. An incense maker who can take a few simple pure ingredients and skilfully and imaginatively blend them is worth more than an incense maker who spends a lot of money on fine ingredients, but hasn't the skill, knowledge, imagination, or pride to put them together in a meaningful way. And I think we can all tell a tale of making a simple meal such as cheese on toast, which was awesome; yet another time we spent a fortune on good ingredients, but burned it or messed it up.

I think the journey to finding your favourite scent is not buying a few expensive incenses. It's about being bold, and just going out there and trying loads of different incenses, and learning through your own trial and error what works for you. 

Go out, buy incense, have fun, and find out what you like for yourself. Don't be afraid of buying cheaper stuff. There's a lot of great low cost Indian incense to be found in outlets, online or high street, which cater to expat Indians - in the UK there is Poppat Stores (though they have been less interesting recently).  There's a lot of low cost incense to be found in India - if you can find a way of shipping it back to your home country at a sensible price. Aavyaa can offer great value Indian incense with free shipping if you buy enough - though, like Poppat Stores, choice has reduced recently. As a rough guide, I would say that cheap incense with a company name and address on the pack is worth trying. I would, though, say you need to apply caution and common sense to buying cheap incense which has no company name or address. And just bear in mind that there is less concern in buying cheap incense than in buying expensive incense. Either product could be good or bad - but if you spend £/$30 on a product you don't like, you may feel more disappointment than spending £/$1 on a product you don't like.  Follow your own nose, discover your own incense. And don't be afraid of the cheap stuff - incense is actually very cheap to make, even when using decent ingredients. Extra costs tend to be in marketing, shipping, and - especially - middleman fees.