Nandita Dream Spirit Masala Incense

 

After burning Nandita incense for a few years, I developed a positive feel for the company. The incenses were well made, nicely packaged, and smelled great. Nothing interesting, quirky, or special - just damn good scents. So, earlier this year (2024) I sought out and ordered some batches from two or three websites. I've only just started to get around to reviewing them, but I haven't exactly been knocked out by what I've been burning. Like a number of Indian incense companies, they make a handful of really good scents on which their reputation is based, and which are marketed well - such as Wood Spice,  Black Gold, and Original Amber; while the rest of their output, while never bad, is more ordinary, and doesn't really stand out from the crowd. Decent stuff, and great value, but I've not yet found something to match Nandita's top scents. 

Dream Spirit is a standard modern perfumed masala. Machine extruded, it feels typical of the sort of perfumed masala incense distributed by the Shah family who own WonderIncense in the UK and WonderImports in Australia: well made, pleasantly perfumed, commercially appealing -  especially for the target audience of the New Age shops, but ultimately lacking in interest for those who are looking for something a bit special or a bit different. 

The scent on the stick, while "pleasant", is really a little sickly and artificial. I've been burning a wide range of incense these past few weeks, and this Dream Spirit just stands out as particularly false and crass compared to some of the incense from Bhutan, Nepal, Brazil, and China that I've been burning (albeit that I don't find some of those incenses aesthetically pleasing, they are nonetheless interesting for their authenticity, and rustic naturalness), and certainly very dull compared to incenses made by Ashish Shah for Balaji, and Alok Pandey for Malaan Gaudhoop. 

The scent on the burn is a little less icky than the scent on the stick - indeed it is quite warm and pleasant. But it is a somewhat run of the mill room freshener with more emphasis on the "perfumed" than on the "masala". I could just be in a certain phase at the moment, so I will stick this in my re-review pile rather than putting it straight out into the room freshener pile. 

Date: Dec 2024    Score:  27

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Nandita of Mumbai