(HMS) Prasad Incense Celestial Sandalwood

 

Prasad Incense is the brand name of incense sold by American gifts and incense shop Prasad Gifts. The incense is made by HMS (Haridas Madhavdas Sugandhi of Pune), a much used and fairly distinctive white label incense house who make incense for a number of own brand outlets in India and the West, such as Gokula,  Berk, and Pure, as well as selling incense under their own name (though not easily available in the West). 

These are hand-rolled sticks with oils used in the paste and applied externally to the stick. I've not compared  them (by a side by side burn) to other HMS sandalwood incense sticks, but this appears to me to be the same experience I had with Primo Sandalwood / Gokula Sandalwood & Vanilla / Gaura Absolute Sandalwood and The Dhupa Collection Bhaktivedanta ManorSandalwood.  They smell more of vanilla than of sandalwood. It's a modest, pleasant scent, which sweetens the room.  Vanilla is a common scent in HMS incenses - I suspect it comes from the use of vanilla as a fixative, but that's just speculation. It is possible that the company use vanilla as a feature scent because it is so sweet and appealing. The downside is that for a number of people, vanilla can become cloying after a while, especially if it is used reasonably prominently, as it is here. I quite like vanilla in modest amounts. 

Date: April 2025    Score: 28 

***

Haridas Madhavdas Sugandhi

Hem Dragons Blood cones

 

This is not much different to Satya's Dragon's Blood cones.  A variation on a theme. This is a bit darker (both in colour of the cone, and in the fragrance) than the Satya. Less green, a tad more smoky, but they are both singing from the same hymn sheet - it's just that HEM has the huskier, earthier voice.  I prefer the Satya. 

Date: April 2025   Score: 24

***

Dragon's blood

HEM Corporation

Aromatika Navagraha Sambrani Frankincense Resin Cup

  

I'm curious about resin or sambrani cups. I first noticed them a few years ago, and reviewed my first, Raj Guru Vandana Sambrani Cup, back in 2018. I think I got this pack around the same time, and I've burned a few of the cups, but hadn't reviewed it until now. So this is just my second resin cup. While curious, I was a little put off with my experience of the Raj Guru Vandana. The cups take a long time to light, and the Raj Guru Vandana was rather smoky when burning - setting off the fire alarm in the house. They require a lot of ventilation. I found it best to use them as a smudge in the house - walk around the house as the cup burns, allowing the smoke and fragrance to spread in each room before moving on to the next. And then I put the cup in our outhouse. The house does feel cleansed, energised, and well fragranced afterwards, and the scent remains for hours. So I've come round to liking them, despite there being a bit of awkwardness in their use. However, I'm not yet seeing the real advantage over burning resin on a burner. And for convenience, I'd rather have one of the resin-on-a-stick type incenses I've been exploring recently - such as  Pure Yemen Dragons Blood and Inca Aromas Pitanga. 

The incense is named after Navagraha, the nine planets which, according to Indian tradition, influence our lives - similar to Western astrology. There is no real scent from the cups before being lit. The resin is covered in a resin which holds them in place, and I assume this also hold the fragrance, so it is only released when warmed. There is a resin aroma during the burn, though it is a little blurry and smoky. There is a crisp citric quality inclining to lemon and bergamot, a touch of vague floral, and some mild resinous wood inclining toward pine. While the scent is that of a resin, I wouldn't have picked frankincense as the resin - for me it inclines more to benzoin, but is more of a generic wood resin than any one in particular. As with the Guru Vandana, the experience is best when the cup is no longer burning, and improves with time - the residual smoke scent diminishing while the resin scent begins to hold its own. There is a pleasant moment of warmth and brightness when the smoke smell has diminished completely, and before the resin scent fades completely. 

I burn incense for the pleasure of the scent, and how it fragrances our home. I don't really want to be fussing with it too much. I put plants in the garden which thrive in our local conditions, and which require little intervention from me. I don't want to be using fertilisers or pesticides or fussing too much with water and pruning. It's the same with my incense. I want the incense to look after me and bring me joy rather than stress. As such I can't see me using these resin cups too often. I'll keep an open mind, and am willing to try a couple more, but I'm not going to be seeking them out. 

Date: April 2025  Score: 25 

***

  Aromatika

Ansaam Incenses Galaxy Sticks Scents of Alandalos

  

These incense sticks by Ansaam Incenses of Egypt are over a foot long, and half an inch thick. They burn for up to 5 hours. While in Cairo visiting one of my daughters who taught there, I bought some Ansaam incenses from a stall in Khan el-Khalili. I didn't buy the long ones, as I thought they might be difficult to transport back, and also I was unsure if I'd like the incenses. As it turned out, I loved them. In looking on the internet for more information about the Ansaam incense house (it appears to have been formed in 2019, but I have very little other information, and they have not responded to my emails), I found someone on Etsy who was selling the long sticks for £8 each - which is a very reasonable price for the size and quality of the incense, and the difficulty of buying them in this country. I have noted that since my initial review in April last year (2024), a number of other sellers have popped up on Etsy, Amazon, and eBay at varying prices. They are sold for more reasonable prices from most UK sellers than some American, so it's worth shopping round.  Of course the cheapest is in Cairo, but first you have to fly out there!  

I bought mine from the Etsy seller, Kim of PsychicsNStuff - the name has now changed to IncenseLounge, though the price remains the same - £8.00. Good value. There is a load of useful information on the pack. It tells me the production date (Jan 2023), and the shelf life (five years - this is low compared to traditional masala incense where the fragrance is folded into the paste; I assume it is because the scent has been applied after the paste has been extruded onto the stick). It also tells me the ingredients: Agarwood, Fragrance, and Natural Fixatives.  The fragrance is made by Maomen, based in Port Said. Both companies formed at the same time, and are based in the same place, so it looks like Ansaam Incenses is the incense brand of Maomen.  

There is an Arabian oudh quality to the scent on the stick - warm, friendly, sweet, musky. Woods and florals - mostly rose. A little volatile, but quite acceptable. The scent on the burn is surprisingly mild. It generates, as expected, a generous amount of smoke, but it's not as dense or obtrusive as I expected. I started in the outhouse, and each time I went out there I was impressed by how pleasant it smelled, without being overwhelmed by a too heady scent or too much smoke. I brought the huge stick indoors, and smudged the house for a bit. And that has been very effective - the scent remaining in the rooms for hours afterwards.  Then I settled down with the stick in our middle room which is my office. It is a delightfully mild incense for such a monster. I burned it for around an hour (a roughly average time for a decent quality Indian stick), and found it informed the room rather than dominated. The fragrance on the burn largely matched that on the stick - mostly a pleasant oudh and rose and lemon scent. It is a bit perfumed - I would have liked some earthy touches and perhaps some resin, but nevertheless, it is a highly attractive accord. 

   

There is a useful scent pyramid on the box for those who like some guidance on what to look out for. I find such information interesting to look at after I've reviewed an incense. Same as I like to read other reviews after I have done my review. I tend to prefer not to look at such things first because I like to have my own personal experience, and not to be too directed. Looking at the pyramid I feel that it by and large matches my own experience.  

I really liked this. I like the fragrance, I like the vibe, I like that it is made in Egypt where our oldest knowledge about incense comes from, and I like the information on the box. My quibble is that the full size Galaxy sticks are rather too large for convenience. Storing the box is awkward, and the sticks may get damaged. I prefer to stick with the normal sized sticks. 

Date: April 2025    Score: 39

***

Ansaam Incenses of Egypt

Ansaam Incenses of Egypt

 

Ansaam Incenses, who make a variety of incense, including sticks over a foot long that burn for five hours, launched in 2019.  Ansaam Incenses is the incense brand name for Moamen Fragrances in Port Said, which was also founded in 2019.   

The Port Said home of Ansaam Incenses

I came upon them in 2024 while visiting one of my daughters who was teaching in Cairo. We visited Khan el-Khalili, the touristy shopping area - not quite a souk, more like The Lanes in Brighton. It was Ramadan, and we were leaving as Iftar was approaching - most shops were closing, and people were gathering at tables to break their fast. I then spotted some incense on a stall outside a shop. Conscious that this was not really the time to be trading, I was still curious to see if any of the incense was made in Egypt. Unfortunately the stall holder descended on me and began thrusting various bits of incense at me. It was difficult to focus, but I managed to establish (despite his insistence that all his incense was Egyptian) that most of his incense was made in India (there was Tulasi among others on his stall). But I did notice the galaxy sticks - the foot long sticks that burn for over 5 hours. Way too large for me. But I found two packs of mini galaxy sticks - still rather large and daunting, with a burning time of 3 hours, but more manageable. I would have liked to explore further, but we had to move on. 

I have become aware, since posting my first review in April 2024, that some people have started to import the sticks into both the UK and USA, so they are available on Etsy, Amazon, eBay, DesertCart, at fairly reasonable prices for the size. Cheaper in Cairo, obviously, but first you have to get there!  

Reviews

     

Ansaam Incenses
Mini Galaxy Sticks Arabesque (PW)
April 2024 - Score: 44

   

Ansaam Incenses
Galaxy Sticks Scents of Alandalos (PW)
Apr 2025 - Score: 39

Ansaam Incenses
Mini Galaxy Sticks Oud Roots (PW)
Jan 2025 - Score: 31

    

PW= Perfumed wood powder

Reviews: 3
Top score: 44

Bottom score: 31

Average: 38

***

The Best Incense Makers

Incense Around the World

Xiang Lian Ao Zhou Tan Xiang (Australian Sandalwood)

 

Gentle, attractive, mildly peppery, slightly plain sandalwood scent. Leaves a modest though pleasant citrus tinged woody scent in the room. It's all quite acceptable, albeit rather soft and simple. This presents more as the wood rather than the oil - the ingredients are "Australian sandalwood powder, sticky powder", so it is likely to be the wood that is left after the oil has been extracted - which still contains enough fragrance to be commonly used in incense. Serves as a modest room warmer, and as a gentle unobtrusive background scent. 

Available as part of a set of 11 fragrances from Amazon, Temu, and Shein, for around £8. Or by itself from DylansDen for £2. 

Date: Mar 2025   Score: 26

***

Good & bad Chinese incense

Xiang Lian

Sandalwood

Xiang Lian Xing Zhou Shuichen (Water Sinking Agarwood)

 

This is pleasant. Modestly pleasant. A savoury wood aroma, like a well cooked and seasoned meal - plenty of herbs and veg, and something darker and meatier. Ingredients are given by Google Lens as: "Xingzhou water agarwood powder, sticky powder".  The translation of the name Xing Zhou Shuichen has been difficult, with various versions offered - quite often simply given as "sandalwood", but it is meant to be agarwood. The "water sinking" part is misleading. Water sinking agarwood is regarded as the finest quality agarwood - the amount of dark fragrant oil in the wood causes it to sink. However, "water sinking" is a common term in China for agarwood. In China it is often known as "sinking wood" - 沉木.  Those two symbols are at the bottom of the name, shown sideways in the above picture. Xingzhou is a name for Singapore (星洲), but while the second symbol is the same, the first is a little different. My assumption is that the Xing Zhou in the name refers to the place where the agarwood came from. 

Anyway, yes I find it pleasant, but rather modest. It does leave a pleasant background fragrant wood aroma in the room for a little while afterwards, but not for long. It's an ok incense, just a bit underwhelming in strength, depth, length, and complexity. 

Available as part of a set of 11 fragrances from Amazon, Temu, and Shein, for around £8. Or by itself from Dylans Den for £2. 

Date: Mar 2025   Score: 24

***

Good & bad Chinese incense

Xiang Lian

Agarwood incense

Xiang Lian Eli Zhang Zhong Xiang (Goose Pear)

 

I love the story behind the goose pear fragrance, a traditional Chinese incense made by steaming pears with agarwood and sandalwood. It is seen as a royal incense, and is romantically linked to the love affair between poet and emperor Li Yu and his consort Zhou Ehuang of the Southern Tang state around 970 BC. Li Yu made the incense for his lover, and they "met in a secluded garden and followed the fragrance under the moon". Beautiful! 

There is a basic sandalwood scent blended with something cloudy and fermented. I have burned a goose pear incense previously, and found that it needs fresh air to bring it to life, otherwise it comes across as old, blurred, and a little smoky. I walked it around various rooms in the house, and then left it in one room, and came back a little later. Nothing I did could bring it to life. Which has made me reflect back on the other Goose Pear I have reviewed, which I gave a good score, and I now wonder if I was mistaken. Or if this incense is truly not as good as that one. Whatever. At this moment, I'm not impressed with this particular Goose Pear.  It's not ugly, but it is flat and somewhat uninteresting. 

Available as part of a set of 11 fragrances from Amazon, Temu, and Shein, for around £8. Or by itself from DylansDen for £2. 

Date: Mar 2025   Score: 21

***

Good & bad Chinese incense

Xiang Lian

Xiang Lian Tai Hang Ya Bai (Cedarwood)

Bought on Temu as part of an attractive boxed set of 11 different fragrances for £8 (including the metal stick holder in the photo). They are no longer available in the same box marked Xiang Lian, but the same fragrances in the same tubes are sold on Temu, Shein, Amazon, and other places as the same set of 11, generally for around £8.  This fragrance by itself is available in the UK from DylansDen for £2.00.  

Hang Ya Bai appears to translate as cedarwood, though I've also seen it translated as sandalwood. The scent on the burn is more cedarwood than sandalwood, so that's what I'm listing it as. The wording at the bottom of every tube is (according to Google Lens) "Inheritance of Craftsmanship", and then Chinese in English.  There are around 40 thin dhoop sticks, each 8 inches long. The scent is gentle, woody, fresh, mildly tangy and outdoorsy, very pleasant. It's a simple scent, but attractively cleansing, and relaxing. This is OK stuff. I'm not wild about it, as I'm not one for simple woody scents, but it is decent stuff - no harsh notes. It comes over quite clean and pure. I'm happy to burn this as a room freshener, as a gentle cleansing smudge, or as a relaxing aid in the evening. It seems to be a flexible and agreeable incense - handy to have around. Excellent value, especially if you buy the 11 fragrance box. 

Date: Mar 2025   Score: 31

***

Good & bad Chinese incense

Xiang Lian

Pondicherry and Auroville incense - "dry brown dusty twigs"

 

The history of the Pondicherry and Auroville cottage industries incense is that in 1949 Mirra Alfassa, The Mother, started making incense for the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, India. The aim was for this to be a modest low cost product for their own use. Surplus was sold to visitors, and by 1973 was being exported. It is sold under the Cottage Industries brand name, though originally and for a while it was under the name of the ashram, Sri Aurobindo, and had a shop in Pondicherry. However, when it became a charity, it was not allowed to get directly involved in a commercial enterprise, so set up a separate trust, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Central Sales Organisation, to deal with incense and other sales through their online shop: Sacso-online.com. 

Auroville is an experimental township near Pondicherry that was set up by Alfassa in 1968. When I first read about Auroville I was delighted, but the more I learn about it, the less I like it. I am uncomfortable that it is mostly Westerners who live there, organising or running small business, such as incense making, while it is the local Indians who do the work. While putting this page together I came upon this report by the BBC: Local concerns over Indian utopia, which appears to confirm my concerns: "there are at least 120 commercial enterprises operating here, making incense, clothes, silk paintings and so on. Under the rules, they can keep two-thirds of the profits and pay no tax. The locals think it is not fair. They are the ones who work full-time, and often for less than the Aurovillians get in maintenance grants. 'I feel like a slave,' one of them told me. 'Of course they do provide us with jobs,' he said, 'but it's very difficult for us local Tamils to become members.'  'It's like being back in the days of the British Raj', said another."

In addition to the original Cottage Industries, there are several organisations selling incense made by the Pondicherry/Auroville cottage industries. These organisations tend to sell the incense to Western visitors and online to Westerners. There is a remarkable similarity between the incenses made by the different organisations. The incenses tend to be pure and simple, without frills. They also tend to be dry and sombre, and sometimes a little harsh and peppery.  In the Tamil Nadu region where Pondicherry and Auroville are based, the incense makers sometimes use the residue left over from distilling resins and spices as this is a cheap source of fragrance. Though when mixed with wood powder it can smell dry, harsh, and peppery. The locals are accustomed to it, and like it. I don't like it - I find it resembles dry brown dusty twigs. Each to their own. 

***

     

The Mothers

Incense reviewed: 4
Highest score: 39
Lowest score: 32
Average: 33

***

Naturveda

Reviews: 11
Top score: 30

Bottom score: 21
Average:  26

***

   

One Aromatics

Reviews: 7
Highest: 33
Lowest: 10
Average: 24

***

   

Meadows

Scents: 8

Top score: 27
Bottom score: 22
Average: 24

***

Cottage Industries

Scents tried: 14
Highest: 28
Lowest: 17
Average: 23  

***

Auroshikha Incense

Reviews: 4
Highest score: 26
Lowest score: 18
Average: 21

***

Naturveda (Aromandise - Les Encens du Monde) Haute Tradition Supreme Sandalwood

Supreme is a wonderful word, it feels rich and creamy - much more rounded, exotic, and tasty than premium, which is such an over-exploited term it now feels like flat cardboard in the mouth. Yet, they mean the same thing. It's a marketing term. But it looks and sounds so nice, especially when coupled with Sandalwood. "Supreme Sandalwood" sounds great. 

This is the last of the batch of Aromandise samples I got from Padma Store. And I'm pleased I've got to the end, as I have not really got on with them. They are OK incense sticks. Pure and natural. But they have been simply and crudely made, following the example of The Mother, Mirra Alfassa, who, in 1949, set up incense making in the Pondicherry area, insisting that it be pure and simple and low cost. No frills. And mostly basic mono-scents. The result is that most of the incense made in the Pondicherry area is dry, simple, sombre, somewhat harsh and peppery, with little awareness of either fun or olfactory knowledge. They may also be following the local Tamil Nadu tradition of using the residue left over from distilling resins and plants as a way of saving money. The result is a harsh, peppery scent when the incense is burned, but the locals like it that way.   

    

Ingredients: Wood powders, resin,

Indian white sandalwood essential oil

The paste is soft and crumbly, and is finished with a fine whitish powder.  There is a gentle and pleasant perfume on the stick - a little soapy, a little sweet, a modest white sandalwood rather like Chinese incense. The scent on the burn is like cheaper Asian wood based incenses. A basic woody sandalwood missing the dark, sultry oils. Light, modestly sweet and floral, with plain wood notes bordering on smoky. It's not harsh or peppery. It's OK, but it's very plain and simple. It smells like a cheap basic woody incense. 

Available from Aromandise, or Padma Store, or other outlets. 

Date: March 2025    Score: 24

***

Naturveda

Sandalwood

Naturveda (Aromandise - Les Encens du Monde) Haute Tradition Imperial Frankincense

  

Made for the French shop Aromandise (who sell their own brand incense under the name Les Encens du Monde) by a Pondicherry based white label company called Naturveda who utilise the cottage industries in and around Pondicherry in southern India. The incense sticks use pure and natural ingredients, though are simple and unrefined, following the tradition set up by Mirra (The Mother) Alfassa in 1949 in which the incense made for the Pondicherry ashram would be pure, natural, basic, low cost, everyday incense. I've been told that incense makers in Tamil Nadu, where Pondicherry is, like to use residues from distillation of resins and spices - this is a cheaper substance, which can result in the incenses having a harsh and peppery smell, though it has become the local taste. The incenses from Naturveda do have a harsh, peppery smell, in line with other incenses made by the Pondicherry cottage industries.

   

Ingredients: Wood powders, frankincense, resin

Hand rolled from a masala style wood powder paste onto a crude hand cut bamboo splint. There is only a faint, slightly sweet, faintly lemony and floral, scent on the stick - the fragrance ingredients have been folded into the paste, and it appears that no additional scents have been applied to the exterior. 

The scent on the burn is, for me, one of the more successful of this Haute Tradition series. It is frankincense, with a pleasant resinous fragrance, and a touch of sweetness to give some counterpoint to the spice and dry wood. It is recognisably frankincense, and reasonably pleasant, though is a little too dry, woody, and peppery for my taste.   

Available from Aromandise, or Padma Store, or other outlets. 

Date: March 2025    Score: 28 

***

Naturveda

Frankincense

Naturveda (Aromandise - Les Encens du Monde) Haute Tradition Oriental Vetiver

 

Vetiver is a fragrant grass similar to lemongrass. It's not the most common of incense ingredients as a solo scent - indeed, this is I believe the first vetiver incense I've reviewed.  I note that Auroshika, who, like Naturveda, are part of the Pondicherry cottage industries, also sell a vetiver. I wonder how different they are? 

There is a mild, slightly peppery aroma on the stick. My observation of Naturveda and other Pondicherry incense is that the sticks use a traditional masala method in which the fragrances are folded into the paste which is hand-rolled onto the bamboo splints, and no oils or fragrant powders are added externally (as in perfume-dipped and perfumed-masala style incenses). My understanding is perfume-dipped incense is easy to make and control - the blank sticks can be made in various local households (or bought in bulk from Vietnam), then brought to a central location where the perfume solution is made up and applied. Perfumed-masala adds a layer to the masala method by adding a fragrant powder to the outside of the masala stick, and sometimes a perfume solution is also added externally. This tends to be done to give the stick an immediate appeal, even before it is burned. Perfume-dipped has that immediate appeal, while traditional masala does not. So adding a scent to the finished masala stick makes commercial and aesthetic sense. Pondicherry incense tends to eschew applying an external scent. This would be in keeping with Mirra (The Mother) Alfassa's decision back in 1949 when she set up incense production in Pondicherry that the incense would be basic, low cost, everyday incense. It seems likely that incense production in and around  Pondicherry is still following the basic, simple, pure, natural, and low cost approach. 

     

Ingredients: Wood powders, vetiver powder,
resin, lavender and vetiver essential oil

The scent on the burn, as is common with other Pondicherry incense, is faint, dry, sombre, peppery, a bit harsh, with more of a scent of smouldering wood than of the intended fragrance. After recently burning a fair amount of Chinese and Japanese incense, who also use wood powders and are not bold with applying the main fragrance ingredients, I had attuned my mind and senses to being patient and respectful and attentive to the subtle fragrance, and playing down my focus on the smouldering wood. I have been using that approach to these Naturveda sticks, though I do find it wearisome. I prefer to be a little more casual and relaxed with my incense.  I expect the incense, on the whole, to be doing the work, while I simply appreciate and enjoy the benefits. I am willing to concentrate now and again (as I tend to do anyway when reviewing), but if I do, then I want something special to reward my concentration. This Vetiver does have lemon notes - not clear and sharp, more like lemon soap, along with tree bark, and something vague and earthy. It all feels very ordinary and basic, not worth concentrating on. Sigh. 

Available from Aromandise, or Padma Store, or other outlets. 

Date: March 2025    Score: 24 

***

Naturveda

Naturveda (Aromandise - Les Encens du Monde) Haute Tradition Oriental Musk

 

Musk is an animal product, and can still be bought - but it is expensive: 12ml Siberian musk - £1,000. For financial and ethical reasons, hardly any perfume company has used animal musk for years. I don't know for sure, but given that alternative or synthetic musk is widely used, reasonably priced, and very good, I doubt if any incense company uses real musk. Naturveda use the plant labdanum, which is commonly used as an amber substitute, plus ylang-ylang, which is generally used to give floral and/or oriental notes.  That sounds quite promising.  However, my experiences so far with Naturveda, who are based in Pondicherry, and are the company responsible for putting together these incense sticks for the French shop Aromandise, has not been positive. Indeed, my experiences with all incenses made in and around Pondicherry (such as Cottage and One Aromatics) have not been positive. I tend to find them to be dry, peppery, old fashioned, and boring. I regard them as brown twigs. I don't find them to be awful - they are decent, well made incenses with a focus on being as natural as possible - just that they are not my thing. I like sweeter, livelier, more colourful and modern scents and accords. Each to their own. Anyway. I'm curious as to how I'm going to respond, because from the ingredients this sounds like it should be my sort of thing. 

   

Ingredients: Wood powders, natural honey,
labdanum gum, Ylang-Ylang essential oil

Scent on the stick is a little muted. A bit of sandalwood. Little else. The traditional masala style of making incense is to enfold the fragrance ingredients (dry and wet) in the paste before rolling out. This tends to result in a low aroma on the stick (unless scents have later been added to the outside of the stick either with oils or a fragrant melnoorva/masala powder). 

Scent on the burn is pretty much in the same field as the others in this range. It's dry and woody. It's kind of savoury. I think mostly of cedarwood. It's OK, but it doesn't excite or please me. 

Available from Aromandise, or Padma Store, or other outlets. 

Date: March 2025    Score: 25 

***

Naturveda