Mysore Sugandhi Three Roses

 

For people of a certain age (over 60) there is a nostalgic appeal of heady perfumed incense in tubes. Hippy shops in Portobello Market during the late Sixties / early Seventies would have shelves full of incense in tubes, and Gateway of India and Three Roses were incenses I fondly recall.  The colours and designs, along with the packaging, are part of the nostalgic appeal.  Are younger folks attracted to such packaging? Probably not. Would they be attracted to the incense itself? Probably not. This is fairly old fashioned stuff. Quite simple old fashioned perfumed rose.  I like it, though. Possibly the nostalgia. Old fashioned rose incense isn't generally the sort of thing I like, but there's something attractive about this. I also liked the Gateway of India, and Aargee Rose (which is possibly this incense under the Aargee brand name). Will you like it? I have no idea. If you're young, possibly not; if you don't like perfumed incense, possibly not; if you don't like rose incense, probably not. But, who knows? 

Available for 69p from the slightly unreliable Karyana; and for $1.75 from The Incense Guru. 

Date: Aug 2025   Score: 28

***

Mysore Sugandhi

Best rose incense

Folkessence Trippy Hippy Peace (Patchouli)

 

The Folkessence sticks I've reviewed so far have not hugely impressed me, though I have found them modestly acceptable room fresheners. I do like the hippy imaging and general ambiance, even though it has been casually done with little imagination.  This Peace stick largely follows the trend of the others - there is little awareness of the indicated scent (patchouli in this case, one of my favourite mono-scents) in the burn, though the perfume on the stick is sweet, modern, and fun. There's muddled chemical notes, some laundry product fragrance, and a strong hint of aniseed on the stick. That general olfactory ambiance is present on the burn, though fainter, and muddled with smoke notes. 

Meh. 

Date: Aug 2025    Score: 26

***

Folkessence

Patchouli

Wild Berry sticks

   

I bought a mix pack of five from eBay for £1.50, which is a little expensive. I know there's a junk shop in my High Street (Rochester) which also sells them, so I might have got them cheaper there. Except, the junk shop really is a junk shop - it's rather smelly and scruffy, and run by odd people, so going in there isn't a pleasant experience.

The sticks are very long, with a longer than average handle area. I find such long handles a bit of a nuisance, as I have a dragon incense burner, and long sticks tend to both droop, and extend beyond the ash carrier, so I have to break off at least half of the handle. The sticks tend to smell of apple and cinnamon - there are other aroma notes as well: toffee, honey, spiced fruit, polish, etc - but the signature aroma is apple and cinnamon. There is a muddy brown masala fragrance powder mix on a charcoal base, and it looks as though the stick has then been dipped in a fragrance oil.

The company claim that the burning aroma is the same as the stick aroma, but I'm not finding that to be the case. On the stick the aroma feels mainly natural - though with furniture polish notes that hint at synthetic perfume. When burned, synthetic notes come to the fore, and the smell is like stale cheap perfume and aerosol room freshener. I burned all five with little significant difference between the aromas when they were burned. They are not top quality, and are not for me, but I'm pleased I tried them.


Date: Sept 2013   Score: 20

***

Wild Berry

Prinknash Abbey Resin

 

Prinknash Abbey

Since 1906 monks at Calder Abbey in Wales had been mixing scented oils with frankincense resin and selling the resin to churches and to visitors to the abbey. In 1928, at the invitation of Malcolm Leslie, 20th Earl of Rothes, monks moved from Calder to Prinknash, which had ceased to be an abbey in 1541 when Henry VIII suppressed monasteries throughout the UK, and formed a monastery there, resurrecting the old abbey.  The monks use original recipes dating back to 1906 to add scents to the frankincense resin, and continue to provide the resin to churches and cathedrals throughout Europe, and regard themselves as "the oldest major incense blenders in Europe". 

There have been a variety of blends over the years, though as of 2025 the monks are focusing on five blends in which Arabian frankincense is mixed with scented oils in five styles: Abbey, Cathedral, Priory, Basilica, and Sanctuary.  The oils used in the blends are not revealed. People may have fun trying to guess. 

Reviews

  

Prinknash Abbey Resin: Gums of Arabia (R)
Aug 2025 - Score: 34 

Prinknash Abbey Resin: Cathedral blend (R)
Aug 2025 - Score: 32

Prinknash Incense: Abbey blend (R)
Mar 2019 - Score: 29*

Reviews: 3 

Top score: 34

Bottom score: 29
Average: 32

Conclusion: The use of scented oils on the resin results in some sharp vapours being given off during the burn - good ventilation and/or a large space is my recommendation; though I also found that mixing the resin with some water when using an electric burner does soften the vapours, while keeping the fragrance fresh. As Prinknash resin has been used by churches for over a hundred years it has proved its popularity and success; though, personally, if I'm to burn resin, I think I would prefer to burn pure, good quality resin rather than something that has been scented. I don't feel that I am truly experiencing pure and natural frankincense with this Prinknash resin. I suppose for those who are familiar with burning pure resins, this scented stuff may ring the changes. 

***

The Best Incense Makers

Resins

Prinknash Abbey Resin: Gums of Arabia

 

The monks of Prinknash Abbey have been blending frankincense resin with aromatic oils and spices for over a hundred years. This is a discontinued blend (though stocks are still available - mostly from church suppliers) of coloured frankincense and styrax resin. 

The scent is gentle, fresh, lively, and attractive. Soft lemon is the main note, with understated pine, and a muted balsamic bitterness that edges onto caramel. I found that putting a little water in the burner prevented sharp notes which I have experienced with Prinknash resin - possibly from the fragrance oils that Prinknash use. The water appears to stop the oils from scorching.  

While available, stocks appear to be low, but as of Aug 2025 500g packets can be bought from NE Church Supplies at £24.99; PowerfulHand at £17.99; and Braid Alter Supplies at £21.99. 

Date: Aug 2025   Score:  34

***

Prinknash Abbey Resin

Resins

Frankincense

Prinknash Abbey Resin: Cathedral blend

 

There's a pleasant earthy lemon fragrance from this Cathedral blend by Prinknash Abbey. It's earthy and natural and has gentle wisps of seaweed covered sea coast. The Arabian frankincense resin is mixed with scented oils in five styles - Abbey, Cathedral, Priory, Basilica, and Sanctuary.  The oils used in the blends are not revealed. People may have fun trying to guess. 

Since 1906 monks at Calder Abbey in Wales had been mixing scented oils with frankincense resin and selling the resin to churches and visitors to the abbey. In 1928, at the invite of Malcolm Leslie, 20th Earl of Rothes, monks moved from Calder to Prinknash, which had ceased to be an abbey in 1541 when Henry VIII suppressed monasteries throughout the UK, and formed a monastery there, resurrecting the old abbey.  The monks use original recipes to add scents to the frankincense resin, and continue to provide the resin to churches and cathedrals throughout Europe, and regard themselves as "the oldest major incense blenders in Europe". 

The scent is clean and pleasant, and lingers positively in the house, though can be intrusively sharp while burning, so good ventilation and/or a large space is something I would recommend. As this scented resin has been used by churches for over a hundred years it has proved its popularity and success; though, personally, if I'm to burn resin, I think I would prefer to burn pure, good quality resin rather than something that has been scented. I don't feel that I am truly experiencing pure and natural frankincense with this Prinknash resin. 

Available at £4.50 for 50g direct from Prinknash Abbey. 

Date: Aug 2024   Score:  32

***

Prinknash Abbey Resin

Resins

Frankincense

Stamford Fairy's Mist sticks

 

Square pack found in a drawer. It was sealed, as was the inner bag, so is fresher than the Angel's Touch stick found in the same drawer where the sticks were not in the inner packet. Being fresher doesn't necessarily mean better, unfortunately. The sticks are decently made - it's just that the scent profile is not that interesting or imaginative. The scent is vague, somewhat floral in the direction of old fashioned roses, though is mostly just grey with some soft and mildly sweet wet and faint caramel. It's not abysmal, and it can be burned as a modest everyday room freshener, though I'm putting the sticks in the outhouse as there are so many sticks which smell so much brighter and livelier and pleasant than this. 

Available in various places at prices ranging from £1 (WiseSkies)  to £3.19 (Amazon, with free delivery).

Date: Aug 2025   Score: 20

***

Stamford London

Stamford Angel's Touch sticks

 

Basic but well made perfumed incense utilising mechanically extruded charcoal paste. These are not bargain basement sticks - the perfume is held by the charcoal paste, and is slowly and consistently released during the burn with minimal off-notes from the burning.  The scent is mild, vaguely pleasing, with soft floral notes touched with some herb and citrus, underscored by waxed wood and candyfloss.  It's an acceptable everyday room freshener. 

I reviewed Angel's Touch in cone form in 2017 and again in 2019, giving it a score of 29. I generally prefer incense in stick form, and my lower score here perhaps indicates that I currently wouldn't score the cones as much as 29 today, though might also reflect that the sticks are not fresh, and haven't been stored well. I found the box at the bottom of a drawer, with the sticks outside of the inner packet which had got folded up. Overall, these are not bad - just that they lack fresh impact. 

Available from various outlets at around a £1 for 20 sticks. 

Date: Aug 2025 Score: 27

***

Stamford London

Folkessence Trippy Hippy Wanderlust (Aqua Cedar)

 

There is a distinctly similar scent on the stick with each of the first three Trippy Hippy incenses I've reviewed (the next three are somewhat more distinct), which is fairly sharp and bright with a focus on the sort of synthetic fragrances used in laundry and washing up detergents. Rather simple, basic, and not hugely appealing or interesting; though, to be fair, accepting the limitations, not generally offensive either. While some might be offended and find this sort of everyday thing unacceptable, others will find them bright, modern, and attractive. Each to their own.  

The blurb says: "a blend of cooling aqua notes with the warmth of cedar wood ... creates a holistic magical environment ... and fuels your wanderlust. The infused scents will definitely uplift your mood and energize you."

This is a soft, gentle, light, bright, uplifting fragrance. It's quite perfumed in a synthetic manner, and the fragrance is slightly blurred with warm smoky notes, though is inoffensive. and informs the room in a smooth magnolia manner, albeit with a fresh squeeze of tangerine juice. I like this a little more than the previous two Trippy Hippies. I find it a modestly acceptable everyday room freshener. Cleaner, sharper, and more modern than much Indian incense. Indeed, I can see this as having some fans; and while it doesn't really interest me, and is not something I would buy, I am content with burning this in the house in the mornings. 

Date: Aug 2025    Score: 25

***

Folkessence

Folkessence

 

Folkessence is the trademark of an American company called FolkHomes Global, based in Cheyenne, Wyoming (who trade as Folkulture). The incense is made in India by Star Consumer Products in Gurugram, a satellite city of Delhi.

Reviews

   

Folkessence Trippy Hippy
Peace (Patchouli) (P)
Aug 2025 - Score: 26

   

Folkessence Trippy Hippy
Wanderlust (Aqua Cedar) (P)
Aug 2025 - Score: 25

Folkessence Trippy Hippy
Moon Child (Wildflower Lotus) (P)
Aug 2025 - Score: 23

   

Folkessence Trippy Hippy
Hippy Soul (Balsam Cedarwood) (P)
Aug 2025 - Score: 22

Reviews: 4
Top score: 26
Bottom score: 22
Average: 

***

Own brand traders

Folkessence Trippy Hippy Hippy Soul (Balsam Cedarwood)

 

Made in India by a laundry detergents company, Star Consumer Products, for an American home style distribution company, Folkulture, and bought in Nottingham by my granddaughter as a gift for me. This Hippy Soul is part of a range called Trippy Hippy, all of them mechanically extruded pale wood powder fragranced with basic room-freshener, laundry-product scents. 

The scent on the stick is clean, sharp, lemony, indistinctly floral. Quite bright and uplifting, though clearly chemical and very much basic everyday. Essentially, if you like the fragrance of clothes conditioners, then you will enjoy this. I'm OK with it. It's not an exquisite scent, but the simple, bright, fresh, summary notes are not offensive - indeed are quite jolly and uplifting. 

The scent on the burn is mild, smoky, vague, and without the fun, breezy brightness of the scent on the stick. Ho hum. Smells more like smouldering paper than cedarwood. 

Date: Aug 2025    Score: 22

***

Folkessence

Folkessence Trippy Hippy Moon Child (Wildflower Lotus)

 

A gift from my youngest granddaughter in thanks for supporting her through university. Lovely girl. Folkessence is the trademark of an American company called FolkHomes Global, based in Cheyenne, Wyoming (who trade as Folkulture). The incense is made in India by Star Consumer Products in Gurugram, a satellite city of Delhi.

The packaging is charming, and is clearly aimed at old hippies like me. There is a collection of psychedelic flat packs, with names like Moon Child, Free Spirit, Good Vibes, in a small cardboard box labelled Trippy Hippy. It's all very sweet and cute, and I have absolutely no expectation that the incense will be any good. But it's good fun, and a brilliant present for aging hippies! The sticks in this Moon Child pack, as in all the others, is mechanically extruded pale coloured wood powder which has been dipped in mildly pleasant room-freshener style scent. This Moon Child has a lemony fragrance, a bit like washing up liquid. 

As with most mechanically extruded incense sticks, it burns neatly and consistently, the ash falling in neat strings. The fragrance on the burn is quite mild, and moderately echoes the lemony washing-up scent on the stick, though softer, and smudged by vague grey warmth. There's a hazy floral awareness - nothing specific, but kind of summery. It's basic stuff - not offensive, though it's not the sort of exquisite incense that gets me interested let alone excited.  

Date: Aug 2025    Score: 23

***

Folkessence

Best floral incense

Fumino Saffron Sandalwood

 

Saffron and sandalwood is a reasonably popular combination in Indian incense, and I find it works well - I have liked pretty much every incense stick that I have tried which is made with this fragrance combination.  And I love the aroma on the sticks as I take them out of the pack. Fresh, attractive, with that particular "masala" scent of powdery sandalwood. This also has cedarwood and beech notes, and a good spray of florals and fruits. It is a genuinely delightful scent. 

The fragrance on the burn is beautiful. Certainly woody, and the woods swirl around sandalwood, cedar and beech. There is a sharp touch in the woods, which comes from the cedarwood aspect. I don't think there is cedarwood in the fragrance mix, but that is the scent I perceive. Indeed, for me it has always been about the perception of the fragrance rather than what was intended, or what fragrances were used.  And I think that is particularly relevant when it comes to incense sticks where the scent blends are composed in house (rather than sticks composed directly from fragrance ingredients or resins such as Pure Yemen do). Yes, there is some friction that occurs when a stick is presented as containing certain scents, such as here with the Saffron Sandalwood name, and those scents are not perceived when the incense is burned. But I have learned over the years that by and large what an incense is named is not important - it is the scent we perceive that is important. As such  it is usually better if non-scent names are given, so that there is less likelihood of friction between expectation and perception.   Also, non-scent names can be fun! 

I love this Saffron Sandalwood. I have burned it several times over the past three days, and the more I burn it the more I enjoy it. The incense fragrance is noticeable though not assertive - it is a soft, gentle, subtle, intriguing scent that unfolds in various ways, all of them playing around with creamy woods, soft florals - jasmine, and playful and refreshing fruits. Golly, this is good! 

Date: Aug2025   Score: 46

***

Fumino

Saffron

Fumino Tropical Rainforest

 

I reviewed Fumino Tropical Rainforest cones last year, and found them moderately pleasant, but lacking in interest. I tend to prefer sticks over cones, so I'm hoping that this will be a better encounter.

The scent on the stick is refreshing and zingy with hints of mint and sandalwood.  The scent on the burn is pleasant, and echoes the fragrance on the stick, though is a little mild and laid back for my taste. Yeah, it's OK, and is better than the cone, though like the cone it lacks spunk.  

Date: Nov 2024   Score: 28

***

Fumino

Stamford Dragons Blood

 

I'm OK with perfumed incense, but I do prefer when incense makers explore the possibilities offered by perfumed, and offer exciting new fragrancies, rather than traditional resin scents, such as dragons blood. But then again, to be fair, I'm not an expert on resins or dragon's blood. It just "feels" more appropriate if you're gonna want a dragon's blood fragrance in your home, and especially if you're gonna want to get more out of it than just a pleasant scent to freshen the house, that you'd go for the true resin. For me, a mono-scent incense stick is for fun and convenience rather than for aromatherapy, magic, meditation, therapy, or connoisseur aesthetic appreciation. But it's each to their own, and your mileage may vary. Anyway, I'm not expecting much of this stick, other than it will smell perfumed and acceptable - perhaps a bit tart and spicy, with sweet woody notes, which is the most common description of the scent of dragon's blood. 

Well, it meets my expectations. It is a bit tart and spicy with sweet woody notes. It is perfumed and acceptable. Yeah, it's OK. It's actually a little better than I expected (but, then again, I wasn't expecting much). Dragon's blood is a vague sort of scent - I've only had the resin once, and it was acceptable and vague. I recently (March this year) had a Pure Yemen incense stick made from the original dragon's blood resin from dracaena cinnabari, the dragon blood tree, which only grows on the Yemen island of Socotra, and that was my best encounter with dragon's blood. That is a dragon's blood incense I would certainly suggest people try if they fancy exploring genuine dragon's blood in stick form. This Stamford Dragon's Blood is not genuine dragon's blood, and is for casual room freshening only. Though, as always, your mileage may vary. 

Date: Aug 2025   Score:  27

***

Stamford London

Dragon's blood

Fumino Tropical Fruits

 

Oooh - the scent on the stick of this Fumino Tropical Fruits is glorious. Fruity, tangy, herby, warm and spicy with wood tones. It's sultry and zesty with a firm grip on a unisex cologne. This is lovely stuff - sandalwood and patchouli and summer warmth and ripeness. 

Delightfully the fragrance on the burn follows closely that on the stick. This is a refreshing, uplifting, bright incense - a cleansing room freshener, and a decent scent which can be burned just for the pleasure of that alone. 

Date: Aug 2025   Score: 37

***

Fumino

Fruit Fragrances