Incense In The Wind

Burner Burner - Carhartt jacket incense burner

Tuesday, 7 October 2025

Oriental Zara

 


All of the Oriental masala sticks I've reviewed have had an immediate perfume hit when taken out of the packet. The paste is always hard and dry, yet the scents have been wet and volatile, reminiscent of flora/fluxo incense, such as the original  Sai Flora Fluxo. And like Sai Flora Fluxo there is something appealing about the heady intensity of the aroma on the stick, but there is a limit to that appeal. And that is certainly the case here. These sticks should come with an aroma warning: "Caution - This Aroma May Be Very Volatile. Inhale With Care." I am so hit with the volatility of this fragrance that I'm not able to get close to what the scents are. 

The scent on the burn is medicinal, floral, slightly dirty, mineral, somewhat familiar and everyday, yet curiously interesting. There's some benzoin, jasmine, hint of sandalwood, and something clean and soapy. On the whole I'm just not getting this incense. We're not on the same wavelength, but I think I might get there eventually. My question is, do I want to spend more time with this incense trying to get there? And I think the answer is no.  


Date: Oct 2025   Score: 24
***


Oriental Indus

 


An immediate moment of "ooh! lovely scent" from the fragrance on the stick. Candy sweet, jammy, woody, intensely floral - like a full blooming damask rose. I'm not a fan of rose scents in incense - it's not a scent I tend to voluntarily select when buying incense. Though I have totally fallen in love with various rose incenses like Happy Hari's Queen of Roses, and Georg Huber's  Weihrauch Rose, the bulk of them I don't have much time for. They tend to follow the same line, and deliver the same thing. An obvious and heavy and somewhat overbearing floral scent that, natural or not, tends to smell artificial. It's a personal thing - if you like rose incense, fine. Each to their own. There is no official standard in scent appreciation. 

That moment of instant appeal doesn't last long - there's a point at which satiation kicks in, and I've had enough of the scent on the stick. On the burn the scent is predominantly rose. The further away the better - the scent gets lighter and more floral. In the same room it is quite heavy, and there are some unattractive scorched notes, which at times it is like burning hair.  


Date: Oct 2025   Score: 25
***




Oriental Agarbatti Co.

  


Oriental is the incense house founded by Attar Syed Rahman Hussain / Attar Khasim Saheb,  the businessman, along with Mr. T. L. Upadycya, who created the bamboo-core agarbatti. So a fairly significant figure in incense culture. By using a bamboo splint it became quicker and easier to make incense sticks. Dhoop, which was the previous main style of Indian incense stick, has a slower production process because it needs to be extruded rather than rolled.  Oriental appear to be refurbishing themselves - the samples I have are titled as by New Oriental Agarbatti Co., and the website is currently (Oct 2025) "under maintenance". But this "new" company was founded in 1890 and is the oldest incense house in the world to make agarbatti. 

I had a perfume-dipped incense by Oriental a few years ago, and I graded it as the worse incense I have ever had (it now shares that honour with some backflow cones from China). But this "new" Oriental, at least the perfumed-masala sticks, produces appealing incense. A little mainstream, and a little heavy on the perfume rather than the natural and complementary aspects of an incense, but decent enough, especially for everyday room freshening and modest atmosphere/mood creation. 


Reviews


Oriental White Oudh (PM)
Oct 2025 - Score: 33


Oriental Mysore Woodys (PM)
Oct 2025 - Score: 31
  
   
Oriental Indus (PM)
Oct 2025 - Score: 25

  
Oriental Zara (PM)
Oct 2025 - Score: 24


Oriental A1 Special Bathi (P)
Aug 2022 - Score: 00 
   
 
Reviews: 5
Top score: 33
Bottom: 00
Average: 28

***


Monday, 6 October 2025

Oriental White Oudh

 


Oriental is the incense house founded by Attar Syed Rahman Hussain / Attar Khasim Saheb,  the businessman, along with Mr. T. L. Upadycya, who created the bamboo-core agarbatti. So a fairly significant figure in incense culture. By using a bamboo splint it became quicker and easier to make incense sticks. Dhoop, which was the previous main style of Indian incense stick, has a slower production process because it needs to be extruded rather than rolled.  Oriental appear to be refurbishing themselves - the samples (which came to me via Julian of The Incense Atelier) are titled as by New Oriental Agarbatti Co., and the website is currently (Oct 2025) "under maintenance". But this "new" company was founded in 1890 and is the oldest incense house in the world to make agarbatti.  
Hand rolled paste on orange coloured machine-cut bamboo splints. The paste is rock hard, but does crumble with some black dust. I think it could be a wood paste because it's so hard, or perhaps a mix of charcoal and wood. There is a thin and slightly gritty sprinkling of melnoorva/masala powder, and - whoosh - a healthy dose of liquid fragrance with a sharp volatility and a manly woody cologne perfume. I like it. But then I do like oudh/bakhoor. This does project more like a cologne than an incense. 

On the burn the cologne/bakhoor story continues. It's a woody, perfumed, and very attractive scent, quite masculine. Fairly mainstream. This is an incense that could easy be very popular among regular incense buyers, though is perhaps less attractive to the "connoisseur", as it follows a fairly predicable course, and remains on that course, so little different or interesting or special happens, and it is more perfume focused than incense focused.  I like it. It diffuses gently around the room and leaves a lasting perfume. There's nothing really objectionable here, and I'd be happy to burn this in the house as an everyday warming woody room freshener. 


Date: Oct 2025   Score: 33
***


Sunday, 5 October 2025

Bhaktivedanta Manor / Sacred Boutique Sandal Blossom

 


Sold via the UK Krishna temple, Bhaktivedanta Manor (which was bought by George Harrison for the UK branch of  the international Krishna movement), via their online site Sacred Boutique/KrishnaShopping.com. Sacred Boutique say they import from the sacred city of Vrindavan (incense from which is also sold by Vrindavan Bazaar,  GokulaSai Handicrafts, and others). The packet says "Charcoal Free", though the paste crumbles in my fingers, and leaves dark marks similar to charcoal. There are no smouldering paper smells when the stick is burned, which I tend to get from incense which uses wood powder. I would have thought this was a standard charcoal paste stick. Anyway....

This produces a very attractive mainstream sandalwood scent which has delightful scent notes playing around that central core. There are similarities with the Vrindavan Bazaar Sandal Supreme I've just reviewed, though that will be the case with most Indian sandalwood incense - they follow a similar course. This one is heavier than the Sandal Supreme, with more woody, musky notes. As my taste inclines more toward the woody and musky, I prefer this Sandal Blossom. 


Date: Oct 2025   Score: 37
***



Vrindavan Bazaar Sandal Supreme

 


Incense made in or around the sacred city of Vrindavan, in northern India, by unknown artisans, and sold by Vrindavan Bazaar. There are other outlets  in Vrindavan, but it is unclear if the incense sold is all made by the same people/person, or even if the incense bought under this name from Vrindavan Bazaar will be made by the same person next time it is bought. What I do know, is that the incense I buy that is made in Vrindavan, whether it is sold by Vrindavan Bazaar, or by Gokula, or by Sai Handicrafts, or by Bhaktivedanta Manor, or any other traders, is very attractive. I like it. The formulations are not sophisticated - indeed, sometimes they can be a little simple, almost crude - but they tend to be charming and great value for money, and often very beautiful.  

The name is written "Sandhal" on the label, which is an unusual though not unique spelling - I have seen it used elsewhere. However, it is spelt "Sandal" on VB's website, so that's what I'm going with. Sometimes the spelling on the labels can be difficult to work out. It is all part of the rustic charm of buying direct  from Vrindavan! 

The scent on the stick is quite earthy and smoky, with contrasting but not clashing farmyard and floral notes. A fairly cool and sharp volatility doesn't sit well with the overall earthy darkness. However, the overall impression is positive. 

The scent on the burn is moderate and pleasing with the main note being a standard sandalwood, common to much Indian sandalwood incense, and which is generally derived from one of several sandalwood synthetics. I tend to find that standard or mainstream sandalwood note quite agreeable, and I suspect most people do as well, as such sandalwood incense is very popular. Around that main note are some wilder and more interesting scents - some florals, some citrus, and some of the darker, earthy notes that were so dominant on the stick.  Those wilder notes gently lift this Sandal Supreme above the average, especially when they approach a musky quality. A generally agreeable and moderately interesting sandalwood incense, good for burning any time.  I'd buy this again, though I wouldn't use it for special occasions. 

Available at £1.06 for 20gm from Vrindavan Bazaar. They ship internationally at reasonable rates. 


Date: Oct 2025   Score: 33
***


Bhaktivedanta Manor / Sacred Boutique

 


The UK Krishna temple, Bhaktivedanta Manor (which was bought by George Harrison for the UK branch of  the international Krishna movement), sells incense via their online site Sacred Boutique/KrishnaShopping.com. Sacred Boutique say they import the incense from the sacred city of Vrindavan (incense from which is also sold by Vrindavan Bazaar,  GokulaSai Handicrafts, and others). The packaging is calm and attractive. 


Reviews









Reviews: 3
Top score: 39
Bottom score: 24
Average: 33

***


Saturday, 4 October 2025

Vinasons (VNS) Kesar Chandan

 


Kesar is saffron, and chandan is sandalwood. They make a popular combination in Indian incense. The scent on the stick is perfumed, strong, volatile, pine disinfectant, camphor, mainstream sandalwood fragrance oil, furniture polish, cardboard. Quite an assortment of scents which don't quite hold together - this feels like a barrage of the senses, not helped by the chemical tinge to the scent, and the icy volatility. My sandalwood essential oils have some volatility, but it is a warm, beguiling volatility, rather than the harshness frequently encountered on some Indian incenses, as here. My assumption is that this fragrance is not put on the stick for the pleasure of the customer - as in the cold throw used by candle makers. My assumption is that this is the fragrance composition put together for best effect when burned - the hot throw. 

And, yes, the scent on the burn is much more attractive and harmonised. It's mainly mainstream sandalwood with sweet florals, some light citrus, petrol, and vanilla. Despite that range of scent notes, the accord remains quite tight, and feels somewhat constricted. This is an attractive incense though despite riffing around the sandalwood scent, doesn't quite project sandalwood - at least not essential oil sandalwood. There's a lot going on, but I'm not getting what it is. I think there is a lack of space between the scents so everything is somewhat blurred together in a whole that I'm having difficulty fully appreciating. 

I think this is a scent I'm going to need to spend more time with. After several attempts I'm not quite getting this one. I'm not sure how much I like or dislike it.  I like the general trend, and I like that it is something of a challenge. But it's not touching me emotionally or aesthetically.  Ah, I'm kinda of getting it now - the mix is tilted more to the saffron than the sandalwood. Mmmm. Interesting - there are sweet saffron moments, and spicy saffron moments. It's not a smooth operation, but that kind of makes it more interesting. 

Kesar Chandan is available in 20g packs from Padma Store for 6.95 Euros, from Everest Trader for $5.00, from Lotus Zen for £6.25, and from VNS at 100 rupees (85p). (If you live outside India, to buy from VNS you need to contact Shreyas Sugandhi at vns@vnsons.com). 

Vinasons (VNS) Vrinda Chandan

 


Plain perfume-dipped charcoal sticks for cheap casual everyday use and/or for Bhakti. Attractive scent on stick - a little perfumed, volatile, and similar to clothes conditioner fragrance, but quite agreeable. It's more floral and sweet than woody - indeed there isn't much sandalwood scent on the stick. Lavender soap is what I mostly get with sweet plum. 

The scent on the burn is reasonably mild for a sandalwood, and is a little more woody than the scent on the stick. As this is a charcoal stick, the scent is quite clean, with no off-notes from wood paste. It is a modest stick for low cost everyday use. I like the package design. It's more colourful and attractive than most other VNS package designs. 

Vrinda Chandan is available in 25g packs from VNS at 20 rupees (15p), (If you live outside India, to buy from VNS you need to contact Shreyas Sugandhi at vns@vnsons.com). 


Date: Oct 2025   Score:  23 
***



Vinasons (VNS) Special Sandalwood

   


Sample sent by Shreyas Sugandhi at VNS - and then I realised I already had a packet of the Special.  I like the scent of sandalwood, and I'm quite happy with synthetic sandalwoods - they are among the most successful of the aroma chemicals. If you burn commercial incense, and it has that warm, woody scent of sandalwood, it's almost certainly due to an aroma chemical or two, regardless of if the stick is perfumed or a masala. Synthetic sandalwood is very effective, and finds its way into many products. The scent on this stick reminds me of the smell of sandalwood soap. It's pleasant, well behaved, and attractive. 

The scent on the burn is fairly mainstream sandalwood, though a little rougher and more woody than the scent on the stick, so, for me,  a tad more interesting. It's a decent scent. A little dry perhaps, but quite acceptable. I'd like it to be doing a bit more, but as it is it's an amiable room freshener. 

Special Sandalwood is available in 20g packs from Padma Store for 6.25 Euros, from Everest Trader for $5.00, from Lotus Zen for £5.45, and from VNS at 100 rupees (85p), (If you live outside India, to buy from VNS you need to contact Shreyas Sugandhi at vns@vnsons.com). 

Friday, 3 October 2025

Malaan Gaudhoop Gullu Devgandh Chandan

 


I love Malaan Gaudhoop. I believe they are the most exciting incense house in India today. When Alok Pandey got in touch last year to explain that he had set up a new incense business based on utilising the cow dung from the rare and endangered Gaolao cow, which they conserve on the family farm, I wasn't interested, as I didn't have positive experiences of cow dung incense. Gau dhoop is the name given to cow dung incense - and it is burned for spiritual reasons rather than aesthetic. However, Alok went on to explain that the cow dung was converted to bio char, so there was no odour from the dung, and that he had spent several years studying perfume and incense as the aim was to create beautiful scents. The combination of conserving a rare cow breed, using bio char as the combustible so lessening the impact on climate change, and a determined and well researched focus on perfumery caught my interest so I agreed to accept the samples. I'm so glad I did. I absolutely adored Swarna Champa, and wrote one of my longest, most enthusiastic reviews, and gave it my top score of 50. Other incense blogs have also been enthusiastic, and the three Malaan Gaudhoop incenses are now on sale in several Western outlets: Indiaroma;  RymerExotic IncenseEverest TradersSainte CellierLotusZen; IndiBazari, and The Incense Atelier. And are sometimes available in India from Scenting Secrets, or Aavyaa

This is a beautiful incense with an intense resinous sandalwood fragrance. It startles and excites with its richness and depth. Yes, there's the standard warm woody sandalwood essence - that musky woody delight found in most sandalwood incense, and usually delivered by one of several sandalwood synthetics. But then this Gullu Devgandh Chandan goes beyond that. It has the naughty, fascinating, earthy elements that really excite and delight me. Those elements that are frankly not commercial, and would somewhat terrify the casual incense buyer. This is an incense for Titans who stride the Earth and understand and cherish its deep hidden treasures. There is going to be genuine sandalwood essential oil in this to complement and enhance the Sandalore, Sandaxol, or Bacdanol. This incense vibrates with intensity and charm and elegance and sheer blissful beauty.   

Pretty much everything about this incense and this incense house fascinates and delights me. The name of this incense is Gullu Devgandh Chandan. I knew Chandan is sandalwood, and I got that Devgandh is "fragrance of the gods". But I couldn't work out Gullu, so I asked Alok, and he told me that it's the name of his favourite calf. That's simply awesome. How quirky, and personal, and delightful is that?  

  
Gullu, the beautiful young Gaolao bull after
whom the incense is named - it's his image on the packet

OK. This incense is in the form of a dhoop. Dhoops are an older, more traditional method of making incense. There is no bamboo core. It's combustible matter (wood or charcoal, or - as here - biochar) with binders, fixatives, fragrant material, and some moisture - water and perhaps some honey. Though people mostly think of bamboo stick incense when thinking of Indian incense, there is still a solid market in India for dhoop. I have gotten the impression over the years that people in India still use dhoop for when they wish to be more respectful or traditional or spiritual or thoughtful. A dhoop would be more likely to be used for spiritually cleansing the house, or for respecting the gods and the spirits and the ancestors; and is more likely to contain auspicious material like cow dung or ghee.  I like that there is that respectful connection with the ancient customs of India, and yet the scent profile utilises modern knowledge and skills around the making and blending of fragrances, new and old, to create a stunningly beautiful fragrance accord that brings my mind, body, and spirit alive. 

That's not to say I didn't have a difficult journey with this incense. Dhoop tends to be a smokier and headier form of incense. And this is a very generous dhoop with a good dollop of scent. And I tend to get a reaction from incenses rich in terpenes. My eyes and nose may sting. And that happened here first time I burned this. I didn't have enough ventilation in the room, and I burned an entire dhoop in one go. It was intense! Exciting and beautiful, but also right on the edge. I have moderated my use of the incense since. Plenty of ventilation, and I don't burn an entire dhoop in the same room in one go. So the excitement and pleasure has remained, and I have managed to handle my terpene reaction. 

The sandalwood fragrance is accompanied by citric and fruit notes, a soft floral, and some resin, a touch of vanilla sweetness, and wildly some farmyard, all of which adds to the interest. But its the sandalwood, and in particular its earthy richness combined with the sheer beauty of the fragrance that has seduced me. I knew from the first moment that I was going to score this incense high, but I wasn't sure how high, and the difficult start was not encouraging. But I am absolutely in love with this. It's an incense that vibrates with life, and I can feel that vibration inside me as the smokes drifts around the room. I'm all about incense as a commercial product, which can at times through olfactory skills and incense knowledge, be elevated into something sublime. But I've never been about incense as a work of art. I've always found such comments to somewhat conflate the nature of art with the nature of craft, and to be simply using a definition of art as a crude intensifier for one's own personal pleasure in the moment. And it is possible that may be what I am doing now. But this for me at this moment is like a work of art. Not because it's skilfully made, but because it says something about India culture, it says something about the man, Alok Pandey, who crafted this and named it after his favourite calf; it sings  about tradition and culture, and brings it into the modern world, and it has an intellectual, spiritual, and emotional impact on me. This is not just a well made object or piece of commerce, this has significance beyond what it is. As such, it is a work of art, and I can only give it top marks.   


Date: Sept 2025   Score: 50
***




Oriental Mysore Woodys

 


A sample of Mysore Woodys by the New Oriental Agarbatti Co. I've previously only had one incense from Oriental, and I really wasn't impressed with it - in fact I hated it: Oriental A1 Special Bathi. For years it has been my lowest ranked incense with a score of -3. I've just decided that a minus score is a bit OTT, so I've adjusted that to a zero.  Anyway, when Julian of The Incense Atelier sent me a bunch of Oriental samples, he also sent a brochure in which the Oriental company give their history, and I realised that this Oriental is the incense company founded by Attar Syed Rahman Hussain, or Attar Khasim Saheb, the name I know from government documents, and which I mention in my (need to update) post on the history of masala incense. The name variation doesn't concern me - it is not uncommon for there to be spelling variations, especially when names are being translated from one language into another. Anyway, Attar Syed/Sahed is the businessman, along with Mr. T. L. Upadycya, who created the bamboo-core agarbatti. So a fairly significant figure in incense culture. By using a bamboo splint it became quicker and easier to make incense sticks. Dhoop, which was the previous style of Indian incense stick, has a slower production process because it needs to be extruded rather than rolled.   

These are hand-rolled sticks using a charcoal paste, a light scattering of red-brown masala/melnoorva powder, and a healthy splash of liquid fragrance. There's a huge volatile cloud of aroma projected off the stick. There's sandalwood in the aroma - a musky mainstream sandalwood aroma which presents as corporate and commercial, and is clearly based on an aroma chemical. I'm cool with synthetic sandalwood. And I think most people are. Synthetic aromas have been used in Indian incense since the 1920s, and synthetics are the main sandalwood fragrance in Indian incense. But though I am cool with synthetic sandalwood, this particular  sandalwood aroma projects itself off the stick with such bullish enthusiasm that it screeches harshly and unpleasantly like some kind of chemically induced banshee.  

Thankfully the scent on the burn is more relaxed and gentle. It is fairly mainstream sandalwood. A little dark and musky (which I like), but essentially it follows the middle ground to gain the widest appeal. And it appeals to me. Just that it doesn't excite me as much as a sandalwood essential oil excites me. Over time a mild soapy element emerges. It's a minor note, and is not in itself unpleasant, but it doesn't add to the pleasure, and in a way distracts.

On the whole I like this Mysore Woodys. It's fairly mainstream, nothing exciting,  but it is a pleasant, warm, everyday sandalwood. There are light touches of old fruit and a mild hint of vanilla which tends to spark the interest. 


Date: Oct 2025   Score: 31
***



Thursday, 2 October 2025

Sai Handicrafts Heritage

 


Sai Handicrafts are a UK based trader selling Indian incense under their own brand name. The incenses are well chosen - heady and fragrant, and are sold at decent prices. The joss sticks are £2 a packet, the dhoops are £5 a pack.  This dhoop  stick is named Heritage, and is clearly a sandalwood fragrance. As with most dhoops, it is richly fragrant and somewhat smoky - best burned with plenty of ventilation. The scent is somewhat assertive, though not at all overbearing. But it is not a mild or gentle incense - it will fill the home with sandalwood fragrance. 

The scent on the stick is volatile and inclines more to pine disinfectant than sandalwood, though the sandalwood is certainty there, along with clove and camphor, and a couple of other things that are familiar but I can't quite pin down. Something fruity or jammy, and something sweet in the direction of vanilla or coconut, but possibly neither. 

The scent on the burn is decidedly sandalwood, though, to be fair, a well mannered sandalwood - a recognisably "sandalwood" aroma, but without the wildness and earth and richness and excitement of a rich dark, genuine sandalwood oil. Fair does, not all sandalwood oils are earthy, some are surprisingly sweet. But this one steers a careful course which emulates sandalwood without actually being sandalwood. It projects aroma chemicals rather than nature. Now, aroma chemicals are the norm in Indian incense. I doubt if there are many Indian incense sandalwoods that actually contain sandalwood essential oil. It's pricy, while the synthetic oils are very good, and are available at a more reasonable price. I've been rambling about this for years, and I guess regular readers will be bored at me repeating it again (oh no, he's talking about synthetic sandalwood again!).  But I'll keep repeating it for those readers who look up an incense on the internet and are led here.  It's pretty impossible to tell the difference between an aroma chemical and an essential oil in an incense. But the price of these dhoops is a clue, plus the mid level, pleasant, corporate, pleasant sandalwoodness of the scent. There's also some soap, but I have no idea if that is a tell, or is due to something else in the mix. 

I like this incense. I like it a lot. It's not a wild, earthy sandalwood. It's not a sweet, charming sandalwood. It is something more in between those. It's a good use of scents to create a woody, oily, rich and delicious scent that is warm, seductive, and very relaxing. Nice one. Sai Handicrafts are worth checking out if you haven't already done so. I think they source from Vrindavan where some awesome incense is made by artisans in and around the holy city, but I don't really know. 


Date: Sept 2025   Score: 37
***