Sai Handicrafts Sandaloudh

 

Sai Handicrafts is a UK trader who imports from India (most of the incense is similar to that sold in Vrindavan), and sells in Hitchin market, at stalls during the UK festival season, and online. I have met the owner Pinkesh - a nice man, and I like the incense he has selected for his business. The prices are low, while the fragrances are beautiful. For those who like the Vrindavan type incense, but are unsure about buying direct from Vrindavan, or paying the higher prices associated with most UK traders, then Pinkesh's Sai Handicrafts is a good place to look. 

The name Sandaloudh suggests that the fragrance is intended to be a blend of sandalwood and agarwood (oudh). A curious combination as both scents are woody, sweet, and musky, so the main characteristics will be merged and blurred. However, it's an interesting idea. I like both oudh and sandal, so I'm happy.  

The sticks are in the form of dhoop, an older form of incense than joss-sticks and cones. It was developed by priests in India, and spread through Asia, where it is still the main form of incense in much of Asia, including China and Japan. This is a decent dhoop. It burns evenly and smoothly,  with clean silver grey smoke. As with most Indian dhoops, it is a fairly heady incense, dispersing through the room and the house quickly and firmly, though not at all aggressively. The scent is on target for what most people would expect of an incense with sandal or oudh in the name. A clean, warm, woody, sweet, creamy, musky scent. Given the cost of real sandalwood oil from the heartwood and real agarwood oil, this is almost certainly made from synthetic oils. I'm cool with that, as synthetic oils, especially when it comes to sandalwood, are as good and sometimes better than the natural oils in terms of quality of scent. What you don't get, of course, are the natural quirks and off notes that can either ruin or accentuate a scent.

The perfect incense?

 
It all smells natural, and feels natural, and it's a damn fine incense, so the use of synthetics doesn't bother me at all. What does hold me back from getting really excited about this Sandaloudh is that it is a bit predicable, and lacks imagination and contrast and any sense of a scent journey. It smells as I expected it to smell, and it remains that way all through. At this stage of my incense explorations I'm finding it hard to get a thrill when encountering a scent like this, which I have smelled hundreds of times before. Yes, it's a bloody good example of a woody, sexy, musky scent, and ten years ago I would be raving about it. But these days I'm looking for a Marilyn Monroe who can ride a Harley Davidson.  

 

But, by heck, this is an awesome incense, and it is close to paradise. 

Date: Jan 2016   Score: 44

***

Sai Handicrafts

Sandalwood

The best oudh incense

The Mother's India Fragrances Yoga

 

I am not a fan of incense made in Pondicherry and Auroville, as it tends to be a little dry and harsh for my taste, and a little old fashioned and mono-scented.  The Mother's Fragrances, and the stronger The Mother's India Fragrances was set up in Pondicherry in 1975, and has been distributed in the UK by Greater Goods since the year 2000, and in the US by the New Hampshire based Mere Cie Deux via their Etsy shop. The packaging colours put me in mind of Auroshikha, who also sell the incense made by the Pondicherry community, though I'm unclear on the distinction between Mother's branded incense and Auroshikha branded incense. 

   

The colourful packet

My Yoga stick comes from a sample pack of The Mother's India Fragrances. These packs are on sale in many incense shops in the UK, and are sometimes sent out as free samples with orders from online shops.

  

Contents of a typical sample pack

I've been burning The Mother's incense now and again for over ten years, and, as with other Pondicherry made incense, I have a less than positive attitude toward it. Yet, the reviews I have done in that time (only four at this moment) have reasonably positive scores - though on reading the reviews, they do indicate a certain discomfort with the rough Pondicherry nature of the sticks (largely conjectured at the time to be due to my reaction to the terpenes in halmaddi, though I am less certain of that these days). The scores seem a little higher than my comments justify, and I wonder what I would score those sticks if reviewing them today. 

That said, I have been enjoying this Yoga with its curiously attractive balance of sandalwood and floral notes. The fragrance ingredients are shown as sandalwood, oakmoss, patchouli, and vetiver - not scents one would think of as floral as they all tend to hover around musky, sweet, and earthy (and those attributes are certainly here), but there are some floral top notes, especially on the stick, along with fresh citric. It's a lively and fairly modern scent. Not the sort of thing I associate with Pondicherry.

There are little prickles in the scent on the stick which catch at the back of my nose, so this is possibly activating my terpenes sensitivity. There are terpenes present in tree resins such as frankincense, benzoin, and halmaddi, all of which are used as fragrant fixatives; however, it tends to be the halmaddi resin that provokes my sensitivity. At the same time, in the Tamil Nadu region where The Mother's incense is made, the incense makers sometimes use the residue left over from distilling resins and spices. The residue is a little harsh and peppery when burned, but the locals are used to it and like it. I'm not sure if the prickles in my nose comes from a use of halmaddi as the fragrance fixative, or if it is the use of the resin residue. Or it might even be something else. 

The scent is assertive when burned. Not heady and perfumed so much as bullish and strong. It kinda pushes its way into the room and stamps gruffly for attention. I find it is a scent best burned at a remote distance, and with plenty of ventilation. It's each to their own, though I suspect that those who like delicate incense might not get along with this. While I generally like heady incense, the strength of this stick is not my thing, as the impact appears to come more from the non-fragrant ingredients, such as the possible use of halmaddi and/or resin residue.  The more delicate floral and citric notes are less noticeable on the burn, but are still there, and they lift this incense above the norm. The musky, sweet, woody base, is beautifully contrasted now and again by the more lively and light floral and citric notes. 

For me there are flaws in this stick, some of which are likely to be fairly personal, which prevent full enjoyment. However, I have appreciated this scent. I like that it is fairly modern with an interesting blend that brings together woody, earthy, musky notes with lighter, more joyful and beautiful floral and citric notes. (And while there are no named fragrant ingredients which would suggest floral notes, they are nevertheless present for me).  

Date: Sept 2025   Score: 35 

***

The Mother's India Fragrances

Pondicherry dry brown twigs

Reviewed in Germany

Vinasons (VNS) Chandan Cones

 

Sample box of sandalwood cones sent by Shreyas of Vithaldas Narayandas and Sons (VNS). This appears to be the only incense cones sold by VNS. Shreyas didn't send me a full box, just a sample of six in a yellow VNS box. The cones are sold in a 50g box for 90 rupees. 

The regular 50g box

The cones are tall and pointy and a cardboard grey/brown colour. There is a gentle and pleasant perfume on the cone, quite herby and minty, though underpinned by woody notes which incline, for me, more toward damp beech (like a well sucked school desk) than sandalwood. There's a sense of fresh patchouli - sweet and musky. I like it a lot. 

The cone burns well, producing a classic  column of silver grey smoke. I do like to see the smoke from incense. It's an essential part of the experience for me, and I puzzle over why there is an interest in smokeless incense. For me, if you don't want the smoke, then don't burn incense, use an oil warmer instead. You get a better fragrance and a more healthy experience without any of that nasty silver smoke swirling around as it lifts to the gods above. 

The scent on the burn is delightful. The accent here is on the wood - a little earthy, yet still sweet and musky. Some of the more intriguing scents on the cone have not translated to the burn, instead we get a stronger account of the sweet musk. Again I am drawn more to thoughts of patchouli than sandalwood - though sandalwood (the dark oily sandalwood that I like) can tend to smell similar to patchouli anyway. I think sandalwood scents are more varied than patchouli because some perfumers use the dark oily heartwood, some use the dark oily heartwood after the oil has been extracted, and some use the cheaper pale sandalwood which doesn't contain much of the fragrant oil. This scent is closer to the dark oily sandalwood, yet is not heavy or too sweet or too indulgent - it retains a green, herby life, a vibrancy and youth which is joyful and uplifting. I like it a lot.   

Date: Sept 2025   Score:  45 

***

Vithaldas Narayandas & Sons
Vinasons

Sandalwood

Kemet Design (closed)

 

Kemet Design was an artisan enterprise based in Dunbar, Scotland, making and selling Egyptian influenced jewellery and incense. It was founded and run by Jenny Hill, who made her own loose incense. The business closed in 2019. 

Reviews

Kemet Design Bast Incense (L)
Sept 2025 - Score:  21↑

Kemet Design Hathor Incense (L)
July 2017 - Score: 19*

 

Kemet Design Kyphi Incense (L)
July 2017 - Score: 18* 

   

Reviews: 3

Top score: 21

Bottom score: 18
Average: 19

***

The Best Incense Makers

Incense by Country

Janawi (resin from Boswellia dalzielii)

 

Ooh this is a fruity, herby, resinous, lively tree resin which comes from Boswellia dalzielii in West Africa. It is a frankincense, though scientists don't classify it as a true frankincense, so it has rarely been studied. However, it was studied closely in 2019 when it was observed that the resin was used locally in the same manner as other frankincense resins, that the bark was traded for its range of medicinal uses (treating toothache, healing wounds, calming mental disorders, etc), and the resin contained similar, and at times greater, fragrant properties than other frankincense resins.  So it appears that the resin from Boswellia dalzielii is not a frankincense resin in the same way that almonds are not nuts, and strawberries are not berries: ie, it doesn't fucking matter, it's just a linguistic quirk. Go fill your boots, this is good stuff. 

Available (bark and resin) on Etsy from the useful Jarguna, who also sells halmaddi. 

Date: Sept 2025   Score: 40

***

Resins

Incense by Country

Frankincense

Tree Resin Dammar Gum

 

I'm currently working my way through a box of resins and other assorted incenses that I tossed in there. Yesterday I burned some Gum Dammar sold by Goloka, which I found moderately pleasant and calming, though no more interesting or exciting than a cup of chamomile tea. Today I have picked up this packet of the same dammar tree resin, which I bought from The Scenter, which used to be run by the helpful and friendly Alan Hargreaves, who gave me lots of good advice when I experimented with selling incense on eBay some years back. The Scenter is now closed, but these loose packets of dammar resin are widely available on eBay and Etsy at low cost. I've looked back at my records, and I bought this in 2018 for £1.35. 

The resin pieces are small, much is little bigger than granulated sugar, and mostly darker than the Goloka, with occasional flecks of impurities (tree bark, etc), so this wouldn't be high grade dammar, and would have been cheaper to source than the dammar from Goloka. But, perhaps its my perverse nature - or simply that it does have more character, I like this dammar more than the Goloka. Not by much, it still remains a modest experience with a curious fragrance that is a blend of faint melting plastic and chamomile tea, along with somewhat refreshing lemon notes. 

Of course, you get what you pay for (they say), and businessmen have decided that pure white dammar is better (and so more expensive) than darker dammar. However, that is when the resin is being used as a varnish. And that makes sense. The clearer the resin, the clearer the varnish will be. When it comes to using dammar as an incense the clarity of the gum seems to be less important. Indeed, it appears from my brief experience, that the clearer the gum the less character and fragrance the incense will have. But that is my personal taste. I do like incense with character and noticeable fragrance, and your mileage may vary. However, I do think this experience points up my observations that we each have to follow our own path to discovering what incense works for us. If we follow too closely the recommendations of others, we might miss out on discovering what really works for us. What have I learned today? That the darker and cheaper dammar gum may be more to my taste than the clearer and more expensive dammar. 

Date: September 2025    Score: 29 

***

Resins

Peruvian Artisans Incienso Sahumerio

 

Bought from the UK site Sacred Essence for around £4 for 6 sticks, Incienso Sahumerio is made in Peru by local artisans from paper paste infused with the fruit of saw palmetto (which has known medicinal uses), palo santo, copal, and "local Peruvian herbs". According to internet sources sahumerio means something like "perfuming with incense", and will be composed of local herbs and woods, with no particular fixed recipe. Some sahumerio appear to be similar to smudges, and appear to follow the same rituals and uses.  There also appears to be an affinity with Himalayan incense where the ritual or healing properties of the herbs are considered more important than the aesthetic fragrance. 

  

The scent is mild, neutral, not unpleasant, but not aesthetic. Some smouldering herb notes. This is an incense to burn for any potential therapeutic effects rather than for the pleasure of the fragrance. Having said that, there will likely be people who enjoy the scent. It produces little smoke, so is a low key smudge. It is a delicate and peaceful experience more akin to burning Japanese incense than Himalayan. The chunky stick burns quicker than I expected for the size, but it is fairly light. It does remind me of chewed up blotting paper. 

I'm not giving this a high score because the fragrance and therapeutic effects (for me) are very mild; however, I do love exploring incense like this, and it makes a refreshing change from the standard Indian joss stick, so I have enjoyed the experience, and that will be reflected in my score. 

Date: September 2025   Score: 30

***

Incense by Country

Spiritual/Ritual Incense

Goloka Gum Dammar Resin Incense

 

This is only my second experience of dammar, and my very first with it in natural resin form. My first time was Gokula Dammar - an incense stick. Then, as now, because I know little of dammar, I consulted my Kinkele. He says that dammar is a light incense in which the "bright fresh/fine to citrus fragrance works like a ray of light" to clarify confused mental states, and to "bring the gift of clairvoyance". 

Dammar is a tree resin like frankincense and halmaddi. It is harvested from the dipterocarpaceae family of tropical forest trees related to hibicus. The trees grow in South Asia, India, and South  America, and are valued for their timber, though, as they grow, resin is extracted and used locally.  Kinkele says the resin is used locally for protection and cleansing. While there is a light, almost lemony, fragrance from the resin, which is moderately pleasant, it is not a scent I'm getting excited about. I can sense the terpenes rather more than the fragrance, though chamomile does emerge along with hints of rubber and warm plastic. This is rather too fine a fragrance for me. I like my incense to be a little more heady, varied, and engaging. I like chamomile tea, but it's not the most exciting of aromas. 

I feel this is more of a functional resin than aesthetic. I find it calming and restful. Useful for burning before bed, or at times of stress, perhaps. 

Date: September 2025    Score: 25 

***

Goloka

Resins

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