This is an old Satya - the fragrance developed in conjunction with Aargee / Stamford around 2012. This is Satya before the brothers split. I'm not sure where my box came from, nor how long I've had it, but the date on the hologram seal is 2012. However, this appears to be still available in the original boxes, as here at £2.
This is a standard perfumed masala - it is similar to the majority of such sticks made across India. I see people putting down Satya on incense forums and blogs, but on a blind test I doubt if many (or any) of those folks could really tell Satya apart from most of the thousands of companies in India making perfumed masala incense sticks. The negative attitude toward Satya in some incense circles began when the brothers split, and Nagraj Setty began selling poor quality Satya branded incense from his Mumbai premises. That harmed the reputation of the company which still lingers, even though the Satya incense sold by Balkrishna Setty from the original Bangalore premises had retained the same quality, and the Satya incense sold by Nagraj has since improved, such that there is no longer a significant difference between the output of both brothers, other than name and address.
This is a standard perfumed masala - it is similar to the majority of such sticks made across India. I see people putting down Satya on incense forums and blogs, but on a blind test I doubt if many (or any) of those folks could really tell Satya apart from most of the thousands of companies in India making perfumed masala incense sticks. The negative attitude toward Satya in some incense circles began when the brothers split, and Nagraj Setty began selling poor quality Satya branded incense from his Mumbai premises. That harmed the reputation of the company which still lingers, even though the Satya incense sold by Balkrishna Setty from the original Bangalore premises had retained the same quality, and the Satya incense sold by Nagraj has since improved, such that there is no longer a significant difference between the output of both brothers, other than name and address.
The scent on the stick is quite heady, volatile, and moist. It is both earthy and perfumed, with chemical notes. It curiously reminds me of the scent on the stick of some Pushkar incense, suggesting that perhaps a dose of something like DEP / agarbatti oil was used too liberally, though I'm not sure that Satya uses DEP, nor that it uses halmaddi - I suspect that Satya uses frankincense oil in the paste as a fixative. They do use fragrance oils, and these will be blended with carrier oils, and may also be cut with something like DEP to keep costs down. But I've not read of them doing that, and evidence, such as the scent on this stick, is thin and unreliable.
The scent on the burn is very heady, and may not be appreciated by most Western customers - this behaves more like a domestic Indian incense than an export. Aargee at its height did commission some excellent and uncompromising incense, and this is one such example. I assume that is why so much stock is still for sale - this is too much for most Westerners, who prefer better behaved and more commercial incense. I think that DEP may have been used, as it does increase the potency and projection of the perfume oils. This is not an incense for those who like the weak fragrances of Asian incense, particularly Japanese. This is a rich, passionate, colourful, powerful incense which as the name suggests excites the imagination. Having said that, there is some variance between the sticks. Some of the sticks I burned had a pleasant floral aspect - jasmine and violets, with hints of peppermint, and were quite soft and well mannered; others were much more complex with lumps of rich woody driftwood amid the sea-spray of marine and coral and the joy of floral sprays. Yes. A fascinating if sadly inconsistent classic Aargee / Satya.
The scent on the burn is very heady, and may not be appreciated by most Western customers - this behaves more like a domestic Indian incense than an export. Aargee at its height did commission some excellent and uncompromising incense, and this is one such example. I assume that is why so much stock is still for sale - this is too much for most Westerners, who prefer better behaved and more commercial incense. I think that DEP may have been used, as it does increase the potency and projection of the perfume oils. This is not an incense for those who like the weak fragrances of Asian incense, particularly Japanese. This is a rich, passionate, colourful, powerful incense which as the name suggests excites the imagination. Having said that, there is some variance between the sticks. Some of the sticks I burned had a pleasant floral aspect - jasmine and violets, with hints of peppermint, and were quite soft and well mannered; others were much more complex with lumps of rich woody driftwood amid the sea-spray of marine and coral and the joy of floral sprays. Yes. A fascinating if sadly inconsistent classic Aargee / Satya.
