Machine extruded and perfumed. Nandita describe this as "Premium Masala Incense", which pushes our understanding of what a masala incense actually is. We can park the "Premium" as a standard marketing term. It has no significance - even the cheapest, crudest incenses proclaim they are "premium".
So, what does masala actually mean today? The word comes from Urdu maṣālaḥ, based on Arabic maṣāliḥ: "ingredients, materials". In cooking it became associated with a mix or blend of spices, such as masala chai, a tea flavoured with spices. It's not clear to me how the word became associated with incense, and why some incenses are termed "masala" while others are termed "perfumed", given that most incenses in India use perfumes (liquid fragrances - either essential oils or fragrance oils) be they termed perfumed or masala.
I know that ancient incense recipes contained a blend of dried, powdered, fragrant ingredients, such as this Zhao Qing Xian Gong incense recipe from the Song Dynasty. And I know that dhoop style incenses have been made in India and Asia for hundreds of years before the development of agarbathi (joss sticks/incense sticks) in Mysore around 1900, and that perfume-dipped incense was a much later development. So my assumption (there is, sadly, little documented evidence) is that the first agarbathi used the same blends of dried, powdered, fragrant ingredients as had been used for thousands of years in blended and dhoop style incense. And that the local Indian term for the dried fragrant ingredients would likely be "masala". The masala would be blended with binders, fixatives, and powdered combustible material (charcoal or wood) into a paste, which would be rolled onto a bamboo splint. The still damp sticks would then be rolled in a wood powder to prevent the finished sticks from gluing together as they dried. This powder, termed melnoorva in some sources, could be perfumed or unperfumed.
In modern times the melnoorva powder is often perfumed, and the powder itself is now often termed "masala powder". It appears to me that these days a significant number of incense makers are differentiating masala and perfumed incense by whether the perfume is put into the paste before it is attached to the stick or added later to a "blank" or "punk" unperfumed stick. Yet I have seen some well known masala incense houses (such as HMS) pour perfume onto finished sticks. Perhaps this later perfume addition is similar to the modern use of the "masala powder": to give the customer an immediate hit of scent - what is known in candle making as the "cool throw" (to give instant appeal).
Matters become even more tricky when considering machine extruded masala sticks. There is no "masala powder" on this stick. This stick looks, presents, and smells no different to any perfumed or perfume-dipped stick. So what, exactly, makes this a "Premium Masala Incense"? My assumption is that the perfume was added to the paste before it was extruded by the machine. But when I smell the stick there is a fairly heady fragrance, which suggests that some perfume was added after the stick was made. Does that mean that this stick had perfume put in the paste, and perfume added to the finished stick? Perhaps different fragrance formulations? Whatever....
I like the scent on the stick. It's quite cool, sturdy, medicinal. There's a woody, spicy warmth - a hint of iodine, mineral, marine notes along with some faint sweet florals - lily and rose. It's not a wow scent, but it is grounded and satisfactory. And, yes, I would associate it with saffron.
So, what does masala actually mean today? The word comes from Urdu maṣālaḥ, based on Arabic maṣāliḥ: "ingredients, materials". In cooking it became associated with a mix or blend of spices, such as masala chai, a tea flavoured with spices. It's not clear to me how the word became associated with incense, and why some incenses are termed "masala" while others are termed "perfumed", given that most incenses in India use perfumes (liquid fragrances - either essential oils or fragrance oils) be they termed perfumed or masala.
I know that ancient incense recipes contained a blend of dried, powdered, fragrant ingredients, such as this Zhao Qing Xian Gong incense recipe from the Song Dynasty. And I know that dhoop style incenses have been made in India and Asia for hundreds of years before the development of agarbathi (joss sticks/incense sticks) in Mysore around 1900, and that perfume-dipped incense was a much later development. So my assumption (there is, sadly, little documented evidence) is that the first agarbathi used the same blends of dried, powdered, fragrant ingredients as had been used for thousands of years in blended and dhoop style incense. And that the local Indian term for the dried fragrant ingredients would likely be "masala". The masala would be blended with binders, fixatives, and powdered combustible material (charcoal or wood) into a paste, which would be rolled onto a bamboo splint. The still damp sticks would then be rolled in a wood powder to prevent the finished sticks from gluing together as they dried. This powder, termed melnoorva in some sources, could be perfumed or unperfumed.
In modern times the melnoorva powder is often perfumed, and the powder itself is now often termed "masala powder". It appears to me that these days a significant number of incense makers are differentiating masala and perfumed incense by whether the perfume is put into the paste before it is attached to the stick or added later to a "blank" or "punk" unperfumed stick. Yet I have seen some well known masala incense houses (such as HMS) pour perfume onto finished sticks. Perhaps this later perfume addition is similar to the modern use of the "masala powder": to give the customer an immediate hit of scent - what is known in candle making as the "cool throw" (to give instant appeal).
Matters become even more tricky when considering machine extruded masala sticks. There is no "masala powder" on this stick. This stick looks, presents, and smells no different to any perfumed or perfume-dipped stick. So what, exactly, makes this a "Premium Masala Incense"? My assumption is that the perfume was added to the paste before it was extruded by the machine. But when I smell the stick there is a fairly heady fragrance, which suggests that some perfume was added after the stick was made. Does that mean that this stick had perfume put in the paste, and perfume added to the finished stick? Perhaps different fragrance formulations? Whatever....
I like the scent on the stick. It's quite cool, sturdy, medicinal. There's a woody, spicy warmth - a hint of iodine, mineral, marine notes along with some faint sweet florals - lily and rose. It's not a wow scent, but it is grounded and satisfactory. And, yes, I would associate it with saffron.
The scent on the burn is even better. The saffron is here, and so is the sandalwood, and the two scents combine well together. Indeed, they produce a very unified accord that feels like a natural single scent, though more sandalwood than saffron. It's like, well, a saffrony sandalwood. Quite delicious. The scent is warm, gentle, engaging, and very welcome. There's no aggressive tones, and no disagreeable off-notes. There's just a sense of harmony, and calm, and under-stated beauty. The scent deliciously informs this and neighbouring rooms. It's not so heady that it penetrates the whole house, but it is certainly noticeable for a fair distance. And it leaves a sweet, pleasant, warm, woody note for some hours. I like this. It is perhaps a little mainstream, and a little, well, perfumed and commercial, but it is a damn fine room freshener. Well made, and excellent value for money.
Date: Jan 2025 Score: 39
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You're correct, Steve! I’d just like to add that manufacturers who use machine extrusion typically apply the dipping process after extrusion, mainly because it's a straightforward method. While some do incorporate perfume into the blend before extrusion, I’ve heard that this can be more challenging. There is a trend these days of the machine-extruded masala incense sticks that are coated with melnoorva powder.
ReplyDeleteA number of people have told me that machine extruded paste has to be formulated differently to hand-rolled paste. And we can see that in the finished product - both how it looks on the stick (it tends to have a textured look), and how it burns (the ash tends to remain tight). Of course these are generalisations, I have seen machine-extruded which doesn't look textured, and where the ash doesn't remain tight). But you're the first who has told me that machine-extruded tends to be perfume dipped. I would expect that of sticks which are aimed at the budget perfumed market, but would have though that those houses which are aiming for the masala market would follow the masala trend of putting the perfume in the paste before extruding it. Tibetan incense contains all fragrant ingredients before being extruded. As does Japanese incense.
DeleteAnd I remember Paul of Happy Hari telling me that his extruded sticks were essentially the same as the hand-rolled ones. Even that the girl who operated the machinery was the same girl who used to hand roll the sticks!
I should imagine that if you want the customer who is particular about their incense, and is willing to pay a bit more, then you'd do the "more challenging" thing in order to keep them satisfied. But, yeah, for the bulk of customers, then dipping afterwards is fine, albeit an extra process which, if everything is being done in-house, would surely just be an extra expense and extra time. Though it would have the advantage of giving the finished product a hit of perfume.
If these sticks are purely dipped, then why would they call them "masala"? Is "masala" now just becoming a marketing term like "premium" which has no actual meaning, but helps sell the product. The term itself has shifted from the ground fragrant ingredients which used to be enfolded in the paste before rolling, to the fine powder applied to the outside of the stick. Now it appears to be used for machine-extruded and dipped sticks which have no fragrant ingredients in the paste, and no fine powder on the outside.
Whatever. These sticks are quite pleasant, but they are not masala!
You're absolutely right, Steve—there’s a clear difference between the blend used for machine-made incense and hand-rolled sticks, especially for the masala variety, and there are valid reasons for this. The primary reason is that machine extruders operate within specific calibrations. They can only handle materials with limited moisture and oil content. If you check out videos on YouTube, you’ll notice that the conical hopper feeding the material into the machine uses a fairly dry mix with minimal moisture. The machine compacts and presses the material tightly onto the bamboo stick.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, if the blend contains pre-added perfume, the machine may press out some of the perfume oils during the process. While machine-made masala incense may attempt to incorporate traditional ingredients, there are inherent limitations. On the other hand, making machine-extruded incense using a basic mix of charcoal, joss powder, and sawdust is straightforward. This type of incense is simply dipped in a 10% diluted perfume solution in DEP.
Paul from Happy Hari might have managed to use the same blend for both machine and hand-rolled processes, which is feasible. However, the quality of handmade incense is noticeably superior. Hand-rolling leaves the material more porous and less compact, allowing aroma molecules to diffuse more effectively into the air. In contrast, the tight structure of machine-made incense can trap aroma chemicals, which may burn off rather than release their fragrance.
The handmade process also allows limitless creativity in formulating blends, enabling the addition of any ingredient in any proportion—something machines cannot achieve.
These days, some manufacturers mislabel their products as masala incense even when they clearly aren’t. While this tactic doesn’t work domestically, as distributors are knowledgeable, it’s sometimes used for international markets.
For me, true masala incense is characterized by a complex blend of finely ground ingredients and perfume materials, creating an intricate harmony of multiple fragrance notes. Resins and balsams are key components. A genuine masala incense blend should integrate the perfume as part of its formulation, not as an external coating applied afterward.
That's very useful, Alok. My initial experiences with machine extruded were not negative. Indeed, I initially found some aspects of machine extruded to be positive - that the sticks were easier to burn, and more consistent during the burn; that the sticks were neater and more attractive to look at (some hand rolled sticks can look very messy and ugly); and the scent experience wasn't that different to hand rolled. But, I have noticed a drop off in quality recently. Indeed, a drop off in quality appears to go along with an increase in the amount of incense houses that are now producing machine extruded sticks.
DeleteI think my earlier experiences may have to do with the sticks being made by the more traditional incenses that Happy Hari used, which may have used a proper masala formulation in the machine (closer to the original masala style, and the Asian extruded dhoops, in that dried ingredients would be used rather more than oils), and also that the majority of machine extruded would come from perfume houses, such as Moksh and HEM, in which I suspect that the machine extruded sticks are better suited, rather than masala houses.
This trend of a fairly decent incense house passing off machine extruded perfume dipped incense as masala is, for me, rather recent. Though I don't think it is unique to Nandita. I'll need to look back in my records. A few years ago I started marking (in my "Top Of The Dhoops" post) incenses which I felt were "perfumed masala" (PM) - that is sticks that looked like masala sticks, but in which the scent experience was dominated by oils and/or perfumes. I think in the past 12 years while I have been doing this blog there has been a considerable movement in Indian incense houses toward perfumed incense for export, some of which has been presented as masala. I think that, domestically, perfumed incense has had a firm hold on the market for a little longer than that. Though I started to notice about five years ago, a trend toward "luxury boxes" in the Indian domestic incense market. These boxes would not just be masala incense, but would usually be very much in the "flora" or "fluxo" or "durbar" style. And the marketing and presentation would focus on tradition. And these boxes would, even for the Indian domestic market, be very expensive. Some houses tried to promote them to the West, but I think the cost of shipping the larger than average boxes worked against success.
Yes, you are correct, Steve! Regarding packaging, it is so funny, especially for Phool haha.. They never thought of the volumetric weight in shipping! hahaha
ReplyDelete