Incense in The Wind: Temple of Incense

Thursday, 23 January 2025

Temple of Incense

Temple of Incense (ToI) is a British incense retail brand set up by two British born women of Indian heritage, sisters Simi and Sam Aydee, in 2012 on a market stall in Portobello Road. ToI follows in the tradition of Paul Eagle and his (now closed) Happi Hari brand of importing Indian made incense, and selling under their own brand, and it is widely regarded that they use some of the same sources as Paul did. And those same sources were used by Corel Topel for his Absolute Incense brand (now closed, but stock bought by Corey and sold under the Happy Hari brand are available on Padma Store, while other Absolute Incense stock may be available from Everest Trader in America), and by Eugene for some of his Bhagwan Incense. The Olfactory Rescue Service have a list of incenses they feel ToI have in common with Absolute. All these individuals try to keep the sources secret for business reasons, and there has sometimes been friction when sources are shared as they all want to keep exclusivity and the prospect of higher profit. Also sharing some of the sources is the British based Gokula, who is less known than the others, yet has been quietly selling top quality Indian incense at "earthly prices" for years. One of the known sources for all these retailers is Haridas Madhavdas Sugandhi (HMS), who have been a very popular white label source for retailers in India and beyond for many years.

Simi and Sam Aydee, owners of ToI

ToI has been successful, and is particularly popular among those who consider themselves connoisseurs of incense. ToI prices are higher than average; though connoisseurs of any product do tend to prefer paying more than average for what they consider to be refined quality. Part of ToI's success has been their careful selection of scents, and it is scents that are key to the success of most incense brands aiming for the top end of the market. Also, they concentrate on sticks that have a traditional masala appearance. They are very good at subtle and attractive marketing. They don't overdo the emails. They use email selectively and professionally.

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