A modern Indian perfumed-masala somewhat in the style of Satya, especially Satya's Nag Champa. The series name "Golden Nag" also leans on the popularity and reputation of Nag Champa. I had some doubt where the Nag came in the name - if it was Golden Nag or Nag Mantra, but it has been confirmed by Sachin Jain at Vijayshree that "Golden Nag is a brand and Mantra is the flavour name".
The sticks are thinly hand-rolled charcoal paste on hand-cut bamboo splints which tipped with a scarlet dye. There is a thin but sufficient covering of brown melnoorva/masala powder which is gently scented - sweet, creamy sandalwood and floral notes hovering around rose and jasmine. Simple, clean, pleasant. This is well made incense by Vijayshree, who appear to have split their corporate structure into production as Vijayshree Fragrance, and sales as Megha Aromatics.
I have liked Vijayshree from when I first encountered them, though went into a period of doubt when I realised that the sticks were not traditional masala but were modern perfumed-masala. That is, the fragrant ingredients are not folded into the charcoal paste which is then rolled onto the bamboo splint, but are added externally after the sticks have been rolled. Folks tend to call unfragranced sticks "blanks" or - in America - "punks". They are widely associated with what is termed perfume-dipped incense, and the Western incense community (not the domestic Indian) tend to look down on perfume-dipped incense as inferior. Largely, to be fair, because perfume-dipped is the quickest, easiest, and cheapest way of making incense, so will be used for bargain basement incense which has been made at low cost with few of the ingredients, such as fixatives, which will preserve and enhance the fragrance as it is being burned and dispersed, and will have been cut with solutions such as DEP in order to spread the cost as widely as possible. The more a fragrance is cut with DEP, the more sticks that can be made at lower cost, but the weaker and inferior the actually fragrance will be.
I have veered around like a broken supermarket trolley over the years on the issue of perfume-dipped v masala incense. When I started this exploratory blog over ten years ago, I knew very little about incense, so I was largely guided by what others were saying. But at the same time, I have always been a questioner and a hunter and a researcher. I am rarely satisfied accepting what I've read or what I'm told until I have done my own research. And as a former teacher/examiner, magazine editor, and Wikipedia admin, I have learned the value and importance of reliable sources over hearsay, social media, and blogs. For example, this blog - IncenseInTheWind - is not a reliable source; you should always question what I say, and go seek your own answers. Anyway, balancing received wisdom with research and experience has led me in varied directions. Sometimes I swing against perfumed incense, while other times I swing toward it. On the whole, I am very open to perfumed incense, especially when coming upon incense houses who use perfumes confidently and with knowledge. But I still feel somewhat defensive when enjoying and praising a perfumed incense.
So where am I with Vijayshree? When I scrape off the fragranced powder on the outside of the stick, and burn just the charcoal paste on the bamboo I don't get the fragrance. This indicates that the fragrance has been added externally, rather than being folded into the paste. So this is essentially a perfume-dipped incense which has had a powder added to the surface of the charcoal paste. It's a perfumed-masala. Not quite perfume-dipped, but not quite traditional masala. And that doesn't matter. I think we all need to put production method lower down the scale of importance when burning an incense. What really matters is how pleasurable or exquisite the fragrance is when burned. How much I, you, we, enjoy the fragrance. And I enjoy this. So that's what really matters.
The sticks are thinly hand-rolled charcoal paste on hand-cut bamboo splints which tipped with a scarlet dye. There is a thin but sufficient covering of brown melnoorva/masala powder which is gently scented - sweet, creamy sandalwood and floral notes hovering around rose and jasmine. Simple, clean, pleasant. This is well made incense by Vijayshree, who appear to have split their corporate structure into production as Vijayshree Fragrance, and sales as Megha Aromatics.
I have liked Vijayshree from when I first encountered them, though went into a period of doubt when I realised that the sticks were not traditional masala but were modern perfumed-masala. That is, the fragrant ingredients are not folded into the charcoal paste which is then rolled onto the bamboo splint, but are added externally after the sticks have been rolled. Folks tend to call unfragranced sticks "blanks" or - in America - "punks". They are widely associated with what is termed perfume-dipped incense, and the Western incense community (not the domestic Indian) tend to look down on perfume-dipped incense as inferior. Largely, to be fair, because perfume-dipped is the quickest, easiest, and cheapest way of making incense, so will be used for bargain basement incense which has been made at low cost with few of the ingredients, such as fixatives, which will preserve and enhance the fragrance as it is being burned and dispersed, and will have been cut with solutions such as DEP in order to spread the cost as widely as possible. The more a fragrance is cut with DEP, the more sticks that can be made at lower cost, but the weaker and inferior the actually fragrance will be.
I have veered around like a broken supermarket trolley over the years on the issue of perfume-dipped v masala incense. When I started this exploratory blog over ten years ago, I knew very little about incense, so I was largely guided by what others were saying. But at the same time, I have always been a questioner and a hunter and a researcher. I am rarely satisfied accepting what I've read or what I'm told until I have done my own research. And as a former teacher/examiner, magazine editor, and Wikipedia admin, I have learned the value and importance of reliable sources over hearsay, social media, and blogs. For example, this blog - IncenseInTheWind - is not a reliable source; you should always question what I say, and go seek your own answers. Anyway, balancing received wisdom with research and experience has led me in varied directions. Sometimes I swing against perfumed incense, while other times I swing toward it. On the whole, I am very open to perfumed incense, especially when coming upon incense houses who use perfumes confidently and with knowledge. But I still feel somewhat defensive when enjoying and praising a perfumed incense.
So where am I with Vijayshree? When I scrape off the fragranced powder on the outside of the stick, and burn just the charcoal paste on the bamboo I don't get the fragrance. This indicates that the fragrance has been added externally, rather than being folded into the paste. So this is essentially a perfume-dipped incense which has had a powder added to the surface of the charcoal paste. It's a perfumed-masala. Not quite perfume-dipped, but not quite traditional masala. And that doesn't matter. I think we all need to put production method lower down the scale of importance when burning an incense. What really matters is how pleasurable or exquisite the fragrance is when burned. How much I, you, we, enjoy the fragrance. And I enjoy this. So that's what really matters.
Date: Sep 2025 Score: 37
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| First review |
I think all of Vijayshree's incenses are prefaced with "Golden"; and there's many which have "Nag" in the name. I'm not sure if the "Nag" is associated with the "Golden", so the brand is "Golden Nag", and the scent is "Mantra"; or if the brand is simply "Golden", and the Nag is part of the name of the scent - so this scent is "Nag Mantra". I just looked back on my experiences with Vijayshree: the first Vijayshree scent I reviewed was Golden Nag Champa cones in 2017. I remarked back then: "It's not what I would normally understand as a Nag Champa - it seems to contain plumeria or frangipani, rather than the magnolia or champaca of Nag Champa. Normally such incenses are simply called Champa, but Vijayshree have chosen to call it Nag Champa, which expands my understanding of what is Nag Champa." So, reflecting on that, it seems that "Golden Nag" is the brand name, as the Golden Nag Champa cones I had in 2017 smelled of champa rather than nag champa. [2025 comment: Confirmed by Sachin Jain at Vijayshree that "Golden Nag is a brand and Mantra is the flavour name"]
My early encounters with Vijayshree incense tended to be enthusiastically positive (albeit holding back on very high scores), yet with little analysis of the product or the scent. However, with a weight of positive experiences (however shallow) I started to associate Vijayshree as a potential incense house of quality. And this, despite repeated comments regarding the vague nature of the scents, their lightness, the brevity of the burn, and an awareness of the perfume on the stick. I then decided to explore more of the Golden Nag range. I found the cones variable, with a general trend toward crude perfume-dipped, though my feelings regarding the agarbathi were still very positive - mostly hovering around top end of Decent or nudging into Heavenly on my Top of The Dhoops list. It looks now that I simply swoon at the scent on the stick, and, like an infatuated Romeo, largely ignore how superficial and curiously room-freshener perfumed they are on the burn.
The scent on the stick is warm, manly, sweet, musky, floral, citric, delightful, hovering between a bukhoor body perfume and a fougre accord, such as used in Brut. It promises much, but the scent on the burn is quiet (and soon over), and delivers a faintly pleasant room-freshener perfume. Nothing significant. Moderately nice.
My experiences with this stick, and looking back at my previous reviews, have prompted me to question my enthusiasm for Vijayshree. Whereas initially I though the sticks were proper masala (and indeed they are described as such), I'm now thinking they are perfumed masala. So, I scraped the powder off one of these sticks, and just burned the charcoal. There was no scent. It's a charcoal punk, coated in wood powder, and then dipped in a perfume solution. Smells great on the stick. Less effective on the burn. Sigh. This is not unique to Vijayshree - this appears to be a trend. Cheap perfume-dipped sticks being marketed to the West as masala. Of course, as I always say, it doesn't really matter how the sticks are made (within common sense of course), what matters is how they smell - how much pleasure they give. The pleasure created on the burn with this stick is very, very modest. I'm now interested in going back to the previous Vijayshree I've reviewed to see how much I was seduced and distracted by the scent on the stick, and just how the scent on the burn stands up to a more critical examination.
My experiences with this stick, and looking back at my previous reviews, have prompted me to question my enthusiasm for Vijayshree. Whereas initially I though the sticks were proper masala (and indeed they are described as such), I'm now thinking they are perfumed masala. So, I scraped the powder off one of these sticks, and just burned the charcoal. There was no scent. It's a charcoal punk, coated in wood powder, and then dipped in a perfume solution. Smells great on the stick. Less effective on the burn. Sigh. This is not unique to Vijayshree - this appears to be a trend. Cheap perfume-dipped sticks being marketed to the West as masala. Of course, as I always say, it doesn't really matter how the sticks are made (within common sense of course), what matters is how they smell - how much pleasure they give. The pleasure created on the burn with this stick is very, very modest. I'm now interested in going back to the previous Vijayshree I've reviewed to see how much I was seduced and distracted by the scent on the stick, and just how the scent on the burn stands up to a more critical examination.
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