Cottage Industries Heritage No. 19 Myrrh

 

Cottage Industries is part of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, India. Incense making was set up in 1949 by Mirra Alfassa, The Mother, to provide the ashram with low cost, everyday incense. Surplus was sold to visitors, and by 1973 was being exported. The original 10 fragrances are still available, numbered from 11 to 20, as the Heritage range; and all 10 plus two more modern Cottage incenses are available from the excellent Padma Store in Germany, who ship internationally. 

Myrrh is a traditional incense mentioned in the Bible. It is a resin extracted from the commiphora myrrha tree; it is difficult to synthesise, while easy to make into an inexpensive essential oil. Most incense houses will use natural myrrh (including HEM). It has a warm-spicy, balsamic, musky sweet vanilla fragrance.  I like it. 

The stick has a quiet, shy scent - mildly sweet, perfumed, woody, amber, and floral. It is kind of a pale shadow of a generic masala incense. It is pleasant, and suggests that the scent on the burn will be sweeter than the average Cottage. 

Oooh, this is a nice scent on the burn. It has the musky sweetness I associate with myrrh, some amber, some dirty bits which add interest, and could be small amounts of frankincense put in to give depth to the myrrh; frankincense is a popular partner with myrrh as they complement each other so well. It's not a strong scent, which disappoints me. Though, after experiencing some of the overwhelming and pungent Pushkar incenses recently, it could be seen as a lesser fault than being too assertive. As the burn progresses it loses some of its sweetness, and the dry, prickly Cottage signature takes its place.  I am not a fan of that dry, prickliness. However, due to my liking for myrrh, I have found this the most enjoyable Cottage I have had. 

Date:  Feb 2022    Score:28 

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Cottage Industries

Myrrh

Cottage Industries Heritage No. 17 Ketaki

 

Ketaki, or kewda or kewra is the distilled essence of the screw pine or pandanus plant, which is used as a flavouring in Asian and Indian cooking, particularly biryani. It is sometimes used as a fragrance in Indian incense. The flower is not commonly used in temples, though is often seen as a decoration on female gods. It has a scent similar to fruity rose-water. 

Cottage Industries is part of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, India. Incense making was set up by Mirra Alfassa, The Mother, in 1949 to provide the ashram with low cost, everyday incense. Auroshika, One Aromatics, Meadows, and The Mother's sell incense associated with the ashram and related projects.  I tend to find the incense to be old fashioned, simple, and dry. Others like them, and The Mother's has a good reputation among some incense enthusiasts. 

The appearance is of a perfumed-charcoal stick. It is neat enough to have been machine-extruded, though I suspect not. There's a neat fruity-floral scent on the stick. Quite juicy with a touch of orange and a hint of musk. Yeah. Nice. 

The scent on the burn I'm not keen on. It's muggy, grey, and heavy. There's wet cardboard and burnt toast weighing down on stewed corn and minor notes of boiled honey and damp flower petals.  I had some hope that this would be a Cottage incense I would like. Sadly not....

Date:  Feb 2022    Score:17 

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Cottage Industries

Ketaki / Kewda / Screwpine

Ketaki / Kewda / Screwpine

 

Ketaki, or kewda or kewra is the distilled essence of the screw pine or pandanus plant, which is used as a flavouring in Asian and Indian cooking, particularly biryani. It is sometimes used as a fragrance in Indian incense. The flower is not commonly used in temples, though is often seen as a decoration on female gods. It has a scent similar to fruity rose-water. 

Reviews

Rango Rao Cycle Brand Vasu Kewda (P)
Jan 2022 - Score: 35 

   

Moksh Lucky Kewda (P)
July 2018 -  Score: 29= 

Cottage Industries Heritage No. 17 Ketaki 

Feb 2017 - Score: 17

Reviews: 3
Top score: 35
Bottom score: 17
Average: 

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Best Scents

Green Tree 7 Chakras

 

Fourth of four Green Tree incense samples that Irene of Rauchfahne sent me. I have found them all to be very likeable, as have been pretty much all Green Tree incenses I've tried. They have been created by an experienced and professional private label incense company like Fair Trade / Incense Collective, and aimed at the Western market in the style of Satya's Nag Champa in a blue box - the world's best selling and most popular incense. This 7 Chakras and other Green Tree incenses are available in all the regular incense outlets usually between £2 and £3 for 15g. Sacred Incense in the UK are currently (Feb 2025) selling for £1.98. 

The scent on the stick is - as is common for Green Tree - perfumed, sweet, floral, with notes of vanilla. There's a few sharp and/or citric notes to cut the sweetness and keep the interest. Hints of orange. It's a pleasing and inviting scent. 

The scent on the burn is rounded, attractive, yummy. This is more woody and musky than the other Green Tree incenses. I do incline toward woody and musky, especially when balanced with floral and or citric notes, and even more so when that is wrapped up in sweetness and caramel notes - albeit a little too sweet for my taste. Yes, this is very enjoyable. Held back from a higher score by the tendency to being too sweet, and the overall vibe of poptastic niceness.  But, by golly, this has a gorgeous appeal. 

Date: Feb 2025    Score: 39 

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Green Tree (own label)

Reviewed on Rauchfahne

Green Tree Yoga Tree

 

Third of four Green Tree incense samples that Irene of Rauchfahne sent me. The incense is generally good in the standard of Satya and Goloka. And the packaging is usually attractive. Green Tree are a Dutch distribution company based in Rotterdam who sell their own-brand masala incense made for them by an Indian private label incense company like Fair Trade / Incense Collective.  Yoga Tree and other Green Tree incenses are available in standard 15g packs usually for between £2 and £3 in the UK, US, Australia, etc.  My one quibble with Green Tree incenses is that they tend to be rather mainstream and commercial - sort of Hear'Say rather than the Sex Pistols or Bob Dylan. But that's the quibble of a reviewer - as a consumer, I find them very likeable, easy burning, and good value for money room-freshener incenses in the style of Nag Champa. 

 

Scent on the stick is warm, perfumed, powdery, ticklish, sweet. There's a street market unisex cologne, some honey, faint sandalwood. It's a pleasant scent, well done, inviting, and quite commercial. I like it. 

The scent on the burn is a blend of woods and florals typical of Nag Champa. It's very attractive. I like it a lot. It can drift toward being dry and spiky, but on the whole this is a decent mainstream perfumed-masala incense. There's nothing special or distinctive about it. I've smelled it before, and I'll smell it again. For anyone who likes mainstream Nag Champa type incense, this is an incense to light up and forget. It'll do its job of fragrancing the home, and it's a fair price. 

Date: Feb 2025    Score: 37

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Green Tree (own label)

Reviewed on Rauchfahne