I'm coming to this after a few days of burning Cottage Heritage sticks, which are rather, dry, sombre, and mean, so the sweet, heady, floral notes on the stick are an immediate relief. Though it does remind me a little too much of the heady, crude, and pungent Pushkar incenses which is giving me pause for caution. I've not lit the stick yet, just approached the scent on the stick. There's a "wetness" about both the stick and the scent which reminds me of incense inspired by Sri Sai Flora, often called or termed Flora. Such Flora style incense can be a little pungent if too many fragrance oils have been used, and/or too much agarbathi oil (DEP) has been used. Put the DEP out of your mind, and simply engage openly with a Flora, and they can overwhelm passionately with the intensity of their scents. Also, some Flora sticks are likely made with better quality oils, and rather less or no agarbathi oil, though this can be hard to tell. Generally, I'll either like the scent, and with a glass half-full attitude I'll get carried away, or I'll not like the scent, and with a glass half-empty attitude I'll be focusing on the sharp pungency, and the way my eyes bleed, and my lungs collapse. Sometimes we can get that glass half-empty or half-full attitude from our prior experience with a maker (or supplier in the case of ToI, as the London based women behind ToI don't make the incense themselves). I feel that ToI select their incense carefully, so I'm inclined toward the glass being more full than empty.
The scent on the stick is very floral (lots of rose), supported by dark fruits - cherry, fig, and blackberry, along with creamy woods and some tobacco notes. There's a fair degree of volatility, which can detract, but on the whole it's an engaging scent. I'd like more base notes, and a little less rose, but on the whole I find this inviting.
The scent is quite warm and woody on the burn - less interesting than the scent on the stick. It is very heady and smoky, and penetrates the house quite quickly, and not as pleasantly as one would like. I got complaints as I burned it, and eventually gave up on it. This is certainly an incense to burn in a well ventilated room. I'm not sure I'm that interested in trying it in the house again. After ten minutes I have a bit of a headache, even though I like heady Indian incenses. I'll try it again on another day, but for now I'm not enjoying this, and neither is anyone else in the house! Perhaps we're all saturated after our couple of weeks of Pushkar incense last month. Now it's time to open more doors and flap some tea towels before the smoke alarm goes off or my brain bursts!
The scent is quite warm and woody on the burn - less interesting than the scent on the stick. It is very heady and smoky, and penetrates the house quite quickly, and not as pleasantly as one would like. I got complaints as I burned it, and eventually gave up on it. This is certainly an incense to burn in a well ventilated room. I'm not sure I'm that interested in trying it in the house again. After ten minutes I have a bit of a headache, even though I like heady Indian incenses. I'll try it again on another day, but for now I'm not enjoying this, and neither is anyone else in the house! Perhaps we're all saturated after our couple of weeks of Pushkar incense last month. Now it's time to open more doors and flap some tea towels before the smoke alarm goes off or my brain bursts!
I think you have been misinformed, Temple of Incense are manufacturers of incense, from their web-site: "Incense sticks are our calling. You may have heard the saying “Doing what you like is freedom, liking what you do is happiness”. Not only do we like what we do, we love it. That’s why our incense is so amazing – because we choose and create each stick with immense passion and dedication to make it incredible."
ReplyDeleteHi Anonymous. Yes, I hear what you are saying. The situation is that the incense is made in India. Folks who have paid more attention to ToI than me - such as at Reddit and ORS - have identified the makers. Or at least, who they assume to be the makers based on similarities in the scents, the way the incense is made, and inside information. Much of which I cannot reveal.
DeleteHowever, there is this fine legal line in statements like "we choose and create each stick". Some own brand retailers buy sticks in bulk off the shelf, and put it into their own packaging. Simple. Some may request slight alterations, which will make the scents more appealing to their known market, and also make them unique. Some may go so far as to design the scents themselves from scratch. Though that is less common. Now, if a retailer is designing the scent themselves (not making it, just saying that they want it "woody with floral notes and a touch of vanilla and cat pee"), then leaving the production to the manufacturer, can they say they have chosen and created each stick? Possibly. If they have asked the maker to tweak the fragrance, can they say they have chosen and created each stick? Again, possibly.
It's difficult to draw a line sometimes. Adi-Guru of Pure Incense brings some oils he has purchased elsewhere to HMS for them to add to the incense sticks they make for him. And Eugene of Bhagwan has told me that he has some input into the sticks made for him. But I don't think they would consider themselves as manufacturers of incense. I think they would consider themselves as "commissioners" - and that is why I added that term to my page listing them:
Own brand / private label sellers and commissioners
I hope that helps clarify the issue. But, as you indicate, it is a little foggy. Especially when established incense manufacturers such as Goloka sometimes outsource (ask another company to make some sticks for them).
https://www.templeofincense.com/shop/incense-sticks/oriental/new-portobello/
Delete"Portobello – Old School Meena Supreme."
Meena Supreme was before sold by Happy Hari and is produced by Meena Perfumery. You can buy it as such.
It's also sold by Bhagwan.
TOI got intoduced to some sources of Paul Eagle and now sell a number of incenses he used to sell.
I have recently been told (I didn't know this) that the Aydee sisters knew Paul when they both had stalls in the same market. It has been suggested that he passed on his sources to them.
DeleteAt the same time. I have screen-shots sent to me by Cory of Absolute Bliss of the discussions he had with Paul when Paul was very down because he had lost a business connection in America, and because of rising shipping costs was struggling financially. In the discussion, Cory agrees to buy the incense that the other American importer wanted Paul to take back. And then Paul offers Cory contact with his suppliers on condition Cory pays his 10% commission on the sales. And Cory agrees.
Cory was always a little uncertain if the sources were true, and kept sending me samples for me to check against supplies he knew I still had.
Now, would Paul have given (or sold) the same information to the Aydee sisters? Possible. He was in a bad place. Not long after the discussion with Cory, Paul killed himself.
At the same time. Eugene has managed to find the same sources. After all, Paul found out by asking around in Goa market. And Eugene has done his research on the ground in India.
Added to which. The more I get into Indian incense the more I see similarities in incense made by a variety of different companies. And the experienced incense makers can do copies quite easily. All Eugene or the Aydee sisters need to do is find an experienced back street incense maker, give them some sticks, and the incense maker will produce a very good copy.
Perhaps we are all chasing after a holy grail that doesn't exist. This mythical artisan incense maker sitting cross legged making sublime incense is just in our heads. It's actually not one person, but thousands, all across India. In Pushkar, in Vrindavan, in Pune, in Goa. Everywhere. And it's a shared collective. The shared knowledge of one hundred years of rolling charcoal paste around a bamboo stick. The shared knowledge of fifty years blending a floral scent with a sandalwood scent.