Temple of Incense Perky Pandit

 

I love the name - Perky Pandit!  Pandit has passed into English as pundit - someone with specialised knowledge on a topic. The stick is a floppy charcoal paste which looks machine extruded, so it gives the appearance of a dhoop on a stick. There is a thin dusting of wood powder. Huge whack of vanilla sweet florals. Very perfumed and feminine. Some prickly cold volatility which inhibits prolonged stick sniffing. All in all quite pleasant, though just a tad too floral and perfumed for my taste. It kinda reminds me of a girlfriend I had when I was 15, back in the early Seventies. She must have worn a perfume which smelled like this. She was a hippy girl, so it was likely some essential oils. The florals hover around rose, lily, violets, jasmine - quite bright and fresh, with a hint of fleshy fruit,  a dab of creamy white sandalwood, and a breath of benzoin. I like it. It's kept me engaged, and it's started to gently seduce me. 

The scent on the burn is classic masala incense - it is woody and floral, with elements in common with Nag Champa. It is a relaxed, balanced, pleasant incense. Very comforting and enjoyable. Much like the Green Tree incenses I was burning a few days ago, and Satya, and Goloka, etc. It's that mainstream masala incense that Indian incense houses make for the West because we like it and we buy it. I like it. It's less floral on the burn, more woody with sweet caramel tones. Yeah. I like this. I'm happy to burn it, but I wouldn't buy it at this price. This kind of fragrance can be bought so much cheaper from Satya, Nandita, Green Tree, etc. This sells for £10 for 20 sticks. 

What I have is a sample stick, which just has the name, no description. I see on the ToI website that Perky Pandit is based on the scent of  "Audumber (Indian fig) tree" - this appears to be Ficus racemosa, which has spiritual significance in Indian religions, and is sometimes known as Blue Lotus. I'm not finding any information on the scent of audumber. There is another incense with the name Audumber, though the scent of that incense is given as "sandalwood, jai, vala, chameli, and kevada": chameli is jasmine, kevada is screw pine, vala is Spanish cherry - all fragrant flowers. Curious. I  looked at what Mike on ORS, who is the expert on ToI incenses, says; and he feels it doesn't remind him of fig - he reckons it is "based in a masala format with champa characteristics". It looks like we broadly agree.  

Anyway. As I say, I like this, though it is fairly mainstream. 

Date: Jan 2025   Score: 35

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Temple of Incense