I've not really got along with Naturveda. They are all decent well made incense sticks with a focus on natural; however - as with most Pondicherry incense, I personally find them dry, sombre, boring, old fashioned. I don't burn incense for the spiritual, magical, or therapeutic qualities of the scent - I burn incense for the pleasure of the fragrance. I am awake to the potential spiritual and therapeutic benefits of scent - though I would wish to always combine that with an aesthetically pleasing scent. My feeling regarding the general thrust of incense made in and around Pondicherry is that the incense is largely not being designed for fun and entertainment. As such, it passes me by, because I mainly burn incense for the fun and entertainment.
That said, I am curious about the eucalyptus nature of this incense. I've previously only had one eucalyptus incense - GR International Eucalyptus, and that was over ten years ago. The ingredients are given as "Wood powders, eucalyptus powder, eucalyptus essential oil, vetiver essential oil". I like that natural ingredients are used. My assumption is that the oils are folded into the paste rather than added after the sticks have been made. And my understanding is that putting all fragrant ingredients, dry and wet, into the paste before rolling out, is part of the masala tradition - though these days there is a greater reliance on wet ingredients than previously, due to costs and ease of use. I'm curious that there doesn't appear to be a fixative in the ingredients, such as a resin, which will protect, heighten, and prolong the fragrance as it burns. I assume that there is sandalwood in the "wood powders", and that is acting as a fixative. As there is no other ingredient listed other than wood powders and the fragrant ingredients I am wondering if they are leaving something out. Would those two pure oils and a pure powder work by themselves or would they get overpowered by the wood powders when burned?
Scent on the stick is mild. There is some light powder on the paste surface - would that be the eucalyptus powder? The oils being locked inside, so some fragrant powder added to the outside to give it some scent? It's a woody (pine) citric fruit (peach) scent with a faint touch of floral.
The scent on the burn is pretty much what I have come to expect from Pondicherry incense. It is dry, peppery, woody, sombre, narrow. It is also quite cleansing and pleasant, with lemony citric and pine notes. I'm OK with this, but sombre woody stuff doesn't really rock my world. I like more sweetness, more passion, more joy, more balance and range. And the peppery quality irritates my nose. It's the sort of reaction I get from terpenes. And, yes I just checked, eucalyptus is high in terpenes. It is a minor irritation, but it is one I'd rather not have.
On the whole I like this incense. I like its woody, outdoorsy, masculine freshness. But it's not an incense experience that is high on my list of wants; and even when I would want such an experience, I would like it to be more balanced and interesting than this.
That said, I am curious about the eucalyptus nature of this incense. I've previously only had one eucalyptus incense - GR International Eucalyptus, and that was over ten years ago. The ingredients are given as "Wood powders, eucalyptus powder, eucalyptus essential oil, vetiver essential oil". I like that natural ingredients are used. My assumption is that the oils are folded into the paste rather than added after the sticks have been made. And my understanding is that putting all fragrant ingredients, dry and wet, into the paste before rolling out, is part of the masala tradition - though these days there is a greater reliance on wet ingredients than previously, due to costs and ease of use. I'm curious that there doesn't appear to be a fixative in the ingredients, such as a resin, which will protect, heighten, and prolong the fragrance as it burns. I assume that there is sandalwood in the "wood powders", and that is acting as a fixative. As there is no other ingredient listed other than wood powders and the fragrant ingredients I am wondering if they are leaving something out. Would those two pure oils and a pure powder work by themselves or would they get overpowered by the wood powders when burned?
Scent on the stick is mild. There is some light powder on the paste surface - would that be the eucalyptus powder? The oils being locked inside, so some fragrant powder added to the outside to give it some scent? It's a woody (pine) citric fruit (peach) scent with a faint touch of floral.
The scent on the burn is pretty much what I have come to expect from Pondicherry incense. It is dry, peppery, woody, sombre, narrow. It is also quite cleansing and pleasant, with lemony citric and pine notes. I'm OK with this, but sombre woody stuff doesn't really rock my world. I like more sweetness, more passion, more joy, more balance and range. And the peppery quality irritates my nose. It's the sort of reaction I get from terpenes. And, yes I just checked, eucalyptus is high in terpenes. It is a minor irritation, but it is one I'd rather not have.
On the whole I like this incense. I like its woody, outdoorsy, masculine freshness. But it's not an incense experience that is high on my list of wants; and even when I would want such an experience, I would like it to be more balanced and interesting than this.
Available from Aromandise or Padma Store, and other outlets.
On the fixative comment - sometimes wood powders are very good for that. I've very successfully used powdered juniperus virginiana to fix floral tinctures.
ReplyDeleteThanks Nathan. I hoped someone knowledgeable and intelligent, like yourself, would respond.
DeleteIf the ingredients were charcoal powder (and some joss powder as a binder) plus the fragrant ingredients as listed, would a fixative then be needed. Or would the joss powder act as a fixative? Would the charcoal act as a fixative?
I'm thinking of the essential differences between "perfume-dipped" and "masala" incense. It has seemed to me as a consumer rather than a maker that there is a sort of spectrum in which the two forms are used. At the far extreme of perfume-dipped where a charcoal blank is dipped into a perfume solution, it seems likely to me that the perfume solution would carry the fixative rather than the charcoal blank.
The original legendary Spiritual Sky incense (which Fred Soll was involved in) was perfume-dipped on blanks imported from China. The blanks were dried pig manure on bamboo splints (they kept that secret at the time!) - their original purpose was as a taper to light fireworks. So those blanks were never intended to carry or project fragrance. As such the fixative would be in the perfumes. Sandalwood essential oil would work as a fixative? And perhaps others. So would the solutions be mixed to make sure they always included an oil that acted as a fixative?