Made for the French shop Aromandise (who sell their own brand incense under the name Les Encens du Monde) by a Pondicherry based white label company called Naturveda who utilise the cottage industries in and around Pondicherry in southern India. The incense sticks use pure and natural ingredients, though are simple and unrefined, following the tradition set up by Mirra (The Mother) Alfassa in 1949 in which the incense made for the Pondicherry ashram would be pure, natural, basic, low cost, everyday incense. I've been told that incense makers in Tamil Nadu, where Pondicherry is, like to use residues from distillation of resins and spices - this is a cheaper substance, which can result in the incenses having a harsh and peppery smell, though it has become the local taste. The incenses from Naturveda do have a harsh, peppery smell, in line with other incenses made by the Pondicherry cottage industries.
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| Ingredients: Wood powders, frankincense, resin |
Hand rolled from a masala style wood powder paste onto a crude hand cut bamboo splint. There is only a faint, slightly sweet, faintly lemony and floral, scent on the stick - the fragrance ingredients have been folded into the paste, and it appears that no additional scents have been applied to the exterior.
The scent on the burn is, for me, one of the more successful of this Haute Tradition series. It is frankincense, with a pleasant resinous fragrance, and a touch of sweetness to give some counterpoint to the spice and dry wood. It is recognisably frankincense, and reasonably pleasant, though is a little too dry, woody, and peppery for my taste.
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