Incense in The Wind: Top Incense by Year

Wednesday, 19 March 2025

Top Incense by Year

These are all the incenses I have scored 35 or higher in a given year. I score out of 50 - which is like 5 stars, a common scoring method used by Trustpilot, TripAdvisor, AllMusic, etc. As with sites like Trustpilot, the score is broken down into decimals - though instead of 3.5, or 4.6, I will have 35 and 46. As the score is out of 50, the half way point is 25, and that would signify an average incense - neither great nor bad: a decent everyday incense. I group all scores from 20 to 29 as "Average". Scores under 20 are less than average, and would be incense just to burn to cover up nasty smells or get rid of flies. Scores 30 and above are above average - these are the incenses I consider decent. There are surprisingly quite a few incenses I consider as above average, so for this listing, I'm only using incenses I have score 35 or higher. 35 translates into 70% - which is generally accepted as a good pass mark for most exams. The score is the score that was given that year. The same incense may have scored less in subsequent years, and I may no longer regard that incense as good - but this is a record of how scored that incense at the time. Multiple appearances means that the incense got reviewed again, and scored well again. It doesn't mean the incense rolled over its score from previous years. In a year when I reviewed few incenses (such as 2016, when I only reviewed 23 new incenses - plus re-reviewed a handful of others, such as Nandita Wood Spice), or a year when the incense I burned was generally not that good, an incense could be my top reviewed incense that year on a low score. As the years go by, I am burning more and more incense each year, so the recent years tend to have a lot more high scoring incenses.

As always I must stress that my scores are subjective and hedonistic. The scores reflect how much I enjoyed the incense, and so how likely I am to buy that incense again. But along with pleasure comes satisfaction and engagement and interest. So some incenses which are very pleasurable, and we are happy to burn casually everyday in the house, may also be quite fleeting and superficial. Some more challenging incenses may however be very rewarding and satisfying, such that I will score them higher than the light and pleasurable ones, even though I am likely only to burn them occasionally. As such the scores may not tell the full story - for that you would need to read the reviews.

List of top scoring incense each year

2024: Malaan Gaudhoop Swarna Champa (D) Dec 2024 - Score: 50

2023: SamsaSpoon Homemade Swiss Stone Pine (D) Oct 2023 - Score: 50↑

2022: Happy Hari Kings of Incense Queen of Roses (M) Feb 2022 - Score: 46

2021: Koya's Nirvana Premium Incense Sticks (M) Nov 2021 - Score: 48

2020: Happy Hari Meena Supreme (M - Oct 2020): 44

2019: (HMS) Gokula Gaura Radharani / Pink Rose (M) Aug 2019 - Score: 46

2018: Nandita Wood Spice (M) Jul 2018 - Score: 45

2017: Nandita Wood Spice (M) Mar 2017 - Score: 49

2016: Nandita Wood Spice (M) Jan 2016 - Score: 49

2015: Satya Nag Champa (M - May 2015): 50

2014: Satya (Original - pre 2014) Harmony (M - Mar 2013): 36