I'm curious about resin or sambrani cups. I first noticed them a few years ago, and reviewed my first, Raj Guru Vandana Sambrani Cup, back in 2018. I think I got this pack around the same time, and I've burned a few of the cups, but hadn't reviewed it until now. So this is just my second resin cup. While curious, I was a little put off with my experience of the Raj Guru Vandana. The cups take a long time to light, and the Raj Guru Vandana was rather smoky when burning - setting off the fire alarm in the house. They require a lot of ventilation. I found it best to use them as a smudge in the house - walk around the house as the cup burns, allowing the smoke and fragrance to spread in each room before moving on to the next. And then I put the cup in our outhouse. The house does feel cleansed, energised, and well fragranced afterwards, and the scent remains for hours. So I've come round to liking them, despite there being a bit of awkwardness in their use. However, I'm not yet seeing the real advantage over burning resin on a burner. And for convenience, I'd rather have one of the resin-on-a-stick type incenses I've been exploring recently - such as Pure Yemen Dragons Blood and Inca Aromas Pitanga.
The incense is named after Navagraha, the nine planets which, according to Indian tradition, influence our lives - similar to Western astrology. There is no real scent from the cups before being lit. The resin is covered in a resin which holds them in place, and I assume this also hold the fragrance, so it is only released when warmed. There is a resin aroma during the burn, though it is a little blurry and smoky. There is a crisp citric quality inclining to lemon and bergamot, a touch of vague floral, and some mild resinous wood inclining toward pine. While the scent is that of a resin, I wouldn't have picked frankincense as the resin - for me it inclines more to benzoin, but is more of a generic wood resin than any one in particular. As with the Guru Vandana, the experience is best when the cup is no longer burning, and improves with time - the residual smoke scent diminishing while the resin scent begins to hold its own. There is a pleasant moment of warmth and brightness when the smoke smell has diminished completely, and before the resin scent fades completely.
I burn incense for the pleasure of the scent, and how it fragrances our home. I don't really want to be fussing with it too much. I put plants in the garden which thrive in our local conditions, and which require little intervention from me. I don't want to be using fertilisers or pesticides or fussing too much with water and pruning. It's the same with my incense. I want the incense to look after me and bring me joy rather than stress. As such I can't see me using these resin cups too often. I'll keep an open mind, and am willing to try a couple more, but I'm not going to be seeking them out.
Hi Steve, These are very popular here in India because people love the cleansing effect of smoke from resins. However, it is not for people with refined taste like yourself. This is a crude product.
ReplyDeleteYes. Crude when burning, though - to be fair - they do leave a cleansing vibe and aroma in the home. Not my thing though.
DeleteDo you know what is used to glue the resin in the cup? I suspect my main problem with these cups is the harshness during the burn, and I suspect that is due to whatever is used to glue the resin together.
I guess how they do it is that they halfway melt down the resin and pour it into the cups. I’m not sure if that how they do it so this is just a theory.
DeleteThe First Sambrani cup was introduced in 2007 by the launch of Victory Athisaya Sambrani. There were 12 pieces of fast burning charcoal with individual Sambrani pellets that you have to add after the cups have turned to ash color. I had a bad experience with this Sambrani. I was holding the charcoal cups in my hand and was lighting it using incense burner. The cups quickly catches the fire and it was almost reaching to my fingertips. Thank god that there was basin next to me so I threw it immediately. Since then, I always burn Sambrani while it is sitting on holder. Victorey Sambrani’s scent was not that bad, it was nice.
Gosh, 2007 - I thought it was more recent than that.
DeleteHow do you light yours? Do you light it from the bottom or the top? I put the flame to the edge of the charcoal at the top.
Yup. Sambrani Cups where prevalent in South Indian state, Mumbai and Delhi, but thanks to main incense brands hopping onto the trend 9 years after, cup Sambrani has become prevalent.
DeleteI light mine from the top. My favorite cup Sambrani are Cycle’s Shivaji, Cycle’s Gavi, Cycle’s Pushkarini cup Sambrani, Nandita Dashangam, Nirmalaya Hawan Cups and Parimal’s Mangalam Sambrani Cup.
I'll pick a couple of those, and give cups another go. Thanks for the list. It won't be for a while, though, I need to concentrate on bringing my back log down first.
DeleteHi Steve, The binder is usually pine tree resin because it melts easily at low temperatures and doesn't leave residue. Other resins like gum damar and gum copal of Indonesia are used for the same reason, but they are a bit more expensive than the pine tree resin. The mixture with other resins like guggul, benzoin, and frankincense is poured into the cups while it is still hot. One needs to know that synthetic gums that look like real resins are also used. The synthetic gums are basically petrochemical byproducts and are added with perfumes that resemble frankincense, myrrh, and benzoin. For this reason, buying charcoal tablets and real resins from a genuine supplier is a far better option. I also want to point out that the cups are mostly made of sawdust from the furniture factory with little amounts of real charcoal, just enough to keep a sustained burn. This is the reason why these cups smell very harsh when burned. Another reason could be the addition of residue from the distillation of resins like frankincense, elemi, benzoin, and so on. Since I have sampled these materials myself, I know how harsh they smell. The brands try to balance the harshness by adding certain materials like coumarin, heliotropin, ethyl vanillin, vanillin, musk, and sandalwood materials into the cups. Real frankincense, guggul, benzoin, myrrh, elemi, and others are very expensive materials, and one should always think before buying whether they can get the real stuff at that price point!
DeleteAhh so that’s how they do it. Thanks for that Alok!
DeleteThat all makes sense Alok, and largely corresponds to my experience, especially in regards to the pine scent, and the lack of a frankincense fragrance.
DeleteI've just been looking a bit more into these sambrani cups. And I can see that Amazon India sells empty (or "havan") cups , for people to put in their own resin. And that cow dung and/or mango tree charcoal is often used.
DeleteThe impression given in this article is that the empty or havan cup has a tradition. So is it just the ready made cups that are new. The actual burning of resin in a cup rather than on a flat disc has been a long standing Indian tradition?
DeleteHi Steve, The sale of empty cups in the local markets here is very common. I read the article, and there are some factual inaccuracies. Traditionally, coconut husk and dried cow dung cake were used for smudging resins in houses. I have never come across anyone making cups for smudging houses in the past. Smudging is an old tradition in India, but the ready-made cups, or even the concept of making cups for smudging, are fairly recent. I guess Muslim traditions in India could have involved the use of charcoal for smudging, as they would never use cow dung for this purpose. The benefit of using cow dung is that it burns for a very long time at lower temperatures, and it is plentiful in India.
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