Banjara Ritual Resin On Stick Frankincense

  

Incense made in Bangalore, India by R M Enterprises who trade under the name Banjara.  The incense is in the increasingly popular and trending resin-on-a-stick (ROAS) style started by Fred Soll in New Mexico, and now being made in California and across South America, often promoted using Native American and South American cultures - as is the case here. Other such ROAS incense is made in India, such as Soul Sticks Amazon Incenses - made in India for an American company; and other India incense houses exploit the cultural traditions of Native Americans, such as Hari Darshan with their Tribal Soul and Native Soul ranges; though this Banjara range is the first I've seen where an India incense house is so clearly and obviously setting themselves up in direct competition with the resin-on-a-stick incenses from South America and Native Americans. I'm cool (indeed excited) when one culture builds on the incense culture of another. That's how culture expands and is enriched. There is though a line being crossed a little when one culture is presenting itself as another culture in a somewhat deceptive manner in order to promote and sell their products. There is some disquiet about such exploitation among the Native Americans, especially as it interferes with their limited potential to sell their own products.  

The sticks are quite chunky - a thick paste hand-rolled onto sturdy wooden sticks, and then coated in a fragrant pale powder. The scent on the stick is gently spicy and resinous with an accent on sweet fragrant pine. Very attractive. The scent on the burn echoes that on the stick, and comes across as genuinely resinous and fresh and herbal. Really quite delightful. I do like this. A lot. 

The UK wholesalers Ancient Wisdom distribute them in the UK, so Banjara sticks are appearing all over the UK for around £3 a pack of 8 from: eBay;  MysticMoon, Amazon, Shiva, etc and also in North America - SoapOpera, South America - Samana,  Australia - Herb Temple, and other countries. It's a good price for decent incense in a style that is trending and exciting. 

Date: April 2025   Score: 38

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Banjara Incense

Frankincense