Xiang Lian Jia Li Man Dan (Kalimantan Agarwood)

 

Curious scent on the stick. None of the Xiang Lian incenses have listed oils or perfumes in the ingredients, and this Jia Li Man Dan is no different - Google Lens translate the ingredients as "Kalimantan incense powder, sticky powder", and nothing else. Yet there is a room freshener scent on the stick. "Old Book Leather, Twine, and Sandalwood" could be the name. The scent on the burn is similar, though faded, old, faint, and mixed with some stale flowers. Kalimantan is the main part of Borneo, and produces agarwood with varying reports on its quality. This is grey, dusty agarwood, and is likely produced from low resin wild agarwood, which can be bought quite cheaply. 

Available as part of a set of 11 fragrances from Amazon, Temu, and Shein, for around £8. Or by itself from Dylans Den for £3. 

Date: May 2025   Score: 23

***

Good & bad Chinese incense

Xiang Lian

Agarwood incense

Xiang Lian Jiang Zhen Xiang (Sandalwood)

 

Just when you thought it was boring to return to the water (in this case Asian wood based incense), a clean and simple sandalwood raises its dorsal fin and delivers a clean and simple woody note. OK, this isn't a moment of greatness, but it's a lift above the crude Agarwood I've just burned.  I guess the essential difference is that sandalwood is cheaper than agarwood, and so for the same amount of money you can get a better quality sandalwood than agarwood. Anyway, ho hum, this - at the end of the burn - is just a simple woody scent. It lacks the oily richness that makes sandalwood attractive to me. But if you like dry woody sandalwood, and are not looking for heavenly delights, this is cheap and effective.  

Available as part of a set of 11 fragrances from Amazon, Temu, and Shein, for around £8. Or by itself from DylansDen for £3. 

Date: May 2025   Score: 25

***

Good & bad Chinese incense

Xiang Lian

Sandalwood

Xiang Lian Wu Chen Xiang (Agarwood)

 

Mild soapy floral aroma on the stick. Like a body spray for a young teen. Jasmine, daisies, and red roses mingled with fresh cardboard. Scent on the burn is mild and woody - a blend of burning grass and smouldering paper. Meh. 

I've really tried to get into Asian wood based incense, but when I travel away to incense from around the world, returning here is such a sad disappointment. This is not awful stuff, it's just very low key. Not quality wood, and the fragrance so faint there is little point. I have to waft it in my direction to get anything, and then I just get the off-notes of the combustible material. Or perhaps what I get is the cheap agarwood they've used. With the best will in the world, there's not a lot here. 

Available as part of a set of 11 fragrances from Amazon, Temu, and Shein, for around £8. Or by itself from Dylans Den for £3. 

Date: May 2025   Score: 23 

***

Xiang Lian

Agarwood incense

HEM Precious Lavender cones

 

It's OK. A bit meh. A tad smoky. Not much going on. But it's soapy sweet with an awareness of herby lavender. Not great, but an acceptable everyday room freshener.  Light it up, stick it in the toilet. job done. 

Date: May 2025   Score: 23

***

HEM Corporation

Best of Lavender

Sai Handicrafts Oudh

 

Sweet, sultry, musky, woody. Yummy. The Asian agarwood (oudh) incense I've had has never approached the richness and depth of Middle-Eastern or Indian versions of agarwood. Asian oudh is generally minimalist and dry, even rough. Middle-Eastern and Indian tends to be soft and warm like velvet with a delicious sexiness. I am not entirely certain of the reasons for this difference, but I can speculate, and others can speculate. Powdered wood is preferred in Asia (usually Japan, China, Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam), while oils are preferred in India and the Middle-East - and oils are rich and intense.  Heady incense is preferred in India and the Middle-East. Restraint is preferred in Asia (well, traditionally in Japan - though the most commercially successful incenses in Japan in modern times are incenses made in India). Synthetics are are more widely accepted in India (and synthetics can deliver the essential character of a fragrance as a reasonable cost), while in Asia there is a greater focus on natural - which puts financial pressure on the incense maker, which can only be realistically resolved by a high retail price or by using cheaper natural ingredients, such as powdered agarwood which has little fragrance. Other speculations are available from your local store. 

Sai Handicrafts is based in the Home Counties of England, and is owned by Pinkesh Parikh. He sells at festivals during the season, and at Hitchin Market in Hertfordshire the rest of the time. He also has a website, Sai Handicrafts, where all the Indian goods he imports - bells, hangings, and crystals as well as incense, can be bought. Pinkesh told me he made the incense himself, but I suspect that was just a tease, because the style, quality, and price of the incense he sells is very reminiscent of incense made and sold in the holy city of Vrindavan in northern India, such as by Vrindavan Bazaar and Rasbihari Lal & Sons. If you're in the UK, buying from Sai Handicrafts is going to be quicker, cheaper, and easier than buying from a trader in Vrindavan. I am not certain the incense is made in Vrindavan, but it is very similar. I will sit down and do a side by side comparison one day. For now, it is just a comment that the incense is similar, and worth exploring if you like Vrindavan incense. 

The scent on the stick is earthy - rich, damp soil touched with barnyard and infused with sandalwood and dark magic. Sinister and compelling and dangerously attractive. The scent on the burn echoes that on the stick though with sultry sweetness and wisps of florals and honey. This is a gorgeous incense - cheap as chips and easily available in the UK.  There's no gamble involved in trying this out, and the potential is for a huge reward if you like hand-rolled artisanal incense rich with oils.  

Available from Sai Handicrafts at £2.00 for approx 20gms. Only ships in the UK. 

Date: May 2025    Score: 46

***

Sai Handicrafts

The best oudh incense

Sai Handicrafts Woods

 

Sai Handicrafts UK is run by Pinkesh and Bindu Parikh in Hertfordshire / Bedfordshire. Pinkesh has a regular stall in Hitchin Markat where he sells Indian goods and incense. The incense is branded with the company name, Sai handicrafts. I'd first encountered Pinkesh at Oxford, and bought a couple of his incenses, and was delighted with them. I later got in touch with him to find out more, such as who made the incense. He told me that he made the incense, so I went over to Hitchin Market to meet, and learn more about this unusual, possibly unique, incense production in the Home Counties of England. Pinkesh is a lovely man. Warm and friendly. Sadly he was a little reluctant to provide details about the incense production, and evaded all questions, so unfortunately I cannot confirm that Sai Handicrafts incense is made in the UK. Indeed, I find a similarity to the incense that is sold by Vrindavan Bazaar, though I've not yet had the heart to do a side by side comparison. 

This is a perfumed masala style incense - a soft black paste covered with a thin brown powder, and the stick has a pleasant volatile fragrance - sweet, woody, floral, creamy though with acidic spots. It is a well made stick, burning slowly and evenly, and dispersing the fragrance quite firmly, touching on heady. The fragrance on the burn is certainly woodsy with elements of cedar, sandalwood, and agarwood, but not being distinctly any one of these. There is an attractive almost candy sweetness, which is always going to appeal to me, and some floral notes that tend not to be my thing, but work well here. Indeed the scents form an attractive and balanced whole which is not just pleasing but also spiritually uplifting.  I really like this. If I knew for certain this was actually made in Bedford I would be very excited. That such great incense was being made here would be very exciting. But I suspect this is being made in Uttar Pradesh in northern India. That doesn't make the incense any less delightful, but it does make it less interesting to me. 

Available from Sai Handicrafts at £2.00 for approx 20gms. 

Date: May 2025    Score: 40

***

Sai Handicrafts

Vrindavan Bazaar Parijata

 

Bought at £1 for 20gms as part of an online purchase from Vrindavan Bazaar, a devotional shop in the holy city of Vrindavan in northern India. My packet has a hand-written label which says "Special Parijat", but I ordered the Parijata, my delivery order confirms Parijata, and the shop doesn't appear to sell a Special Parijat, so I am reasonably confident that what I've got is the Parijata. Parijata (or Parijatha) is a night-scented jasmine - I've reviewed two previously: Aravinda's Parijata, and Goloka Nature's Parijatha. I liked the masala based Goloka more than the basic perfumed-charcoal Aravinda. Natch - but, here's the rub. This is a masala style incense but sold as cheap as an everyday perfumed-charcoal incense. Indeed, the Vrindavan Bazaar incense I've just reviewed, Prabhupada, was a machine-extruded perfumed-charcoal incense sold at the same price as this. Sometimes (well, most of the time to be honest guv) I don't understand how the Indian incense industry works. I'm OK with perfumed-charcoal incense - indeed, if the scent if well blended I can really enjoy a perfumed-charcoal incense. But my assumption is that people are going for the perfumed incense over the masala because it is quicker, easier, and cheaper to make, and therefore is sold at a lower price for a budget-minded audience. But, I suppose, there is also a direct simplicity about perfumed-charcoal which is part of the appeal. For a while I was quite positive toward the flexibility in scent range of perfumed-charcoal. That I found there were a greater number of scents to select from, and many of the scents were quite modern - not just another Rose, Patchouli, Jasmine, Sandalwood, etc, yawn. And I suppose I still have that thought tucked away in my back pocket; though I have always actually preferred the overall quality of masala style incense. Well, in a general sweeping remark sort of way. There are certainly plenty of individual masala style incenses I've loathed, and plenty of perfumed incenses I've swooned over. But in general, the sky is blue for masala, and a bit cloudy for perfumed. Anyway. This is the third night-scented jasmine incense I've reviewed, and the way things are going, this is going to be rated my favourite. Masala rules OK. 

Scent on the stick is tingly sweet and floral with caramel and Biscoff  touches. There's fascinating faecal spots which add to the interest. Ooh. It's a dirty, seductive invite. Floating deliciously between feminine and masculine. Oh gawd it's so naughty!  

The scent on the burn is intensely floral, but not in a sickly or heady way. It's a light floaty floral - very feminine and summery, but held in place by masculine, woody, earthy, autumnal notes like muddy boots tied to drifting floral petals by their laces. This is damn good stuff. I could bathe in this for ever.....

Nice one. 

Date: May 2025   Score: 41

***

   

Vrindavan Bazaar

Best jasmine incense

Vrindavan Bazaar Prabhupada

   

This is part of a bundle of incense I bought from Vrindavan Bazaar last year. £1 for 20gms. Cheap as chips, though dubious quality. Named after the founder of the International Krishna Movement, Swami Prabhupada, this is a machine-extruded perfume-dipped incense. Not quite as delightful as the old Spiritual Sky that followers of Prabhupada's Krishna Movement used to sell, but, hey, it only cost £1 for 20gms. And, after all, you get what you pay for....

Aroma on the stick is chemical toilet cleaner with some synthetic rose scent thrown in to make it less offensive. Scent on the burn is vague, smoky, with some drift toward rose, but is largely just generally sweet and floral. It's not great, but it's not appalling, and - good grief - it's only £1 for 20gms. What can you expect for that? After all, you get what you pay for...

I can't say I dislike this. Regardless of price, this is a lower end but reasonably acceptable everyday perfumed-charcoal room-freshener incense. And, actually, it's OK for the price. After all, you get what you pay for... 

Date: May 2025   Score: 24

***

   

Vrindavan Bazaar

Vrindavan Bazaar

 

I've got incense from three different suppliers in the holy city of Vrindavan, India, and the incenses are pretty similar. It is possible they are all getting incense from either the same single producer, or - given the batch variance - from a variety of home producers in the Vrindavan area.

Vrindavan Bazaar (Hare Krsna Exports LLC, House No. 351, Chaitanya Vihar, Vrindavan); Hare Krishna Das (Hare Krishna Emporium, Loi Bazaar, Vrindavan); and Rasbihari Lal & Sons (Rasbihari Lal & Sons, Loi Bazar, Vrindaban). There is a fourth supplier called Vrindavan Bazar, which has a name and logo almost exactly the same as Vrindavan Bazar, but gives no address, and they only deliver within India. 

Incense production in India can be confusing. There are a number of outlets which give the impression they are the producer when they are just the retailer. Rasbihari Lal is mainly a religious bookshop, though they do also sell incense. But I see no evidence of them being a producer. This is kind of similar to Pushkar incense, where there are three outlets for locally produced incense, none of whom appear to make the incense themselves, and the incense is clearly made under the control of a single incense house. For a while I wondered if the incense sold by Rasbihari Lal was made by Haridas Madhavdas Sugandhi (HMS) in Pune because they are similar, though I no longer feel that is the case. Pune is over 25 hours away by lorry, and there are well over a hundred suppliers and makers locally in Vrinadavan, so it wouldn't make much sense to add to the cost of the incense by buying incense from a maker so far away, when there is so much good stuff available cheaper locally. 

Its curious that we (me in particular) chase after a holy grail that perhaps doesn't exist: this mythical artisan incense maker sitting cross legged making sublime incense. Perhaps this ideal of the sublime master creator is just in our heads. It's actually not one person, but thousands, all across India. In Pushkar, in Vrindavan, in Pune, in Goa. Everywhere. And it's a shared collective. The shared knowledge of one hundred years of rolling charcoal paste around a bamboo stick. The shared knowledge of fifty years blending a floral scent with a sandalwood scent to make Nag Champa. Each scent that is made - be it Nag Champa or any of its hundreds of variations, is the result of work and development by other incense makers. I recently burned Jeomra's Frankincense & Rose, and was interested to note that this incense made by a true creative artisan in Germany is based on traditional masala incense ideas from India, combined with modern perfumed-masala ideas, and the developing interest in resin-on-a-stick incense from the Americas. There are the incense ideas from four continents in that one incense stick. 

Reviews

   

Vrindavan Bazaar Parijata (PM)
May 2025 - Score: 41

Vrindavan Bazaar Loban
Jun 2025 - Score: 37

   

Vrindavan Bazaar Woods (PM)
Jun 2025 - Score: 33

  

Vrindavan Bazaar Temple Grade Patchouli (PM)
Apr 2014 - Score: 33

   

  

Vrindavan Bazaar Prabhupada (P)
May 2025 - Score: 24

Reviews: 5
Top score: 41
Bottom score: 24
Average:

***

Retailers of Distinction

(HMS) Prasad Celestial Frankincense

 

Single stick sample of Celestial Frankincense from the Prasad Celestial Assorted pack made by Haridas Madhavdas Sugandhi of Pune, India (HMS), and sold by Prasad Gifts in the USA. 

The scent on the stick has the familiar volatility of a perfumed incense (dipped, poured, or sprayed; whichever way - liquid scent added to the outside of the stick), though softer, warmer, and sweeter than others in the Assorted pack that I've tried so far. Musky and quite delicious. More my sort of scent than florals. The icing sugar coldness of the volatility does eventually intrude. But, to be fair, the scent on the stick is just for short term immediate appeal. The main purpose of an incense stick is the fragrance when it is lit. Indeed, many traditional masala incenses (rather than the modern perfumed-masala incenses), especially those which use wood powder as the combustible (the wood powder when dried seems to lock in the scent), have little to no scent on the stick. I understand the commercial intent behind perfuming the outside of a masala stick, and also I do appreciate it - it's nice to open a pack and get that welcome fragrance; but the important and essential part of incense is the fragrance on the burn. 

This Celestial Frankincense has a gentle and musky scent on the burn, echoing that of the scent on the stick, but without the icing sugar coldness and volatility, and with an added smoky element which adds to the interest. I could be convinced that there is a frankincense character here, but there isn't much, and if it wasn't named Celestial Frankincense I wouldn't be thinking in that direction. There is some awareness of the infamous HMS vanilla, though not much. And, as with the frankincense, I'm not sure I'd be finding it if I wasn't looking for it. On the whole this is an attractive room freshener incense. I'd be OK with burning this in the house, but I'm not sure there's enough going on here to interest or attract me into buying it again. 

$2.20 for 10g/10sticks from Prasad Gifts or Exotic Incense.

Date: May 2025    Score: 28

***

Haridas Madhavdas Sugandhi

Discussed on Reddit

Frankincense

Prasad Brand Incense

(HMS) Prasad Celestial Midnight Rose

 

Single stick sample from the Prasad Celestial Assorted pack made by Haridas Madhavdas Sugandhi of Pune, India (HMS), and sold by Prasad Gifts in the USA. There is a tendency by incense houses in Pune to use vanillin crystals as a fixative, and HMS tend to use a lot of vanillin so a vanilla scent becomes a feature of HMS incense - more noticeable in some blends than others. I like the scent of vanilla, so I tend to be quickly drawn to a HMS incense. I like sweet, I like smooth, I like luxurious, and vanilla has all these qualities so it has an instant appeal. The downside is that it is a tenacious and enduring scent that doesn't shimmer or change, so can become a little boring after a while, and exposure to too much of it (either large dosage in the incense or prolonged or repeated burning) can be a bit cloying or satiating, and it can eventually push away rather than invite. 

This Midnight Rose has a sharp volatile scent on the stick with civet-like urine notes along with heavy, heady florals, weighted on rose. It feels chemical due to the sharp volitivity.  It's OK, but rose is not a scent I get excited about.

On the burn the vanilla makes itself known quite early, but here it is a soft use, balanced by the heady rose, so the rose and the vanilla work well together, enhancing each other. But although the scents are blending well together to make an acceptable fragrance that doesn't satiate, it's not an exciting accord. I find the sort of mono-scents that HMS focus on to be a little old fashioned and boring. Not really my thing, so even when well done, I find I can't get interested let alone excited. The problem here is not the vanilla, nor even the rose, because well used, as with Jeomra's Frankincense & Rose, rose can be awesome, it's just a lack of spark. It feels like not much thought was put into this. Now, luck plays its part in casual scent blending or incense making, and now and again a casual low cost incense will absolutely delight because for the individual customer it may just hit the right spots. But mostly the result is something acceptable but ordinary. And, for me - your mileage may vary, this is acceptable but ordinary. But, having said that, I find it a pleasant background room freshener, and would be happy to burn this again. 

$2.20 for 10g/10sticks from Prasad Gifts or Exotic Incense.

Date: May 2025    Score: 30

***

Haridas Madhavdas Sugandhi

Discussed on Reddit

Best rose incense

Prasad Brand Incense

(HMS) Prasad Celestial Golden Champa

 

One stick sample in the Prasad Celestial Assorted pack. This is the easiest to identify in the pack as it's the only one with a yellow stick. The scent on the stick is mildly almost pleasantly volatile, with a medicinal Band Aid aroma mingled with florals (rose mostly) and some wood. It has a pleasant sweet aroma, leaning heavily on the trademark School of Pune vanilla, though touched and balanced by some smoke and tree bark. It is a gentle, pleasant, sweet, floral touched by wood, relaxing scent - good as an everyday room freshener. Perhaps a tad sweet for our everyday use, but nice to throw something like this into the mix now and again. I like it. 

$2.20 for 10g/10sticks from Prasad Gifts or Exotic Incense.

Date: May 2025    Score: 30

***

Haridas Madhavdas Sugandhi

Discussed on Reddit

Prasad Brand Incense

Raucher Stabchen Jeomra's Natur Pur Weihrauch Rose (Frankincense & Rose)

 

I reviewed a sample of Jeomra's Hojari earlier this year - incense made in Germany by Georg Huber that Irene of the German incense blog  Rauchfahne.de sent me. I liked it, so ordered more sticks from Raeucherwelt.de (Jeomra's Incense World), which included a "Nature & Pure" sample set for €27.90.  It is always a big draw for me when incense is made locally rather than imported from India or Asia. Even though the style and formulation is essentially following the bamboo joss stick that was developed in Mysore, India around 1900, and the ingredients are sourced from all around the world (sandalwood from Indonesia, beech charcoal from Germany, frankincense from Oman (b. sacra), joss powder from Vietnam, German forest honey, Bulgarian rose absolute, blend of essential oils), there is a sense of individuality and flexibility about incense made locally, and the potential start or development of a new tradition. I feel that incense made in Europe is more likely to reflect the culture and environment of Europe.

I also like that the sticks I have from Georg Huber, though starting out in the Mysore tradition, have picked up the developments that began in New Mexico with Fred Soll's "Resin On A Stick", and are now popular in South America, and spreading around the world. There's a wonderful melange going on here where we have traditional masala (solid fragrance ingredients ground down into powder and folded into a combustible paste) combined with modern perfumed-masala incense (essential oils used as well or instead of powdered ingredients) along with a focus on tree resin being centre stage that is the essence of resin-on-a-stick. 

There is a fresh, delicate, sweet, fruity scent on the stick. Neither rose nor frankincense comes immediately to mind. My first impression was strawberries and crustal sugar. Then the Turkish delight scent comes in, along with delicate fresh herbs, and some shoe polish. There's such a glorious fresh, outdoorsy feel to this scent. There's pine and fresh outdoors, daisies, young, green grass, with growing hints of wood. I like this. 

Oh my gosh, when lit this is fucking stunning! The scent on the stick was attractive and full of promise, but when the stick is lit it all comes to life and the promise is delivered like there's no tomorrow. The frankincense is top and forward, and this is proper top quality frankincense - proper resin not oil. Wow! That is a revelation in itself, and reminds me of the Yemen Frankincense Sticks, but somehow cleaner, purer, better balanced, and absolutely brought to life with the use of Bulgarian rose absolute and the unnamed "essential oils". The rose absolute is used delicately and judiciously so it sweetens and heightens the frankincense rather than obscure or cloud it. I am over the moon with this and almost crying with sheer pleasure. What a supremely awesome experience this is. There's no off notes at all. It's a delicate, informed, and absolutely brilliant creation. Since I've been doing this blog I've sometimes read of incense makers being called "artists", but I've never subscribed to that. For me the creation of incense that delights is either down to knowledge and craft, or just the random luck that a customer likes that particular combination. But here is such a beautifully made incense that for the first time I feel the word artist is truly justified. This is a magnificent creation. It must be the purity of the frankincense resin that is fully engaging with the senses and the emotions and stimulating the brain while calming the body. It's an extraordinary experience. Wow! 


Date: May 2025    Score: 50 

***

Frankincense

Reviewed in Germany

Best rose incense

Incense by Country