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.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please leave a comment: