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.
Ooh, this looks tempting. Do include this in my sample collection.
ReplyDeleteI've included this and a few others sold by Sai.
DeleteI believe this to be the same incense as Pushkar Temple's (UK) Ruhe Oud, which maybe also supplied by Vrindavan Bazaar?
ReplyDeleteIt's possible, and I do love a speculation. However, I'm not certain, as Vrindavan and Pushkar are around 7 hours drive apart (either side of Jaipur in Northern India) with their own local incense makers. And, to me, the local styles are different. Incense made in Pushkar (which is sold in the UK as "Pushkar Temple", but the three outlets I know of in Pushkar, call it "Natural" or "Hand Rolled") tends to be a little crude with heavy use of agarbathi oil (DEP), while incense made in and around Vrindavan tends to be drier and softer. There are several well established sellers in Vrindavan who will ship to the UK at reasonable cost. So it is cheap and easy to buy quite decent incense from there. There are two known outlets in the UK for Pushkar incense - Mystic Soul (website currently down) and Pilgrims Fair Trade. It is Pilgrims Fair Trade who describe them as Temple Incense, and that term has been picked up on Western incense blogs and forums, though the incense is not called that in Pushkar. It is called Natural or Hand Rolled.
DeleteIn my experience, there is more similarity between incense made in India than there are differences, so it can be difficult to identify individual makers. People sometimes feel an incense is made by HMS if they detect vanilla - however, the use of vanilla is not unique to HMS. Vinasons, also in Pune, for example, tend to use vanilla (or vanillin).
I feel fairly confident I can identify an incense made in Pondicherry - though I am told that the Tamil Nadu region where Pondicherry is based makes incense in a similar style, as the local tradition is to use the residue left over from distilling resins and spices. This residue is cheap, but somewhat dry and harsh. And Pondicherry incense tends to be dry and harsh (to me at least - your mileage may vary).
I love to speculate, and I love to hear the speculation of others, but I think we have to accept that we are likely to be wrong more times than we are right! ;-)
All speculation - yes! And you are far more informed than I in this field - I'm basing my guess here on something that I mentioned on my other comment on the Vrindavan Bazaar Prabhupada review you kindly responded to - that the package i received from VB was pretty random, and in it was a pack of the Pushkar Temple Ruhe Oud (in the same wax paper wrap, with small printed label rolled up inside - now i have 2 packs!). In that same parcel, VB also took 20g of those same Ruhe Oud sticks, put them into another cellophane bag, and labeled them Blue Lotus for me..!
ReplyDeleteAll on the same day i picked up the Sai Oudh.. Now i have a considerable amount of, if not the same incense, but very very similar..
Oooh, it's interesting that VB would send you a package from Pushkar. I've had oddities where the inner packet of one maker (say Satya) turns up in a box by another maker (say Goloka). It's not unknown for some production to be hired out to another maker, and for such errors to take place internally where the wrong inner packets are used, etc. The distance between Pushkar and Vrindavan combined with the low cost local production would suggest against such a shared production (on the basis that cost and inconvenience of transport would work against the savings from shared production), but it's not out of the question.
DeleteCould you send me a photo of the three Ruhe Oud together. I think that would be interesting! Send to: incenseinthewind@gmail.com
It is interesting!
ReplyDeleteAnd I'd be more than happy to send you actual samples - i'm pretty flush with this one haha!
I'll email you :-)