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.
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