Stamford emerged as the main incense own brand of the British incense and Indian goods distributor Aargee; which, around the year 2020, split into Puckator and Stamford London, with Stamford concentrating on the incense. Stamford are a significant importer and distributor of Indian incense in the UK, with a long term working relationship with Satya so they are the sole importers of Satya incense into the UK. They have in the past worked with Satya to create unique scents for Stamford. They have also worked closely with other Indian incense houses - usually in Bangalore - the "incense capital of India", such as Padmini and Goloka. This Patchouli Woods is in the Bangalore style of incense, and could have been made by a number of incense houses in Bangalore.
Beautiful scented fragrance on the stick - floral, minty, pale woody - white sandalwood. Warm, soft musky embrace. Delightful.
The scent on the burn is attractive, echoing the fragrance on the stick, though with more emphasis on pale, clean, warm sandalwood. There's perhaps an awareness of patchouli in the accord, but what I get mostly is a generic Bangalore masala incense with its focus on fluffy sandalwood and light floral. A likeable, familiar, and enduring fragrance accord that possibly epitomises most folks understanding of Indian incense, especially if they burn Satya.
After burning this, which I felt was typically Bangalore, I burned a random Satya, a random Goloka, and a random any other Bangalore incense house for comparison. There does seem to be a recognisable Bangalore character. The sticks are generally hand rolled charcoal paste covered with fluffy melnoorva/masala powder. The scent character appears to be a sweet woody and floral aroma on the stick; a generous scent, though not too heady, often quite sweet, and rarely volatile, with the scent on the burn generally following that on the stick in a familiar manner of a typical Indian masala incense.
The scent on the burn is attractive, echoing the fragrance on the stick, though with more emphasis on pale, clean, warm sandalwood. There's perhaps an awareness of patchouli in the accord, but what I get mostly is a generic Bangalore masala incense with its focus on fluffy sandalwood and light floral. A likeable, familiar, and enduring fragrance accord that possibly epitomises most folks understanding of Indian incense, especially if they burn Satya.
After burning this, which I felt was typically Bangalore, I burned a random Satya, a random Goloka, and a random any other Bangalore incense house for comparison. There does seem to be a recognisable Bangalore character. The sticks are generally hand rolled charcoal paste covered with fluffy melnoorva/masala powder. The scent character appears to be a sweet woody and floral aroma on the stick; a generous scent, though not too heady, often quite sweet, and rarely volatile, with the scent on the burn generally following that on the stick in a familiar manner of a typical Indian masala incense.
Available for £1.30 from IndianSpice, £1.50 from FreshGarbage, and plenty of other places in Europe and the UK.
Date: Sept 2025 Score: 39
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Hey, it seems there is a bit missing from the paragraph before the last.
ReplyDeleteI've been fiddling with it a bit. I sort of have this vague notion that there may be a Bangalore character as there is a Pune character and a Pondicherry character. And it kind of makes sense in that there will be local traditions and shared ideas and resources and people. You are more likely to be influenced by those around you than those miles away, etc. But it is only a vague notion at the moment.
DeleteI was actually thinking of you, and of playing a kind of Kodo game with you. Sending you some sticks marked with numbers. And you burn them without knowing who made them, or what part of India they are from, and you assess them totally blind, with a focus on looking for similarities and differences.
Sounds fun! :D
DeleteWhen doing blind taste tests I like to do them in three stages. You experience them all blind at first, noting down your impressions against the number. Then I tell you what incenses I have sent, but without the numbers. So now you'll have some information, and you can sample them again, and see if you can guess which is which. And finally I'll send you the names with the numbers so you can match them up.
DeleteOh yeah, that sounds like the optimal way to do that!
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