Temple of Incense Dancing Sufi

 

I love the name. Very evocative, and it seems to suit the sweet vanilla, delicate florals, and soft muskiness of fragrance on the stick. It is a sultry, magical, exotic, and shimmering sort of scent. Very attractive and commercial. The almost outrageous sweetness contained and balanced by the caramel and wood base notes. It is a tad too sweet and girly for my taste, but I am still drawn in and entertained. 

Available from ToI at £10 for a box of 20 sticks
or from Exotic Incense for $13.50. 

The scent on the burn starts with the weight on the base notes, so loses a lot of the allure of the scent on the stick. It does add some spice, however I don't find that a compensation - indeed it pushes me away a little. The burn scent is quite dry and sombre, compared to the joy, lightness, and delicate sweetness  of the scent on the stick. Gradually, as the scent evolves and develops the top notes start to come in, though without the distinct range and balance of the scent on the stick. Its now like a woody patchouli, a masala scent, what in perfume quarters tends to be called "incense" - a familiar and somewhat generic scent. Pleasing, yes, though too everyday to get excited. As the accord develops further the vanilla comes in and wakes it up, and then the floral notes come in, and I feel more settled. Yes, an interesting and alluring scent. It reminds me a little of the original Happy Hari Yoga Sutra range, particularly the Niyama Sutra, which continues to be available from the same source at Padma Store as Niyama Sutra, via Corey of Absolute Bliss who, though Paul Eagle had passed on his sources, took a while to match the right source with the right name - he wondered at first if these Yoga sticks were from the same source (they were not). 

I think it is possible, maybe even likely, that these sticks are from the same source. But then, over the years I have been doing this blog I have found that a number of Indian incenses are similar to each other - this may be because the makers are following the same fragrance ideas, or because they copy each other. All manufacturers, be it beer, baked beans, or beef-burgers, copy each other, so the copying is not unique to Indian incense makers. But it does exist, so it is useful to be aware of it. This stick is similar to the sticks sold in Vrindavan, which bear a resemblance to sticks sold in Pushkar, and to sticks made in Pune by HMS, or DBS, or VNS. 

I don't have any Happy Hari close to hand to compare, though from looking at my notes I am getting more vanilla, more sweetness, more delicate florals from this than from the Happy Hari - but that could be as much down to batch variation and age as anything else. However, if people are curious they could get some of the Happy Hari Niyama Sutra from Padma Store for 4.24 Euros, and do their own comparison, and see if they have a preference. The cost is around the same as the Dancing Sufi, weight for weight. 

I like this. I like it a lot. I haven't scored it as high as the Happy Hari, and that may due to a number of factors. I'll be interested in doing a side by side comparison in the future. 

Date: Nov 2025   Score: 38

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Temple of Incense

Reviewed in USA