IncenseInTheWind The Incense Hunter: Manohar Sugandhi

Saturday, 21 February 2026

Manohar Sugandhi

Manohar Sugandhi was founded in Pune in the 1930s, and is a third-generation family-run incense house. I've been sent five samples by Julian of The Incense Atelier who also sells on eBay under the same name. There are three known and respected incense houses in Pune, and from my quick exploration of the samples Julian has sent me, I suspect that Manohar Sugandhi will join that group as an incense house to be sought out by knowledgeable and curious incense hunters.

Conclusion: I find it very exciting and promising that Julian of The Incense Atelier has uncovered a previously unknown incense house in Pune that is producing incense of this quality. There is so much yet to be discovered in Indian incense, and that we keep getting served the same old, same old incenses from those who import and distribute to the West is quite sad. Over the years I have been doing this blog I keep coming upon Indian houses that are largely unknown in the West, but are just as good or even better than the stuff that Paul Eagle imported for Happy Hari. I don't think that Paul had found a special source, he just imported typical traditional Indian incense - sometimes it was brilliant, and sometimes it was not so good - essentially it was what was and is being produced every day in India. I don't think the "curators" of Indian incense such as Absolute Bliss/Everest Trader and Temple of Incense, who have chased after Paul's sources, are doing justice to what is available. When Eugene of Bhagwan went out to India he quickly found some new sources (which were soon snapped up by Everest Trader), and now Julian is uncovering plenty more. There is no secret guru master incense maker who has to be tracked down. There are plenty of them around, doing what they have done for generations: making awesome traditional Indian masala incense. All that is needed is traders like Julian to find them and import them under their own names so we can all see who they are.

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