Another of the Happy Hari incenses from my ten year old backlog. While the Absolut spelling is deliberate - a cheeky reference to Absolut Vodka, I'm not sure if the unusual spelling of patchouli with an extra l was intentional. Anyway. I like patchouli. I find it natural and sexy. I generally like patchouli incense, even when it is mostly synthetic.
The scent on the stick is sweet, powdery, like vanilla icing and coconut. This is as far from natural patchouli as it is possible to get. I love the whole thing about Happy Hari incense - I love the legend, and the way it has been marketed by various Western own brand traders since the death of Paul Eagle (the owner of Happy Hari). And I know I play my part in the Happy Hari legend, along with ORS, for the reviews I've done over the years. Anyway, though I love the whole mystery and legend surrounding Paul Eagle and Happy Hari, I'm quite aware that his choices of supplier were variable and often quite dubious. Some of his choices were great, some less so, and some were quite poor. Essentially there isn't a Happy Hari holy grail - the magic incense spring that produces heavenly scents. It's just Indian incense. I have come upon many unknown Indian incense houses while I have been doing this blog, and Julian of The Incense Atelier, along with Brief Chemistry of the Reddit incense forum, have uncovered loads more through hiring a local in Vrindavan to go out and buy incense and send it to them. And often the incense from these unknown houses is as good or better than the stuff that Paul sold. But, smoke, mirrors, and a good legendary story will make any incense more attractive. However, the scent on the stick is often different to the scent on the burn (sometimes better, especially with perfumed incense, and sometimes not as deep and developed, especially with masala incense). So we'll see what happens.
The scent on the burn is more resinous and earthy than the scent on the stick. But the coconut is still present, and fairly dominant. It unfolds in a fairly smoky manner with the coconut merging into vanilla or benzoin. I'm not sure how much, if any, actual patchouli oil is in this stick. It presents as moderately earthy, vanilla sweet with coconut notes, and a general feel of smoky mainstream Indian incense. The resinous quality is attractive - it grounds the whole, and acts as a good balance to the sweetness. But there's not a lot of genuine patchouli here. Indeed, there's not a lot of even synthetic patchouli fragrance here. But there's a warm, earthy, woody, sweet character that I quite enjoy. This is not awesome incense, it's not on target for patchouli, but it is genuinely warm and enjoyable.
Put aside the smoke and mirrors imagery of the legendary Happy Hari, and what you have is a decent enough Indian masala incense, but nothing special.
The scent on the stick is sweet, powdery, like vanilla icing and coconut. This is as far from natural patchouli as it is possible to get. I love the whole thing about Happy Hari incense - I love the legend, and the way it has been marketed by various Western own brand traders since the death of Paul Eagle (the owner of Happy Hari). And I know I play my part in the Happy Hari legend, along with ORS, for the reviews I've done over the years. Anyway, though I love the whole mystery and legend surrounding Paul Eagle and Happy Hari, I'm quite aware that his choices of supplier were variable and often quite dubious. Some of his choices were great, some less so, and some were quite poor. Essentially there isn't a Happy Hari holy grail - the magic incense spring that produces heavenly scents. It's just Indian incense. I have come upon many unknown Indian incense houses while I have been doing this blog, and Julian of The Incense Atelier, along with Brief Chemistry of the Reddit incense forum, have uncovered loads more through hiring a local in Vrindavan to go out and buy incense and send it to them. And often the incense from these unknown houses is as good or better than the stuff that Paul sold. But, smoke, mirrors, and a good legendary story will make any incense more attractive. However, the scent on the stick is often different to the scent on the burn (sometimes better, especially with perfumed incense, and sometimes not as deep and developed, especially with masala incense). So we'll see what happens.
The scent on the burn is more resinous and earthy than the scent on the stick. But the coconut is still present, and fairly dominant. It unfolds in a fairly smoky manner with the coconut merging into vanilla or benzoin. I'm not sure how much, if any, actual patchouli oil is in this stick. It presents as moderately earthy, vanilla sweet with coconut notes, and a general feel of smoky mainstream Indian incense. The resinous quality is attractive - it grounds the whole, and acts as a good balance to the sweetness. But there's not a lot of genuine patchouli here. Indeed, there's not a lot of even synthetic patchouli fragrance here. But there's a warm, earthy, woody, sweet character that I quite enjoy. This is not awesome incense, it's not on target for patchouli, but it is genuinely warm and enjoyable.
Put aside the smoke and mirrors imagery of the legendary Happy Hari, and what you have is a decent enough Indian masala incense, but nothing special.
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