Top-Op 4 In 1 Agarbatti - Rose

Bought from a local shop in our high street which has just opened. Though also available online in the UK. Cheap as chips - less than a pound for 15g of decent quality (albeit rather mainstream)  masala incense. Top-Op are UK based importers and distributors of Asian food and supplies who were founded in 1975. Their own brand incense is made in India by any one of a number of white label businesses based in Bangalore or Mumbai. 

Variety packs (3-in-1, etc), are popular in Indian communities. And as an incense hunter I like them because I get to quickly and relatively inexpensively experience a range of scents by the same brand. I consider them as samples. The scents in this 4 In 1 pack are popular mono-scents and a well known blend:  Nag Champa, Lavender, Jasmine, and this Rose. 

Rose is not one of my favourite incense (or perfume) scents (though there are a number of rose incenses I have really loved). I like it fleetingly as a fresh flower scent, and will usually stop and have a sniff at a rose when passing, but I don't generally want to be enveloped in it. However, I do find it can be an interesting balance in a resinous incense blend. Almost all rose incense will be synthetic using ingredients such as PEA,  citronellol, and geraniol, along with vanilla/benzoin for sweet heart notes, and a woody base. Some decent quality incenses (masala type) may also use geranium oil, though my assumption is that this everyday masala will mostly be using lower cost synthetics. 

The scent on the stick is sweet and pleasant with notes of cloves, cheap old fashioned rose perfume, onion, a hint of aldehyde, and a general impression of an aerosol table polish. It's OK. Not really my thing, but not offensive. Floral, though not precisely on target for rose. Some sweet red berry notes. 

The scent on the burn is smudgy, and a bit like burning wood. There is a lack of clarity and sweetness. Not impressed with this one. 

Date: Apr 2026   Score: 19

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Top-Op everyday incense

Best rose incense