Rajpal Ultra Premium Patchouli

Quite a generous stick of patchouli incense from Rajpal in Mumbai. Thick and heavy like incenses termed Flora, in the style of Sai Shri Flora Fluxo - which appears to be the first to use the term, and has been much copied by other incense houses since, often using the same packet design. In my experience, even though such flora style incenses may be sold in luxury boxes, and are thick and heavy with paste and oil, they tend to be cheap and crude, and are often offered at a lower price than other stock from the same maker. Speculation as to why this would be ranges from manufacturing in bulk as flora sticks are very popular in India (after perfume dipped) to the lower cost of the fragrance ingredients compared to other masala style incenses.  

  

Pack of Rajpal Patchouli (Ultra Premium)

Patchouli is one of my favourite incense fragrances. While it has been used as a fragrance ingredient since the 1800s when the leaves were used to protect fabric from insects when exported from India to the West, its use in incense appears to have only begun in the 1960s - there are no reliable details of patchouli being used in incense in India, Asia, or Japan earlier than this. Though it is speculated it may have been used as an unnamed fixative base in Japan in the early 20th century (when steam distillation allowed the fragrance to be captured as an essential oil).  Patchouli as a fragrance works well in incense as the scent doesn't evaporate with the heat, and it is a strong and lingering scent. And it has become one of the most popular incense scents, along with Nag Champa, Sandalwood, Jasmine, etc.  

Cold throw scent on the stick is earthy, sweet, woody, tree bark and forest dust, caramel and lamb's wool. It a splendid scent. Well, for those who like woody, deep, dark, sweet and dusty scents it is splendid; for those who like something more light, floral, and airy, perhaps not so much! 

The scent on the burn is sultry and woolly - I suspect halmaddi has been used. For such a generous stick, the scent and smoke impact is not excessive. I like this. It's not a clever incense - there's a blend of oils supporting the patchouli, and its a little more grounded and woody than I generally prefer, but I like it for what it is rather than what it is aiming to be. There are some sharp, fruit/floral notes which provide some contrast. There's also mineral resinous notes, rather like sambrani.  Yes. Good one. 

My samples were gifted from Reddit user Brief_Chemistry. Packets are sold in India via the Rajpal website at 50g for ₹300 plus shipping. International purchases are made via WhatsApp +91 99209 36644, with payments done by bank transfer. 

Date: May 2026    Score: 34/50

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