Pleasant, sweet, floral, quite commercial. Vanilla is prominent. This is an attractive incense - it would be widely acceptable. I like it, though find it a little too sweet and floral and commercial for my personal taste. I'd like some rough contrast to the sweetness which can become a little cloying. However, when I want to sweeten the house before a visitor, this is the incense I've been using. We've been getting quotes from builders to do work at the back of the house, and I find this brightens and freshens the house, makes it more welcoming. And it doesn't smell like weird "incense" - it smells more acceptably Western, more in line with a modern car freshener.
Pushkar is a temple town in the northwest of India. Incense is made in the town, though it is mostly known for what is (incorrectly) termed "Pushkar Temple" incense, which is likely made by an unknown white label house in either Pune or Bangalore. I assume this incense is named Pushkar to reflect the sacred nature of the town and Pushkar Lake, and has no other relationship with the "Pushkar Temple" incense.
Date: Jul 2026 Score: 35/50
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Note: It is not publicly revealed where Adi-Guru sources the incense for the Pure Incense brand; however, the style is sometimes similar to the incenses made by HMS of Pune.
Lots of respect for Pure and Adi in particular. Truly spiritual and decent people with integrity—a rare quality in today's incense world, infested with predators and sharks.
ReplyDeleteThey did not mind the appearance of Sacred Elephant; that is a truly brotherly gesture.
A few years ago, Adi bought a good quantity of sandalwood powder, took it to Pune, and made incense with it. As far as I know, nobody else does this in India. We are now going down the same route and will try making our own incense with 40–50% sandalwood powder, top quality jigat and pure halmaddi. Small batches first.
It is time for responsible incense sellers in the West to take more control over the quality they sell and hold Indian manufacturers accountable when they cut corners and mislead customers by claiming their incense is organic and natural, despite it being made from 90% charcoal and cheap jigat powder.
I like Adi. I love his interest in and passion for quality ingredients. I have a number of Pure incenses I have been intending to review for quite a while now, but keep being distracted. I started reviewing Oud Kathmandu a little while back. Wow! What an awesome incense. Adi sources the agarwood from a Nepali dealer. The Nepali government have been taking seeds from the handful of rare mature agarwood trees in Eastern Nepal to start new plantations. I like that he is aware of what is going on, and is supporting the endeavour.
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