HEM Green Tea Incense Cones

Scent of paint, fruit, bubblegum, and smoke. Kinda smoky. Difficult to pin the scent down - it's familiar, yet shifts away. The cold throw scent on the cone is sharper, fresher, sweeter, and has a fruit element. The scent on the burn is smoky and vague, though has some sense of hot, brown tea. I'm not getting Green Tea. Meh. It is what it is, but I'd like it to be a bit more fun. 

HEM incense is available all over the world from your favourite incense dealer, or simply the corner shop. I got this one from Amazon as part of a 12 different boxes for £12 deal. 

Date: May 2026   Score: 23/50

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HEM Corporation

Rajpal White Oudh

White Oudh is a modern synthetic perfume following the example of White Musk. It is intended to be lighter and fresher, without the animalistic character of oudh, and is generally considered to have been introduced as a synthetic in the early 21st century by perfumers such as Al Haramain and Thomas Kosmala; though there are also white oud fragrances which come from uninfected (and so unscented) agarwood trees. Though at the prices that white oudh is sold in India for use in incense, it is more likely that an Indian incense called White Oudh is using a synthetic. Rajpal classifies this as "Ultra Premium Incense". 

This White Oudh sold by Rajpal gives off a cold throw scent closer to oudh than the Rajpal Bakhoor I've just reviewed. It feels fresher and greener, with a more vibrant volatility. It leans into crisp icy aldehydes a little too much for my taste for an oudh focused incense; though it is an attractive fragrance overall, with a rotting leather vibe.

The scent on the burn is certainly in the area of oudh and bakhoor - some vague moments, and a sense of soggy oatmeal cookies wrapped in bonfire smoke, distract slightly, but overall it's an acceptable accord. It is a tad smoky, and builds, so is best at a well ventilated distance. Decent stuff.  

My samples come from Reddit user Brief_Chemistry. Packets are sold in India via the Rajpal website at 50g for ₹225 (£1.95) plus shipping. International purchases are made via WhatsApp +91 99209 36644, with payments done by bank transfer.  

Date: May 2026    Score: 30/50

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Rajpal, Mumbai

Rajpal Bakhoor

Most of the samples I have of Rajpal's incense is termed "Ultra Premium". I've not been consistent over the years of including marketing terms and/or subtitles. Initially I included them, then I thought that the terms were redundant, and stopped including them  (sometimes removing them when I updated the post). And while on the whole I don't include them, I sometimes do. I initially included them on the Rajpal incense posts partly because that is how Brief_Chemistry, who gave me the samples, presented them, but also because it's a curious term which I've not encountered previously. Though I've now removed them.

  

The sticks are fat, heavy, and richly perfumed in the style of Flora incenses based on Sri Sai Flora Fluxo, which appears to have been the original Flora/Fluxo.  Interesting aroma - stale pipe tobacco mainly, with old dust, cobwebs, shoe polish, black pepper, and a melange of old woods, patchouli, and musk notes. There's a little crack of sunlight which brings in a wisp of florals. This should be my sort of scent, but this is too heavy and dusty. There's little richness, joy, vitality, energy or sex here. It is like an old abandoned stuffy office with dry, cracked leather, and old books falling apart, and a stern sense that corrections and discipline took place here long ago. There's turps and engine grease now. Hmmm. I find it compelling, and I keep sniffing. Though there's no joy. 

The scent on the burn is a development of the dilemma of the cold throw scent on the stick. There's smoky, woody elements here that I should love, but the presentation doesn't quite get there. It's just a tad too dry, and a tad too enclosed in one place. Maybe one or the other, and I'd be fine - but enclosed and dry while also taunting of the pleasures that could be found in a bakhoor fragrance is just too much for me.  That's not to say I'm rubbing this incense out. We all have times when we return to an incense that confused us or pushed us away, and then we find it has opened up for us. Our mood has changed, and now is the time. But at this moment, after approaching it in different rooms, it's not worked for me. I just get the sense that this is a moist Flora that has dried up, and lost its mojo. 

My samples come from Reddit user Brief_Chemistry. Packets are sold in India via the Rajpal website (which is unreliable)  at 50g for ₹225, or on Amazon India at 150g for ₹549 (£4.30p) plus shipping. International purchases are made via WhatsApp +91 99209 36644, with payments done by bank transfer.  

Date: May 2026    Score: 27/50

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Rajpal, Mumbai

Rajpal Kasturi

 

Kasturi is the Hindi word for musk. Musk incense is generally composed of a blend of synthetics, with perhaps some patchouli, vetiver, and/or sandalwood oils used in slightly higher priced incenses. More expensive, traditional musk incenses may use traditional botanical substitutes such as ambrette (musk mallow) or labdanum. However, the bulk of everyday musk incense is likely to be mostly composed of - quite effective, though often blandly everyday - aroma chemicals. This Rajpal Kasturi is a bulky stick which is heavy with oils, and there's an earthy note here which could suggest the use of vetiver and sandalwood oil to liven up and give depth and character to the everyday aroma chemicals. I find this more promising than the synthetics heavy Kesar Kasturi I just reviewed. The sub-title on the packet is "Ultra Premium Incense". 

The scent on the burn is warm and generous. For such a bulky stick it is reasonably mellow, not too smoky or aggressive. There's some patchouli notes - musky, sweet, earthy, leafy. Very likeable. Ultimately it doesn't do much, and stays within a prescribed area of patchouli-musk-wood; however, what it does it does well. This is a likeable warm incense. 

My samples come from Reddit user Brief_Chemistry. Packets are sold in India via the Rajpal website at 50g for ₹250 (£1.96p) plus shipping. International purchases are made via WhatsApp +91 99209 36644, with payments done by bank transfer.  

Date: May 2026    Score: 31/50

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Rajpal, Mumbai

Musk incense

Rajpal Kesar Kasturi

Kesar is saffron, and Kasturi is musk.  Both are suggested fragrance ideas rather than the real ingredients. Saffron is an expensive spice, rarely used in incense due to the cost; and genuine legal musk (extracted from the musk deer) is rare and expensive. Most incense makers blend low cost oils, such as cedarwood and clove for the saffron and vetiver and patchouli for the musk, with aroma chemicals, such as Safranal and Galaxolide. And it is likely that is what the maker of this incense has done. Though the scent on the stick is quite light, so it feels like some White Musk and some aldehydes have been used instead or alongside the standard ingredients. The sub-title on the packet is "Natural Incense". 

   

The scent on the burn is clean and modest. It unfolds as a modern White Musk and aldehyde room freshener. Quite acceptable. Fairly crisp and sweet, with some florals - rather more florals than expected. It's a modest but pleasant incense, leaning more into perfume-dipped territory than what is expected from traditional masala. 

My samples come from Reddit user Brief_Chemistry. Packets are sold in India via the Rajpal website at 50g for ₹120 (93p) plus shipping. International purchases are made via WhatsApp +91 99209 36644, with payments done by bank transfer.  Also available on eBay.co.uk - 2x50g packets for £14.39 with free postage.  

Date: May 2026    Score: 27/50

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Rajpal, Mumbai

Saffron incense

  

Musk incense

Rajpal, Mumbai

  

Founded in 1985 and owned by Mahesh Rajpal, Rajpal Agarbatti Stores (Rajpal Products) is an established incense brand and small retail outlet (possibly three shops) in Matunga, Mumbai. Rajpal sells a variety of religious items, such as pooja (prayer) materials, and incense ranging from masala to perfume-dipped. There's no evidence of production facilities, so it seems likely that Rajpal out-sources the making of the incense. Though the promotional wording indicates that Rajpal is a manufacturer of the incense, in Indian incense that also covers commissioning the incense, and can also include simply branding. There was brief discussion on the manufacturing issue on Reddit in January 2026. 

Reviews

  

Rajpal Patchouli (M)
May 2026 - Score:35/50

   

Rajpal Kasturi (M)

May 2026 - Score: 31/50

   

 Rajpal White Oudh (M)
 May 2026 - Score: 30

   

Rajpal Bakhoor (M)
May 2026 - Score: 27/50

  

Rajpal Kesar Kasturi (PM)
May 2026 - Score: 27/50

Reviews: 5
Top score: 35
Bottom score: 27
Average: 30

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Rajpal Patchouli

Quite a generous stick of patchouli incense from Rajpal in Mumbai, which has the description "Ultra Premium incense". 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 came 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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Rajpal, Mumbai

Pick the Perfect Patchouli