Aromatika Ace Scents Palo Santo

 

This is the last of the Amazon bundle of Aromatika's Ace Scents  range, which has enabled me to explore new scents in the range, as well as revisit some scents I burned and reviewed around 10 years ago.  I have been reasonably satisfied with the range as a whole, and the price of £10 for 200 sticks of ten different scents is very fair. These are not traditional masala sticks as claimed on the packs, but they are decent quality everyday synthetic perfumed room fresheners. 

Palo Santo is a fragrant wood from Peru. I'm pretty sure that at some point I did buy some to explore, but at the moment they are lost in one of several boxes of incense that has been consigned to the spare room in order to free up some living space in my study. Recently I tried some Palo Santo fragranced sticks from a Peru incense maker, Ispalla, but sadly they had a manufacturing problem. The incense house have got in touch to say they will send me some fresh, improved samples. I look forward to that. 

Meanwhile, the scent on this stick, as with the rest of the Ace Scents range, is perfumed, synthetic, attractive, and oddly moreish - I keep sniffing the stick. There's a subdued sweetness, some citric notes, some sweet jam (strawberry?), mint, and fresh shoe leather. Very likeable. Not profound. But certainly likeable. As standard with perfumed incense the scent on the burn is a little weaker and less attractive than that on the stick; however, it remains attractive, albeit with a smoky warmth that hinders total enjoyment. This is OK, but one of the weaker sticks in the Ace Scents range. 

Date: March 2024  Score: 26 

***

  Aromatika

Aromatika Ace Scents Rose

 

I've been slowly working my way through a bundle of Aromatika Ace Scents I picked up on Amazon a little while ago, updating reviews I did back in 2015, and reviewing scents in the range I'd not yet burned. I just have this Rose and a Palo Santo left, and I have been moderately pleased with these sticks. They are not what I understand as masala, though to be honest I'm not entirely clear on what Indian incense houses expect buyers to understand when they use that term, other than to say that an incense termed "masala" will be of a higher quality in some way than the standard everyday perfumed incense. I think different incense houses will have different understandings of the terms masala, same as they have different understandings of terms such as flora and natural. Anyway, in my experience with the Ace Scents range, they are to me a perfumed incense, using well made but clearly synthetic scents. They are not a budget incense, but nor are they a connoisseurs incense, they are essentially a decent quality everyday room freshener incense. And I'm fine with that.  Some of the scents I like more than others, and that will be purely down to individual preference. 

Rose is one of those scents that if you ask me, I would say is not my favourite. It's not a scent that is cool with a sense of style and sophistication. Yet, when I look at the rose incenses I have burned, I find that on average I enjoy rose, and a good number are among my all time favourite incenses.  It is a popular and classic scent for good reason. 

Anyway, the scent on the stick is sweet and perfumed and fresh, with little bubblegum notes - some jasmine, some peach,  some candy sugar, and some Turkish delight rose.  It's attractive and moreish - I want to keep sniffing!  As is common with perfumed incense (though less dramatically so the better the quality of the perfume and formulation used) the scent on the burn is not as attractive as the scent on the stick; however, it does remain very appealing with most of the sweet floral features on the stick. It's a soft, subtle, and gently beguiling fragrance. Nice. 

Date: March 2024  Score: 34

***

  Aromatika

Best rose incense

Aromatika Ace Scents Sandalwood Myyrh

 

Very attractive men's cologne scent on the stick. It's quite perfumed and synthetic, but appealing none-the-less. 

I'm up and down with this Ace Scents series from Aromatika. There's the sense that it's machine made and synthetic rather than the natural and hand-made impression given by the "Natural Masala" of the sub-title; but, despite that, the scents on a number of the Ace Scents sticks are really quite beguiling. And this one certainly has claims to being beguiling. 

The scent on the burn, while not quite as charming as that on the stick, certainly closely matches it, hindered only by a certain vagueness and some soft smoke. There's the warm, sweet, sexy, slightly musky notes of sandalwood - or, rather, αlpha-Santalol, the key ingredient in both synthetic and genuine sandalwood. There's an interesting chalk edge, which stops the sandalwood from becoming too sweet and cloying. Some mineral notes, a bit of floral, a gentle hint of spice. An attractive and soft burn that informs the room pleasantly. I like this. 

Date: April 2024  Score: 35

***

  Aromatika

Ansaam Incenses Mini Galaxy Sticks Arabesque

We've just come back from Cairo, where we brought home one of my daughters who has been teaching there for the last six months. Hectic place Cairo, and the drivers are extraordinary, swerving with one hand at high speed around cars travelling in both directions, while texting with the other. If it wasn't for the nauseating levels of  toxic exhaust fumes coming in the windows (few cars have working air-con), it would be good fun. We visited Khan el-Khalili, the touristy shopping area - not quite a souk, more like The Lanes in Brighton. It was Ramadan, and we were leaving as Iftar was approaching - most shops were closing, and people were gathering at tables to break their fast. And I spotted some incense on a stall outside a shop. Conscious that this was not really the time to be trading, I was still curious to see if any of the incense was made in Egypt. Unfortunately the stall holder descended on me and began thrusting various bits of incense at me asking silly prices. It was difficult to focus, but I managed to establish (despite his insistence that all his incense was Egyptian) that most of his incense was made in India (there was Tulasi among others on his stall). But I did notice the galaxy sticks - huge sticks that burned for over 5 hours. Way too large for me. But then I found two packs of mini galaxy sticks - still rather large and daunting, with a burning time of 3 hours, but more manageable. I would have liked to explore further, but we had to move on.  

The incense is made by Ansaam Incenses of  Cairo, who also make regular size sticks and cones. I've looked, and they do not appear to be available outside of Egypt. I have written to the company asking for details of sellers in the UK, or if I can buy direct from them, but no response yet. 

There are five sticks in each pack. These "mini" galaxy sticks are a regular length - 61/2 inches of incense on a thick 9 inch stick, but they are very thick - around 1/2 inch. The fragrant masala style paste has been extruded onto the bamboo core (I'm calling it bamboo, but I'm not sure what it is), with a ridged appearance that makes it look like a dozen or more regular thickness sticks have been mashed together. 

A mini galaxy stick next to a regular incense stick

 

The scent on the stick is delightful. There's a faint awareness of bakhoor, though mainly it's a sweet floral scent with jasmine, rose and bubblegum being the most prominent. The bubblegum is a curious scent to find, and I think my mind has latched onto that as the most familiar, though there is an array of aromas in here - various fruits; watermelon, peach, strawberry, plus nips of tobacco and spice. It's fascinating and very appealing. 

Because of it's size I was dubious about burning it indoors, so set it up initially in the outhouse, where we normally burn the least appealing incense to keep the cats company when they eat - though mainly to keep the flies away. However, I was impressed that neither the scent, nor the smoke was overwhelming. So I went around the house, smudging the rooms. The size of the stick makes this a good smudge incense. Plenty of smoke, but not at all dominating. However, because of the length of the burn, I did find that if left in a room for an hour, it will accumulate too much smoke for comfort.  Best used with windows open, or used outside, or simply go around cleansing the house, then extinguish to burn again another day. 

The scent on the burn is true to the scent on the stick, which to me tends to be a sign of quality incense. There is a clean, natural feel to the scent - an absence of chemicals or synthetics. It's quite possible there are synthetics or chemicals used, but they don't present during the burn. It all feels very natural, soft, and beautiful. I love this incense!  


Date: April 2024    Score: 44 



 

Bhagwan Incense (own label distributor)

 

I'm quickly putting this together, and will work on it later.  The wording is from my Review of 2023:

One of IncenseInTheWind's readers, Eugene from Ukraine, has been chatting with me for some time, and at the end of 2022 was in India sourcing incense for an online own brand shop he opened earlier this year - Bhagwan Incense. We did an incense exchange, and he sent me some of the incense he had sourced and was interested in. I particularly liked the B.G Pooja Store Nag Champa. We had discussed his shop, including names for it, and he asked if he could use stuff from my blog, and I of course agreed. When he did open the shop I had forgotten about it (as I do), and folks got in touch to say that there was this new shop that was copying info from my blog. After some moments of confusion, it was all sorted out - and a positive outcome was that I was able to put Eugene in touch with Irene from my favourite incense blog, Rauchfahne, which I feel has really grown in stature this year. She has a particular insight into incense which I find very valuable, and I think is informed by her own incense making, which is profound and gifted.  

My favourite of the incenses that Eugene sells that I have tried so far has been Bhagwan Incense Hari Leela Masala Incense.  Eugene buys incense in bulk from several sources, and then boxes it and puts on his own label. As such, a quantity of his incense is likely to be available from other sellers, and it is up to the buyer to sort out who is selling what, and who has the best price, etc. I noted some similarities between the Bhagwan Hari Leela and a vintage stick I had of Gokula Gaura Absolute Hari Leela (Oct 2023 - Score: 44), which is now sold by Gokula as Bakula Flower.  There may well be other sellers, possibly at higher prices. I continue to have some uncertainties about the rebadging of incense, but it certainly can be a more convenient way of exploring Indian incense, and a number of my favourite incenses have been supplied by British own brand importers. 

Eugene has told me that he will provide samples for postage cost . A good opportunity to try out the Bhagwan range.  Link: Bhagwan-incense Samples. 

There is a choice of three different sample sets. Only one free set may be ordered. Postage is 4.95 Euros in Europe, 5.95 to the UK, 9.95 to America and the rest of the world. All three sets may be ordered for 10 Euros plus postage, giving a total of 14.95 in Europe, 15.95 to the UK, and 19.95 to America and the rest of the world. That seems to me to be the most attractive deal. 

Here are the sample sets:

Set 1

Set 2

Set 3

Reviews

Bhagwan Incense Hari Leela Masala Incense 
 Oct 2023 - Score: 44 

Bhagwan Incense Spring Blossom Masala Incense
Oct 2023 - Score: 39

  

Bhagwan Incense Mango Masala Incense
Oct 2023 - Score: 37

  

(HMS) Bhagwan Incense Patchouli
March 2024 -  Score: 37

 

Bhagwan Incense Himalayan Musk Masala Incense
Oct 2023 - Score: 35

(HMS) Bhagwan Incense Lavender Bliss Masala Incense
Nov 2023 - Score: 28

***

Own brand distributors

Aromatika Ace Scents Nag Champa

 

I bought a bundle of Aromatika Ace Scent sticks off Amazon, and am re-reviewing some scents that I rated quite highly in the early days of this blog, such as Dragon Blood, plus scents new to me, such as this Nag Champa. Fuller details can be found on my post on White Sage. 

All of the sticks in the Ace Scents range are machine extruded and left bare, but this Nag Champa is one of the few that are machine extruded and then coated in a melnoorva. Melnoorva is a powder composed of finely ground tree bark. It is used to finish off sticks which have been rolled in a masala paste which will still be sticky, so this dry powder will help prevent the sticks being glued together as they dry. Sometimes the melnoorva will be scented and/or coloured. While not strictly necessary on an extruded stick as the extruded paste is not sticky, it sometimes added for the appearance - which is attractive, and also for the association with traditional masala, so underlining that the stick is better quality than an everyday perfumed stick. 

The scent on the stick is pleasant, and somewhat less "perfumed" than some of the other Ace Scents I've tried, though there is some vinegary volatility. There's some warm sandalwood and/or beech wood, a moist, sandy, earthy, light wood scent, plus a light floral which hovers around jasmine, along with hints of honey, and light citric. It's a pleasant, though not engaging scent. I like it, and keep returning to it, but I'm not compelled or transported. However, it is quite attractive. 

When lit the stick has a low, slow flame, and there's no evidence of black smoke.  The fragrance does not make itself known, and wafting only produces a burning cardboard aroma. Leaving the stick to burn alone in the room, and then re-entering does not reveal anything new. Burning cardboard remaining the key fragrance, which manages to creep around the house. Toward the end some faint musky notes are noted, but it's really too little too late. Shame, as the scent on the stick was quite promising. 

Date: March 2024  Score: 18

***

  Aromatika

Nag Champa

Aromatika Ace Scents White Sage

 

One of my main intentions this year is to make deep inroads into my backlog, and I made a good start on that, but then I got bronchitis, so haven't been burning any incense. We also had some friends over, so I cleared away boxes of incense from my study, which is also our main dining room, and cleared my desk. I still want to finish off the remaining  Gokula incense samples I have, and also delve deeper into HMS, but I thought I'd get back into the swing of things by polishing off a pack of Aromatika incense I got off Amazon a little while back. 

Aromatika  is the brand name of V Expo, an Indian incense company based in Jaipur, who have been making incense for over 30 years.  I reviewed some of their Ace Scents range in the early days of this blog, and rated them quite highly, even though I felt the packaging was poor, and the appearance and presentation was more of a perfumed incense than a proper masala. I have felt for some time that I rated them too highly, especially after I went through 12 packs of their scented cones, such as the Rose, and found them, on the whole, pleasant but rather ordinary and not good quality, so when I saw a bundle of the Ace Scents range on Amazon, 10 packs for under £10, I thought that would be an opportunity to catch up, and see if I still felt they were decent sticks. 

The bundles are organised oddly in cardboard folders containing five different scents, but with some scents appearing in different folders more than once. I was sent two folders, but instead of 10 different scents, I only ended up with 8, because two scents were duplicated. The individual scent packets are stapled several times to the cardboard folder, which makes removing the packets quite awkward. And the packets are designed to have a resealable zip close, but they are cheaply made, so the plastic zips don't usually work, and are hard to access, while the seal at the bottom of the packets is not secure, so breaks open easily. This doesn't create a good impression. The foil packets all have the same dull design, with a coloured name sticker placed on them to indicate the scents.  

I've been through all the packs, and all the sticks are crudely machine extruded paste onto plain machine-cut bamboo splints. They vary in colour, and some have a coating of melnoorva powder, while others don't. The sticks are 8 inches with 6 inches of paste. There are 20 sticks per pack. They all tend to give off an unimpressive standard synthetic room freshener fragrance which inclines to be a bit soapy. Not unpleasant at all, but not very engaging either. The quality of the scent on the burn varies, with at times a little too much of the core material being noticeable through the modest fragrance. On the whole a disappointing experience, and not really worth £10, though the bulk of the sticks are acceptable albeit modest everyday room fresheners. I will rattle though the reviews as they are not worth spending much time on. 

There's not much awareness of white sage on these sticks - there's a a sense of a cheap, slightly sweet and musky, male perfume. Reasonably attractive - sort of chocolate, musk, and soap.  The scent on the burn is much the same, though now and again there's some burning cardboard. I find it quite likeable, though nothing to get excited about. I'm happy to burn this in the house to cheer up a room, or to cover up poor smells, but nothing more than that. 

Though the claim is that these are "Natural Masala", and on the carboard folder we have "made by natural gums, resins, crystals, aroma oils blended with halmaddi and honey",  they present as machine extruded charcoal paste infused with a synthetic fragrance.  

Date: March 2024  Score: 27

***

  Aromatika

Vinasons (VNS) Patchouli Neo

 

A sample of Patchouli Neo by Vinasons of Pune, which came to me via Eugene (of Bhagwan Incense), who had met with Shreyas Sugandhi of Vinasons when researching incense for his shop. My understanding is that Vinasons are not a source for the Bhagwan incenses, as Vinasons prefer not to do own brand deals. 

This is a masala style incense, though informed by fragrant oil blends. The sticks are 8 inches, with approx 7 inches of hard/dry charcoal paste which was hand-rolled onto a plain bamboo splint, and then thinly coated in a green dyed fine powder.  I'm unclear on the Neo aspect as the name - and I can't find a Patchouli Neo on the Vinasons website. There is a Patchouli, and a Patchouli Dhoop, but nothing that matches this.  I assume it's a new patchouli scent that Vinasons are trying out. 

There's a soft, powdery,  sweet green, spearmint scent on the stick, some cool volatility, and floral hints. No deep notes - all top.  The stick burns steadily, with a thin to medium column of grey smoke, producing a light scent that slowly and gently warms the room. The fragrance on the burn is quite light so I end up wafting  the smoke in my direction (not encouraged due to health risks), where I find the scent to be a little smoky with not enough of the perfume coming through. This is an incense which requires patience rather than wafting.  

Given time, the scent does come to me and settle. It is sweet green, slightly floral, with few deep notes and little depth. I like patchouli, and am usually seduced by even the crudest and cheapest incense which uses patchouli, but this one doesn't have the sweet musky and sexy elements that attract my interest. It's a nice incense - light, playfully cool green, commercially sweet, and over time herbal and floral notes dance together in an attractive manner. But it's simply not ballsy enough for my taste to be an incense I'm going to enthuse over. Nice, though. 

Date: March 2024   Score:  29 

***

Vithaldas Narayandas & Sons
Vinasons

Patchouli

Thurga's Industries Sdn. Bhd. (SunRayn)

 

Thurga's Industries of Malaysia are a "manufacturer" and distributor of a range of goods. It is not clear how responsible they are for the manufacturing of these sticks; though, given the diversity of the products they sell, it seems likely that they commission the sticks rather than make them at their own premises. They market the incense under the brand name SunRayn, though some products are branded Thurga's. 

They make highly perfumed machine-extruded perfumed-charcoal incense sticks at bargain prices. Not generally found in the usual incense outlets, but in Indian grocery stores including online such as DesiKhazana, and AlliBhavan.  The sticks are a generous length - over 10 inches, with approx 7 1/2 inches of machine extruded charcoal paste which has been infused with a synthetic room-freshener style fragrance.  Thurga's packets are eye-catching: bold and colourful and fun, and larger than the average. The perfumes used are also bold and vibrant and fun. They are decent quality and good value (10 sticks per pack - over 10 hours of incense for less than 70p) everyday room freshener that pleasantly inform a large room 

Thurga's premises in Malaysia

Reviews

Thurga's (SunRayn) Paavai Vilakku (P)

Mar 2023 - Score: 33 

Thurga's SunRayn Parrot (P)
March 2024 - Score: 30 

Thurga's SunRayn Kalam (P)
Oct 2023 - Score: 25

  

 

Scents: 3 

Top score: 33

Bottom score: 25 

Average: 29

***

The Best Incense Makers

Incense by Country

Thurga's SunRayn Parrot Incense Sticks

 

Fruity and floral everyday synthetic perfumed-charcoal incense from Thurga's Industries of Malaysia.  Not generally found in the usual incense outlets, but in Indian grocery stores including online such as DesiKhazana, and AlliBhavan.  The sticks are a generous length - over 10 inches, with approx 7 1/2 inches of machine extruded charcoal paste which has been infused with a synthetic room-freshener style fragrance. The scent on the stick is mildly candy sweet, volatile with chemical notes, floral (mainly rose) and fruity (possibly strawberry, plum, and something softly citric). 

Thurga's packets are eye-catching: bold and colourful and fun, and larger than the average. The perfumes used are also bold and vibrant and fun. The first I tried was Paavai Vilakku, in March last year (2023), which I got from  Desi Khazana for 69p. It was cheap and cheerful, so I bought a big batch of them to explore further as a fun, and quite decent everyday perfumed incense. 

This is a long burning stick (over 60 minutes) with no off-notes. It settles into a pleasingly sweet and slightly heady rose.  This is a decent quality and good value (10 sticks per pack - over 10 hours of incense for less than 70p) everyday room freshener that pleasantly informs a large room with a sweet, feminine, and uplifting floral fragrance. 

Date: March 2024   Score: 30 

***

Thurga's (SunRayn) Incense

Best rose incense

Om Sai's Vithoba Flora Sticks

 

Wow! This is intense. Everything about this is big and generous. A large box crammed with 100g of fluffy masala incense sticks. The melnoorva powder is heaped on, and will dust your hands and clothes and surroundings quite liberally. There is a waft of  evaporating liquid scent as soon as the box is opened - it's explosive milky honey, leather, and alcohol solvent and/or DEP. The solvent is potent and should come with a health warning. Indeed, frequent inhalation of DEP is considered more damaging to the liver than frequent drinking of alcohol (and both together is even worse).  This is an incense that should only be burned outside, or in a large room with plenty of ventilation. There's no need to ruin your health just to enjoy the fragrance of incense. 

On the burn this is eye-smarting intense. It's an attractive, warm, woody fragrance, but the generous use of DEP means that this is not something for domestic or intimate use. Burn in temples. Burn outdoors when having a picnic. Smudge the house when you're going out - light a stick, go out, and on your return the house will be cleansed. But don't use in the room while you're still there. I love heady incense, but this defeats even me. It's not the fragrance that is defeating me, it's the solvent. Way too much for me. 

Date: March 2024   Score:  27

***

Om Sai (Om Brand) Agarbatti

Satya (BNG) Yoga Series Meditation

 

Satya Meditation is part of Satya's "Yoga Series", which consists of: Bliss - Orange and lemon; Harmony - Amber and acacia; Meditation - Sandalwood and cedar; Serenity - Violet and mint; Tranquility - Cinnamon and vetivert.  This is not the same box design used for the original Yoga Series (see Satya Harmony for a picture of the original box), and the inner sleeve has (BNG) in the name so this is after 2014 when the Setty brothers who own the company split up, but there is no date on the box, and the logo is still the original family logo, so this is likely to be soon after the split. I am assuming this is 2015.  

I love the appearance of Satya incense sticks - they are all soft and fluffy with generous amounts of melnoorva powder. The scent is mildly perfumed - a cool citric, some floral - lotus and lily, and faint sandalwood. The burn is sharper and, indeed, slightly harsh, especially after the softness of the fragrance on the stick. There's some peppery, prickly raw sheep's wool - a scent experience I tend to associate with halmaddi - a tree resin used as a plasticiser to amplify and sustain the fragrance. As the burn settles, the woods make themselves more known, though there's an element of burning, and the prickly wool remains insistent. It's a pleasant scent, reminiscent of night-time bonfires. There's warmth, and fresh human sweat - in a pleasant, intimate, companionable sense. The experience is calming and relaxing, though not soporific - I feel calm but alert. And, curiously, the Satya website suggests the same - that the experience is tranquil, but leaves you alert. 

It's a cleansing and attractive fragrance, though is fairly limited - the scents are mainly huddled in a middle ground of cedarwood and bonfire smoke. There's a lack of high notes and base notes, and no contrasts. The scent on the stick promises more, with its florals, but this is not delivered during the burn. A pleasing scent to smudge around the house, though too limited to enjoy just for its scent.  


Date: March 2024 Score: 28

***

Satya (Shrinivas Sugandhalaya)