Pushkar Temple – Baba Flora

I bought this 50g bundle from Pilgrimbazaar, an eBay shop in England, at the end of 2022. They cost £2.99 (€3.42). Since then, the price has risen to £3.56 (€4.10). These 8″ incense sticks are relatively thick, and this pack contained around 35 sticks. With the new price, that comes to about 12 cents per stick. (Of course, shipping and possible customs fees are additional). The stated burn time is 30-45 minutes.

Besides this Ebay shop, there’s an option to order them directly from India via this Instagram profile. The owner is a very friendly Kazakh named Pavel. There is a minimum order quantity of one kilo here, so 10-20 packs, depending on the size.

A Redditor described Baba Flora to me as follows: ‘Like Sai Flora, but much softer and milder, with a slight bubblegum background note. Don’t let that description scare you off — it works.’
Mike also calls this variety a version of Sai Flora in his review on ORS.

Maybe it’s due to the pack of Sai Flora I tried, but I can’t find any similarity. I can kinda get the bubblegum description, but I find Pakiza far more bubblegum-like, and I’d also consider Pakiza more similar to Sai Flora. That’s how different scent perceptions can be.

My notes on Baba Flora include ‘very fruity pipe tobacco’, ‘grandma’s fruitcake’, and ‘a certain sunscreen’. I also noted that I find some kinship with Krishna Leela from Heera, although Baba Flora is significantly more potent.
Baba Flora is one of the varieties in which I initially noticed the piercing, somewhat diesel-like note quite strongly when they were still pretty new, but it has since faded to a degree.

I prefer Baba Flora over Pakiza, and in good air dilution, I can find something appealing in the scent; it then takes on a powdery and tart, yet still sweet character. However, they’re still not really among my favourites.