Pure Incense – Connoisseur – Blue Lotus

Pure is a company based in England that has their incense produced in India. They carry 3 lines: Classic, Absolute and Connoisseur. A portion of their profits goes to charities.

I bought Connoisseur – Blue Lotus at Padma Store, where a pack of 10g costs €9.95 – a hefty price; that’s €1 per gram and, based on 8 sticks per pack, a unit price of €1.24. A burning time of 60 minutes is specified. The one time I had a stopwatch run, it even were 1:14 hours.
I would have liked to try Blue Lotus from one of the “lower” lines first (I’ve even heard several times now that some people like them better) but unfortunately Padma Store only carries the Connoisseur line. Maybe I’ll get a sample sometime.
Padma Store does not sell the incense sticks in their “original packaging”, but in a neutral, sealed silver foil package with a simple paper label. It was explained to me that this is because they come in bulk packs directly from India to minimize transport costs. Makes sense, but as a customer, I would like to see a note about this under the photos of the pretty boxes.
As far as I know, Padma Store is the only German retailer that has Pure in its range.
You can also get them directly from England at Pure’s official website, and you can find them on Etsy.

Raw, Blue Lotus smells astringent, dark, floral and slightly pungent.
When burned a delicate, sweet, powdery-floral scent emerges, which has a very slightly pungent component. After a short while, the dark, almost earthy tones come in and make the scent complex. Overall, the smell is dry and somehow mystical.

At first, I found the scent very flat. I have this problem with almost all Pure varieties that I have tried so far (all from the Absolute or Connoisseur line). But at least with these, I now have the impression that their smell benefits from higher relative humidity. Or perhaps it just took a while for me to warm up to them.
Maybe it’s time to bring out the leftovers of the Pure samples I got gifted in the spring and give them another chance.

Nevertheless, I only give a rating of 2.8 for Connoisseur Blue Lotus. I think it is overpriced. For this price, I expect more.

I would also like to note that I had a recurring “BERK Déjà vu” when trying out the Pure samples. I feel like they use a very similar base that is vanilla heavy. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were produced by the same manufacturer.