Aromandise – encens ecologique – Indian Frankincense
[Updated – 2023-09-25]
You can read the main article about the encense ecologique line here, there you will also find information about prices and possible sources of supply (in Germany).
With a length of 28cm/11″, the sticks in this line are significantly longer than what appears to be the standard. Unfortunately, they also have a somewhat thin coating; however, that doesn’t seem to affect the scent much.
They are hand-rolled, dry masala sticks with a high charcoal content, in this case with a white powder coating, as are the cones of the variety.
Aromandise‘s extremely friendly and helpful customer service provided me with a list of ingredients for all varieties of this line. Again, many thanks for that!
Indian Frankincense smell just like I’d imagine and wish for masala incense sticks named like this.
The typical smell of the Boswellia resin is perfectly recognizable and clearly in the foreground with its resinous and fresh character. I assume that resin, as well as essential oil, was used here. The frankincense is accompanied by a very pleasant spiciness from the masala base, which blends in very harmoniously. There’s also a nice sweetness (probably benzoin), which I find to be just right.
A small downside is that sometimes a slightly sooty or burning note appears, which will come from either the charcoal or the bamboo.
Nevertheless, Indian Frankincense are a very decent contribution to the genre of frankincense incense sticks and quite a few manufacturers could take a model from it because all too often, the smell of “Frankincense” sticks cannot be recognized as such.
The cones of the Indian Frankincense variety, which burn for just over 25 minutes, are remarkably low in smoke for their size (Ø 1.6cm, edge length is 3.4cm), which is probably due to the rather large amount of charcoal. Unfortunately, this also causes them to burn hotter, at the expense of the scent.
The smell is a little biting. I find the cones to be a bit more bitter, perhaps more resinous than the incense sticks, but above all, the smell of soot is present from the start on. About halfway through, an ashy note appears, and from thereon, the smell becomes increasingly unpleasant.
What remains after the cone stopped producing smoke is a large chunk of embers that glows for another 10 minutes. You could easily use it to burn a little loose incense. Maybe to cover up the smell of soot and ash.