Jallan – Lavender

I got these two sticks from Sascha (Indiaroma), who ordered directly from Jallan via their Instagram. However, they now also have a working webshop.
Jallan is a relatively young and small company in Mumbai, currently employing seven workers who hand-roll the incense sticks.
The sticks shown below have a standard length of 8″ (about 20.5 cm), but this is just the sample size at Jallan; regular Jallan sticks are an extra-long, 12″ (about 30.5 cm) and burn for approximately one and a half hours. There are two different types of packaging, each with an included holder: the round tubes contain 60 sticks, and the triangular ones contain 30.

I was given prices that include shipping costs, meaning that a single small package would cost €20, while the larger pack of 60 sticks would cost €25. However, ordering more significantly reduces the price: two small packages come to €30, and two large ones cost €35. Sascha paid under €40 and tried all the varieties.

After the sticks are rolled, additional herbs are added, which later appear in the packaging as some loose material. In the picture above, you can clearly see the coarser plant material that coats the sticks.

The Lavender scent is very natural and has an exceptionally soft fragrance. To me, it smells like the lavender from my garden, but Jallan manages to eliminate most of the burnt notes typically associated with loose lavender incense, adding an extra layer of powdery, almost velvety softness that impresses me. Perhaps this is due to the type of lavender they use?
Despite this, the fragrance retains its herbal character. In the second stick, I briefly noticed a slightly sweet, herbaceous note reminiscent of marijuana, which I hadn’t encountered in the first stick.
I learned from Jallan that they use a variety of Ayurvedic plants as base ingredients in their incense sticks, so it’s likely that one of these herbs made a brief appearance here. Some herbs, for example certain types of mugwort, have such a smell.
In general, there’s a sweet herbal note within the fragrance profile that doesn’t seem to come from the lavender itself. It has a coumarin scent, similar to that found in sweetgrass.

I find the natural character of these sticks very appealing and would recommend them to anyone looking for a natural lavender fragrance.
However, one should note that these sticks do not seem to store particularly well. I feel that the Lavender sticks have noticeably weakened over the four months I’ve had them. So, purchasing them is worthwhile only if you plan to use them regularly and finish them relatively quickly.