HEM – Mantra

I was curious to try more masala incense sticks from HEM, so I included Mantra in my order from Ephra World Shop at the beginning of this year (2025).

The pack contains 15g, which corresponded to 9 sticks. At a price of £1.65 that makes about £0.18 per stick. The sticks are 8″ long and burn for 35-45 minutes according to Ephra World.

It took quite a while for me to warm to the fragrance of Mantra, because I find the smell of the raw sticks quite soapy, and that’s usually a bad sign.
At the same time, the smell also triggered a déjà vu that I couldn’t grasp the longest time. A distinctly familiar note, but where did I know it from?

Today I brought out the box again after a long time and sniffed the sticks and it hit me: this particular note in Mantra has an astonishing similarity to an essential aspect of the wonderful Ambrosia from BERK!

After lighting one of the sticks, I still find the fragrance related to that of Ambrosia. The aspect that the two share is floral, rather dry and a bit mineral. However, it’s much more pronounced in Ambrosia than here.
When I compare the fragrances by burning one stick each in different rooms and switching back and forth, I only recognise the similarity when I go from Mantra to Ambrosia. When I switch back, the note is hardly perceptible anymore. Instead, I only perceive the smell of Mantra as woody, subtly sweet and balsamic, but with a tart character. To some extent, this is due to the soapiness, which is weaker when burning but still present. Besides the tart soap smell, I also sense a minimal bitterness like from burning sugar.

Just before extinguishing, I also notice an unusually strong, unpleasant smell from the bamboo stick with Mantra.
In the after-smell, the floral aspect comes to the fore again, but the fragrance retains at least a slight tartness.

Warm weather seems to suit Mantra better, not least because you can then ensure extra well ventilation. While they’re burning and the fragrance is well distributed, I start to warm to the fragrance, but I simply can’t get over the soapy smell. When I bring out the box, this is really intense, and to light a stick, I have to work through some inner resistance every time. I’ll give the remaining away.