Bhutan Jewel Incense

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Bhutan Jewel Incense – Tara Vegetarian

Tara Vegetarian doesn’t appear (any more) in Alpha Trader’s product list, but using the search function, you can still find information about it.
The sticks are also distributed by Incense-Traditions and costs 16.95 USD, which corresponds to about €15.
A pack contains 80g, that’s approximately 28 sticks of 21.5cm length and 4-5mm thickness.

I noticed that the ingredients lists of the two suppliers differ. The information text on the Bhutanese site mentions cinnamon, juniper powder and both white and red sandalwood powder. According to an old ORS review (from 2021), these details match those on the packaging.
In Incense-Traditions’ description, the sandalwoods are missing, but it additionally mentions honey, molasses, milk, curd and butter.

I wrote Incense-Traditions an email and promptly received a very friendly and helpful reply from Hart Broudy, the owner.
He informed me that they source directly from Alpha Trader Bhutan and their current packs were bought between 2023 and 2024. He explained to me that it wasn’t unusual for recipes to be adjusted due to the availability of raw materials. Furthermore, he kindly sent me a picture of the current packaging of Tara Vegetarian Incense, which lists the following ingredients:
Honey, molasses, milk, quark and butter; cinnamon and Himalayan juniper.

Milk, curd and ghee as well as honey, sugar and molasses (‘the three whites and the three sweets’) are common ingredients in those recipes. Even cereals such as barley or rye can be included in the incense blend.

u/Opuaut

Just like me, I’m sure most Europeans will be thrown off or even repelled by ingredients such as dairy products in incense.
Both my incense exchange partner and Hart Broudy of Incense-Traditions have explained to me that dairy products and ingredients like honey or molasses are a fundamental component of Buddhist traditions and rituals. They’re offered as sacrifices, and incense is often exactly that: an offering. In the case of Tara Vegetarian, specifically for the goddess Tara.

This much can be said: you don’t notice the strange-seeming ingredients in the sticks. They don’t feel soft to the touch or greasy; they smell neither rancid nor otherwise off-putting.

I recognise the juniper most distinctly: a tart, woody and vaguely fruity note that you might also know from smoked meat. Here, though, it’s very unobtrusive and almost soft.
In the background, I smell a harsh note in the smoke, but it’s very weak and only occasionally noticeable to me.

As before with other incense sticks of this style, I find a sour smell that makes me think of lactic acid fermentation. Could that be the curd?
In Tara Vegetarian, this acidity is relatively mild. Especially at the beginning of the burn, they reminded me strongly of the Sandalwood sticks from Pure Tibet (which don’t smell at all like sandalwood). Compared to these, though, Tara Vegetarian smell milder and actually sweeter. For me, it’s a very subtle, subliminal sweetness; one that you easily overlook if you don’t give the scent your full attention.

I think you really have to be very attuned to Tibetan or Bhutanese incense scents to call these sweet, as the description on Incense-Traditions does. u/Opuaut even described them as “sweet and vanilla-like“.

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Bhutan Jewel Incense – Lost Fragrance of the Mountain Gods

A pack contains 30 sticks of about 8.5 to 9 inches (approximately 23cm) length.

On the pack, there’s information that these sticks are made from rare ingredients from the Changphu and Pelela mountains in Bhutan; the main ingredient is ‘Shup’, better known as Himalayan juniper.
Alpha Trader writes that Lost Fragrance of the Mountain Gods is burnt as an offering to local deities at rituals and ceremonies, but can also be used daily as a natural fragrance and air freshener in homes and offices.

Incense-Traditions sells them for 17.95 USD (approximately €15.50); the excellent Czech shop Rymer offers them for €14.96.

The raw scent is mild but bitter, with a fine sour tone in the background.
The burning stick has more acidity, which comes across as almost fruity; it reminds me of sumac (the spice).
The bitterness is now far less present than the raw scent had suggested. It takes a while before it takes on character, but then it smells iodine-like to me. The smell reminds me of veterinary offices.
Not specifically the bitterness, but the aroma overall, makes me think of a certain type of adhesive plaster.

Up close, the smoke has a very ashy quality that also occasionally comes through in the room note.

What really impresses me about these sticks is the captivating after-smell:
Unlike my previous experiences with this type of incense sticks, the room note after the stick has extinguished isn’t smoky but becomes sweeter. It then becomes slightly reminiscent of liquorice, with a hint of florality. It’s astonishingly soft and almost creamy, just as some fruits can have something creamy about them.
Really quite interesting.