Sagrada Madre – Tao Black: Riqueza, Energia Reconfortante, Paz Interior

Riqueza (Wealth)

The description on this page says Riqueza contains ‘concentrated Ratnamala oil: Ratnamala, an aromatic resin, is known for its properties of attracting luck and prosperity.’

I’ve tried to find out what Rathnamala could be. The description of other incense sticks states it means ‘string of pearls’ and is associated with wealth, which would fit the theme of this variety. Steve has also settled for this answer.
There’s even a ready-made perfume oil for incense stick production with the name. However, I couldn’t find a plant or resin with the name Rathnamala.

The raw stick smells florally sweet, in a perfumed, slightly soapy way.

Lit, I find the fragrance even a little more soapy than before, but basically, it’s the same aroma.
The smell is dominated by the wood smoke of the wooden core, or perhaps also the combustible material with which the sticks are coated. It looks like coarsely ground wood. Perhaps it’s simply sawdust soaked in perfume oil.
After I’ve smelt the burning stick, I’ve no more doubt that the cores are wood and not bamboo. It smells a bit like when blowing out a match.

In the after-smell, the unpleasant and pungent wood smoke dissipates and leaves behind a vague, creamy sweetness.

You can find Steve’s review here.

Energia Reconfortante (Calming Energy)

‘Pure vanilla essence: Vanilla, known for its relaxing properties, is the main component of this incense stick and creates a sweet and enveloping fragrance.’

The raw stick smells of vanilla flavouring with a slight touch of body lotion or similar.

Energia Reconfortante don’t have as pungent a smoke note as Riqueza, but do also smell of smoke.
The vanilla aroma is quite weak. It manages to come through and is quite pleasant, but probably only because it’s so subtle. If it were stronger, it would most likely be cloying.
If I go closer to the burning stick, the smoke smell is stronger, but the aroma isn’t.

Enegia Reconfortante are unobtrusive, as long as you’re not bothered by the smoke smell.

Here is Steve’s review. Energia Reconfortante got the highest rating of these three from him: 23 (out of 50 points).

Paz Interior (Inner Peace)

‘The linden blossom, known for its calming and relaxing properties, is the main component of this incense and provides a soft, floral fragrance.’

I love the fragrance of blooming linden trees; it’s one of my favourite floral fragrances.
Of course, I’ve tried to use them for incense, but like most flowers, linden blossoms don’t smell particularly good when burned.
As far as I know, you can’t distil essential oil from linden blossoms, but absolutes are possible. However, I doubt that an expensive absolute is used here.

I’ve got a linden fragrance oil that comes quite close to the smell of the blooming tree. The raw scent of these sticks is different, though; drier and a bit soapy. Actually, I was quite surprised to read that Paz Interior is supposed to be linden fragrance.

This stick was slightly harder to get going than the others. Perhaps because it’s a bit thicker than the others.

The fragrance is pretty much identical to the raw scent, but a little stronger, with a greater emphasis on the soapy and dry character of the fragrance.
The smell isn’t really unpleasant, but absolutely not my taste.

As with Riqueza, a relatively strong smoke note comes with it. I find that not quite as pungent as with Riqueza; perhaps it’s due to the stick’s thickness that improves the ratio of incense material to core. It could be that the aroma also comes through somewhat more strongly because of that. But perhaps they’re also just stronger perfumed.

Closer to the burning stick, where the smell is still quite concentrated, the perfume also seems more intense, denser and rather unpleasant.

Only the after-smell provides a fragrance which I can actually recognise as linden blossom.

Here‘s Steve’s review of Paz Interior.