Thiouraye Sweety (oudandmusk.fr)
This and a number of other Thiouraye incenses were part of a generous selection of samples that my friend Povilas sent me; they were bought at Oud & Musk [FR].
Thiouraye isn’t strictly speaking a bakhoor but is strongly related in concept, which is why I’m putting them in the same category. Thiourayes are, in a way, the West African, particularly Senegalese variant of bakhoor.
50g Sweety costs €16.50; that makes €0.33 per gramme.
The description calls it a surprising blend of woody and sweet notes. ‘Woody (leather)’ and ‘sweet (caramel)’ are given as fragrance notes.
The shop recommends Sweety for people who like soft, not too strong and not too woody fragrances.
Sweety seems to contain a high proportion of sugar; the lumps are rock-hard and correspondingly difficult to break. With enough heat, it melts on the warmer into a viscous puddle.
The raw scent of Sweety is intriguing; softly musky, with a slightly soapily clean touch and a certain portion of sweetness.
When heating on the warmer, the sweet smell comes through a good bit more clearly, doing justice to its name. It has a certain gourmand character, even though the fragrance overall remains rather perfumey, leaning towards soapiness.
Sweety has a certain tartness in the background, which, together with the slightly creamy gourmand sweetness, creates an association with chocolate in me. Not real chocolate, but a perfume that suggests chocolate.
This and the mild soapiness immediately reminded me of Chocolate from Pushkar Temple. Funnily enough, I would have taken them as mildly Bakhoor interpretation, if I hadn’t known their name.
If you heat this thiouraye strongly enough that it melts, eventually a bitter note of burning sugar inevitably shows itself. In the room note, though, this doesn’t weigh heavily. Still, I’d rather not use this incense on charcoal.
I only agree with the shop’s description insofar as I consider Sweety relatively mild.
I don’t find anything particularly woody about the smell, nor do I see what’s supposed to be surprising about the combination of woody and sweet. On the contrary: I think it’s one of the most frequent pairings of all.
Sweety has an attractive, albeit somewhat perfumey and soapy fragrance that some people will value, whilst others will rather avoid it.
If you like fragrances like that of Pushkar Temple – Chocolate, you likely won’t be disappointed by Sweety.