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title: "Bhagwan Incense: Resins"
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description: "Taking a look at Dragon's Blood, Frankincense & Rose, King of Loban, Royal Frankincense, Royal Myrrh, and Sacred Frankincense by Bhagwan Incense."
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date: 2026-07-31
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tags:
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- Incense
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- Incense Review
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synopsis: "Taking a look at Dragon's Blood, Frankincense & Rose, King of Loban, Royal Frankincense, Royal Myrrh, and Sacred Frankincense by Bhagwan Incense."
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imageURL: /img/a-first-look-at-bhagwan/lighting-a-stick-of-bhagwan-absolute-oudh.webp
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imageAlt: ""
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mastodon_id: ""
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draft: true
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---
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## Dragon's Blood
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The unlit stick has a citrus / white-musk laundry detergent fragrance. In the burn, the stick is much sweeter, with warm, woody, and vanillic notes sitting beneath bergamot peel, white musk, and raspberry. Unlike some other dragon's blood sticks, I don't get much in the way of baking spice except for an anise-seed note. As the fragrance builds in the room, I do begin to get a sense of the metallic note mentioned in the incense description. Like the actual resin, this stick is complex and rather difficult to describe. Although the fragrance doesn't strike me as wholly similar to its namesake, I expect that it will be similarly divisive.
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## Frankincense & Rose
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A very true to life frankincense fragrance plus a well balanced hit of rose. The combination is juicy and fruity in the way that rose petals are when heated. There is a green-apple acidity that, with everything else, reminds me of sparkling wine or cider. The fragrance is otherwise relatively straightforward, beside a very subtle floral note that I only notice from up close. Also from up close, I keep thinking that there is something of a sandalwood oil note.
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## King of Loban
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Although the Bhagwan website states on the product page that this stick is "hand-rolled in a state of happiness and gratitude to the divine by women in rural India," these appear to be (as did sandalwood origins, although I didn't mention it) machine-extruded sticks. Whether or not sticks are hand-rolled—in happiness and gratitude to the divine or otherwise—is something I can not bring myself to care about. I do, however, care whether the information provided by a vendor is accurate and I really wish that Bhagwan would put more focus on this area.
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King of Loban is, typically for Bhagwan, soundly in composition territory. Alongside notes of baking spice, vanilla, and turbinado sugar, there is that hard to describe floral-woody complexity that makes Indian incense so unique. But while the stick has character and complexity, the benzoin note remains clear and recognizable. King of Loban is not a one-note reference stick for the material, but if you haven't smelled benzoin before you could absolutely learn to recognize it by burning this incense. The benzoin note isn't quite as vanillic as the benzoin Siam in my collection, so this is perhaps not the stick for you if you're looking for an absolute vanilla bomb. (I wonder whether this is due to the form of benzoin used—absolute, resin, or resinoid—the varietal, or just natural variation. I also have benzoin Sumatra in my collection, but I haven't worked with it nearly enough to be able to identify it from Siam in a burning stick of incense.)
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Benzoin is a tricky ingredient. When used in very low quantities, it's sweet, vanillic, and can contain notes of baking spice. When over-dosed, it smells something like burning plastic. (In my sticks, I rarely use more than 5% of the stuff, and I've gone up to 30% with other resins.) In my experience, benzoin-forward sticks often smell like the aforementioned combusting polymer, or they smell cloyingly sweet and artificially spicy, like a craft store near the holidays. Bhagwan's King of Loban steers clear of both avenues, resulting in a well-balanced benzoin stick. It's sweet, rich, powdery, a little spicy, and just complex enough to elevate it beyond a one-note stick while maintaining real benzoin character.
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## Royal Frankincense
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Smells like real sacra resin on the stick. In the burn, the frankincense comes through beautifully. The resin note feels complete in a way oil-based frankincense fragrances rarely do. Despite the description noting that no other aromatics were added, to me there is something of a buttery sandalwood oil note and a measure of that tart-floral complexity that you often find in Indian incense. It reminds me of Fred Soll's Frankincense and Sandalwood, only not quite as strong, and with the added interest and complexity that comes from Indian perfumery. A very, very nice stick.
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## Royal Myrrh
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Turpenous licorice, black pepper, and acetone on the stick. Burn is dry-woody, spicy cologne. Masculine. Spruce resin. Perfumey kua vibes, but not especially true to life.
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## Sacred Frankincense
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