161 lines
12 KiB
Markdown
161 lines
12 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: "A First Look at Bhagwan Incense"
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description: "Taking a look at Bhagwan Incense and the brand's Absolute Oudh, Oudh, Oudh Majestic, Royal Oudh, Royal Mysore Sandalwood, and Sandalwood Origins sticks."
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date: 2026-07-18
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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 Bhagwan Incense and the brand's Absolute Oudh, Oudh, Oudh Majestic, Royal Oudh, Royal Mysore Sandalwood, and Sandalwood Origins sticks."
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imageURL: /img/a-first-look-at-bhagwan/lighting-a-stick-of-bhagwan-absolute-oudh.webp
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imageAlt: "A close up of a stick of incense being lit with a flame on a wick. The end of the stick appears wet with oil from the heat."
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mastodon_id: "116942744227037345"
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---
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When Eugene of [Bhagwan Incense](https://bhagwan-incense.com/) first reached out offering samples I was hesitant to accept them; my experiences with Indian style incense at that point had been less than stellar. After Irene of rauchfahne.de sent me some very nice Indian sticks, however, my mind was opened, and I found myself keen to see what Bhagwan has to offer.
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Being an exporter rather than a manufacturer, Bhagwan's product range is fairly broad, spanning from classic sandalwood sticks to modern fragrances like guava. Today I'll start with my thoughts on some of those classic incense fragrances: agarwood and sandalwood.
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## Agarwood
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### Absolute Oudh
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Absolute Oudh is sweet, spicy, woody, and "masculine." Baking spice notes
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almost remind me of a Japanese sweet agarwood stick, but the sweetness is
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really ramped up here and there's no camphor lift. There is a vanillic aspect
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to this stick, which, coupled with the sweetness, evokes benzoin. There is also
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something of a Play-Doh note, a touch of anise in the room, and an accord
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reminiscent of cola. Amidst all of the sweetness and spice, there is an
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agarwood je ne sais quoi - that earthy, sticky fragrance that is close to
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impossible to describe unless you've smelled it. Buried in this fragrance is
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something rather true to life. While Absolute Oudh is certainly not in the same
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category as a single-origin agarwood-plus-binder stick, it is a pleasant,
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well-composed stick with a recognizable agarwood character.
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### Oudh
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The unlit stick is very sweet, woody, creamy, and spicy. For some reason this
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is a very nostalgic fragrance for me. Despite how luscious and creamy the unlit
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stick smelled, the character of the fragrance in the burn is lighter, with
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notes of smoke, roasting coffee, light spice, vanilla, coumarin, dried fruit,
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and blonde tobacco. It's one of the more genteel oud fragrances from Bhagwan
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that I've sampled. Up close, there is a whisper of a dry, sour, woody note that
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reminds me of low grade agarwood, but without the acrid note that comes with
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real wood. If I hadn't read "Oudh" on the packaging, however, I probably
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wouldn't have guessed that this was intended to be an agarwood stick. That
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said, I like this fragrance a lot more than most of the low-grade
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agarwood-forward senkō in my collection.
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[](/img/a-first-look-at-bhagwan/bhagwan-incense-absolute-oud-lighting-loop.webp)
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### Oudh Majestic
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The fragrance of the unlit stick is interesting. It strikes me as
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gourmand—sweet and vanillic, with baking spice, banana custard, and white musk
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notes. When lit, the fragrance is light and sweet, with notes of turbinado
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sugar, vanilla, a floral aspect, and a grassy, cinnamon-coumarin warmth. I like
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this fragrance a lot, but I'm really not even being reminded of agarwood. This stick was also reviewed on [rauchfahne.de](https://blog.rauchfahne.de/en/2024/10/05/bhagwan-oudh-majestic-en/) and [ORS](https://olfactoryrescueservice.wordpress.com/2023/11/10/bhagwan-incense-balsamic-amber-frank-rose-garden-of-eden-oudh-majestic-woody-champa-notes-on-other-fragrances/).
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### Royal Oudh
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The unlit stick smells sweet, tart, and earthy, with notes of dried plum, white
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musk, and spikenard. In the burn, the fragrance leans more eathy, mineral,
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woody, and spicy, with metallic sandalwood and clove notes alongside damp soil
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and dried fruit. The combined effect is a rich, complex fragrance that is, for
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me, *somewhat* evocative of warming kynam on heater. This sweet, fruity, spicy,
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and earthy scent is something I imagine might be really pleasant on a rainy
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afternoon. This stick was also reviewed on [ORS](https://olfactoryrescueservice.wordpress.com/2024/11/12/bhagwan-incense-amber-oudh-assam-agarwood-imperial-oudh-oudh-rose-royal-oudh/).
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## Sandalwood
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### Royal Mysore Sandalwood
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Buttery sandalwood on the stick, with fruity and white floral notes. The
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fragrance is much louder and more complex than putting sandalwood chips on a
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burner, but the sandalwood note is lactonic, warm, and woody with that
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distinctive metallic note that I often notice from S. album. Compared to
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heating sandalwood chips, the stick is much more lively, with a distinctive
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fruitiness[^1] coming through in the burn. This isn't something I've noticed
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from wood chips, but maybe this is a common feature of certain sandalwood oils,
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or sandalwood accords? In any case, I wouldn't call this a strictly one-note
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sandalwood fragrance; unlike, say, Shunkohdo's *Sarasoju*, it definitely has some
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additional complexity. It is very pleasant though, and I would say that if you
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are looking for a vivacious and moderately bright composition with a fairly
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true to life sandalwood core, you can't go wrong with this. This stick was also reviewed on [ORS](https://olfactoryrescueservice.wordpress.com/2024/12/06/bhagwan-incense-imperial-sandalwood-royal-mysore-sandalwood-royal-sandalwood-sandalwood-origins/).
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### Sandalwood Origins
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The fragrance on the unlit stick is very perfumey. Another nostalgic scent,
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this one brings me right back to visiting Earthbound Trading Co. in the mall
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years ago. It's vanillic, floral, and woody, with a bright, soapy, white-musk
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note. The stick starts off very buttery, with some burning-oil off-notes up
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close that mostly disappear in the room. It's far sweeter than Royal Mysore
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Sandalwood, with a marked vanilla note. The floral fragrance from the unlit
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stick becomes somewhat subtle in the burn, with the very bright, soapy
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fragrance from the unlit stick transforming into something much more mellow.
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This is closer to a single-note stick; it reminds me of the super lactonic
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sandalwood note from Fred Soll's Frankincense and Sandalwood. I personally
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prefer this one over Royal Mysore Sandalwood as—in my opinion—it's closer to
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the wood itself. This stick was also reviewed on [ORS](https://olfactoryrescueservice.wordpress.com/2024/12/06/bhagwan-incense-imperial-sandalwood-royal-mysore-sandalwood-royal-sandalwood-sandalwood-origins/).
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## Conclusion & Brand Impressions
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### Accuracy Vs. Composition
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I was once warming sandalwood on an incense heater, when my Indian
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houseguest—accustomed to agarbatti—mentioned that the genuine article didn't
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smell at all like sandalwood to her. If you're coming from the world of
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higher-end East Asian incense, or you're expecting natural, single-note wood
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fragrances, you may be similarly confused when lighting up one of these sticks
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from Bhagwan. They are each compositions, fairly far removed from the fragrance
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of the woods they are named after. This is not a knock; it's completely par for
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the course in the world of Indian incense. But I think it's worth mentioning
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that you're not going to be able to learn what actual woods smell like from
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these sticks. That said, the compositions are killer.
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### Strength
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If you're used to gentle Japanese sticks, you're in for a shock with Bhagwan.
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Not one stick I have tried so far could be described as remotely quiet. In the
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past, I've counted this as an unequivocal downside, but things have changed for
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me in that regard. I'm learning to modulate ventilation to make these sticks
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manageable. If, like me, you have a sensitive nose, you may want to burn them
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in front of an open window, in an adjacent room, and/or with lots of fans going
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to keep the fragrance from concentrating too much in one area. While I'm
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getting used to these workarounds, I still wish Bhagwan offered minis that
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produced a more manageable amount of fragrance. In addition, I sometimes like
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to burn a variety of sticks throughout the day, but that's tough when one stick
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is powerful enough to linger for up to multiple days (looking at you, *Guava*).
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### Ingredients & Transparency
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One thing I really would like to see improve is the way the "vegan" designation
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is used on the website. Descriptions often contain two points: "free
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from animal-derived ingredients," and "vegan incense sticks unless honey is
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mentioned in the description." This can be confusing, especially when honey or
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propolis notes are then mentioned in the description. The customer is left to
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wonder whether these are just notes, or reflect the inclusion of animal
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secretions in the product. As a vegan, clarity and confidence when making a
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purchasing decision is paramount.
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On ingredients, Bhagwan's
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[website claims](https://bhagwan-incense.com/our-story/) that the brand offers "only premium masala incense made using pure raw halmaddi, sandalwood powder,
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essential oils and attars," and continues: "if a supplier starts using chemical
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ingredients, we stop offering their incense." This may well be a reflection of
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my own ignorance, but I don't know how it is possible to offer some of the
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fragrances in Bhagwan's catalog without synthetics. The strength, clarity, and
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staying power of some of these fragrances[^2] is truly remarkable, and they are
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clearly fairly precise, complex, and professional compositions without the
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'muddiness' that you would expect from naturals—each containing thousands of
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fragrance molecules. To be clear: I don't care if the incense I burn contains
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synthetics. I'm under no illusion that Tennendo's *Kyara* or *Sumire* is made
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with ground-up herbs and spices[^3]. I guess what I'm saying here is that these
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sticks are, in my opinion, perhaps *suspiciously good* to meet the description on the website, such that I do wonder just how much of a handle
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Bhagwan has on what is actually going into them. But, then again, I'm
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just some guy with a blog.
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### Conclusion
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To be clear: the compositional nature and strength of these sticks are not marks against them; they're simply hallmarks of this style of incense. And if you can get past that (or if—like many—you *prefer* it), I think it's hard to go wrong with any of the sticks I've written about above. While Indian incense has a bit of a reputation problem here in the U.S.A., this incense is in an entirely different league than the bamboo-cored sticks you're likely to find in a US supermarket or gas station. For me, the sticks have been a nice change of pace from my (predominantly Japanese) incense collection, and I've been enjoying them quite a lot. It only makes sense that there should be something quite special about the work of a people who have had access to an abundance of aromatics for millennia, and it's nice to discover brands that seem to be doing a good job of curating what reaches our shores.
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[^1]: The fruit note reminds me of the Supreme Sandalwood Science fragrance
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from Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements.
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[^2]: Not to mention the color of the melnoorva / powder on some of the sticks.
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[^3]: "But Nathan, some of these chemicals are endocrine disrupt…" Cool, but
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I'm not freebasing them. I think I'll be okay.
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