Satya Aroma Therapy: sweet incense of herbs and resins
Aroma Therapy belongs to the range made by Satya, the Indian house that became known for Nag Champa. The sticks are built from natural herbs and resins, and you can tell. The scent is sweet, with a resinous floor underneath that gives it more body than a purely floral incense. One stick covers an average living room.
A box weighs 15 grams and holds around 15 sticks. Plenty of people light one at the end of the day, over a book or during yoga, though nothing says it has to be an occasion. It works just as well as an everyday scent for a hallway or a bedroom. Because the sticks are rolled by hand, one can come out thicker than the next. That goes with the method rather than against the quality.
What sets a masala stick apart
In the masala method a paste of resins, herbs and powders is wound around a bamboo stick by hand and then dried slowly, so the fragrance sits inside the stick itself. Cheaper incense tends to be dipped instead: a bare stick goes into fragrance oil and dries off. Dipped sticks often smell sharper on lighting and run out of scent sooner. A masala stick releases its fragrance more evenly, from the first minute to the last.
Burning and storing
Light the tip, let the flame catch for a couple of seconds and blow it out. The stick keeps glowing and gives off a thin ribbon of smoke. Stand it in a holder or a small pot of sand, on a surface that can take falling ash. Keep the room lightly ventilated and never leave a burning stick unattended. Close the box afterwards, because unlit sticks give off their scent slowly too. Alongside Aroma Therapy, Avalon Magic Plants stocks Satya scents such as Aastha, Jasmine, Sandalwood and Palo Santo, plus holders to stand them in.
