Bhagwan Incense – Tulsi Queen vs. Temple of Incense – Tulsi
I received Tulsi Queen in January of this year (2025) from Eugene Andrushchenko, the owner of Bhagwan Incense. A packet with 15g should contain approximately 8 sticks and costs €4.95; approximately €0.62 per piece. The sticks measure 8″ (approximately 20.5cm).
The sample stick of TOI – Tulsi, I received in mid-2024 from Sascha, the owner of Indiaroma. It’s 9″ (approximately 23cm) long.
In the TOI (UK) shop, a pack with 20 sticks costs £16; there’s also a bulk option of £65 for 100 sticks.
At Indiaroma a regular pack costs €20.
Another German shop called Wrage sells them for €19.
Bhagwan Incense – Tulsi Queen
Tulsi Queen have an exceptionally clear focus on the herbaceous and green aspects of basil. The fragrance is particularly fresh and leafy-green, almost grassy.
I perceive a very well-integrated sweetness that seems to be rather part of one of the oils used than a separate ingredient; the fragrance doesn’t seem sweetened.
Due to the clarity and intensity of the green smell, I can’t help but associate the fragrance with liquid soap, probably because such linear herbal fragrances I usually only encounter in the form of soap. However, Tulsi Queen don’t smell soapy.
This characteristic is likely what leads to my finding the fragrance cleansing, and tulsi – the holy basil of India – is indeed said to have a cleansing or purifying properties.
The spicy notes that I find typical for basil and also specifically tulsi are present, but quite far in the background. It’s the same with the slightly funky, musky note that I occasionally find in tulsi incense sticks. The ‘tulsi funk’ does come out a little more clearly in the after-smell, though, when the fresh green has subsided to some extent.
Temple Of Incense – Tulsi
TOI list as ingredients: halmaddi, bamboo, jigat (natural wood base), sacred basil (tulsi) and essential oils.
The first thing that strikes me about Tulsi is a charming sweetness. On my first take, I described it as ‘vanilla-like’, but that doesn’t quite fit. It’s also not the creamy and very cloying sweetness as I’ve smelled in Sri Tulsi by Goloka. Rather, it’s a delicate but present sweetness that combines with the fresh aspect in Tulsi in an exceptionally elegant way.
I find a rather pronounced musk aspect in the fragrance. Tulsi or basil incense sticks usually have a special, funky musk note for me; in Tulsi it’s rather a softer musk tone, though.
Further in the background, I smell a tart, almost bitter note that gives the scent a certain measure of herbaceousness in combination with the freshness of the fragrance. I also smell a subtle woodiness and a quite unique, dry smell that I can’t place.
I find TOI‘s Tulsi has absolutely no typical tulsi or basil smell. Though, the fragrance is unusual and special enough to make it interesting and give it a unique selling point. The fragrance is complex, and I’m sure that after this single stick I’ve only got a rather shallow impression of it.
Conclusion
What we have here are two vaguely similar-looking tulsi incense sticks that couldn’t be much more different in character:
Tulsi by Temple Of Incense is unusual, interesting and complex, but anything but a typical basil fragrance.
Tulsi Queen by Bhagwan are intense, fresh and green, with a clear, modern and stylised-feeling herby basil fragrance.