Sandalwood and Incense

Sandalwood is one of the oldest incense materials. It has been in use for at least 4,000 years.  Ever since Crest Jewel was established 37 years ago we have been known as a reliable source for the purest sandalwood essential oil and incense.

In addition to sandalwood we also specialize in frankincense and rose incense (and essential oils) and offer several brands in each category.

The best quality sandalwood oil comes from the Indian province of Mysore and Tamil Nadu where the harvesting of Sandalwood trees is supposed to be protected by the state government. The sandal tree variety found in India is known as Santalum album L.The tree achieves heights of 12-15 meters but grows very slowly. As it grows, essential oil begins to develop in the roots and heartwood in about 15 to 20 years. But full maturity requires 60 to 80 years for the center of the slender trunk (the heart wood) to achieve its greatest oil content. Because much of the oil is found in the roots during the rainy season harvesting typically used to occur at that time of year when the trees were easily uprooted to harvest all of the oil available from each tree. Today they are frequently just cut and felled because demand for the oil has driven the price so high.

Planted Red Sandalwood Grove

Pterocarpus santalius or santalum rubrum (red sandalwood) previously used only for colouring and dyeing is now also being used for incense.  Other varieties come from the Sandwich islands, Western Australia and New Caledonia. The Australian (S. spicatum or Eucarya spicata) produces a very similar oil but with a woodier top note.

Natural Sandalwood Groves

Events in India and other countries where the preferred variety of sandalwood naturally grows have now created a situation where the availability of high quality sandalwood incense and sandalwood oil has become seriously compromised. Harvesting practices over the past 30-40 years in the forests of Mysore have resulted in the virtual depletion of most mature trees. Many remaining trees in Mysore are too immature to produce quality sandalwood or sandalwood oil. Despite sustainable growing requirements in place today, forests are still being illegally plundered by bandits and poachers who rape the forests of immature trees. High quality oil still comes from the Indian province of Tamil Nadu in limited quantities where more mature trees can be found. In Vietnam and New Caledonia one can also find plantations of genuine sandalwood.

Recent government regulations and sustainable practices have now begun to slowly reverse the current lack of availability of high quality oil but for the immediate future many incense and oil suppliers refuse to buy or sell sandalwood oil or incense for moral reasons. For that reason pure sandalwood incense is now very difficult to obtain.

We have always specialized in sandalwood incense for many reasons. Sandalwood creates a unique subtle influence in the atmosphere. The sweet woody scent of pure sandalwood has been a clear personal favorite of our customers for many years.

One particular customer favorite was Yoga Brand sandalwood incense (originally known as Lakshmi brand). In addition to its pleasant aroma it was inexpensive at .65 per pack. Unfortunately the company changed its formula for that particular brand sometime in early 2009. At the present time we do not recommend or carry it.

The highest quality “Crest Jewel Celestial” pure sandalwood incense we offered in the past is currently unavailable because the price we would have to charge for that particular pure sandalwood incense has more than doubled while the quality of the ingredients has gone down.

At the present time it is unclear whether a sufficient number of customers would be willing to pay the price we would have to charge for a lesser quality product even though, in our opinion, it would still surpass anything else now available in the market. Many other traditional sandalwood incense formulas still available in the market have been changed and frequently have been reworked to include the addition of synthetic ingredients.

The unfortunate change in Yoga Brand sandalwood incense and the fact that each time we order we learn of at least one or two other sandalwood brands being discontinued propelled us to begin a search for inexpensive but appealing sandalwood brand alternatives. Our research has taken us in many directions and we have sampled many different brands of sandalwood incense at every possible price point from a number of different countries.

What follows is a preliminary list from of our comprehensive incense test. It will soon include descriptions from several incense connoisseurs who participated in that test as well as basic information about each incense brand that we now carry. To see the complete continually upated list of our favorites in all categories

click here.

Sandalwood:

name	sku #	picture	Quality	source	type	price
Auromere Sandalwood	1		great	India	stick
Auromere Sandal	2		good	India	stick
Mysore Sandalwood	3		good	India	9 sticks	3.75
Mysore Sandalwood	4		good	India	6 sticks	2.50
Maui Lani Sandalwood	5		good	India	sticks	2.50
Golden Sandalwood	6		good	India	9 sticks	3.75
Sandalwood Supreme	7		good	India	15" stick	7.50
Shroff White Sandal	8		OK	India		2.50
Mountain Naturals Sandalwood	9		good	US	stick	10.00
Sandesh Sandal	10		OK	India	stick	1.50
Siromani Chandan Bathi	11		OK	India	stock	1.00
Sandalwood Extra	12		OK	India	6 sticks	2.50
Incense works Sandalwood	13		OK temp out	India	sticks
Sai Sandal	14		OK-temp out	India	sticks
Chandan Deluxe Bathi	15		OK	India	sticks	1.25
Tendan Sanalwood	16		good	Japan	mol sticksded
NKMSSM Sandalwood	17		good	Japan	6 sticks	2.50

We also experimented with cedar wood and, with the encouragement of one customer, extended our testing to aloewood.

We prefer natural incense over brands that include artificial ingredients. Over the past year we have completed several phases of a comprehensive incense test. We have discovered several brands of sandalwood incense that we like and we have chosen brands that we rate anywhere from “OK” to “good”. We found a very small number that are excellent. In addition, as a result of the process of testing so called “pure” sandalwood brands we have found several new “blends” that we like very much.

Most of our current customers prefer stick incense that is either dipped or hand rolled. We are slowly beginning to move in the direction of high quality powders, chips and resins that will appeal to the “connoisseur” market. For the reasons stated previously high quality sandalwood chips are very difficult to locate. We will also be offering someTibetan and Japanese incense.