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| Seventh review - scroll down for earlier |
This is a Bangalore box - it has (BNG) in the name, the green Earth logo, and only uses the Bangalore address. The logo is an early one, and one I don't recall seeing before: a red S over a yellow S. It is similar to the original Satya logo, but with different colouring. The first logo that Nagraj in Mumbai used was also similar to the original - though his was a red S over a blue S, and said Mumbai not Bangalore. Both brothers then changed their logos to those that are used today.
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| The early Bangalore logo |
It would be interesting if someone did a history of the Satya logos. That would help to identify what year the incense in the packet was made.
Anyway - the incense. Yes, this is nice. Flowery and charming scent on the cone. Rose, lotus, and jasmine are the florals that spring to mind. It is a jolly, bright, and uplifting scent. When lit, there is a generous amount of smoke. I like a cone to produce smoke. If there's no smoke, for me it's not proper incense. The scent on the burn is soft and gentle though not shy. It diffuses rapidly and with vigour, so the whole room and beyond is rapidly fragranced. Though soft, there are sharp points in the accord which keep it fresh and lively. The florals are kept from being twee or sickly by a soft brown muskiness, which just touches on patchouli. And there's also a faint damp earthiness, which I like.
I have always liked this scent, though all the ups and down of different productions by the Setty brothers, though I feel it is more of a room freshener or cleaner, than a scent I can settle down with and enjoy by itself. But it is one of our favourites, and I do like to keep stocked up.
Date: Nov 2025 Score: 37
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| Sixth review |
I love the scent of Super Hit, and the convenience of the cones, so we usually have a stock in the house, and - to be honest - we often use them as an everyday room freshener in the toilet or kitchen. I have found the cones to be somewhat variable over the years - particularly as Nagraj Setty, the "Mumbai" brother who was in charge of distribution, moved production around from place to place after Satya split up - though wherever it was made, I generally found the scent to be pleasant. The scent in this batch, which has an image of the founder of Satya, Satyam Setty, on the box, above the original Satya logo which was used when Satyam was alive, is the scent I have always enjoyed. However, this batch is very smoky, and has an eye-stinging and headache-inducing impact. Even with the window open directly above the burning cone, the eye-stinging and headache-inducing impact penetrates into the rest of the house. Great scent, awful personal impact. The main cause of eye-irritation and headaches when burning incense is not necessarily due to chemicals or synthetic fragrances,
the irritations are
generally caused by
volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which are present in all scents
including pure essential oils - the irritation, it seems, is due to
the amount and type of VOC, and to
individual sensitivity.
Anyway, putting this more simply - this batch of Super Hit (which comes from
an Amazon source I have bought Super Hit from four times previously) contains a scent compound that is very irritating. It is so irritating that we have stopped using these cones. I am giving this batch a very low score not because of the scent but because of the negative reaction to the VOCs - but will average out the scores from all six reviews for my listings.
Date: Oct 2023 Score: 18
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| Fifth review |
Running short of cones, I added a box of these when ordering a bundle of
Golden Nag series from
The Holistice Eporium. I'd forgotten how much I like Super Hit. Really, this scent is something of a classic, and is a must try if you're into incense and have never burned it. I immediately sought out my regular source on Amazon -
12 boxes for £8.30, with free postage, and ordered some more. Bargain.
And I've been burning these cones since 2013, enjoying them, and buying them in bulk, but for some reason always keeping them just out of my Heavenly list. Silly. This is one of my favourite everyday scents. Bumping it up to 40.
This has the logo of Nagraj Setty, the brother who was in charge of distribution before the family broke up. Nagraj has said that he devised the scent. [2025: I am sure the scent was devised by the founder of the company, Satyam Setty, and that these days neither brother is making a claim for ownership, so it is a scent that both Satya Mumbai and Satya Bangalore produce] These are perfume-dipped* cones which burn cleanly and strongly, but not aggressively - though some may find them a little sweet and heady.
*[2025: The term "perfume-dipped" is emotive and contentious. It generally means that the perfume has been added to a blank (or "punk") stick/cone, while "masala" generally implies that solid and natural fragrant ingredients, such as flowers, woods, spices, and resins have been folded into a paste along with fixatives and enhancers, and that the paste is then coated in a powder (generally called masala powder or melnoorva). The reality is that most sticks sold as "masala" these days are also perfume-dipped, though have a coating of powder to give the appearance of being a proper masala. In addition, even if the masala stick is made more traditionally with the fragrant ingredients folded into the paste before being rolled or extruded, the fragrant ingredients may be the same sort of oils as used in perfume-dipped products. Added to which, some products which appear to be perfume dipped because they have no coating of melnoorva/masala powder, actually have the fragrant ingredients (solid and/or oils) enfolded into the paste. I suspect I called these cones "perfume-dipped" because they have a strong fragrance on the cone which generally indicates that the scent was added externally (dipped, coated, poured, or sprayed) as when a scent ingredient is enfolded into the paste it is less noticeable. However, what some makers do with their enfolded fragrance products, is to add a scent externally to make the products more appealing and reassuring when they are removed from the packet. While some products are clearly and obviously traditional masala, and some are clearly and obviously low cost perfume-dipped, there is much between those two extremes which can be hard to identify for sure.]
Date: Oct 2023 Score: 40
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| Fourth review. Bought from Tibetan Dawn |
A fresh box from Tibetan Dawn. As with the
Fresh Rose, this is quite fresh and heady, yet is in a box with the old pre-2014 logo. If this is old stock it has kept remarkably well. It's quite delicious. If it's a fake, it's very good. [2025: I've not come across an actual Satya fake during the whole time I've had this blog, though at the time I wrote this review, I'd read a lot of comments about Satya fakes. Over the past year or so, I've looked more closely at the posts complaining about fakes, and looked at the pictures and comments. In every case the "fakes" were due to the confusion regarding the Setty brothers splitting up, and Nagraj Setty starting his own Satya business in Mumbai. The confusion is made worse because both brothers have changed the packaging over the years. Looking back at the reviews in this post, I think I have been reviewing cones from both Bangalore and Mumbai. None of them are "fakes"!]
Date: Dec 2020 Score: 39
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| Third review |
I got a new box of Super Hit and noticed a considerable difference to an older box I have. The scent on the cone was the same - something like fabric conditioner, but with a candy sweetness, and a hint of summer fruit and spring flowers - but on burning, the scent was fresh, alive and beautiful compared to the older box, The cones from the older box, when burned, tended to have a scent more based on sawdust than on fragrance. When burned side by side this is very noticeable. The difference could be due to the new box being fresher, though it could also be due to my older box not being made in Bangalore.
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| New Super Hit is on the left in each picture |
I don't rate the older Super Hit very high when compared to the new - it's mainly sawdust. But the new box is fresh and strong. The new box is made by Nagraj Setty the brother who is based in Mumbai, and is clearly handmade. The cones in the older box appear to be machine made. It could have been one of Nagraj Setty's early efforts when the Satya company was initially split. The other brother, Balkrishna, did complain that Nagraj was using machines at that point. If this Super Hit cone is anything to go by, it appears that Nagraj has sorted out his teething problems, and is making good quality incense.
Date: April 2018 Score: 35
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| Second review |
These cones are one of my standard go to incenses. I buy them in bulk, and use them frequently. I always enjoy them, and find the smoke very pleasant, with absolutely no irritations or off notes. The aroma is not attention seeking or dramatic, it simply is a very good, slightly sensual and almost dreamy scent. It's a great background aroma that calms a house and calms the mood. It gives a general sense of well being. I use them so much I barely even think about them, and in the bath the other day as the incense smoke was drifting around the room, helping me relax and unwind, I thought I'd come back here and nudge the score up a bit. I'm not pushing the score so high it goes into my Top Ten largely because this isn't a scent to impress or truly delight, but it's certainly one of the greatest everyday scents that I have bought, and so deserves to be moved higher.
Date: Nov 2016 Score: 39
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| First review |
Super Hit is sold in cones and sticks. Made by Shrinivas Sugandhalaya of Bangalore since 1964. The company also make the
Satya Sai Baba brand of Nag Champa - the world's best selling
Nag Champa. Super Hit is part of the Satya brand, and is the company's second most popular incense.
The cones produce a lot of smoke and burn fairly rapidly. The smoke is soft and pleasant to inhale. The fragrance is woody and sweet and fairly intense with mild musk tones. some sandalwood, honey and vanilla, and a bit of rose. It isn't as dreamy as Nag Champa, but there's an attractive robust earthiness about it, that gives it a bit of an edge. To be used, perhaps, when Nag Champa has become a bit cloying, or when a stronger fragrance is desired. May be used to more quickly cover up bad odours.
Sticks and cones can be bought from Amazon. Best deals are £10.35 for
approx 180 sticks [2023 price -£7.41], and £14.25
for 144 cones [2023 price - £8.45]. Cones are a form of
dhoop - a compressed incense paste that holds together and burns without the need for a bamboo stick.
Date: Feb 2013 Score: 33
***
