How to Spot Pure Sandalwood

Real chandan is rare, slow-grown and expensive to produce — which is exactly why the market is flooded with imitations: colour-dyed softwoods, starch-bound powders and synthetic fragrance sprayed onto cheap chips. Here is how to tell genuine sandalwood from a fake, so you always know what you're offering in your rituals.

1. Trust the aroma, not the intensity

Pure sandalwood has a soft, warm, milky-sweet scent that is subtle at first and deepens the longer you hold it. A sharp, heady, perfume-like blast usually means synthetic fragrance oil has been added. Genuine chandan never overwhelms — it settles the mind.

2. The grinding-stone test

Rub a sandalwood stick on a wet stone (as you would to make tilak paste). Real chandan releases a smooth, pale, fragrant paste and the aroma lingers on your skin for hours without turning bitter. Fakes give a gritty paste, fade within minutes, or smell of alcohol as the added scent evaporates.

3. Colour and grain

Genuine white sandalwood (safed chandan) is pale yellow-brown with a fine, even grain; red sandalwood (lal chandan) is a deep natural maroon, not a bright artificial red. Uniform, painted-looking colour or a powdery bloom on the surface is a warning sign of dye.

4. Be realistic about price

If the price seems too good to be true, it almost certainly is. Authentic sandalwood costs what it costs because the tree takes decades to mature. Cut-price "pure chandan" is nearly always blended with fillers or look-alike woods.

5. Ask for proof

A trustworthy seller can show you a lab report. Genuine sandalwood can be tested by GC-MS for its santalol content — the natural compound responsible for its aroma and Ayurvedic value. If a seller can't or won't share test results, treat the "purity" claim with caution.

How we guarantee purity

Every batch we sell is sourced directly from trusted growers in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, inspected by hand, and third-party tested for santalol content and adulteration before it ships. We never cut, dye or perfume our chandan. If what you receive isn't genuine sandalwood, we refund you in full — and you can request the batch report at any time.