Gaura Aguru is a pale sandy colour paste on a pale yellow bamboo stick. The stick aroma is peppermint, department store perfume counter with hints of Chanel No 5, and wild musk. Very attractive and engaging. It burns with a full swirl of smoke with the most amazing range of colours I've seen - blue, yellow, brown, flashes and hints of red, moments of gold and silver.
Agura is the Sanskrit for Agarwood, the infected heartwood of a small range of now endangered trees. Also known as "oud", the perfume made from the heartwood is so beautiful, and now so rare, that the fragrant wood is the most expensive in the world - averaging 18,000 euros for one kilo. Good articles at Fragrantica: Agarwood (Oud), and Why is oud so popular?
The aroma when burning doesn't live up to the promise on the stick - this is fairly common. The surface aroma of a hand rolled stick will be the delicate perfumes which can be burned off too quickly to catch, while the woody base paste which keeps the stick burning, and which forms not just the combustible material but also the base aroma notes, can overwhelm. Some incense can be elusive when burned, and may best be experienced from a little distance, rather than from too near the smoke, which may carry too much of the combustible aroma. This incense is like that - and when it wafts over it carries the scent of coconuts on the breeze, and a hint of minerals and a tropical beach. The perfume counter is also present, with its suggestion of No 5. This is a fairly exotic and sensual aroma. Musk at the base, coconut swirling through the middle, and that No 5 as part of the top notes. There's also some licorice in the mix, fading in and out now and again. This is a flirty and delicious incense, great for preparing a room for a sensual or romantic mood. I love it.
Gaura is a brand of the Gokula-incense site, which is run by a couple who are passionate about good quality incense. The sticks are hand rolled in India from pure and natural ingredients. No synthetics.
Date: May 2013 Score: 44
Steve, they've changed the name of this one to Agarwood & Jasmine. I have a different take of this one than you do. I don't detect any musk, coconut, or licorice in the mix. What I do detect is the apparent perfumed top note of an oud mukhalat that tends towards the alcoholic after prolonged burning. At first, I could detect both the top note and its vanilla/sandal base that had some balance and was intriguing, but quickly changed into the top heavy perfume counter that doesn't sit well with me. What I was hoping for, was an earthier agar fragrance with some jasmine notes. I could not detect any jasmine. This descended into a cloying, nose irritation for me, unfortunately. I had such high hopes for it. Ah, well, a day in the life of a sniffer. My order from them has arrived. Their cinnamon, once called Shyam, is now under the Classic label and is fabulous as well as the Blue Lotus Connoisseur sticks.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the update on the name, and your responses to the scent. I love that scent is so fragile and elusive and variable that people can have varied experiences. When I was very active in beer appreciation, it was interesting to note both the dissimilar and the similar reactions to a beer when with a group of people. Also interesting was when someone suggested a flavour or reaction that nobody else had noticed. Sometimes others would not pick up that flavour, and it would remain unique to that person, other times the suggestion could spread. We could not tell if the suggestion was an opener to a genuine flavour experience, or if the suggestion was making us taste something that was not there!
DeleteI like doing taste comparisons with groups, and have done it with a number of products, including incense. The same experiences apply as applied with beer. A suggestion can open up possibilities or send people down a dead end. Flavour and scent experiences are individual - many of those experiences will be shared, but some will be unique.
I have also noticed that I can experience the same product on different occasions and have different reactions. The product (beer, wine, food, incense) may be exactly the same - same batch, etc, but the environment may have changed - the temperature of the room, other odours in the room, the time of day, or I have changed. I am more or less tired. I have just eaten spicy or sweet food, or drunk a lot of wine. Etc, etc.
There is no absolute scent or flavour. There may be central core flavours/scents that are experienced by the majority of people, but there will always be unique aspects to any subjective sensory experience. What I aim to do on this blog is note my experiences, mostly for myself, as my record of my journey through discovering and learning about incense, but also to share with others. What I also hope is that people like yourself will share with me their own experiences with the same and different incense. I follow up on suggestions. Sometimes, like you, I am disappointed by the suggestions, other times I am delighted.
I am really glad you have pointed me toward new incense, and also that you feedback on your experiences with the incenses I have tried. I always look forward to your comments as they make me reflect back on my experience. At some point I will see if I have any more of this Aguru / Agarwood & Jasmine and return to it to see if the coconut is still there for me, and if I still find it flirty and delicious, or if some 8 years later I too find it cloying and top heavy.