Goloka Patchouli

Goloka are one of my favourite incense makers - they make top quality products with natural ingredients, training and employing widows who would otherwise struggle to survive, and profits are returned to the community to help disadvantaged children. The packaging is made from recycled paper, and uses beautiful designs. The aroma here is soft, seductive, and very pleasant. There are sharp, acidic edges which provide balance and interest to the warm, musky tones. I'm not getting too much of the dark, sweet, sexy patchouli, but there is aromatic sandalwood, which I like. Goloka do use sandalwood well - it's a rich, pine fresh, woody sandalwood that wakes and soothes the senses. Goloka also tend to use halmaddi, though I'm not getting too much of that here - just a hint in the sharp edges and a suggestion of damp sheep's wool.

All in all this is a very rewarding, softly sensual fragrance that will warm up a room and welcome guests. The sticks are thin - a fine masala hand rolled onto a thin charcoal paste over green-dyed bamboo sticks. Top quality stuff. I'm a little disappointed that not much patchouli shows through, but otherwise this is a great little incense. It's not an awesome fragrance to grab your attention, but it does the job in a very classy way.

Date: Nov 2015   Score: 36

***

Goloka

Patchouli
Score: 25

PMS Mister Chef Sandalwood Essence Mosquito Repellent Coil

Cheap, but crap. Burns for ages, but the aroma is faint and vaguely chemical. We burn it in the outhouse where we feed the cats, but it generates so little smoke that we doubt if it would be any use outdoors. The coils are made in pairs, so the first thing you have to do is separate them, which is a VERY TRICKY job, and you are as likely to be successful as you are to break at least one of the coils. Made for PMS International.

Epic fail.

Date: Nov 2015   Score: 15

Sandalwood

Unbranded Agarwood

This is an unbranded pack of Agarwood incense that came free with an incense burning box. It's just a cheap, perfume dipped incense, but the fragrance is sweet and divine. Sometimes the cheap and everyday can be more subtle and rewarding than the more expensive artisinal products. It's not really who or how a product is made, or how much it costs, it's really all down to how much you as an individual enjoy it. And I really enjoyed this. Sadness is, that because it's unbranded, I don't know who made it, and so would be unable to buy it again.....

Date: Nov 2015   Score: 37

***

The best agarwood incense

Top Ten Perfume-Dipped
Incense Sticks

Vintage Incense
(Incense not available from
this brand for over a year)

Nandita Dehn Al Oudh

Nandita  make my favourite incense, Nandita Wood Spice, so I am favourably disposed toward them. This is a small sample box, similar to their Nag Champa sample box I reviewed in May.
Agarwood (or oud) is a traditional fragrance made from tree resin. I have had Gaura Aguru, an artisanal incense, and a generic, unbranded Agarwood, that came free with an incense burning box I purchased. I loved the unbranded Agarwood, and would buy that again in copious quantity. It was an unpretentious, everyday cheap perfume-dipped incense, yet with a sweet and delicious fragrance. This fragrance, by Nandita, is more halmaddi and sandalwood than agarwood. It's pleasant enough, but doesn't call attention to itself, and burns away unremarkably  in the background. It's made from a masala mix lightly rolled onto a charcoal base, and then dipped in a scent. It's OK, and I'm enjoying it, but I'm not sure that it's special enough,  having tried the sample, to seek out and buy a full box.

Date: Nov 2015  Score: 28

***

The best agarwood incense

Nandita Fragrances of Mumbai

Stamford Red Rose Incense Cones

Modest run-of-the-mill floral-fragranced cones. They burn nicely and are inoffensive, but there's nothing special or interesting or high quality about them. I bought a large box for cheap off the internet, there are good deals available if you look on Amazon. While not special, they serve well to lightly fragrance a room with a floral  bouquet  Ideal for the bathroom or toilet.

Date: Nov 2015   Score: 23

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