Incense In The Wind

Radiating Incense In The Wind - a painting by Hai Linh Le

Saturday 27 October 2018

Aasha Aromatics Oudh




Perfumed incense is the most popular incense in India, and is what most Indians burn everyday at home or in the temples.  Aasha Aromatics are an independent incense maker in Ahmedabad, the former capital of the ancient Indian state of Gujarat which has a history stretching back to the Indus Valley Civilisation, one of the original three cradles of civilisation. The company was founded forty years ago, and is owned and run by Vikram. They put together decent everyday incense packs of some of the most popular scents, including this Oudh (agarwood). 




Agarwood (or oud), also known as aloeswood, and as agura in Sanskrit, is a traditional fragrance made from tree resin. It comes from the infected heartwood of a small range of now endangered trees - the Aquilaria trees, large evergreens native to southeast Asia. The trees occasionally become infected with mould and produce an aromatic resin in response. As the infection develops, a rich, dark resin grows inside the heartwood. Agar was once such a common incense ingredient that in India the word "agar" is used for "incense". 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?

This is a sweet and seductive scent- it does hold some of the precious qualities of agarwood, it has that rich languorous sexual quality which makes it so seductive. I like this. It's not a top notch agarwood, and the solvent nature of the scent is quite apparent,  but it's pretty decent for an everyday incense, and is one that could be used to prepare the house for a romantic/erotic evening.


Date: Oct 2018   Score: 30
***


Aasha Aromatics

No comments:

Post a Comment

Please leave a comment: