Incense in The Wind: Aasha Aromatics

Tuesday, 16 October 2018

Aasha Aromatics

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.

This is genuine Indian incense as used everyday in homes and temples throughout the state of Gujarat. The incense is made by workers employed by Vikram, using traditional techniques combined with some modern semi-automatic technology to keep the incense economical. The bamboo sticks are coated with a perfume-impregnated charcoal paste via a semi-automated machine. Each stick is smoothly coated leaving no mess on the fingers. The pack is 10gms, and has an average of 7 sticks, so a decent amount of incense on each stick. Burning time is approx 40-50 minutes. This is decent everyday domestic incense, and I'm quite pleased with both the quality of production, and the pleasant aromas.

The goodies - all ready for sale!

After advice, encouragement and assistance from several Incense In The Wind followers, some contacts (particularly in India and America) on my incense Facebook page - Steve incense Pereira, and some incense sellers, in particular Alan Hargreaves of The Scenter, I have at last launched my incense eBay page - IncenseInTheWind.

The first incense I imported from India, the Veet incense, got damaged in transit, so I didn't want to start with that. The next incense import took a while to set up as I didn't want any more damaged stock, and there were lengthy discussions with Vikram of Aasha Aromatics to ensure the incense was suitable for transport, and would be packed carefully. It was worth the discussions, as the incense arrived safely, and is very suitable for selling on eBay via mail order as the incense is packed in flat pouches.

The set of six

The six scents I imported are

Oudh (score 30)

Cannabis Orange (score 35)

Dragons Blood (score 25)

Rose Musk (score 36)

Patchouli (score 30)

Vanilla Orange (score 27)

While not being heavenly, all the scents are sweet and pleasant, and make decent good value everyday burners. I like the three with scent combinations - rose with musk, vanilla with orange, and cannabis with orange. Cannabis as a scent seems quite bold, and to blend it with orange is really quite imaginative and funky. The three single scents are: oudh (agarwood), dragons blood, and patchouli. These scents, as regular readers know, are among my favourites, either because I enjoy their scents, or because of their long and interesting histories and traditions as scents.