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| Third review - for earlier reviews scroll down |
A simple stick - cheaply and crudely made with hand-cut bamboo splints of varying thickness, yet the scent is sublime. Musky sweet, with an intoxicating depth. This is my original stock, so is over four years old, yet the scent still feels fresh and resonant, yet also subtle and complex. Whatever oil has been used in this stick it works for me. The middle to top notes are warm and spicy with memories of nutmeg, cinnamon, and clove - like a Christmas biscuit, and this informs and keeps alive and interesting the hearty base which is woody, sweet, and musky.
I'm not one to consider the intentions of a perfume maker - I enjoy the thoughts of Roland Barthes as expounded in The Death of The Author, which formed the basis of reader-response theory, which can be summed up as "the meaning of a text is not determined by the author's intention, but rather by the reader's interpretation". Each of us bring to a scent our individual experiences, memories, emotions, hormones, and each moment we experience a scent is different to the next, subject to the room's atmosphere, the time of day, what we have just smelt, our mood, etc. I'm interested in the background of an incense - how it was made, who made it, etc, as that can be informative and interesting, and will often add to my personal experience. But the main enjoyment will be my personal and individual response to the scent at that moment. So while it will inform my understanding to know what the Balaji perfumer was intending as they created this fragrance, I suspect they were simply looking to make a pleasant scent based on clove. And in a private moment of inhaling the scent, which may link me to the perfumer or not, I am simply relaxing into the moment and enjoying the unfolding of this clove perfume.
Yes, I like this. Very much.
I'm not one to consider the intentions of a perfume maker - I enjoy the thoughts of Roland Barthes as expounded in The Death of The Author, which formed the basis of reader-response theory, which can be summed up as "the meaning of a text is not determined by the author's intention, but rather by the reader's interpretation". Each of us bring to a scent our individual experiences, memories, emotions, hormones, and each moment we experience a scent is different to the next, subject to the room's atmosphere, the time of day, what we have just smelt, our mood, etc. I'm interested in the background of an incense - how it was made, who made it, etc, as that can be informative and interesting, and will often add to my personal experience. But the main enjoyment will be my personal and individual response to the scent at that moment. So while it will inform my understanding to know what the Balaji perfumer was intending as they created this fragrance, I suspect they were simply looking to make a pleasant scent based on clove. And in a private moment of inhaling the scent, which may link me to the perfumer or not, I am simply relaxing into the moment and enjoying the unfolding of this clove perfume.
Yes, I like this. Very much.
Date: Oct 2023 Score: 40
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| Second review |
I just noticed that this Clove Incense was my highest rated perfume dipped incense, and was in my Top Drawer. But I couldn't recall much about it. So I've dug it out and tried it again. Now, notwithstanding that it is a perfumed incense and is nearly three years old, this doesn't strike me as an incense that should be in my Top Drawer. Though it does deserve to be in Decent Stuff. It's a pleasant and slightly different perfumed incense with an attractive and unusual scent of clove. I suspect I was a bit carried away by the uniqueness of the clove aroma. It was my favourite incense for a brief moment back in the summer of 2019, but as of now, is more of a modest, low cost, but pleasing incense and something a bit different.
Date: Jan 2022 Score: 33
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| First review |
O gosh this works for me - it's my current favourite incense, and I have almost finished the packet. 74p for a pack of 10 from JustAromatherapy. I don't think I've had a clove incense before, but "the dried bud of tropical myrtle" does indeed produce "a fragrance that's warm, tranquil and everlasting". It is sweet, floral, spicy, woody, exotic, sensual, relaxing, earthy, natural, and really quite wonderful. Totally yummy.
Date: July 2019 Score: 45
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