I have received a range of samples from Junaid, export manager at Koya's Incense of Bangalore.
Koya's was founded in Bangalore in 1970 by Ahamed Kutti, who came from Kerala in Southwest India. The three best selling brands are Vishnu Leela, Maya Supreme and Intimate. They are a well established Indian incense company with a wide range of products including perfumed and natural/masala incense sticks, and currently export to several Asian countries. They don't yet have an export deal with the West, though some incense was available in America through Amazon, and received a positive response.
I have been exploring the range of incenses Junaid has sent me, and the perfumed incenses are decent quality - long lasting, no off-notes, and with attractive perfumes. They are decent everyday perfumed incenses. But it is the masala range that has impressed me. The everyday masalas are damn good, and excellent value for money based on their domestic prices, while some of the premium masalas, such as their Nirvana, are world class, and are either in my Heavenly collection or my Top Drawer.
This Vishnu Leela is not one of the premium masalas, it is an every day masala, retailing domestically at 12 rupees for 18g, about 12 sticks. That's around 1p per stick. There is an interesting bubblegum aroma on the stick - a sort of blend of banana, cherry and strawberry with a hint of clove, and then peppermint and warm milk, and eventually the herbs come through more strongly. It's kind of interesting that the scents from the stick can appear in the same order as when being burned - that is the lighter, higher notes, the fruits, the citric, come though first, and the denser, woody notes come through last. I kind of thought they would just jump out at the same time. When burned there is a more sombre feel to the scent combination, and it is less breezy - the fruits don't stand out so bright. Overall it's a damn fine incense, but to make it stand out more and to become world class I think there would need to be more fragrant ingredients in the mix. I think they are struggling a little against the base material (which is dark and crumbly like charcoal) so that at times there is a slightly acrid note, and just a little too much woodiness for the fruits and herbs to really fly. But this is not pitched at premium level - this is an everyday masala, and a damn fine one - excellent value for money.
Date: Oct 2021 Score: 36
Just revisiting this as it came to hand as I was clearing my desk. I do like this. I'm moving it up slightly. It's a solid everyday masala with touches of heavenly. Just on the cusp. Very nice. Warm, soothing, gentle scent.
Date: Dec 2022 Score: 38
 |
I have been in contact with Koya for more than a week and am still waiting for them to send me an invoice for the boxes that I want. I ran across them on the web and their line looks interesting. I also avoided the perfumed sticks, but I wish they weren't so flakey about getting back to me.
ReplyDeleteI have sent a message to Junaid about this. Hopefully they will be in touch to sort things out.
DeleteI apologise on behalf of the company, my name is Junaid PI and I'm the Export manager of Koyas, please contact me on this number, +91 7829214005 or email me exports.koyasgroup@gmail.com and I shall get back to you immediately.
ReplyDeleteJunaid, I sent you an email............😀
ReplyDeleteSteve, I see the masalas and the hand dipped/perfumed are described on their site. But the price of Visnu Leela is the same as Nirvana Premium and it is listed as a masala. Which are the premium sticks, then?
ReplyDeleteThe Leela I have in front of me has a price of 12 Rupees for 18g. The Nirvana is 55 Rupees for 30g. The HeavenWood is 55 Rupees for 30g. The Oudh is 150 Rupees for 10 sticks (about 20g), which is way more expensive than ELIF's boxes. I've not burned that one yet. That's around 15 times more expensive than regular masala, and on the usual mark up on imported incense where a 12 Rupee box (equal to 12p) becomes, on average, around £2, a 15 times markup, the Oudh would cost around £20 - £25 in the UK.
DeleteI've been joining in with moaning about the price some UK distributors charge, but perhaps I have not been looking closely enough at the prices those distributors have to pay to buy the incense in the first place.
I know Paul Eagle was starting to struggle to make a profit on his Happy Hari line, and that was a contributing factor in his suicide. Transport costs were going up, but people were reluctant to pay the extra costs. I think I tend to empathise with those who are uncomfortable with some of the high prices that some distributors are charging these days, because I have occasionally noted the same incense being sold at considerably different prices by different distributors, and also noticed how Japanese incense has started to sky rocket because there is a market out there who are willing to pay the extra price. I'll need to check my records, but there was one Japanese incense that I bought at one price direct from the maker - I liked the incense, and when I went to buy it the next year it had gone up over ten times because the interest in that maker had increased.
DeleteI suppose us bloggers and reviewers can be partly to blame for such price increases, if we start to generate an interest in a particular incense!
Steve, the Vishnu Leela is marked 55INR on their website. I think they are larger quantities than what you got in 1 box, probably for the Indian market. Junaid told me it is a premium stick.
ReplyDeleteNot a problem. For me this is not a heavy, rich, complex incense, it is an everyday incense. How the company market it or what they wish to call it is another matter. The word "premium" is perhaps a bit vague, but I wished to convey the sense that this was an approachable incense, an incense that you would buy and burn on an everyday basis rather than for special occasions, and that the everyday price sort of matched that approachable experience.
DeleteI just looked at the website. You'll need to speak to Junaid about the pricing, because they have the perfumed Pineapple incense shown as being the same price as the masala Heavenwood. I can't image they are selling the same quantities at those prices because the Heavenwood contains more expensive ingredients. I am aware that some perfumes are expensive, and some masalas are quite cheap to make, and I have various boxes of masala incense from various companies marked up at the same price as some perfumed incense, and the Pineapple is a really nice perfumed incense (we all like it), and it is marked as "premium", but - for me - this is not in the same category, and I can't imagine it would cost the same to make. But, then again, pricing is part of marketing, and Companies will price what the market will pay. If people are willing to pay the same price in India for a perfumed incense as for a masala incense, then so be it. In the West, of course, we are willing to pay more for masala incense.
DeleteI marvel at how confused this company seems to be. For 2 weeks now, no clear communication about what I ordered and how it should be shipped. The right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing. Sad. I find many Indian companies like this.
ReplyDeleteI find many international orders to be tricky, regardless of the country of origin. And sometimes I despair of some UK companies who drag their heels over orders, and then still make mistakes! On the positive side, it is so much easier to order stuff these days. The internet has speeded up buying so much! I can order all sorts of things, selecting from clear images and descriptions and clear pricing, and paying in seconds with PayPal, and the goods often arriving the next day or within a few days, safely packed. As an older man, that still impresses the hell out of me!
DeleteSure, that's true. Nevertheless, I remain frustrated with many Indian websites, not only those which sell incense.
ReplyDeleteI stopped using Paypal years ago. I use my Wise debit card which saves me a lot on exchange rates and fees to almost any currency and I can direct deposit into anyone's account. You living in England qualify to register with Wise. If you don't use it, you are missing out on what the next level of banking is. Almost instantaneous transfers and direct deposits at a fraction of the costs of Paypal and most conventional banks. Mid market exchange rates.
I shall look into that Wise card. When I was in Thailand I did have an international credit card which charged no fees. I can't remember what it was called. But I do remember that all the advice was a) to pay it off immediately, and b) not to use it at home because that's where the charges come in, and where they made their money, so when I did get home I paid it off and threw it away. I'll check to see if it was a Wise card, but I doubt it because mine was a credit card.
DeleteI just checked. Mine was a Halifax Clarity International Credit Card. It's still regarded as one of the best cards for buying goods abroad.
DeleteMoneySavingExpert
That Wise card looks good. I'll suggest it to my daughter in Thailand.
DeleteWise card is a debit card, not a credit card.
ReplyDeleteInteresting comments about Koya's incense. I have a incense shop in the USA. I had contacted Koya via email about wholesale possibilities on select products offered.
ReplyDeleteThe website indicated, 'free samples', which is always appreciated considering risk ordering bulk without any experience with product.
Junaid was quick to reply. However, he sent me a link to their Amazon store. He suggested I buy a pack off Amazon, to try.
I found this a bit strange, considering a possible bulk order, even though I would have paid for shipping on any free samples.
I ordered the Oud off Amazon. I found it a bit disappointing. More smokey with a smoke scent. I am familiar with Oud/Agarwood incense from Vietnam, and was looking for a similar quality, but did not find it here.
Hi. In my experience it is each to their own as regards liking one particular incense or not. This is not something one can measure on an absolute scale. I get a number of recommendations, not all of which I like. It happens.
DeleteI am unaware of any quality Vietnam incense manufacturers, so I assume you mean that you have had incense made by a company in India or Japan or the Middle East which has used agarwood from Vietnam. And it would likely be Japan as they tend to be the ones mainly interested in Vietnamese agarwood.
Agarwood tends to be richer and more redolent when left to mature over a number of years. When Aquilaria trees are planted to produce agarwood there is a tendency to harvest them early in order to start recouping the investment. As such, older trees which are found growing wild tend to produce the richer agarwood. Vietnam is one of the places where older trees are found, though it has been much exploited over the years, and supplies are dwindling, so prices of Vietnamese agarwood are now very expensive. Older trees are also found in parts of Northern India, Bhutan, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, etc. Supplies are available from these places, but extraction and distribution is not as advanced as in Vietnam - perhaps due to difficultly in reaching the trees, or just not having the infrastructure in place.
Japanese incense makers tend to purchase a lot of Vietnamese agarwood, so I am wondering if you are comparing a Japanese incense like Kouboku Ginmi, which contains Vietnamese agarwood, with Koya's Oudh. I think the price difference would indicate that Koya's Oudh does not contain Vietnamese agarwood. Ginmi costs around £100 a packet, while Koya's Oudh costs around £1.50 a packet. I have not yet reviewed Koya's Oudh, but I have burned it and while I like it, I did not like it as much as the Heavenwood. I found the Heavenwood to have a decent agarwood aroma, and have confirmed with Junaid that it does contain agarwood. Oddly, I don't detect as much agarwood in the Oudh. I found the Oudh to be lighter and more floral than the Heavenwood; though, yes, there is Bukhoor in it, along with rose.
If you send me your address I'll happily send you a Heavenwood sample. What incense shop do you have in America? You can contact me by email if you do not wish to reveal your shop or your name. My email: silktork@gmail.com
I think I'll do a review of the Oudh now.
There are also Aquilaria tree plantations in Vietnam, so younger (and hence cheaper) agarwood can also be bought from Vietnam, but I have assumed you meant older agarwood.
Delete