Incense In The Wind

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

Wednesday 9 February 2022

Goloka Nature's Jasmine

 

Very pleasant. Light and floral and delicate and fun. This is a masala incense, and has that natural feel to the scent, along with woody notes. There is a fragrant oil used in the stick, which delivers a moderate though attractive perfume. The scent, while attractive, is fairly limited, carrying neither the bright, uplifting aspects of jasmine, nor the sensual nature, though there is some warmth. The middle notes are floral, and slightly creamy, but don't quite stand out as jasmine. We liked this a lot as a generally attractive scent, though it is fairly limited as regards being jasmine. As a general incense we'd score it in the lower to mid 30s, but as a jasmine incense a little lower.  

Date: Oct 2023   Score: 34 



Goloka Nature's Jasmine is part of Goloka's Nature Collection - "Assorted Masala Incense". At first glance it appears that the collection is based on plants - Lavender, Rose, Basil, etc, but there are oddities like Nest and Meditation.  The blurb on the Collection box says: Experience the Most Popular 12 Varieties of Nature's Series Specially Packed in Limited Edition in assortment Combo pack. Goloka Nature's Collection Incense are a unique blend of rare Herbs, Flowers, Resins and Oils free from toxic materials & a safe and natural experience. These incenses give a soothing floral fragrance." So it would appear the name is just to make the connection between the natural ingredients in the sticks, and that fragrances will be of nature. 

All the sticks in the collection are made the same way - a soft, moist, fragrant charcoal paste is hand-rolled onto a machine cut bamboo splint (instead of a manually cut bamboo splint), and then coated in a finishing powder (or melnoorva). There is a fragrant oil involved, as there is a concentrated perfumed scent; though there is no awareness of solvents. Pure essential oils are commonly blended with agarbatti oil (DEP) for economic and stability issues. 

The scent on this stick is initially woody, furniture polish (turps and beeswax), and then floral and jasmine. It's not heady, and is not bright. This is a solemn, dignified, dark jasmine - quite plunging deep with occasional lifts of bright, creamy sandalwood. It's good, but it's not winning me over. 

It burns well. Slow and methodical. The scent is there, making itself felt, but not aggressive or overpowering. This is a confident burn, though - as with others in this collection, it can burn a bit hot, and there's a little sharpness to it, a mild nip, a bit of acidity which is almost acrid. I tend to like my incense to be rich, creamy, sweet, etc. I'm not so fond of dryer incense, or incense which is too plant based, like Tibetan incense. So this one is not seducing me. I'm not against it - I'd have it as a friend, but no more than that. Yes, there's jasmine in the burn, but a dry, sombre, smoky jasmine. 

Goloka Nature's Jasmine is available in Australia from ScentOfGanges for $3.95, in the UK from Fragrancia for £3.25; and in USA from Negative Ion Store for $4.99.


Date: Feb 2022  Score: 28

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Goloka

Best jasmine incense

Jasmine v Jasmine (a burn off)


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