Kesar Gulab is a saffron and rose blend. Saffron blended with sandalwood is a common mix, and saffron and rose appears to be close behind in popularity. My packet is one of the ink blob samples that Shreyas of VNS sent to me - it is just readable as Kesar Gulab. The incense normally comes in a standard masala pack, shown below.
The scent on the burn is exquisite, elegant, feminine, delicate. Turkish delight is the main scent association. When I burned the Padma Store sample in 2022, I found the scent on the burn quite faint, not so with this sample. I feel enveloped in fluffy quilt of Turkish delight. Gently sweet, delicately floral, tickled with spice and sandalwood. There is less awareness of the saffron on the burn, but it is there, and once I catch hold of it, it is quite bright and bold. I like this a lot. A little feminine and floral for my taste, but I am bewitched.
Kesar Gulab is available from Padma Store for 6.85 Euros, from Everest Trader for $5.00, from Lotus Zen for £6.25, and from VNS at 100 rupees (85p) for 20g. (If you live outside India, to buy from VNS you need to contact Shreyas Sugandhi at vns@vnsons.com)
Date: Sept 2025 Score: 44
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| First review |
Sample from Padmastore, who sell a 20g pack for €6.45 (£5.53). Sold in India by Vinasons for $1.24 (£1.07). Unfortunately, Vinasons don't post to the UK or US. [2025 update: If you live outside India, to buy from VNS you need to contact Shreyas Sugandhi at vns@vnsons.com].
This is my first experience of Vinasons, and I like this Kesar Gulab (Saffron Rose). The company is based in a shop in Pune with a good location on Bagade Road. Their products are available in a variety of outlets in US, and via Padma Store in Europe, though not in the UK itself. [2025 update - Lotus Zen offer a good range of VNS]
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| Inside Vinasons shop |
The Vinasons shop was founded in 1883 by Manmohandas Sugandhi, selling spices and essential oil (attar) - it later included incense sticks among its products, including at some point their own sticks, perfumed with their own attar (essential oil). The business name is based on Vithaldas Narayandas and his sons (V N and Sons - Vi Na Sons). The area of Pune where the shop is based is Budhwar Peth, which by day is a popular retail area, especially for electrical goods, and by night is even more popular for its girls. There are various articles and videos about the area's colourful nightlife, somewhat overshadowing its more sober daytime businesses.
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| Vinasons shop in Budhwar Peth |
The Kesar Gulab incense stick presents as a proper job masala. It is a charcoal-based fragrant-paste hand-rolled onto a pink-dyed machine-cut bamboo splint, and then covered in a woody melnoorva/masala powder to prevent the moist sticks from binding together, and to give a pleasing and aromatic appearance. The charcoal paste is very dry. There is a beautiful scent on the stick - quite sweet, flowery, edible; a blend of toffee and Turkish delight and Parma Violets. There's an underlying hint of fresh leather (which is possibly the saffron). It's bloody gorgeous.
The scent on the burn is a little limp and, to be honest, disappointing. The stick promises much, but the bulk of that promise is not based on traditional solid masala ingredients such as resin, tree bark, petals, etc; the promise is based on the aromatic powder, and that perfume is not delivered in the burn - presumably because perfume/essential oil evaporates too quickly. After burning for 30 minutes there is a pleasant aroma in the room - gently floral, sweet, kind, like a young woman on a summer's day in a summer dress walking in the sunshine in a field of flowers. It's a nice scent. It burns for around 45 to 50 minutes and gently informs the room in a pleasant, soft, flowery manner. Despite the languid manner of the burn, I like this, and am keen to explore more of Vinasons products.
Date: Nov 2022 Score: 31
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