Aravinda's Duva Gold Original Premium Incense Sticks

   

I'm just clearing away incense that is on my desk, and a pack of Duva Gold has been left on my desk for some reason. Either I simply didn't clear it away after the review in March, or I left it on the desk for some reason - perhaps wanting to compare it with something else.  34 does seem a high score for an everyday perfumed incense - so perhaps subconsciously I felt I had been a little generous. Well, let's find out. 

The sticks are ugly. This bargain basement stuff. They do look like someone has been sticking pink bamboo splints in black dog shit, and letting it dry. Ragged little things. The scent on the stick is sharp, sweet, perfumed. It's OK. The scent on the burn is warm and smoky with a lack of clarity, but it does have some of the pleasant candy sweetness of the stick, plus an awareness of rose. There is some similarity between this and Aravinda's notable Sugandha Shringar. It's modestly attractive and quite pleasant. It is not quite a proper decent incense - but it is a top end acceptable everyday perfumed incense. Something to burn casually in the house in the morning to freshen it up with a bright, cheerful, sweet, floral note. 


Date: Aug 2023   Score: 28  

Just when I thought it was safe to go back into my incense pile, I pull out a pack of Aravinda's incense. 44p from Desi Khazana in the UK.  Scruffy looking perfumed-incense sticks - they look more like bowel cancer samples than the "premium incense" they claim on the packet. 

The name "Duva Gold" appears to be something like a golden or precious prayer. Duva is the translation of  दुआ which refers to a sacred prayer and is more often written as dua or du'a.  The scent is pleasant - a fragrant floral scent, mildly sweet. It is a modestly attractive scent which sweetens and refreshes the room, lifting it, making it lighter and happier.  It is a familiar scent - I am sure I have smelled this on an incense before. I like it. There is a warm, slightly sensual base on which the floral heart notes build. There's elements of rose and elements of jasmine. Yes, a pleasing scent. 

Interesting that this stick, unlike the machine made sticks inAravinda's hexagonal packs (such as the Sandal), is hand rolled. Both the hex packs and this flat "premium" pack are perfumed-charcoal, but there appears here to be an intention to mark this pack out as more special than the everyday hex packs. I have noted that wide flat packs are marketed in India as premium incense, carrying a higher price. This pack is 22 rupees for 22g, which is not high, but I don't know what Aravinda's hex packs sell for in India. 

Anyway. I like this. It's not heavenly, but it is a decent and very pleasant scent.  And it's oh so familiar, but I really can't pin it down. I know I've smelled this before. 

Date: March 2023    Score: 34  

Aravinda Parimala Works