Goloka Saffron Masala Incense

 

A fairly typical decent masala incense. It has the standard "masala" fragrance, which is recognisable to all burners of masala incense, and which tends to dominate most masala incense. I like the masala aroma, though do find that because of it a lot of masala scents end up in a fairly narrow band. It appears to me that the additional ingredients which go into a masala paste assert themselves in the burn so that the intended fragrance, in this case the saffron, kind of struggle to be seen as the forefront of the aroma. Saffron is, anyway, a delicate kind of scent. And is silly expensive. We have used saffron in cooking, though given the price I prefer using turmeric, which gives a similar, albeit slightly more earthy, more bitter, and less sweet result. I somehow doubt that Goloka have used genuine saffron in this incense. Certainly not in sufficient quantities to make the scent be noticed above the other ingredients, particularly the halmaddi, which is really the backbone of the scent here. Since learning about the use of vanilla crystals and other fixatives in perfume and incense production, I am becoming aware that some masala incenses which have a softer, sweeter base which allows the intended aroma to display itself without hindrance are likely to be the ones that use other fixatives than halmaddi, and are the ones that I am more likely to enjoy. 

This stick has a pleasant aroma on the stick - mildly sweet, softly creamy, soapy, vaguely room freshener tones, with some soft woody spice. I like it.  The key aroma ingredient in saffron is widely regarded as saffronal, which appears in other plants such as wolfberry and elderberry; though other minor active ingredients, such as lanierone, are also considered to be important, and some scientists consider that the scent may be predominantly produced by lanierone. There is some doubt as to what the actual aroma of saffron is as individuals perceive it in different ways. Though if push came to shove, I would say that what I perceive on this stick I would accept as a saffron scent. 

The scent on the stick is present in the burn, but is dwarfed somewhat by the other masala ingredients. The result is mainly a simple, generic masala scent, though softly, now and then, the saffron scent will drift my way.  The melnoorva on the stick has some gold glitter in it. Quite subtly used so it just catches the light now and again. 

Overall an acceptable but less than exciting incense. 

Date: Jan 2024     Score: 29    

***

Goloka

Reviewed on Rauchfahne

HEM Amber Incense Sticks

 

A square pack of HEM Amber.  There is no pretence to this - this is intended to be a cheap and cheerful room freshener using a synthetic scent which HEM have developed in their own laboratories. Amber in fragrances is rarely authentic anyway. There's the amber from the sperm whale, which may turn up on beaches, but is illegal to use. And there's tree sap amber, which is used for jewellery, but can also be ground down and burned for its fragrance, though from my research it seems this isn't done any more. The amber scent comes from a blend of benzoin,  labdanum, and vanilla. I have burned amber resin, but my understanding is that it more likely to be labdabum, or a flavoured gum resin. The Mount Athos monastery does flavoured resins, such as this Vatopedi Amber.  

This amber has a church incense fragrance, inclining - for me - toward frankincense and myrrh. It is woody, sweet, sexy, herbal, calming and yet uplifting at the same time. Not uplifting as in energy, but uplifting as in lifting the spirits, so you feel calm, and confident and somehow refreshed and inspired. 

I like it. I like it a lot. The knowledge that it's a chemical is a bit of a downer, for sure, but the scent itself is damn nice. Yes, it's not complex. Yes, it's not deep. There's a lot missing here. But it has a significant appeal for me. I'm not in love with it; though, rather than put it out for the cats, or in the corridor for casual everyday burning, I think I'll put it aside to revisit alongside some other ambers. See how it stands up when matched against what other incenses houses have decided to create to produce their version of an amber aroma. 

Date: Jan 2024   Score: 35

***

HEM Corporation

Amber

HEM Fruit Punch

 

A HEM square pack. Square packs are like hex packs - they are used for synthetic-perfumed incense. While I have had some masala incense in a hex pack (not often, but I have come across them (such as

SAC Sandalwood), I'm pretty sure I've never had masala in a square pack. There is something quite mean about a square pack - it's very sparse and economical: there's only ever 8 sticks inside, and the packs look budget - no matter how colourful they make them (and they do tend to make them colourful). They don't look generous, expansive, delightful, elegant - they look cheap, mean, and minimal. 

This is standard HEM. A basic, cheaply made charcoal stick, with a professionally made, decent quality synthetic scent applied. There is a fruity aroma on the stick, along with an awareness of some alcohol, perhaps rum. It's sweet, simple, and attractive. A lively, modern, uplifting room freshener aroma. On the burn the fragrance is somewhat inhibited by the smoky smell of the charcoal stick. The perfume is not quite strong enough to always mask it, though this is variable, and may be due to age. I doubt if it's due to poor quality materials, as HEM is a big, well run corporation, which has grown rich through paying attention to details, as outlined in their corporate video. 

The playful and sweet fruity rum scent gently but distinctively informs and brightens the room. This is a joyful little room freshener. I can't dislike it. It's not meaningful or interesting, but it is pleasurable.  

Date: Jan 2024  Score:  29

***

HEM Corporation

Aromatika Spiritual Guru Incense Sticks

 

I have around thirty cardboard boxes of various sizes in my study in which I store the bulk of my incense. IO have been dipping into one of these boxes a lot over the past few days. I just chose the box at random when I wanted a quick break from reviewing some Elebenzauber samples that SamsaSpoon of Rauchfahne had sent me, and wanted a couple of other incenses to compare. It holds various packets of incense from brands I used to review a lot a few years ago - Satya, Goloka, HEM, Tulasi, etc, some of which I had never reviewed. I've been enjoying picking out these unreviewed incenses and in a sense going into my past, to the days when I reviewed those brands quite regularly. It's also given me an opportunity to revisit the posts in which I compile all my reviews of a brand, and to check and update them.  Today's packet is a square packet of Aromatika synthetic-perfumed charcoal sticks.  I reviewed a bunch of Aromatika masala incense around 2015, and then a bunch of perfumed cones around 2021. My conclusions were that the masala incense was OK, but the perfumed stuff was low end everyday room freshener.  I'm not sure where this square pack of Aromatika came from, as I have reviewed no other Aromatika square packs - perhaps it was sent as a sample from a shop. 

Anyway. The stick has a soapy, mineral scent. Typical synthetic rom freshener.  Mildly pleasant, but not engaging. The sticks are machine made - which, if I remember rightly, so were the Aromatika masala sticks. The burn is a little fast. but mostly quite steady. The fragrance on the burn is quite gentle, pleasant, and unobtrusive. It just smells of generic perfumed soap. There's nothing specific I can immediately spot, and the incense is not interesting enough for me to spend any time identifying the scents. It's floral with a woody base - which is pretty much most Indian incense.  It's sort of meh - nothing here of any real interest. It's low end everyday room freshener. 

Date: Jan 2024 - Score: 22

***

  Aromatika

Tulasi Violet Floral Incense Sticks

 

My blast-from-the-past box is the box that keeps giving. There are many incenses I've reviewed in there, but as I scrummage through I keep finding packets that haven't been touched - such as this Violet by Tulasi. I like the smell of  Parma Violets - it's a synthetic scent, but a decent one. And it crops up now and again in incense, though not that often by itself. And when it does, as with

Flourish Fragrance Violet, SAC Arcangel Zadquiel, and Aargee Stamford Violet, I haven't found it that successful.  Tulasi (or, rather,  Sarathi, the company who make the Tulasi brand incense) have made a masala violet incense under their Sri Govinda brand name: Madhava Violet & Amber, though that is blended with amber. I didn't find that successful either. 

These sticks have a delightful fresh Parma Violets fragrance on the stick, but it struggles to come through on the burn. It's there, but faintly, and cannot assert itself above the scent of the core material - the charcoal, binders, and bamboo stick. However, it does remain delicately in the room for a while - gently teasing with a hint of sweet violets. 

On the whole, not successful. However, to be fair, this is not a fresh box - this is likely to be from a job lot I got back in 2017, and somehow escaped being reviewed.  Perfumed incense is always better when fresh.  I would say after 5 years this scent would have degraded by approx 50%, so I'll add that to the score)

Date: Jan 2024  Score: (18 +50% =) 27 

***

More Tulasi reviews

HEM Cinnamon-Apple

Second review - scroll down for earlier

 

I reviewed a HEM Cinnamon-Apple a few months ago. That was a square pack with scruffy, hand-rolled sticks. This is a hex pack with machine-extruded sticks. The scent on the stick is perfumed, synthetic, chemical, fake apple, faint orange, minty cool, slightly volatile, reasonably acceptable as a bottom end room freshener. 

The scent on the burn is modestly acceptable, though not actually attractive. And there's too much smoke aroma in the fragrance. 


Date: May 2024   Score:  24 

First review

Another old school incense from the "blast from the past" box. I'm not a fan of HEM, but I have found over the years that some of their synthetic scents work just fine as an everyday room freshener, and that's probably why they are so successful. The sticks, of course, are bog standard - indeed, sometimes they are scruffy as hell, with little evidence of quality control. But the charcoal blanks are not important to the company - it's the scents that matter to them, and while many of them I don't find appealing (some I hate), there are a significant number where the scent is bright and clean and more than acceptable. This Cinnamon-Apple is a case in point. I fully expected to just light it up as I did the Tulasi yesterday, and write it off as a failure. But no - the scent is pleasant and on point. It does smell of apples and cinnamon. I think apple is a successful synthetic scent - we encounter it frequently in many everyday objects. 

Date: Jan 2024  Score:  28

***

HEM Corporation

Best cinnamon incense

Tulasi White Rose Floral Incense Sticks

 

This square pack of everyday synthetic perfumed incense turned up in a box which held several other older packets of incense which I've been reviewing (or re-reviewing) over the past couple of weeks. It's interesting going back to incense brands which I became familiar with a while ago. Tulasi, the brand name of Sarathi International Inc, a well established, large and successful incense house in Bangalore, is commonly seen online and in shops where incense is sold. Job lots of their perfumed incense can be picked up cheaply. But rarely is it worth while. It is a middle to low end everyday synthetic incense company, though a scent  now and again will pop, and be acceptable. They do sell some decent masala incense, like Vidwan, and some acceptable everyday perfumed masala incense like Nag Champa & Rose, but it is their synthetic stuff that is most commonly known. This White Rose packet was left over from a job lot purchase back in 2018, so it's not fresh and that will impact on the pleasure of the scent. 

The scent on the stick is reasonably pleasant though quite chemical, and smells like a floral washing powder for clothes. The scent on the burn, typically for most incenses, especially perfumed incense, is not as immediate or inviting  as the scent on the stick. There's the smudge of smoke which inhibits the freshness of the perfume. However, once the burn is over, there is briefly a modestly bright and sweet floral note in the room which is surprising. All in all, not an impressive incense, but - to be fair - it was better than I was expecting in the circumstances. 

Date: Jan 2024  Score: 20 

***

More Tulasi reviews

Best rose incense

Vivasvan Garden Fresh Pure Patchouli

 

Garden Fresh is the brand name of Vivasvan International, a Bangalore incense house, founded in 1998.  They claim to be "one of the world's fastest-growing manufacturers and exporters of incense sticks" and "pioneers in the incense making industry". Such claims are common in most industries in most countries, though appear to be bolder and with less restraint in the Indian incense industry. There is a certain charm about such claims, though it means that through experience such claims need to be taken with a pinch of salt, like Trump's claims about his wealth.  

They are a new incense house to me. I picked up a few packs last year when browsing through the decent German based online incense shop, Ephra World. They sell for €1.75 for 15gms on Ephra World. Vivasvan, unusually for Indian incense houses, sell internationally from their own website, at £1.17 for 15gms, with free shipping for purchases over $100.  As well as masala in standard oblong Satya style cardboard packets, they also sell hexagonal packets of synthetic-perfume sticks.  The presentation, and the scent names are all fairly standard - Lavender, Jasmine, Pure Rose, Nag Champa, 7 Chakra, Good Fortune, Everest, Black Opium, etc. 

This Pure Patchouli packet is a standard Satya size and shape, with a simple design - some Celtic scroll work on the ends, a stylised water lily, and a calm green main colour. It's solid and attractive without being in any way eye-catching or stimulating. It's not a design (or name) that is going to pop out at you, but when you have it, it's cool and elegant, and gives a solid impression. The blurb on the back says: "The strong, earthy, versatile and unique fragrance of patchouli has a grounding and mood harmonizing effect on you. Find your balance. ... made from the finest aromatic herbs, natural resins, rare woods, flowers of exquisite fragrance, aroma oils, and exotic spices. ... free from heavy metals and harmful chemicals." It's a good blurb - clearly and evocatively written, capturing the main points that Western buyers are looking for. But it's not a fascinating or original blurb. It works. Job done. Move on. Ho hum.  The box is marked "For Export only".  And it does feel that this is an incense created to appeal to the Satya market in the West.  I don't like the "Garden Fresh" name - it sounds more like a pack of frozen peas, than masala incense. I prefer the name "Vivasvan". 

The sticks are a standard 8 inches with approx 6 1/2 inches of hand rolled masala paste on a plain bamboo splint, and coated in an attractive brown melnoorva powder. It looks like a standard masala stick - this could be a Satya or a Goloka or any of the main masala brands that are exported to the West. Perhaps a bit less fluffy than most. There is a pleasant natural perfume scent on the stick - slightly sweet, slightly herby, slightly floral, touch of rose and jasmine and lily, some sandalwood. Pretty much as expected for a mainstream masala. I like it because I like most sweet, mainstream masala incense, though it doesn't excite or intrigue me.

It burns well - no off-putting black smoke. A good steady stream of smoke and fragrance - a little light for my personal taste, though quite acceptable. This is a soft, sweet incense which likely uses vanilla crystals as a fragrance enhancer rather than halmaddi. I am always going to enjoy incense which uses other fragrance fixatives than halmaddi, so this works well for me.  The fragrance is similar to that on the stick. I'm not getting much of the patchouli, and if this wasn't named as patchouli I wouldn't automatically recognise it - though, looking for it, I can detect some minty herbals and a touch of sweet musk. But there's not much. This is a rather shy, well behaved patchouli, not the rough, earthy, raw, sexy, naughty stuff that I love. In all it's a pleasant room freshener - calming, gently cleansing, mildly bright and uplifting. It's OK. 

This is an incense I'm going to be happy to have in the house, though it's not going to be one I'll rave over, or keep for special occasions. This is going to be a top end everyday burner. At under £2 for 15gms this is a good value everyday incense, though is there enough here to challenge Satya packets which can be bought for less than £1 for 15gms? Probably not. 


Date: Jan 2024     Score: 37 

***

Patchouli

Elbenzauber Tallisin Krauter

 

There seems to be a Celtic thing going on with the naming of Elbenzauber's incenses. Their Lugnasad-Blüten referenced an Irish harvest festival, while the name of this appears to reference Taliesin, a Welsh bard.  The name "Elbenzauber" translates as Elven magic, which to me feels kinda Celtic. Elbenzauber are a German importer of  Indian incense which they rebrand as their own - something that doesn't really excite me, as I don't know whose made this incense, and I may well have already bought it under a different name. They do, however, make some incense themselves in Germany, which they call the Ritual range. I am very interested in this Ritual incense, and when my backlog has been reduced a bit, I'll be getting hold of some.  

Available from Sensatonics
for €4.90 for 15gms 

This Tallisin Krater is quite a dry, slightly spicy or peppery, fairly sombre incense. It's attractive, though not really sweet or rich enough for my personal taste. It's herby, mineral, some camphor, some chalky notes. The fragrance inclines towards heady - it certainly makes itself known in the room, and doesn't require wafting, but holds off from being intrusive.  While fairly dry on the burn. it's sweeter on the stick, with some suggestions of benzoin - hints of vanilla, banana, florals. It does leave an attractive and cleansing, warm, mildly sweet, vanilla and mineral after aroma. 

It's likeable and admirable in its naturalness, and while it doesn't fully engage my interest or emotions, it is an incense I'm happy to explore again. SamsaSpoon of  Rauchfahne sent me the  Elbenzauber samples, and was generous enough to send me at least two sticks where possible, so I will return to the range in a month or two and see how I feel then. 

The blurb on HouseOfHealingBerlin  is "An aromatic floral mix with camphor and gingerlily which is combined to create a spicy, fresh scent which cleanses auras."

Date: Jan 2024    Score: 35 

***

Reviewed on Rauchfahne

Ranga Rao Flute Magic Yoga Incense Cones

 

Flute is Ranga Rao's everyday perfumed incense brand.  Their incenses are mildly pleasant, unremarkable, and - yes - everyday room fresheners. And this does as expected. It produces a synthetic scent which is intended to brighten the room. It's modest, unremarkable, fairly faint with notes of the core material coming through. We use cones mainly in the bathroom. Some cones are more attractive and good value than others. I don't think much of this one, and may be tempted to use it in the outhouse instead, where we feed the cats.  I think I've explored enough Flute brand incense now to have got a firm idea that they are largely bottom end of the everyday room fresheners.  

Date: Jan 2024  Score: 19

***

Ranga Rao (Flute)

Goloka Oud incense cones

 

I'm a little surprised because these cones are square, whereas the ones I burned yesterday (Tree of Life Natural Incense Cones) were round. And these square cones use synthetic perfume (or at least an essential oil with a healthy dash of a carrier such as DEP) - there is a cool menthol volatility on the cone which I tend to notice when chemicals are involved but not when the ingredients are mainly natural). I've just been communicating with Eugene of Bhagwan Incense who is currently in India visiting various incense houses (he's sent me an interesting video he's made in the house of Meena Supreme), and he's just been in Sree Veni Perfumery, who have told him that they have been commissioned by Goloka to make some of their incense. I found that hard to believe as Goloka was founded and is strongly associated with Madhu Pandit Dasa who has a huge reputation in India. Goloka state on their website that they make their own incense, yet - apparently - at least some of the incense is made out of house - which makes their statement somewhat misleading. And I find it odd that they would out-source as they have decent facilities in Bangalore, with advanced machinery. If this is true then something significant has happened in the Bangalore factory. Tis square cone with synthetic ingredients is perhaps suggestive of incense being made out of house. Unless, of course, they have a separate line for making cones with synthetic ingredients. 

Anyway. I'm not anti-synthetic. And these cones are pleasant in a so-so way. Yes, there's a musky oud scent. But it's not heavenly - merely pleasant. 

Date: Jan 2024     Score: 27    

***

Goloka

The best agarwood incense

Goloka Tree of Life Natural Incense Cones

 

I like Goloka, and I've previously tried two of Goloka's dhoop cones and enjoyed them a lot - Chandan Dhoop Cones  (45*), and Patchouli Dhoop Cones (40). These are not called dhoop cones but natural incense cones, and the pack is not the usual Goloka design.  It seems this Tree of Life, which also comes available in stick form, is part of a Black Series by Goloka, which seems a little random, and is presumably purely marketing. 

It's a fairly rough and indifferent cone which burns a little haphazardly for me. The scent is OK - dark, sweet, woody, musky, though is a little muggy - I'd like some sharp contrasts and lifts. It does what it does, and there's nothing offensive about it - it's just a little bit everyday, and perhaps a little too heady without sufficient accompanying pleasures to justify the intrusion. 

Date: Jan 2024     Score: 27    

***

Goloka

GR International (Sandesh) Frankincense incense Cones

 

GR International (a brand name of Sandesh Agarbatti Co - SAC) make decent everyday perfumed incense. They use synthetic perfumes, some of which we find quite clean and attractive. And I particularly like their Sandalo Incense Cones. Of the synthetic-perfume incenses I think I tend to get along more with the sandalwoods than I do most others..  There are several well known and very effective synthetic sandalwood oils, such as Sandalore, Sandaxol / Sandal Mysore Core, and Bacdanol. Perfume makers discuss which one is best to use on Reddit forums; though it is generally considered best to use a variety of different synthetics along with natural sandalwood oil because people react differently to aroma compounds, and also because combining them gives a more rounded and complex aroma.  

Anyway, this is a synthetic frankincense not a synthetic sandalwood. I don't find synthetic frankincense as successful as sandalwood, but when blended with synthetic myrrh, as with  HEM Frankincense-Myrrh and SAC FrankIncense Myrrh, I find it very acceptable.  This is not blended, and it's not really that acceptable. We use cones, particularly perfumed cones, in the bathroom. That's where this will go, but I can't see it being a popular choice. Rather smoky and uninteresting. 

Date: Jan 2024   Score: 18

***

Frankincense

GR International 

Green Tree Angel Dust Incense Cones

 

Green Tree are a Dutch distribution company based in Rotterdam who have some own brand masala incense made for them by a private label incense company. The incense is generally pleasant, well made, and appealing in a corner store New Age sort of way - not really something for incense geeks, but perfectly fine for a decent quality commercial everyday incense. 

This Angel Dust falls within expectations for Green Tree. It's a little dry and chalky for my taste, and inclined more to room freshener than anything more interesting, but it does its job well of perfuming a room. There's dark fruits, some musky woods, and a chalky mineral quality to this. It's OK, but doesn't really reach out to me. A little dry, scratchy, twiggy, and smoky. The dark fruits are the most interesting aspect, but are somewhat lost in the burnings twigs.

Date: Jan 2024    Score: 24 

***

Green Tree (own label)

Vijayshree Golden Nag Darshan cones

A vibrantly scented square shaped incense cone from Vijayshree in their Golden Nag series.  Darshan is the lucky glimpse of a sacred god or holy person. The scent on the cone is robust, and just by themselves the cones informed my room with a curious and attractive scent. The fragrance on the cone is tantalising - fairly dry and herbal: sage, lemongrass, perhaps a touch of lavender, camphor, moth balls, dusty, medicinal, stimulating, with a faint sense of black cherry. It's fascinating, and, though a little too dry and serious for my personal taste, I find it attractive and beguiling.  

The scent on the burn is richer, sweeter, musky, woody - quite dark, but more attractive and uplifting than the scent on the cone. It firmly informs and sweetens the room, and leaves a musky, sexy, darkly sweet presence. I love this incense. 

I have strongly liked all the Vijayshree incenses I have tried so far, though have not yet fallen in love. I am, though, being somewhat seduced by this  particular cone. Last year I bought a bundle of Vijayshree sticks and cones with the intention of exploring this incense house further. This Darshan comes from that haul. I will be investigating more of that haul either this month or next. 

Date: Jan 2024    Score: 40 

***

Vijayshree Fragrance

Top Ten incense cones

The Mother's India Fragrances Oudh

 

A good while ago I bought a bunch of Mother's incense as they had a positive reputation. The sticks are made in the same Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, India as Cottage Industries.  The ashram's leader, Mirra Alfassa, is known as The Mother - the brand is named after her. They are imported into the UK by Greater Goods, a couple based in Somerset, UK. Anyway, I didn't hugely get on with them and put them aside. This packet has just turned up in an old box which also contained  some Satya and Goloka from several years ago. I've just burned one stick and was impressed that it burned for nearly two hours! The experience was pleasant, though not profound, and mostly it burned away without calling attention to itself. Anyway, here we go with a more considered burn. 

The sticks are a little longer than standard - 9 inches rather the usual 8 inches for a masala. The paste is also longer at approx 7 1/2 inches. The scent on the stick is gentle, floral, light, sweet, some wood, a touch of fresh sweat, some talc (playful soft blossoms - jasmine, young wild rose, lily). It's gentle and pleasant. The scent on the burn conveys much of what is on the stick, though in a muted fashion. My original experiences with The Mother's was that they were quite dry and harsh, and they irritated my nose, eyes, and throat. This I am finding to be a little more gentle. Though, as I am paying more attention to this burn (though not wafting the smoke toward me - yet) I am starting to notice the little prickles of irritation, and that the incense is a little dry - or at least, dryer than is my preference. It might be interesting to get a bunch of Ponicherry incenses together for a burn off - notes the similarities and differences. This is somewhat reminding me of Cottage. 

I'm not getting much in the way of Oudh. And the irritation is now starting to build up, so I won't be doing any wafting!  I don't think Pondicherry is for me.....

Date: Jan 2024   Score: 28

***

The Mother's India Fragrances

The best agarwood incense

Satya (Mumbai) Californian White Sage

 

I've been burning this for the past few days thinking it was the Reiki, which is one of my favourite Satya incenses, and feeling disappointed that it didn't live up to my memory. And then I discovered the mistake, and was relieved, because Reiki is still, for me, a brilliant fragrance. Now, that's not to say that this is a duffer, because it aint. It's a damn fine incense, and one of the fairly early Mumbai Satya's which had returned to a proper masala style in place of the heavy reliance on synthetic perfumes. The scent on the stick has some of the warm, herby, lively tones of sage. It ranges from warm sandalwood to juicy lemon. The scent on the burn echoes that on the stick, though less defined. It lacks clarity and definition - though it does produce a general sense of pleasant fragrance. 

Date: Jan 2024   Score: 28

***

Satya (Shrinivas Sugandhalaya)

White Sage

Goloka Nature's Supreme

 

Woody, musky, exotic, erotic, warm, sweet, herbal, evocative, patchouli..... Yes, this is the sort of Goloka I like. I've just reviewed two Goloka packets, Nature's Sandalwood and Goodearth; while both were decent, well made incense, I found them quite simple and ultimately unsatisfying. This rounded, sensual, mysterious incense has restored my faith in the ability of Goloka to produce delicious, enveloping, and rewarding incense that will stand out as something special at a low cost. 

That's not to get carried away and declaim this as a heavenly incense - some Goloka have got there, but those are older reviews which may be unreliable; most Goloka incense is decent, and all are good value for money. 

A decent woody, musky masala incense. It feels natural. It feels comforting and embracing. Nice one.  

Date: Jan 2024     Score: 37    

***

Goloka

(Wonder Incense) New Moon Aromas Arabian Wood

 

When I first encountered New Moon Aromas I liked them. They are a perfumed masala brand aimed at the West by Wonder Imports (Australia) and Wonder Incense Ltd (UK). The packets - standard 15g masala cardboard box - are attractively designed, and would sit well in a New Age shop, which is probably New Moon's main market.  As I got more familiar with them, and tried new ones, and went back and reviewed older ones, I liked them less. They are presented as masala, though the main thrust of the scent component is chemical. That is, either the scent is synthetic, or it is an essential oil that has been blended with DEP - a diluting fluid that can cause headaches and eye sting.  I feel that New Moon use DEP, and they use too much of it. This is a very heady stick, gushing great bouts of smoke and irritation into the room. There is, yes, an awareness of agarwood, but not a profound or delightful awareness, and that is weighed against the massive intrusion into the house of irritating chemicals. I had to leave the room, and even in the next room my eyes were stinging and I have developed a headache. This is nasty stuff. 

I remember buying this box when ordering a bundle of Vijayshree incenses off TheHolisticEmporium on the Isle of Wight, on the basis of giving New Moon another go. I'm always willing to give people and incense another go. But something significant now has to happen to persuade me to buy any more.  And, each to their own - we're all individual with individual tastes and responses, so New Moon may work for you; however, for anyone trying New Moon for the first time, my advice would be to ensure you are in a large room with the window open. And even if you are accustomed to New Moon, and don't get headaches, I would still caution you to keep the window open because of the potential harm from burning incense. 

Date: Feb 2022   Score: 19 

***

New Moon Aromas

Goloka Goodearth Agarwood Masala Incense

 

"A divine fragrance for soul" is the blurb. I love that idea. This is a pleasant incense, though I'm perhaps not quite with the notion of it being divine. I used to love Goloka; though, returning to the brand now, I'm not quite as impressed  as I once was. I like the availability. I like that the money and reputation goes to Goloka rather than a middle-man. I like that the profits go to help disadvantaged people. I like the low cost and excellent value for money. And the scents are always at least decent, and can be quite heavenly (or divine). But reviewing this and Goloka Nature's Sandalwood I find I'm not as impressed as I once was. 

It's all standard good quality Goloka - well made, sweet smelling masala incense. But I'm just not finding the interest or excitement that I was expecting. Either this is because this and the Nature's Sandalwood are less than the usual Goloka, or I'm looking for something a little more these days. This strikes me as just a little too sweet and easy and trivial. There's little depth here. It feels too much like an everyday incense - a general, commercial, easy-going room freshener. There's nothing wrong with that at all - that's our go-to incense. We burn way more everyday room freshener incense than anything  else. It's just that I had developed a sacred opinion of Goloka as a great incense house, and one of my favourites, and had somehow felt that these incenses I'd not burned before would be a divine incense for the soul. 

So, what is here?  There's a fruity quality to the scent on the stick - something similar to my experience with Nature's Sandalwood. It's not a woody scent. It's certainly not the agarwood scent promised in the subtitle. But it is an attractive and appealing scent. Sweet, honeyed, fruity, light, joyful. 

The scent on the burn is initially fairly modest though does eventually spread and inform the room, and linger attractively afterwards. It is warmer and woodier than the scent on the stick, though still quite sticky sweet. It has an attractive balsamic quality which does edge in the direction of agarwood, though never quite gets there.  Overall it's an attractive and relaxing and cleansing scent. But it is  fairly limited and simple.  Good enough, though.  

This is readily available at a low cost in many places. It comes in a standard 15g cardboard box.  Popat Stores in the UK sell it for 75p.  IncenseWarehouse in the US sell it for $2.79.   IncenseAustralia sell it for $3.50. Ephra World in Germany sell it for €1.65. And because I have a significant Russian readership:  Wildberries sell it for ₽322 (approx £2.82). 

Date: Jan 2024     Score: 32    

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Goloka

The best agarwood incense

Reviewed on Rauchfahne