Gokula Shiva Nag Champa / Gaura Varshana

  

Second review - scroll down for earlier

"Please chant: 'Hare Krishna' and be happy!" 

I reviewed Gokula's Gaura Varshna in March last year, and didn't have a great time, so I put them aside to review again "in a few days or weeks". So, here we are 17 months later, and I find them in a drawer still waiting for that second review.  The sticks are mechanically extruded charcoal paste, sprinkled with a small amount of dry, powdery, brown melnoorva/masala powder. There is a volatile scent on the stick which is curiously barnyard and earthy. 

The scent on the burn is not especially heady, but nor is it particularly shy. It drifts around the room fragrancing it effectively and pleasantly. I don't find it a particularly "Nag Champa" style fragrance - I tend to get more awareness of sandalwood, and creamy magnolia floral notes  from scents named Nag Champa. Though there's no plant or resin that is Nag Champa, it is a scent constructed by (most likely) Satya, so the only genuine template for the Nag Champa scent is Satya Nag Champa. Does this smell like Satya Nag Champa? No. It's a little too earthy and dirty. I preferred the name Varshana, as then I'm not being given an expectation of a scent which, when the scent does not match that expectation, can lead to confusion or disappointment. Having said that, after over ten years of hunting incense, I've come to the point where I don't have expectations that an incense will match the scent name or description because they all too often simply don't. 

Anyway. I'm OK with this incense. I like it a lot more than I did in March last year. Though I'm not blown away by it.  

Available from Gokula as Gokula Connoisseur Shiva Nag Champa at £3.95 for 20g. 

Date: Aug 2025    Score: 30

First review

I bought this branded as Gaura Varshana from Gokula who first sold it in 2014 with the blurb "The powerful and extremely earthly scent of green champa permeates this special scent. A grounding incense with dancing sweet notes. Wonderful and intoxicating. Simply Heavenly!" Gokula now sell it in their connoisseur range as Shiva Nag Champa at £3.95 for 20gms with the blurb "The powerful and extremely earthly scent of green champa permeates this special scent with beautiful nag champa supporting waves. A grounding incense with dancing sweet notes. Wonderful and intoxicating. Simply Heavenly!"  The Gaura/Connoisseur incense sold by Gokula tends to be made by Haridas Madhavdas Sugandhi (HMS) of Pune - in which case this would either be HMS Classic Green Champa or HMS Classic Nag Champa.  But I don't know that for sure. I have a Pure Incense branded Green Champa, which is clearly HMS - it has the vanilla, and the sparkles. And it doesn't match the Gaura/Goluka. But, then again, my stick is a few years old.....  

These sticks appear to be machine extruded charcoal paste - quite soft and flexible, on a green dyed bamboo splint; the finished has then been hand rolled in a thin coating of an orange-brown melnoorva powder. The scent on the stick is slightly volatile, some rubber, some florals, some faint dampness, petrol, and some scents I can't pin down. 

The burn is low and slow, producing very little smoke and fragrance. The best way to experience incense is to allow the scent to inform the room and/or your surroundings. Directly breathing in the smoke in order to smell the scent is a really unhealthy thing to do. However, I get impatient at times when reviewing, and I will waft the smoke toward my face - as I do here. There's not much going on. I'm a little disappointed as this was a sealed packet, and I do find that masala incense will last in storage a good while. This just smells a bit smoky - some woods, some herbs, some warm wool. I feel I might have a bad batch, or I'm just not in the right mood for this fragrance right now. I'll put it aside and burn again in a few days or weeks.  In the meantime, I can't give this a decent score....


Date: March 2024   Score: 25 

***

Gokula-incense

Nag Champa