Incense in The Wind: Fumino (Inbound To Anglia Ltd)

Wednesday, 1 May 2024

Fumino (Inbound To Anglia Ltd)

Fumino is the brand name for incense and home décor items imported by Inbound To Anglia Ltd, a one man company founded in Cambridgeshire, though currently based in Southampton. The City Road, London address on the packets is a convenience address. The company sells mostly via eBay and Amazon. The incense is sourced from "a team of expert ladies at our third-generation family factory in Bangalore", which could apply to a number of companies, including Satya. While not certain, there are indications that the incense is made by Vivasvan International of Bangalore, who trade as Garden Fresh - though Vivasvan was founded in 1998, which is not "third generation". Six pack deals on Amazon are available for under £10. All the sticks appear to be masala style, and they look and behave like Satya sticks, though the fragrance is clearly based on some form of perfume rather than dried fragrant ingredients. There are approx 14 sticks per packet. The packets all have the same design - a cool black, with a simple though elegant stylised design of incense smoke. Each scent has a different colour for the smoke design. There is a short somewhat poetic blurb on the back relevant to each scent. Each packet has a card with a voucher code for 10% off the next purchase at fumino.co.uk, a website that doesn't work for me.

Sticks are 8 inches with approx 6 inches of hand rolled paste which has been coated in a generous dusting of melnoorva - finely ground tree bark which is mainly intended to stop the freshly rolled sticks gluing together as they dry. There is a pleasant aroma on all the sticks - mainly a men's cologne type perfume based around a low cost everyday oudh. The scents tend to group around the same woody, pleasant, oudh like area regardless of what the name is - indeed, the names appear to bear little to no relation to the scents. The fragrance experience on the burn tends to be somewhat inferior to that on the stick - the amount of inferiority impacting on the overall pleasure experience. It is the top notes, the more fragile citric and floral notes, that are somewhat reduced on the burn. On the whole, though, the sticks are decent, good value room fresheners, and the best are more satisfying than that. The experiences do vary, however, and will come down to personal taste.

Reviews

* PM = Perfumed masala (an incense that has qualities of both a perfumed and a masala incense)