Gonesh is a popular US made synthetic-perfumed everyday room-freshener incense owned by Genieco Inc in Chicago. I reviewed a Gonesh incense, Amber, just over two years ago in 2021, and found it acceptable though fairly modest. The sticks are promoted as made with high quality charcoal - which is fairly standard for most decent incense sticks. The sticks are probably made in China or Vietnam (most likely China - Vietnam tends to make budget sticks), and then shipped to the Genieco industrial unit in Chicago where they are dipped in a fragrance oil as shown in this video. Gonesh are available in various shops in the US; they don't have an official outlet in the UK, though are available in various deals on Amazon and eBay. I got this pack of 20 sticks from the American online incense shop ExoticIncense for $2.50.
The sticks are approx 10 inches long with nearly 8 inches of charcoal paste on a plain bamboo splint. The sticks are wrapped in 10 stick bundles and put in a vacuum sealed inner bag to keep them fresh. The scent on the stick is mildly volatile, clearly room-freshener synthetic, yet rather warm and pleasant. The scent name is Nag Champa, but this is more like musk or patchouli. Sweet, musky, mildly woody. Very perfumed. Quite pleasant. Faint floral notes.
When I casually lit one this morning to warm up and refresh the house (we mostly use incense as room freshener), we were impressed by its gentle musky warmth. It does make an attractive room freshener. Burning a couple more times since, and I continue to find the scent on the burn reasonably attractive. It is decent quality for a room-freshener incense. It's not much more than that, but at least it doesn't pretend to be "temple quality" incense or other obvious nonsense. There is no such thing as "temple quality" incense - no more than there are "cemetery quality" flowers - there is just incense (or flowers) that people buy for the price they want to pay; and in my experiences in Southeast Asia, people often pay little for the incense they burn at temples. Research on temple workers in Thailand show that they have toxic chemicals in their blood from breathing in the fumes of commercial incense sticks that worshippers leave at temples. If you read "temple-grade" incense on a packet, just smile - it's a marketing phrase for the gullible. Nothing more than that. Anyway....
I find the scent warm, sensual, sweet, woody, musky; and, though fairly limited, it is attractive in a patchouli sort of way. There are few top notes - either on the stick or on the burn, though there are some faint, vague floral notes - mostly on the stick. As a nag champa this is rather off target, but as a warm, soft, musky, patchouli room freshener it works well enough. Yeah, not bad. I like woody, patchouli scents. For an everyday room freshener incense this is pretty decent. It's not for connoisseurs, but I can see why it's popular in the US.
When I casually lit one this morning to warm up and refresh the house (we mostly use incense as room freshener), we were impressed by its gentle musky warmth. It does make an attractive room freshener. Burning a couple more times since, and I continue to find the scent on the burn reasonably attractive. It is decent quality for a room-freshener incense. It's not much more than that, but at least it doesn't pretend to be "temple quality" incense or other obvious nonsense. There is no such thing as "temple quality" incense - no more than there are "cemetery quality" flowers - there is just incense (or flowers) that people buy for the price they want to pay; and in my experiences in Southeast Asia, people often pay little for the incense they burn at temples. Research on temple workers in Thailand show that they have toxic chemicals in their blood from breathing in the fumes of commercial incense sticks that worshippers leave at temples. If you read "temple-grade" incense on a packet, just smile - it's a marketing phrase for the gullible. Nothing more than that. Anyway....
I find the scent warm, sensual, sweet, woody, musky; and, though fairly limited, it is attractive in a patchouli sort of way. There are few top notes - either on the stick or on the burn, though there are some faint, vague floral notes - mostly on the stick. As a nag champa this is rather off target, but as a warm, soft, musky, patchouli room freshener it works well enough. Yeah, not bad. I like woody, patchouli scents. For an everyday room freshener incense this is pretty decent. It's not for connoisseurs, but I can see why it's popular in the US.
Date: May 2024 Score: 33
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