Balarama Zam Zam Bakhoor

 

For most of the time I've been doing this blog, I've mixed up my reviewing - going from one brand to another, one style of incense to another, one scent to another; and that's kept things fresh. If I did get into reviewing one brand for a while, I would purposely break it up with other brands in order to get a different perspective. But for the past year of so, I have been focusing on one brand for a while - often going through my entire batch of that brand before starting another brand. There are benefits to doing such a focused approach, not least getting through that brand so I could put that incense away with the knowledge and satisfaction that it was finished. With my random approach I would often pick up an incense without remembering if I'd reviewed it, and some sticks would tend to get forgotten in a pile. I  like the completeness of getting through all of a brand in one session. But, as now, it can get a little boring when the brand makes incense that doesn't differ much. Approaching a Balarama incense after having had a bunch of traditional masala incense would make the perfumed Balarama pop brightly because it would feel so fresh, bold and modern in comparison. But approaching the same incense after having just burned several similar Balaramas would make the Balarama seem trivial and boring. I think it might be helpful to combine my previous random approach with a more focused approach. After this Bakhoor stick I'll give the Balarama a break for a while, and review several other brands and styles for a while. Then I'll return and finish them off (before they get put away and forgotten and lost, or put into the outhouse, and burned for the cats). 

 As with the other Balarama sticks, this is a machine extruded and perfumed stick, over 12 inches long. The scent on the stick is a blend of sweet Virginia tobacco, nondescript men's cologne, and modern room/car freshener. The tobacco aspect lifts it considerably above the norm. The best scents tend to combine pleasant and vulgar. The vulgarity gives a pleasant fragrance depth, complexity, balance, and moves it away from being mawkish.  But there's nothing in this scent to suggest bakhoor. There's a lack of sweetness, elegance, musk, wood, and sex. 

Quite an assertive burn. This one doesn't need two sticks. As with the scent on the stick there's a generic cheap men's cologne scent combined with a somewhat interesting rich tobacco scent that edges into St Julian.  It's OK. I like this. Nothing to do with Bakhoor, but solid stuff nevertheless. 

Date: Oct 2024 Score: 36

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Zam Zam
UK importer

Balarama foil-wrapped