I recently burned some Kuumba Carhartt, and I was struck by the similarity between Kuumba incense and the foil-wrapped incense which I've been enjoying for several years, sold under a variety of brand names. I have traced the maker of the foil-based incense to Balarama of Thailand, who are quite possibly also the source for Kuumba incense. I dug out my stack of Balarama foil-wrapped incense, and have decided to work my way through them all - updating any that I have already reviewed, and providing new reviews for those I haven't yet reviewed. This Ladies Night is the first.
This is a typical Balarama incense - very long: over 12 inches, with 9 1/2 inches of extruded paste made with wood dust and tabu bark powder (also called makko) which has been impregnated with a light and modern room/car freshener scent. This is not a traditional incense scent, and it is that light, fun, fresh modernity which first drew me to the Balarama foil-wrapped incenses, and is, I suspect, part of what draws young consumers to Kuumba incense. This is not old fuddy fuddy, hippy dippy, boring brown incense, this is bright, uplifting, joyous, colourful, and cheeky. And the names are also fun - Ladies Night is way more sparkly and cheeky than the name of some Indian god or a piece of wood.
This is a typical Balarama incense - very long: over 12 inches, with 9 1/2 inches of extruded paste made with wood dust and tabu bark powder (also called makko) which has been impregnated with a light and modern room/car freshener scent. This is not a traditional incense scent, and it is that light, fun, fresh modernity which first drew me to the Balarama foil-wrapped incenses, and is, I suspect, part of what draws young consumers to Kuumba incense. This is not old fuddy fuddy, hippy dippy, boring brown incense, this is bright, uplifting, joyous, colourful, and cheeky. And the names are also fun - Ladies Night is way more sparkly and cheeky than the name of some Indian god or a piece of wood.
The scent on this stick is mildly volatile, fresh, faintly sweet, some fruit, cucumber, green, very light floral touches, soap, clean, vanilla. It's a feminine scent, and is rather like some everyday body spray or deodorant such as Impulse. Light, feminine, pleasant, and elusive - it's gone and its forgotten.
The length of the stick is a bit of a nuisance, and I have to break off most of the exposed bamboo splint in order to get it to fit onto a regular angled incense burner. As is my experience with machine extruded incense, the burn is regular, steady, and problem free. The scent on the burn is light, though does inform my medium sized and well ventilated room. The scent is cleaner, more attractive, and more noticeable when burned on the angled holder than when I burned it upside down for the above photo.
I find this very likeable. I got this in a batch from ZamZamDirect in the UK who are currently selling packs for £1.50 each (which is way cheaper than the Kuumba branded versions).
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