Calmveda Fresh Lavender

 

Calmveda is a new incense company. Started in May 2023 by the 24 year old Dhruv Gupta, a business graduate of the respected Shaheed Sukhdev College Of Business Studies. Two points of interest about Calmveda is that the marketing is impressive, as in a short period Calmveda is a notable presence in the West; and that the incense uses recycled temple flowers - an ecological initiative started by Phool; a company also started by young graduates good at marketing. This also puts me in mind of Alok Pandey, who has developed the ecologically positive Malaan Gaudhoop (I love his Swarna Champa) - there appears to be a new group of young incense makers coming forward, using new and ecologically friendly methods of production, and who are good at marketing. 

My Calmveda incense came from Amazon - an Om Meditation pack of five different scents for £8.50. The pack comes with a leaflet describing the Calmveda company and a bit about Dhruv's history. There appear to be twelve different scents in the Calmveda range. This Fresh Lavender is described as "floral & camphorous", which seems a fair enough description. The sticks are machine extruded paste on machine-cut bamboo splints. Ingredients are given as "Temple flowers, Joss powder, Halmaddi, Essentials oil and IFRA Compliant fragrance oil". The flowers are crushed into a powder and used in place of charcoal or wood as the combustible material, the joss powder is used as a binder to hold the  flower powder together when the powders are mixed with the oils and some water, and made into a paste. The halmaddi is used as a fixative for the perfume (fragrance/essential oils) to make it stronger, and to make it last. IFRA stands for the International Fragrance Association which has a set of guidelines to ensure that perfumes and fragrance oils are not harmful.  All the sticks in the range have the same colour and appearance. 

The Om Meditation pack

Calmveda Fresh Lavender is a perfumed-incense. The scent on the stick (called the "cold throw" in candle making - designed for immediate appeal, and to encourage purchase) is room freshener or clothes conditioner lavender. It is pleasant and appealing, with an awareness of lavender, along with beeswax, sandalwood, earth, and something gently dirty and somewhat intriguing, as well as cool, spicy, slightly medicinal camphor.  Yeah, it's OK.  

The scent on the burn (called the "hot throw" in candle making - designed for lasting appeal, and to encourage repeat orders) is clean and pleasant. I've burned a few sticks over the past few days and found no deep off-scents (such as found on Phool's temple flower incense), while moderately enjoying the fragrance. The scent is a little woody, edging a little in the direction of a garden bonfire, especially of burning fresh grass. It's a gentle fragrance - not intrusive, though also not an incense to cover up stale odours. It's kind of more in line with Asian incense from China and Vietnam than traditional Indian incense. A gentle and soft perfumed scent held and underpinned by base notes of smouldering wood powder or plant life. There are floral notes, inclining toward a light pink rose, and some moderate, simple woods. A smidgen of pepper. And faintly in the distance, across the fields, lavender on the breeze. There's a pleasant warmth here; though, on the whole, the "cool throw" is more engaging than the "warm throw".  It does leave a pleasant zing in the air - quite calming and refreshing, with notes of lavender. 

Date: Dec 2024  Score: 28

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Calmveda Incense

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