Calmveda Incense

 

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

Reviews

   

Calmveda Habana Cinnamon (P)
Dec 2024 - Score: 40

   

Calmveda Indian Sandalwood (P)
Dec 2024 - Score: 34

Calmveda Fresh Lavender (P)

Dec 2024 - Score: 28

    

Calmveda 1960's Patchouli (P)
Dec 2024 - Score: 25

Scents reviewed: 4
Top score: 40

Bottom score:  25
Average:

Conclusion:  Decent quality everyday perfumed-incense room fresheners which are eco-friendly. Scents tend to be a little generic and unadventurous, but are pleasant enough. 

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