Goloka – Nagchampa

A classic, both as an incense stick and within the Nag Champa genre. All too often, Nagchampa of Goloka, the “yellow box”, are only mentioned in the context of the “blue box” (the Nag Champa of Satya), as if they were opponents of principle – cat and dog. In fact, the comparison kinda fits. Just as there are cat people and dog people, there are what appear to be Goloka-noses and Satya-noses; two camps that rarely mix.
Although it certainly has to do with the reputation of the well-established Satya brand, and their status as the inventors of the Nag Champa fragrance, and thus Goloka‘s interpretation is seen as an imitation, I think it’s also due to the significant difference in the base scent of these two Brands. It turns out that most people get along much better with one of the two.
In addition, the formulation of the “original Nag Champa ” has undergone some fundamental changes in the last few years and decades, but that is a topic for another time.

But now to the actual topic:
Goloka – Nagchampa are for me an absolute base-line Nag Champa – really good, but within the genre a fairly neutral, simple contribution, which makes it very suitable for comparing and measuring others against.
They are very floral and sweet. The sweetness is strongly interwoven with the sweet frangipani flower scent, but also has a certain honey tone. The scent is quite soft, very creamy and woody.
When I have compared it directly with other Nag Champa, so far, its woodiness has come to the fore and its scent seems drier, more powdery and less sweet than when I smell it on its own.
When moving on to a new pack, I noticed a minimal batch difference. My current pack seems to be a bit more potent in the floral aspect, which can make the smell seem a bit sour and tart if not sufficiently diluted.
By the way, those interested shouldn’t be irritated by the raw smell, which really takes some getting used to: it’s dry, kinda pungent and sometimes a bit soapy. They smell entirely different when burned, I promise. 😉
Rating: 3.6

Watch out when buying!

Goloka – Nagchampa are available in an incredible variety of package sizes, which makes it possible to obtain larger quantities very inexpensive, but also easily leads to overpaying on impulse purchases.
My first pack was a trial size (square profile box, about 1.5×2.5cm) with 8 sticks (8g) for €1.45 at my trusted Asian store. Great, inexpensive mini pack to try! At Ephra Word Shop (which almost always has the best prices) a 16g box costs the same.
There are also 40g, 100g and 250g boxes. But you can also find “big packs” that contain 12x 16g boxes (192g in total) and those are sometimes even better priced than the large packs.
Occasionally, you also find imitations.