Golaka – Premium – Patchouli

Goloka – Premium – Patchouli has been a repeated purchase for me. The price per pack is between €1.50 and €3, depending on the seller.

The scent is powerful and likely based heavily on oils. The patchouli scent has only a small portion of the typical earthy character; it is balsamic, with its fresh aspect, hinting at the herb’s relation to mint. Additionally, I detect a sweetness that seems to come from vanillin, as well as a hint of sandalwood aroma.
The scent is very nostalgic for me. It reminds me of a metaphysical shop I used to frequent as a teenager and a bit of Hari Om – Panchamukhi, which has not been available in the EU for several years.

Unfortunately, I notice that while the incense stick burns, I occasionally pick up a smoke note from the bamboo core, which I usually only notice shortly before Indian incense sticks extinguish. This might be due to the age of the incense sticks. I’m currently using the last of a pack that’s a little over a year old.
With a fresh pack that I just opened for comparison, I smell a slight musky note that is not (or no longer) present in the old ones. I think there is a slight batch difference, as the new pack has less of the fresh scent described above, but the aroma of the old sticks has changed somewhat.

This shows that it doesn’t always make much sense to stock up on run-of-the-mill incense sticks if you can’t use them up within a reasonable time. Nevertheless, they are still among my favourites.

Rating: 4.2