Goloka – Premium – Ancient

Another pack bought from Spiru.de, a shop with super annoying marketing but often good deals. Ancient currently costs €1.99 there, though I got them on sale for €0.89. They contain 15g, with a burning time of 35-45 minutes per stick.

I ordered Ancient out of curiosity, as I haven’t been able to find this variety in any other shop here, only on Amazon.in.
It’s difficult to recognize in the picture, but the top of the packaging shows a mix of various, unground spices: star anise, perhaps cardamom, allspice, etc.
The raw smell is rather unpleasant, it’s tart and soapy. When a flame touches the stick, something seems to boil out. Below the amber, you can also sometimes spot bubbles, and the powder coating seems to soak up that oil.
In my first notes on Ancient, I described them as “unsweet”; a very tart, spicy scent that even feels somewhat cutting or sharp. After this first experience, I relegated the pack to the outdoor incense pile and noted that the scent would surely keep the bugs away.
I used them more frequently on the balcony last year, gradually growing fond of their scent. When sufficiently diluted, the fragrance takes on a pleasantly creamy undertone that softens and mitigates the dry, spicy sharpness.
This year, I’ve taken them back out and noticed they’ve aged well. I’ve now actually brought them back inside and started using them here.
They’ve become milder, and now I can detect a fine sweetness along with the creamy note. Additionally, it seems like I occasionally catch a hint of nutmeg, which usually reminds me somewhat of cat urine, but apparently, many people find its scent just creamy.

Ancient definitely stands in stark contrast to the rest of the line, perhaps except for Saffron. It’s almost certainly a scent that will be polarizing.