Stamford – Pakeezah

Stamford is an English company that sells incense from Satya, Goloka and others under its own name. This pack is from my Ephra World Shop order from late 2022. A pack contains 15g, which amounts to 15 sticks. It cost €2.25, or about €0.15 per stick.

Pakeezah is challenging for me. Not only do I find it hard to describe, but I also still don’t have a definitive opinion on whether I like the smell or not.
The aroma is very intense, dense, and heavy. To me, the scent has a strong musk character, which is both soft and somewhat harshly animalistic, partially reminding me of the smell of toilet pucks. Additionally, Pakeezah is both sweet and acidic, which in combination, appears fruity. However, this description conflicts with the pungent, musky aspect.
There’s something floral in the composition that I can’t identify either. At first, I thought I could detect jasmine in strong dilution, but I was never sure of it. It’s probably the slightly fruity aspect that created this association.

I find some overlap in Pakeezah with certain ‘Fluxo’ incense sticks, even though Pakeezah don’t reach their (sometimes extreme) potency. This stems from the combination of floral and toilet puck notes, which I also find in sticks like Sai Sri Flora (which are extremely musky to me) or Om Shree Sai.
I can understand the appeal these scents have for some people, but they are not really for me.