Luxury perfume brand sells ‘katol’ for ₱4,000

Katol has officially entered the luxury market.

The humble mosquito coil found in sari-sari stores and Filipino households for generations now has a high-end counterpart courtesy of French fragrance house Diptyque—and it costs nearly ₱4,000 per box.

Called Spirales d’encens (Scented Incense Spirals), the product is part of the brand’s summer collection and looks remarkably similar to the classic katol used across the Philippines to ward off mosquitoes. The box contains six spiral coils infused with premium citronella, geranium, and verbena scents and retails for US$68, or roughly ₱4,000.

That works out to around ₱666 per coil.

For comparison, a box of local katol brands such as Baygon or Lion-Tiger typically sells for between ₱35 and ₱50 and contains about 10 coils. For the price of one Diptyque coil, a Filipino consumer could buy more than a dozen boxes of traditional mosquito coils.

The striking resemblance has become a source of fascination online, with many social media users joking that a staple of provincial homes and urban backyards has somehow found its way into the world of luxury living.

Of course, Diptyque’s version is not intended to kill mosquitoes. Instead, it functions as a scented incense product designed to perfume outdoor spaces and create what the brand describes as a sophisticated summer ambiance.

Still, it joins a growing trend of luxury companies transforming ordinary objects into premium lifestyle accessories. In recent years, designer labels have sold luxury versions of grocery bags, slippers, paper clips, and even plastic-looking tote bags for prices that far exceed their everyday counterparts.

The latest addition to that list may be the most relatable to Filipinos yet.

After all, not every day does a product associated with sari-sari stores, summer evenings, and mosquito season get reintroduced as a luxury fragrance item worth thousands of pesos. For many Filipinos, it may be the first time they’ve seen katol marketed not as a necessity—but as a status symbol.

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