Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classic!, January 29, 2006
Satya Sai Baba Nag Champa is made in India by the Shrinivas Sugandhalaya company. Each stick is a special blend of natural herbs, resins, flowers and oils that are hand rolled. Each stick weighs about a gram and burns for approximately 45 to 60 minutes.
It is important to note that each sticks weighs a gram, because the company sells them by weight, not by number. Therefore if you buy a 250 gram box it equals 250 sticks and if you buy a 100 gram box it equals 100 sticks, etc.
I have been burning incense practically on a daily basis for the last 10 years and I have never found another brand of incense that can even come close to equaling the quality and fragrance of Nag Champa. THIS IS THE BEST INCENSE YOU WILL EVER BUY!
* NOTE:
In the many years that I have been buying this product the quality from the manufacturer has ALWAYS been excellent. However because this product is `natural,' it is sensitive to certain factors that will effect it's quality and are beyond the manufacturers control.
When you open the box the incense sticks should be a grey color and leave a grey dust on your hands when you touch them. It is also normal for some of this grey dust to collect at the bottom of the package (the bigger the box the more grey dust will flake off and settle to the bottom).
Once in awhile you might get a box of incense sticks that are dark brown and tan. This is an indication that they have been sitting on the shelf of the store for a long time and / or they have been exposed to damp weather conditions. This is not the fault of the manufacturer and they are still good, they will just be harder to light and their fragrance will not be quite as strong. This however does not usually happen very often.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The vanilla of Indian incense, August 28, 2007
Nag Champa is possibly one of the most popular incenses on the planet and can be found in just about every store that carries incense. As mentioned by previous reviewers it's the primary example of the wet masala or durbar where a combination of wood, oils and resins are combined and applied to a bamboo stick, often leaving the incense slightly wet or gummy, making it very unlike most dry masalas, charcoal blends and other styles of stick incense.
Unfortunately, Nag Champa varies in quality from box to box, making each purchase something of a crapshoot. I've sampled boxes with everything from brand new incense to what look like dried-out antiques, yet it's far more likely your purchase will be more in the middle, especially if you buy smaller packages. But it seems to survive just by comparisons to much poorer and more common quality oil dipped sticks, as if you've never tried a masala of this quality, it will often be a surprise as the aroma is rich, sweet, musky and intense all at once.
Nag Champa is the vanilla of Indian masalas and I find it astonishing it's considered the best incense by prior reviewers when even Shrinivas Sugandhalaya itself makes far better champa style blends. For example, Hari Om, Ajaro, Patchouli Forest and Trishaa are all much more impressive than the straight Nag Champa while being similar at base. But the same argument applies to these blends, it's possible you might encounter variation.
If you've never tried Nag Champa, it's very worthwhile, but don't stop there. Both the Rare Essence Incense collection and Ramakrishnanda do similar incenses but are both of increased quality along most of their lines. Don't stick to vanilla when you're offered as many as 100-200 other champa incenses via various companies, over half or more being much better.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The quintessential incense, holds great sentimental value, March 12, 2004
It's difficult to review a brand of incense, and yet I'm eager to do so. I was first introduced to Nag Champa as a teenager in the mid-1990s at Journey's Bookstore, a now-closed New Age and recovery center in Beaverton, Oregon. It created such a beautiful, delicate, and peaceful atmosphere, especially when juxtaposed with the soothing music of Aeoliah playing in the background. Since then, not a month has gone by that I have not burnt at least a stick of this exotic scent. In fact, lately I have been burning several sticks a day - see, after I moved from the Portland area, my primary New Age supplier became Rosebud & Fish Bookstore in Salem. Sadly, the same fate befell Rosebud & Fish ... and at their going-out-of-business sale I bought over eighty-dollars worth of Nag Champa. I now have almost enough to open my own store! Anyway, like I said, it's hard to write a review of incense. Perhaps I should add that I have since learned that Nag Champa is thought of by many as "the classic" incense, and it apparently became famous in the US during the 1960s, giving it something of a Hippie association. And I remember once talking to an Indian man who said proudly that this is a very "Indian" scent (he also told me that "Nag Champa" is Hindi for "Green Jasmine"), which makes sense since it is produced in India under the auspices of the Satya Sai Baba organization. Unfortunately, recent scandals regarding Satya Sai Baba have somewhat tarnished his reputation, but cannot detract from the fact that this is a beautiful fragrance with which I have many positive associations and memories. Andrew Parodi
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