If you’ve used incense before, for use in meditation or pure relaxation, then no doubt you will have heard of Nag Champa Incense. If not, then you could be missing out on one of the most well regarded quality brands of incense sticks and incense cones.

Nag Champa Incense

Nag Champa Celestial Incense Sticks

Whenever you think about incense, it might bring to mind priests and worshippers. Incense burning in far off lands. Now, it’s likewise used in thousands of homes all over the world for creating the perfect ambiance or simply for calm and peacefulness.

Using Nag Champa

The Nag Champa brand continues to grow in reputation in recent times and is most probably amongst the best known sandalwood based incense varieties around. Produced primarily for home use and available in fifteen gram incense stick packages, as well as in compact ten packs of incense cones, they make an ideal choice of good quality Indian incense.

Certainly, there are numerous incense alternatives readily available which are just plain low cost and nasty, and definitely only smell of unpleasant smoke. Make a wise decision, pick the best high quality Nag Champa incense to suit your budget and I predict you’ll love them.

Selecting Nag Champa Incense

Seek out the distinctive packs . It’s an indication of authenticity and produced only with the Satya Sai Baba Nag Champa Incense name. This premium quality incense is manufactured by the Shrinivas Sugandhalaya manufacturing plant in India.

Choose the Satya Nag Champa incense sticks, a brand for all your quality incense cones and incense sticks.

The regular Satya Sai Baba incense sticks can’t really be missed due to their very distinctive blue packaging. And like their nag champa incense cone cousins, they have a large make-up of sandalwood.

Nag Champa Incense Sticks

The consistent quality of the Satya Sai Baba nag champa incense sticks means you can regularly expect value for money from them. Each individual 15g pack (box of 12 and individual incense pack shown) typically contains the following:

• 15g pack containing approx 15 incense sticks
• Incense stick length is around 20cm
• Excellent burn time around 30-35 minutes
• Eco friendly recyclable blue packaging
• Main ingredient champa flower/sandalwood

The strongest aromas you’ll experience with the nag champa incense sticks is that of sandalwood. The incense derives its name from the ‘champa’ flower or plumeria as it is also known. The classic sandalwood aroma is the main reason you should consider these beautifully scented incense sticks.

Sandalwood Based Incense Sticks

Sandalwood is probably one of the most traditionally used and oldest known perfume materials. It has at least 4000 years of continued use from ancient Egypt through to our modern day era. The aroma is generally sweet in its fragrance notes and very pleasing.

It is extensively used in many forms of incense  and heavily used in the nag champa incense sticks in particular. India produces the largest volume of sandalwood and makes use of it in its home markets and for export worldwide.

Burning Your Incense Sticks

Whether you burn your incense sticks as a simple home fragrance or use it as an aid to your meditation, safety should be foremost. Lighting the incense stick is easy enough; light it then blow it out after a few seconds. You need to consider how to catch the falling hot ash.

My favourite way to burn all my nag champa incense sticks is to place it in an incense box burner. These very decorative incense holders are made from traditionally sourced wood, usually from India, and hold the incense safely. The incense fragrance then drifts delicately up through the wooden cut-outs in the lid… spreading the aroma around your room.

The incense fragrance is gradually released over about 30 minutes and is ideal for a quick relaxation session – you deserve it. I find incense is a really cost effective home fragrance for a whole house and much cheaper than scented candles.

Nag champa incense sticks are readily available and start from as low as £1.00 – £1.25 for the smaller 15g pack.

The standard Satya Sai Baba incense cones, easily spotted by their blue packaging, are one of my favourites due to their high concentration of sandalwood.

Nag Champa Incense Cones

The quality of these dhoop nag champa incense cones is consistently good so they’re well worth your consideration. Each individual pack typically contains the following:

• Pack contains around 12 incense cones
• Supplied with convenient metal cone holder
• Excellent burn time around 20-25 minutes
• Eco friendly recyclable packaging
• Main ingredient champa flower (sweet aroma)

Although the nag champa incense cones contain extracts from the ‘champa’ flower; sandalwood is another prominent ingredient. The classic sandalwood aroma is the main reason you should consider these highly fragrant incense cones.

Sandalwood Based Incense Cones

Although the champa flower forms the basis of all nag champa style incense, this classic nag champa aroma is achieved mainly due to its prominent sandalwood base. Natural sandalwood oils, sometimes known as essential oil, are used extensively throughout the home fragrance industry in many aromatic and beauty products.

Satya Sai Baba nag champa incense cones contain the all important sandalwood base. The East Indian form of sandalwood, with some extracts being used in the incense cone production process, is generally thought to be of the best quality. The West Indian variety, sandalwood amyris, is a poor substitute and bears no botanical relation to the Indian sandalwood.

Burning Incense Cones Safely

The compact size of the Satya incense cones means that they’re much easier to manage than incense sticks. Lighting the incense cone is easy and then you simply blow the flame out after a few seconds. The incense aroma is gradually released over about 25 minutes and is ideal for a quick room freshen up or for relaxation.

Always use a purpose made incense holder when burning your incense cones as the base becomes extremely hot. Nag champa incense cones are widely available online and start at a very reasonable £1.25 – £1.50 for the smallest pack.

The vast majority of early cultures used the incense, along with aromatic oils, to mask unpleasant odours. Incense was also used in many religious ceremonies for its spiritual qualities and prayer offerings.

How Incense Spread Across The Ancient World

The wide belief is that the first use of incense was by the Babylonians and the Indus Valley Civilizations from around the 1900BC period. The ancient Egyptians used incense regularly and gradually it spread to Rome and Greece.

Incense has long been associated with Buddhism and with good reason. Buddhist monks were responsible for introducing incense to Japan in the sixth century. Around this time incense was used for its pure aromas and various spiritual properties.

Japanese society used incense in its many forms. Even the historic Samurai Warrior around the fourteenth century would use incense to improve their perceived strength. The samurai would fragrance his protective armour to create an unbeatable presence.

Japan gradually began to appreciate the aromatic qualities of incense from the sixteenth century and its use spread through the upper echelons of society.

Incense Production in Ancient Times

In early times incense was often made using locally sourced materials. However with the spread of trade across the Middle East, many incense production materials became readily available albeit at a cost. The incense route was a major trading route for precious materials including Frankincense and the incense arts gradually spread.

The developing cultures across Asia and the Middle East saw the use of many plant and natural materials. Depending on local availability, incense production included many natural extracts widely used today in higher quality incense.

Incense Use in Modern Times

Fast-forward to present day and incense is still used in many ceremonies and traditions. Incense has steadily grown in popularity throughout the western world and is now frequently used as a simple home fragrance or as an aid to relaxation.

It can be bought in many forms now but the most popular way of burning incense is using incense sticks. Incense in stick form is relatively cheap when compared to even the cheapest scented candles. Also popular are incense cones due to their convenient size and wide choice of fragrances.