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 Sticks

The Nag Champa label has expanded in worldwide recognition over the years and is in all probability one of the best regarded incense around. Provided primarily for household use in 15 or more gram incense stick packages, and also in smaller packs of incense cones, they make a fantastic choice of excellent incense.

There are actually many various kinds of incense you can use to perfume the house or for use in yoga. Indian made incense, and especially Nag Champa, is regarded as certainly the most authentic producers connected with excellent incense sticks – making some remarkably perfumed incense.

Sure, there are plenty of incense options available which are plain and simple low cost. However, they’re pretty awful and will only give an impression of horrible smoke. Make a smart decision, select the highest quality Nag Champa incense you really can afford. I guarantee you’ll be happy with your choice.

Choosing Your Nag Champa

Look out for the blue box . It’s an indication of authenticity and developed specifically with the Satya Sai Baba Incense marking. This excellent incense is made by the Shrinivas Sugandhalaya manufacturing plant in India.

OK, so I have a personal preference for these incense sticks in particular. There’s no denying that they have a good reputation though. I’d only recommend certain types of proven incense with a quality burn and amazing aromas. Look out for incense reviews and they are usually a good guide.

For all your quality incense, select a proven Indian incense famous for its individuality and exquisite fragrance. Choose Satya Nag Champa Incense!

Sandalwood – Herbal/Folk Tradition

Many Chinese medicines rely on sandalwood to treat many ailments including vomiting, intestinal infections and skin complaints. The Ayurvedic tradition, Ayurveda meaning “the complete knowledge for long life”, is used mainly for respiratory complaints, urinary infections and acute diarrhea.

In India, sandalwood was combined with rose to produce the famous ancient perfume called Aytar. It is also used throughout as a building material especially for temples.

Sandalwood – Home Aromatherapy

The sandalwood essence has many uses in perfumery and home fragrances. Burning incense is increasingly popular and sandalwood is used in many different types of incense sticks and, depending on the quality, should contain the essential oils extracted from the sandalwood plant.

It is important to gauge the quality of the incense you’re using because only the better quality incense sticks, such as nag champa incense, will contain the important natural plant extracts to faithfully reproduce the scent accurately. It is well known that poorer quality sandalwood incense bares little resemblance to the pure sandalwood oil aroma.

Sandalwood Properties

The therapeutic qualities of sandalwood mean that it’s incredibly popular and is one of the most sought after essences. It is frequently bought in many forms and prominent in pure essential oils, quality incense products, soaps and many beauty products.

It is used in aromatherapy to improve well-being for the following:

Skin care, respiratory system, digestive system, genito-urinary system, nervous system.

Sandalwood Characteristics

The sandalwood oil that’s extracted from the plant is generally pale in colour. When it has been steam distilled, to release the essential oils, the highly aromatic oil produces a sweet balsamic scent and mixes well with many other fragrances and oils.

To ensure you reap the complex aromatic scent from the sandalwood, only purchase quality incense sticks. Only the best incense will capture that unmistakable aroma.

If you love your garden then I know you’ll be interested in the new Wild Berry garden incense sticks that have just started to appear online to buy in the UK.

Garden incense sticks are ideal for keeping away bugs or to create a great atmosphere to help you relax after a hard day at work. They’re really easy to use and last for a good few hours. This particular brand of garden incense really took my eye due to the extensive range of scents.

The Wild Berry Incense company have grown steadily and are becoming ever more popular in the UK and with good reason judging by the reviews I’ve read online.

Using Garden Incense Sticks

If you’ve tried burning regular incense sticks at home then you’ll know how many great fragrances you can create. Garden incense sticks work in much the same way except that they’re much bigger, hence the name ‘biggies’, and more powerful than traditional incense.

Garden incense should still be burned safely but it’s a simple case of putting them in a pot or holder in a quiet area of the garden. You can use one or more for a more powerful aroma and then light them up. As soon as the incense stick has been lit you should then blow out the flame and let the incense smoulder. They should last a good few hours so they’re excellent value for money.

Wild Berry Garden Incense Stick Scents

Wild Berry Incense Sticks provide a wide range of good quality incense and have many positive reviews online. As such, I’ll trying these super-sized garden incense sticks this weekend as it looks like a good one.

There are 12 interesting fragrances to choose from:

Cherry Vanilla, Dragon’s Blood , Fizzy Pop, Fresh Rain, Ocean Wind, Opium, Patchouli, Peace of Mind, Sandalwood, Strawberry, Tranquility, Vanilla.

Each garden incense stick pack contains five incense sticks that are 48cm in length. Current prices seem reasonable starting at around £4.00 for what is a good quality brand.

As the Wild Berry Biggies have only just been launched in the UK, there aren’t any reviews online yet for this particular garden incense. I’d trust the quality of these garden incense sticks based purely on the Wild Berry reputation and positive reviews of their other incense.

Wild Berry incense is widely available online for delivery to the UK. I can’t wait to try out these incense ‘monsters’… Role on the Summer I say

Enticing Aromatherapy Fragrance Incense

There are a number of incense brands that I can turn to when I’m trying to create a specific mood in any room of my home; Tulasi incense sticks are one reliable source.
Another sure-fire winner is the Wild Berry incense range with over 70 to choose from.

Tulasi Aromatherapy Incense

The Tulasi incense comes from India and they have a range of incense sticks ready-made for calm and relaxation. The following aromas invoke a real sense of serenity, especially helpful if you meditate, and also provide the perfect restful setting for any room in your home.

Aromatherapy Incense: Energizing, Meditation, Refreshing Relaxing, Sensuality, Stress Relief.

Now you can tell by the above names that these incense sticks fall into two different types, those that aim to create a calming effect and incense that gives you a boost to your mood. As any incense fragrance is very subjective I’d recommend sampling one of each to see which helps you most.

Wild Berry Incense Sticks for Aromatherapy

The Wild Berry incense sticks brand manufacture all their own incense, among a wide range of other home fragrance products, and export them the world over. For the money, they provide a good balance between affordability and quality. The ‘aromatherapy’ inspired incense sticks include:

Aromatherapy Incense: Nirvana, Peace of Mind, Sensuality, Sky, Tranquility, Yin Yang, Zen.

Although not having sampled all of the Wild Berry incense range, there are almost 80, the more delicate fragrances above are certainly worth seeking out. A number of reviews give testament that Wild Berry can do subtle, despite their reputation for providing big powerful aromas in their general incense fragrance offerings.

Burning incense sticks can be very pleasurable and can create some beautiful aromas around your home. Lately however, I’ve noticed an increase in fires reportedly being started through the burning of incense being left unattended. The latest one that has been attributed to burning incense was one reported in the US.

Incense Sticks – Choosing an Ideal Incense Burner

It’s common sense that any combustible material should never be left unattended and exposed. Incense sticks are no exception. My recommendation is to use an incense box burner for all your incense needs.

Nearly all incense boxes are made from a local wood native to the country it is usually manufactured in, with many coming from India using local resources. The wooden incense box burner can come in a multitude of shapes and designs but the reason for using them is simple – safety.

Many local traditional themes are used in the designs of most incense boxes. Typically in many Indian ones have decorative brass inlays of elephants and spiritual gods.

The decorative wooden incense box provides a decorative focal point and also helps to spread the aromatics around your room safely.

Incense Sticks – Using an Incense Box Burner

Upon seeing many incense holders for the first time, it’s not automatically obvious how you would use them. Most burners have a number of holes drilled on the inside into one or both ends of the burner, like the one featured above, to hold the incense sticks securely.

To burn the incense you simply place the incense sticks inside the box, closing the lid after the incense has been lit. With the lid on the burner closed, not hot parts of the incense stick are exposed meaning it is safer when burning.The incense is then spread around the room through the decorative cut-outs made in the wood.

There are many different types of incense holders you can buy online. My personal preference is still for the incense box burner type because of the safety aspects; just select one that you’re happy with. Essentially, choose one that secures your incense sticks safely and won’t cause a fire hazard.

Never leave any burning incense unattended. Now…where’s my Nag Champa incense…

Established in the US state of Ohio, the Wild Berry Incense Factory has been quietly going about their business since 1992. After being introduced to the UK incense market some years ago, they are now growing their incense fan base due to the ever increasing range of fragrances.

Wild Berry Incense Sticks – Fragrance Range

The range of fragrances in the standard incense stick range currently stands at seventy eight. Plenty enough to satisfy most needs with many of the aromas being of their own variety and interpretation of fragrances.

The incense aromas can be grouped as follows:

Traditional Incense: Frankincense, Musk, Myrrh

Floral Incense: Champa Flower, Honeysuckle, Jasmine, Lavender, Lavender Citronella, Lilac, Patchouli, Pink Carnation, Rose, Sandalwood, Tibetan Orchid

Mystical Incense: Dragon’s Blood, Fairy Dust, Fantasia, Herbal Mist, Nirvana, Magic Garden, Mysteriosa, Peace of Mind,  Sensuality, Sky, Tranquillity, Yin Yang, Zen

Fruit Incense: Cherry, Cherry Vanilla, Coconut, Fiesta Lime, Green Apple, Lemon, Melon, Mulberry, Orange, Peach, Pear Vanilla, Pomegranate, Strawberry, Vanilla

Additional incense fragrances in the range include a number of others; fun varieties such as one called Fizzy pop. And yes, apparently it does actually smell like… Well, fizzy pop.

Prices start at around £2.00 for ten incense sticks in the UK -  a little higher than some of the Indian incense brands.

Wild Berry Incense – Product Range

The full range of products seems to be quite extensive in terms of home fragrances. Although not all of the following listed are available in the UK:

Wild Berry Products: The growing product lines include incense sticks (standard, long and shorties), garden incense, incense cones, scented candles, fragrance oils, home fragrance accessories, and their own range of branded clothing.

The Wild Berry Incense Factory in Oxford, Ohio is a privately owned incense based company and has an annual revenue between $2.5 – $5 million. Current figures show they employ a staff number 0f around 50 and continue to grow.

The bottom line is, Wild Berry have a good reputation and they produce incense sticks that people like and rate very highly.

Nag Champa Manufacturers

This ‘class’ of incense is manufactured by a number of Indian companies and exported worldwide. Some of the most popular to look out for are:

Satya Sai Baba Nag Champa Incense – Made by Shrinivas Sugandhalaya
Shirda Sai Baba Nag Champa Incense – Gajalaxmi Agarbarthi Works
Tulasi Nag Champa Incense – Made by Sarathi Perfumery

Nag Champa incense sticks are usually sold by weight starting in smaller packets of 15g containing around 12 – 15 hand-made sticks.

How Champa Incense Sticks are Made

All Indian incense production tends to fall into certain classes of incense and the ‘champas’ is one of them. Nag Champa is the most famous and, as the name suggests, belongs to the champas sub-set of incense. The champas class of incense in turn forms part of the Durbars set of masala incense group meaning they are essentially a complex blend of Indian spices.

Traditional Indian champas, particularly Nag Champa incense sticks, generally contain the following properties:

Fragrance: Sweet, spicy, complex scents

Ingredients: Natural halmaddi from the Ailanthus Malabarica tree, sandalwood, champa flowers (plumeria tree), resins and spices

The incense sticks tend to be slow burning and mask stale odours very well.

Burning Incense Sticks Safely

Using incense to create a calming atmosphere is one of the major attractions when burning incense sticks at home. Naturally, it makes sense to use a purpose made incense holder to catch the ash from the burning incense stick.

It is recommended that you use an incense box burner as this holds the incense stick securely in a horizontal wooden box. It prevents the incense from being touched once it has been lit,  helps spreads the incense, and can add a beautifully decorative touch to any room.

There are certainly cheap and nasty incense sticks out there but we’re going to focus on some of the best value for money. Incense that truly inspires, such as aromatherapy incense that encourages relaxation or calm; depending on the mood you want to achieve.

What Incense Sticks Provide the Best Quality?

Incense aromas are very subjective and as such, it is a highly personal experience when burning incense sticks. Prices vary wildly and often reflect the quality of the particular incense sticks. You can pay as little as £0.50p per pack of terrible quality incense, rising to £30 or more for high quality Japanese incense sticks.

The best way to develop your own knowledge and preference is to look for incense reviews online. Just do a search and see what users have said. Buy a sampler pack of 10 or 20 sticks and be prepared to pay at least £1.50 upwards for anything reasonable as a starting point.

Indian Incense Sticks

There is along tradition of burning incense in India that dates back centuries. Many of the current day Indian incense sticks in production are named after Indian gurus such as Sathya Sai Baba and Sai Baba of Shirdi.

The ingredients for many brands of incense produced outside India, are derived from plants and flowers that originate in Asia and particularly from India. Many of the masala incense blends are unique to India so this is a good place to start your incense journey or to try new ones. Some of the larger manufacturers include Sarathi, Gajalaxmi Agarbarthi Works and the widely exported Shrinivas Sugandhalaya incense products.

Japanese Incense Sticks

All Japanese incense was originally imported from China from around 540 CE and was closely linked with Buddhism. Over time incense became embedded in the culture of Japan for use in meditation and relaxation.

Now Japan has some very established, and high quality, incense stick producers. Some of those incense manufacturers have been making incense for over three hundred years. Well respected makers of Japanese incense include Baieido, Nippon Kodo and Shoyeido which is one of the oldest.

Tibetan Incense Sticks

Most Tibetan incense was used historically while in meditation by monks. The countless Buddhist temples use incense in a spiritual form to create harmony and peace. Tibetan incense derives from not only Tibet, but also covers Bhutan and Nepal.

The Tibetan incense blends are very traditional with earthy notes and have remained unchanged for centuries. Many are derived from historic Vedic scriptures and also have medicinal Ayurveda qualities at their core. They tend to be very rustic in their style.

North American Incense Sticks

Although the US is not traditionally associated with producing incense, their is a definite historical link.  This typically dates back to to the burning of incense by North American Indians using local herbs and plants. A spiritual offering if you like.

Fast forward to modern day America and many of the thriving incense outlets offer many imported incense sticks. There are a few exceptions to this and some notable manufacturers that look to be doing well in the thriving US market are the more commercial Wild Berry Incense Company, Fred Soll and Mermade Magickal Arts among others.