Binding: Health and Beauty
Brand: Shrinivas Sugandhalaya
Feature: Hand-rolled
Label: Satya Sai Baba
Manufacturer: Satya Sai Baba
Publisher: Satya Sai Baba
Studio: Satya Sai Baba

• Hand-rolled
• Sweet, yet earthy fragrance

Customer Rating:
Summary: Classic!
Comment: 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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Customer Rating:
Summary: Just a warning before buying...
Comment: I must say I LOVE Nag Champa...not buying this incense is REALLY hard for me; however, I must put out a word of warning for those considering buying this product. Satya Sai Baba (the man who makes this incense) is a religious leader that has been charged with multiple accounts of child molestation and rape...look it up for yourself before buying this product...

Check out an alternative Red Nag Champa if this bothers you as it bothered me.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: The quintessential incense, holds great sentimental value
Comment: 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 the lady who managed the now-closed (see a trend?) Alexandria Bookstore at Rosicrucian Park in San Jose, California, said that Nag Champa is a "classic" incense, and it 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 they 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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