Incense In The Wind

Burner Burner - Carhartt jacket incense burner

Monday 9 September 2024

Anand Unique Nag Champa

 


That's an intriguing name: "Unique" Nag Champa. Nag Champa - as far as I'm aware, and if anyone knows better, please tell me - was a scent blend created by Satya in the 1960s. It is a floral-wood blend that works well, has been a huge bestseller, and is much copied.  The usual blend is magnolia champak and sandalwood, though producers may vary this. There is no actual essential oil for nag champa (I have about 12 different nag champa oils, including one made by Satya themselves, and all are classed as fragrance oils), so producers are free to play around with the ingredients of the fragrance to find something more appealing than the Satya classic Nag Champa in the blue box. My current favourite is B.G Pooja Store Nag Champa, which Eugene of Bhagwan Incense found on his travels. Other folks will have their own favourites - each variation being unique to a particular producer. So, essentially, all Nag Champas are unique, even though they are all trying to copy the Satya Nag Champa. Anyway, it's a good marketing idea to say that your Nag Champa is unique, even if that uniqueness is actually standard.    

The stick presents as a masala style stick, though has been machine-made. Folks generally like their masala to be hand-rolled. Machine-made produces a better quality, more consistent stick, while hand-rolled is more romantically and aesthetically pleasing, and allows for the quirks and variations which are the spice of life. I'm OK with both. Well. My head says machine-made, while my heart says hand-rolled. 

There is a similar vague men's cologne fragrance here as on Anand Gold, though this is supported by something more earthy and primeval and interesting. There is something woody and rotting and egesta here, which is compelling. I am drawn to the scent on the stick. As with the Gold, the fragrance feels man-made, and more in line with a perfume in a bottle than a natural incense, but - for me - that is perfectly acceptable. I like perfume. I have always had an interest in body perfumes and oils, and I have recently been getting more into the world of perfumes, and moving slightly away from the world of incense. I don't think I'll start a blog on perfumes - indeed, there isn't a need, as Fragrantica.com exists with plenty of reviews, and I can store my own comments there, but I may find myself exploring the world of perfume slightly more in future than the world of incense. 

The burn is clean and steady, diffusing an attractive fragrance through the room so it becomes warmly illuminated by scent. There is a Nag Champa scent here - a blend of quite woody (almost scorched woody) sandalwood, and floral notes - a frangipani floral note. It is quite a dreamy little fragrance. Touches of vanilla and gentle sweetness. I like it. Quite a lot actually. I'll be interested to try it against my collection of Nag Champas (which I have been intending to do for some time, but currently the bulk of my incense, including my box of Nag Champas) is in storage because we needed the space). 


Date: Sept 2024    Score: 39 
***





2 comments:

  1. The BG Pooja store no longer sells their branded BG Nag Champa. During my visit to Tiruvannamalai in January 2024, I noticed it was no longer available at the store, there was no sight of other BG branded sticks either. BG was never the manufacturer of their Nag Champa; they were merely repackaging and reselling it. We have since located the factory in another city and state that originally produced the incense for them. Now, we source directly from this factory. For more information please visit the Nag Champa section of our website: https://bhagwan-incense.com/product-category/nag-champa/

    ReplyDelete

Please leave a comment: