I shall collect here a list of online shops around the world which sell incense. Over time I will add details such as type of stock, shipping, etc, as well as a general review of my experience and opinion. If folks know of good shops, please leave a comment, or send me an email. These shops may sell a wide or narrow range of incense, but the main criteria is that they sell incense that are made by others, and that they are not rebranding as their own (albeit, there is no makers name on the incense, such as with the Vrindavan and Pushkar incense). Enterprises which sell incense under their own brand name, such as Temple of Incense and Bhagwan, are listed at Own Brand Traders.
Europe
* Padma Store, Germany. Sells selected Indian, Tibetan, and Japanese incense. International shipping.
* Raeucherwelt (Jeomra's Incense World), Germany. Sells resin, a small selection of incense sticks from India, Japan, and Tibet, and excellent home-made incense by Jeomra. International shipping.
* Raeucherwelt (Jeomra's Incense World), Germany. Sells resin, a small selection of incense sticks from India, Japan, and Tibet, and excellent home-made incense by Jeomra. International shipping.
* Poppat Stores, UK. Mostly everyday perfumed Indian incense, though also has some interesting dhoop and masala. Insanely cheap. European shipping.
* Pilgrims Fair Trade, UK. Some Tibetan and familiar Indian, though main interest is this site is the Western outlet for Pushkar incense (if you really want to punish yourself with DEP). International shipping (apart from Europe).
* Pilgrims Fair Trade, UK. Some Tibetan and familiar Indian, though main interest is this site is the Western outlet for Pushkar incense (if you really want to punish yourself with DEP). International shipping (apart from Europe).
* Ephra-World, Germany. Excellent shop. Wide range of incenses, resins, sticks, powder, smudges, etc. The main focus is India, but they have incense from around the world, and some rare, and exotic stuff, at good prices, and mainly genuine brands rather than re-brands.
* The Incense Man, UK. Established 2003. The main Indian brands, HEM. Satya, etc, plus the main British re-branders, ToI, The Mother's, Pure. A good starting point. European shipping.
* The Incense Man, UK. Established 2003. The main Indian brands, HEM. Satya, etc, plus the main British re-branders, ToI, The Mother's, Pure. A good starting point. European shipping.
India
* Vrindavan Bazaar, Vrindavan, Northern India. Sells incense made in the local area. International shipping.
* Rasbihari Lal & Sons, Vrindavan, Northern India. Sells incense made in the local area. International shipping.
* Hare Krishna Das, Vrindavan, Norther India. Sells incense made in the local area. International shipping.
* Hare Krishna Das, Vrindavan, Norther India. Sells incense made in the local area. International shipping.
* Goa Bay, Goa, Southern India. Sells incense available in the local area. International shipping.
* Aavyaa, India. Sells a wide range of branded Indian incense not available in the West. Excellent site for authentic quality Indian incense. The more you buy, the less the shipping, until shipping is free. International shipping.
USA
* Everest Trader, USA. Sells Indian incense.
* Exotic Incense, USA. Sells Indian incense, often rebadged such as Prasad, Blue Pearl, Prabhuji's Gifts, Temple of Incense, etc, though they also have the main brands, such as Satya and Balaji. International shipping.
Are you only interested in shops that sell incense sticks or also loose incense materials?
ReplyDeleteIndiaroma.de - Sasha curates a selection of better quality Indian incenses, which are mostly rather hard to find somewhere else. Pretty similar to Padma Store but with an intentionally different selection. Full disclosure: He's a friend of mine.
Sonnlicht.de (and .at) I used to shop most of my resins there, they also have a selection of Indian and Japanese incenses. Very nice and responsive customer service.
vykurovadla-rymer.cz only ships outside of Czechia by request. Very good selection of both raw incense materials and stick incense.
If you are also interested in loose incense sellers, I have more suggestions. Once I want to add in any case is Resinae Botanica on Etsy because he's based in the UK. https://www.etsy.com/shop/ResinaeBotanica
I bought there a couple of times, despite Brexit and the (potential) customs troubles. Matthew sells high quality, rare stuff and is a super nice fella.
I also like loose and resin, so send me what you have. I'll buy from them to see what they are like before "officially" listing them. Germany has some of the best online incense shops in the world. I think the German incense culture is quite strong. And much more focused on the authentic than some other countries.
DeleteYeah, I would also be reluctant to list a shop I haven't bought from myself.
Deletekirchen-weihrauch.de is another shop I used to buy resins from. Obviously focussed on Frankincense (Weihrauch), they also sell the Athonite style perfumed frankincense kinds.
Jarguna (on Etsy) is to blame for why I now order way less from the shops mentioned before (along with Jeomra). He now has an independent shop as well, but I haven't ordered from there yet.
www.jarguna.com
Based in Italy.
Impossible not to mention is Apothecary's Garden (formerly on Etsy), based in Canada. I only ordered there once so far.
apothecarysgarden.com
There's another one in the UK, but I've never bought from him - The Tea Guru. Outside of tea, he focusses on high-quality sandalwood and Agarwood materials, alongside of selected premium resins. He also has a YouTube channel.
https://theteaguru.co.uk/
"Germany has some of the best online incense shops in the world. I think the German incense culture is quite strong. And much more focused on the authentic than some other countries."
Delete100% agree. Especially the incense culture around loose incense. There are also a ton of excellent German incense books which haven't been published in English.
Just realized, you forgot aavyaa.com
ReplyDeleteYes, and there are others as well which I'm going to add. I have a habit of starting drafts, and not completing them. I wanted to push this one forward. There's a couple of German sites I've bought from that I liked, though can't remember their names. And an American one that I buy from a lot.....
DeleteNice! I have experienced some of these retailers like Exotic Incenses. Aavyaa is also wonderful, they recently opened an office store in Sapphire mall, Gurgaon. I am going to India next month so I’ll be taking a look inside.
ReplyDeleteYou didn’t add Ephra World Shop.
It's there now. It's one of my favourite shops. They have a good range of the sort of incense I like and am interested in. And thankfully little of the rebranded stuff, so you're less likely to end up buying the same incense twice or three times....
DeleteWhat I really appreciate about Ephra is, that they make the effort to take pictures of the actual sticks.
DeleteI've often found that shops will save time and just take th sticks out of one box and use them for all packs of one brand. Even Padma Store tends to do that.
I have sometimes done that - but I do check that the sticks on show look the same as the sticks I'm reviewing.
DeleteWhat I mostly do, to be accurate, is have the same stick burning, and change the sticks on the desk. Though sometimes these days I don't bother with a photo of a burning stick because it can be a bit fiddly.
I've just noticed that they claim to have 3,500 different incense sticks for sale. That's awesome. That's got to be the largest selection of any incense store anywhere.
DeleteWhat I also like is that they give detailed information about each incense - though they can be misdirected by the re-branders. They have Prabhuji's Gifts incense as being made in USA. And Stamford incense (which is made by Satya) as being made in London!
Delete