Nag Champa is a fragrance originating from India and has a scent reminiscent of sandalwood. Nag Champa is made with a combination of Champa Flower (the blossom of a large tree found in India, which has fragrant notes of orange-flower, ylang-ylang, and tea rose – truly an exotic combination), and, unsurprisingly, Sandalwood.
Sandalwood is derived from trees found in India, Sri Lanka and Hawaii. It is generally harvested from trees at least 40 years old, though 80 years or older is preferred. In India, the Sandalwood is considered endangered.
Nag Champa is most commonly used in incense; both incense cones and incense sticks, although it is also used in soaps, candles, perfumes and oils.
Since I was a young boy in Malaysia where I had the opportunity to experience the amazing smell of huge clusters of incense burning in many of the temples, I have always been enamored with sandalwood incense. It comes as no surprise then that I was immediately drawn to Nag Champa incense when my wife and I discovered it in a small trinket store in the artsy town of Bandon on the Oregon coast.
Since relocating to a larger city such as Dallas, we have been able to locate ample supply of this wonderfully smelling incense in the various Indian and Asian stores that cater to the city. Despite the various different scents and blends of incense that we have tried throughout the years, Nag Champa remains one of our favorites over half a decade since we discovered it. We seem to be in good company as it is said that Bob Dylan and Tommy Lee are also fans of Nag Champa.
The thing that I especially enjoy about Nag Champa, beside its exotic smell that brings back warm memories from my childhood, is the calming and relaxing effect it has. Burning the incense in our house, it helps nurture a safe, relaxing and stress free environment that we can come home to after a hectic and busy day at work.
But, say that you were to go into a store looking for this incense and wanted to ask for it… how do you pronounce Nag Champa?
Honestly? I’m not exactly sure. We have always pronounced it phonetically, and we’ve never really run into much trouble getting our meaning across.
As a guide I would recommend that you say these three words to pronounce Nag Champa:
Nag Champ Ah
Nag, as in an annoying person.
Champ, as in a winner.
Ah, as in an exclamation of understanding.
How do you pronounce Nag Champa? I’d be interested in reading about any variations my readers may have.
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Comments
The a in Nag is short and drawn out, almost pronounced NOG, as in eggnog.
Champa, soft Ch, like an SH, ampa, again short a, like above. And you got the Ah part right.
That is the way I’ve heard most people pronounce it, and what I believe is the *correct* way. However, what do I know. *grin*
By the way, Nag Champa happens to be my absolute favorite incense and I ALWAYS have a good batch of it laying around. If you have a hard time locating it, let me know, and I can get you some of the good stuff (the classic blue and white box with red lettering, Sai Baba) for wholesale.
–Lori
Also, here’s a site to order it from directly if you like:
http://www.nagchampa.com/incense/nagchampa.htm?gclid=COOTqbi0xIYCFSB2FQodlGs5Pw
I never said it before today, but when I read your post, I read it as NOG CHOMP AH.
Is that the incense you mailed me that time?
Sage: One out of three isn’t too bad is it? At least it appears I got the “ah” part right. I’ll have to work on figuring the pronunciation as you describe it.
It’s good to hear of another Nag Champa fan. I would easily forgo Nag Champa for really good Sandalwood incense, but the really good stuff is hard to come by, and the Nag Champa brand we’ve settled on is very consistent. The brand you are referring to “Sai Baba” in the blue/white/red box looks like this right:
That’s the only Nag Champa we will buy.
Thanks for the link; I stumbled across that myself while I was researching for the post.
Kelly: Interesting. I think I am going to have to accost an Indian (turbin, not tomahawk) and ask them how they pronounce it, so that I can settle this one and for all.
And yes, it most certainly was the incense that I sent you. As I recall, you liked it, correct?
Yes. I recall liking it. I havent burned much of it since I dont have an incense burner. Maybe I will try to burn some again tomorrow.
Kelly: Don’t go and get yourself an incense burner. I’ll dig up one of the ones we have laying around here somewhere 
Scott I would like that. Thank you. I am burning some now, and the smell is lovely. I like the smell of it burning much better than the smell of it in the package.
Yep, that’s the stuff. Just like you, I won’t buy anything else.