Buy Incense & Aromatherapy — A Shop-Floor Guide
Incense and aromatherapy is the broad category of aromatic materials you burn, warm, or diffuse to scent a room — sticks, cones, resins, woods, powders, essential oils, and every holder needed to burn them safely. We carry over 40 products here, covering everything from daily living-room sticks to ceremonial smudge bundles. If you want one recommendation to start with: order a pack of Satya Sai Baba Nag Champa sticks and a simple Green Tree incense holder. That's the combo most of Amsterdam runs on, and it's hard to go wrong.
| Format | Burn time | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Incense sticks | 30–60 min each | Daily use, first-time buyers, scenting a room in minutes |
| Dhoop cones (no bamboo) | 15–25 min each | Denser fragrance throw, smaller spaces |
| Backflow cones | 5–10 min each | Visual smoke waterfall on a backflow holder |
| Thick herbal sticks | Up to 10 hours | Gardens, long rituals, outdoor use |
| Small herbal sticks | 15–20 min | Quick sessions, small rooms, low commitment |
| Smudge bundles (sage, palo santo) | 4–6 hours total | Space cleansing, ceremony, re-lit over weeks |
| Resins & powders | Depends on charcoal | Traditional burning, heavier scent, ritual use |
| Essential oils + burner | 1–3 hours per fill | Scent without smoke — better for sensitive lungs |
Read the table before you shop. The biggest mistake we see at the counter is someone buying a giant pack of thick herbal sticks for their one-bedroom flat — those things are built to perfume a garden, not a studio. Match the format to the room and the occasion.
What We Carry
- Nag Champa range — the classic. We stock Satya Sai Baba Nag Champa, Goloka Nag Champa, Super Hit (sweeter, spicier), Natural Nag Champa, and the bamboo-free Sai Baba Dhoop Cones. Five takes on the same sandalwood-and-champaca backbone.
- Herbal & natural sticks — Green Tree Dragon's Blood and Angel Dust, plus Sagrada Madre's Natural Incense line (Incienso, Sandalwood, Pure Copal).
- Sage & Palo Santo — whole-leaf Californian White Sage smudge bundles, raw Palo Santo wood and oil, plus Sagrada Madre Palo Santo sticks in Pure, Rose, Champa and Sandalwood.
- Novelty & flavoured — Juicy Jay's sticks in Black Magic, Funkincense, Lychee, Strawberry Fields and Apple Brown Betty. Candy-shop territory, not temple.
- Thick & small herbal ranges — hand-rolled, all-natural, fair trade. Five scents each, covering Palo Santo, Sage, Lavender, Lemon Grass, Nagchampa variants.
- Cones — Herbal Incense Cones in Musk, Lotus, Patchouli and Lavender, plus the Backflow Cones Mix for waterfall holders.
- Resins, powders & ritual — Sagrada Madre Incense Powder (7 Forces, Camphor & Bay Leaf), Purifying Charcoal Discs, 7 Chakra Incense kits, and smudge sticks in White Yagra, Copal, Myrrh & Palo Santo.
- Holders & burners — Green Tree wooden holders (Elephant Mandala, Flower of Life, Lotus, 7 Chakra), teak and palm wood trays, the antique silver tray, Kung-Fu Turtle, and backflow holders shaped like dragons, hands, and blue waterfalls.
- Oil burners & ambient — Elephant Essential Oil Burner, Bamboo Stand, RAW Terpene Candle (soy wax with myrcene), and the hand-carved Salt Stone Tea Light Holder.
- Accessories — Abalone shells for smudging, Spiru Fair Trade Gemstone Soaps, and charcoal discs for loose resin work.
How to Choose Your Incense
New to incense? Buy Satya Sai Baba Nag Champa sticks. It's the scent most people mean when they say "I smelled incense somewhere and liked it" — warm, sweet, slightly musky. Get the Green Tree incense holder at the same time so ash doesn't end up on your floor. If you want something softer and less smoky, order the Elephant Essential Oil Burner with a tealight and a bottle of lavender or peppermint oil — same ritual, no combustion.
Want to cleanse a space? That's where sage and Palo Santo come in. A Californian White Sage bundle is the traditional choice — thick resinous smoke, lit over an abalone shell. Palo Santo (raw wood sticks from South America) burns sweeter and milder, with citrus-vanilla notes. Many of our customers buy both and use them for different jobs: sage for a proper clear-out, Palo Santo for daily maintenance.
Experienced? Get into backflow. Pick up the Dragon, Purple Dragon, Bronze Hand or Blue Waterfall holder and a pack of Backflow Cones Mix — the smoke pours downward like a slow river instead of drifting up. Or go deeper with Sagrada Madre's Incense Powder and Purifying Charcoal Discs for proper resin burning. When in doubt, shop the Nag Champa range first and branch out from there.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the difference between Nag Champa varieties?
All Nag Champa builds on sandalwood and champaca flower, but the house blend varies. Satya Sai Baba is the baseline — warm and musky. Super Hit is sweeter and spicier. Goloka leans earthier with more resin. Natural Nag Champa is the purest sandalwood-forward version. The Dhoop Cones skip the bamboo core for a denser throw.
How do I use Palo Santo and white sage for smudging?
Light the tip of the stick or bundle, let it flame for about 20 seconds, then blow it out so it smoulders. Walk the smoke through the space you want to cleanse. Rest the bundle in an Abalone Shell or a heatproof dish between uses — the same bundle will re-light dozens of times over several weeks.
What do I need for backflow incense to work?
Two things: a backflow holder (a burner with a hollow channel through the middle) and backflow cones (hollow-bottomed, not standard cones). Order the Backflow Cones Mix pack and match it with the Dragon, Bronze Hand, or Blue Waterfall holder. Regular cones won't produce the waterfall effect — the air channel has to line up.
Are these incense sticks natural or synthetic?
Depends on the line. Our herbal ranges, Sagrada Madre, Green Tree and the hand-rolled Nagchampa sticks are all-natural and fair trade — no synthetic fragrance oils. Juicy Jay's uses fragrance oils for their candy-shop scents, which is why they smell like Strawberry Fields. Both have their place; read the product page if purity matters to you.
How do I burn resin or incense powder?
You'll need Purifying Charcoal Discs and a heatproof vessel (the Abalone Shell works, or a dedicated brass burner). Light the edge of the disc, wait until it stops sparking and turns grey, then sprinkle powder or resin on top. Place it somewhere ventilated — resin smoke is thick. Never handle a lit disc with bare hands.
What's a good starter set for someone buying incense for the first time?
Order a box of Satya Sai Baba Nag Champa sticks, a Green Tree wooden incense holder, and a Californian White Sage bundle for the occasional reset. That's roughly three purchases and covers 90% of what people use incense for — daily scenting plus the odd cleansing ritual. Add a backflow holder later if you want the visual effect.
Last updated: April 2026