Dragon's Blood Nag Champa: resinous incense from India
Dragon's blood is a deep red resin. Most of what sells under that name comes from the rattan palm Daemonorops draco in Southeast Asia, while Socotra and the Canary Islands yield a related resin tapped from Dracaena trees. It smells warm and slightly sweet with a balsamic edge, and people have burned it for centuries, alongside its use as a pigment and a varnish. These sticks set that note on the familiar Nag Champa foundation: sweet, creamy and faintly resinous.
The sticks are rolled entirely by hand in India. A paste of natural herbs and flower extract is worked around a thin bamboo stick, which is then left to dry. A box contains 15 grams, which comes to roughly 12 to 15 sticks. One stick burns for about 30 to 45 minutes and the scent lingers in the room well after the ash has dropped. Because every stick is shaped by hand, thickness varies a little from one to the next. That is simply how they are made.
Burning the sticks
Light the tip, let the flame catch for a few seconds, then blow it out so the stick glows and gives off a thin ribbon of smoke. Stand it in an incense holder or a small pot of sand, on a surface that can take falling ash. Keep the room lightly ventilated and never leave a burning stick unattended. Store the box closed and dry, since the sticks slowly give off their aroma even unlit.
More incense at Avalon
Avalon Magic Plants stocks plenty of other scents beside this box, from Nag Champa with Californian white sage and Satya classics such as Aastha and Palo Santo to loose white sage, Aztec incense and backflow cones with matching holders.
