"Export Quality" Satya Sai Baba Nag Champa

[John Coloccia]

OK, just what exactly does "export quality" mean on my box of incense? Does that mean I'm getting the really good stuff because India would hate to represent itself poorly to the rest of the world, or does it mean I'm getting the cheap junk that they wouldn't dare sell to the locals?

[max taylor]

I have no idea. max

[David Weaver]

If I had to take a wild guess, it would mean something cosmetic about how the incense is either put together or how it's presented. Something that increases the price to us so it looks how we want it to, but something an Indian wouldn't care about or want to pay for.

[Michael Weber]

It's how they get rid of that pesky radioactive waste. They export in products to consumers in other countries.

[Prashun Patel]

In fact, I'd bet it has more to do with external impressions of Indian quality than domestic impressions. 'Export quality' implies to you that it's somehow better than the normal offering.

[curtis rosche]

I would think it has to do with how its treated for insects and stuff and that it has met the import requirements like labeling, lead content and such

[Rich Enders]

Package labeling has little to do with reality, and lots to do with marketing.

[Bruce Page]

I wonder if my Tibetan incense is of inferior quality. All it says on the packaging is“For External Use Only”.

[Thomas Hotchkin]

John
Just some light reading for you. http://commerce.nic.in/export_quality_control.htm

[Jim Koepke]

OK, just what exactly does "export quality" mean on my box of incense?

Before Thomas put up a link to a site that explains the meaning, my comment was it would mean about the same as "heavy duty" on the outside of the box of shop shelving that collapses under the weight of a basket ball.

In other words, like so many words on product packaging, absolutely nothing.

jtk

[John Coloccia]

John
Just some light reading for you. http://commerce.nic.in/export_quality_control.htm

Well, that's interesting. I guess it just means they maybe jumped through some bureaucratic hoops to be able to export these particular ones, and perhaps just skip it for the stuff that's sold domestically.

[Erik Loza]

Totally off-track but I worked at this neighborhood tropical fish store during college and we burned nag champa pretty much non-stop, to overcome the funk of that dank, humid fish room. My co-worker, the incense guy, also smoked these tiny Indian cigarettes called "beedies", which do not smell quite like a tobacco cigarette and look more like a joint (yes, he smoked inside, in the presence of customers, because the owner of the store was the biggest stoner of any of them and smoked cigarettes right there in front of customers, as well...). We would receive customer complaints every so often from people who tought he was smoking a joint right in front of them.

Erik Loza
Minimax USA

[Kevin Bourque]

Back in the "long ago times" we burned incense to mask the odor of, well...... something else that we were burning.

[John Coloccia]

Truth be told, I mostly burn it in my shop, though some in the house too. I find it relaxes me when I'm working.