Incense Tips?

[Helen]

I thought it might be a good idea to have a place where we shared incense tips and ideas.

I make some of my own incense, as well as using purchased items. I make two kinds; the type which can be a bit 'lumpy' that you burn on charcoal blocks, and the type which must be very fine and smoothly ground, which you form into cones or sticks. These require more dedication in grinding, but are easy to use.

The first thing I changed once I got into really nice incense was the type of charcoal I used! I had started out with those round things you can buy, that crackle and spark when you light them, and give off clouds of black smoke - uuk! But now I've discovered bamboo charcoal, which is slower to light, but burns really cleanly, no smoke or ordour, and so makes the most of the incense. I have to buy it from the USA, can't find anyone who sells it in UK, but it is really worth it.

Anyone else do the "incense thing"? What do you make, and how?

Blessings
Helen
)O(

[arablue]

Hi,

I've never actually made my own incense, but would love some tips on how to do this!

I use incense sticks, cones and the stuff you get in jars and use with an incense disc. When I light my disc I tend to use my cooker hob, it lights quicker, does its sparkly burning, then sits non-smoking ready to use. I just use tongs to lift it into my burner. I don't know if this helps?

BB

[Tylluan]

Hi Helen

Good thread to start - Thank You!!!

I don't have any tips because I cheat and buy either the sticks or cones. I have to be careful now when I burn them as the girls try to blow the smoke away - unfortunately most of the ash gets blown away too.

I think the floor is yours, Helen, but am happy to be corrected by anyone else's tips!

[Helen]

First up I'd recommend a couple of books, don't know if you can borrow them at libraries, but they are both quite good and helpful.
"Incesne, cafting & use of magical scents" by Carl F Neal.
"Incense, Oils and Brews" Scott Cunnigham.

I had the Cunnigham first, and was encouraged to make the loose kind of incense you burn on charcoal. That's fairly easy, as long as you can get the ingredients, so it was a good starter.
The Neal book taught me how to make the finer, self burning stuff you can form into cones, and that kind of thing. HArder to grind, but easier to use

I also joined a yahoo group called incesnse_exchange, and there's folks of all abilities there, so really good tips and reading.

I also use Cunnigham's "Encyclopeadia of Magical Herbs" but I should think there are other such books that list the magical and other properties of herbs? It's great to find local plants to wherever you live that can be dried and used too.

BB
Helen
)O(

[Southernwood]

Good idea, looking forward to reading more on this & trying out some recipes and the bamboo sounds interesting.

I do use loose dried patchouli, sandalwood & different resins on the charcoal discs for rituals. I also burn sticks in the house in general, (particularly useful in the aftermath of one of the cats leaving a pungent present in the litter tray!!!). I'm addicted to violet at the moment for some reason.

[arablue]

Hi Helen

I will certainly be looking our for copies of those books. If my library does not have them, or can't order them from another library for me, I will try Amazon!

I'm excited about making my own incense, though I do not have a pestle & mortar at the moment, it is next on my list.

Many thanks for those tips.

BB
Arablue

[Helen]

A pestle and mortar is really useful, and they're fairly easy to find I think, but for some ingredients I do use a very thick-bottomed wooded bowl (from a local wood turner) and a large smooth rock. I use it for grinding the resins - really is a case of controlled smashing rather than true grinding, coz they get tacky/sticky if they get too warm. So you can chill them a little in the fridge, and then carefully pound them. In the beginning, until I got the action right, I used to have bits flying off at all angles - made the carpet smell nice but not what I intended LOL

[arablue]

lol, thanks Helen. I will certainly bear that in mind! I do also have somewhere a nicely shaped wooden bowl I could use. What a fab idea!

BB,
Arablue

[Sue]

I have only burnt my own handmade incense three times (using recipes from one of the Scott Cunningham books mentioned above). I had the same problem with the charcoal blocks smelling awful. The first time I burnt any inside, the room where I burnt it in smelled like someone had been smoking cigarettes in there for days and days, sometimes I can still detect it and have to open the windows the re-air it (I think it's in the curtains - will have to wash them at Imbolc!) Would you believe the receipe was intended to purify my altar ...!

The second time I made some for a simple healing ritual, I did this outside so my room didn't get all smelly again but I would've preferred to do it inside. I read somewhere that if you light the charcoal outside and bring it in after the initial lighting then it smells less but as I haven't tried that yet, I don't know.

The third time, I put some incense on some tinfoil and put it on top of my wood burner in the evening. It gets quite hot on top there, we actually roasted chestnuts on their (on tinfoil again) in December. (They took about an hour an a half but I digress!) Anyway, the incense smelled SO much better this time around; it didn't actually produce any smoke but it was definitely producing some fragrance, and it had gone black by the end of the evening so I guess this was the slowcooker version. It was a very subtle way of using incense and probably good for meditation purposes as it lasted all evening, you wouldn't need to go back and keep adding more.

I'd love to buy some of the bamboo charcoal mentioned above, especially if it smells less. I found a UK supplier at this URL (you have to register), are any of the items on this page, the same as you get from the USA?
http://www.shishahookah.co.uk/shisha-charcoal

My tip for making incense is after you've smashed it up as much as you can in a pestle and mortar is to sieve it afterwards and that way you get a finer blend of materials, put the bigger bits back with your source material to use on another occasion. I find this especially helpful with frankincense as it gums up a bit.

[Tylluan]

I've been looking through the Old Forum and have found this thread that is regarding Incense too. I'm posting the link here in case anyone missed it when they were looking through

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=51