How to Make Incense

incense making

How to make Incense?
Incense is made from woods, resins and herbs. This culture of making and using incense is seen in varied civilizations.

Incense making is also an art, yet very easy, inexpensive, simple, and enjoyable way to enhance your creativity and awaken your aromatic senses and their interconnection with nature. Lot of different recipes can be made, one can explore, experiment with different combinations of incense ingredients.

Incense is deeply related to religious ceremonies all over the world. However, one cannot deny the fact that is widely used for its healing, aromatic and relaxing qualities. Different people react to different smells, so incense also has lot of varieties of recipes and lets know discover how incense is made.

Type of incense to make

Combustible incense – This type of incense is made by molding the mixture into stick or cones. The incense mixture in this process contains combustible and binding material. When we burn this incense from one side, it burns continuously by them. This incense burns easily but is difficult to make.

Non-combustible incense – This incense is also known as incense of ancients. This type of incense is easy to make and only requires the ingredients, which are grinded and mixed. Other way is to make pellets; it is loose incense, where balsams, raisins, soft resins or dried fruits and honey are added to make a pellet. Incense of this nature requires charcoal or makko to heat.

Heating a Incense

Its easy to burn a cone or stick incense, just lit it, give a blow and rest it burns slowly till the end but in some parts of the world blowing out the flame is not considered good. However, if you are burning loose incense, you have to heat the mixture with charcoal or makko. Loose incense can also be burnt by directly placing them on campfire.

How to burn non-combustible Incense

Charcoal – Here we use bamboo charcoal to light up the incense in a bowl full of ash or sand. One can directly sprinkle incense in or around a charcoal, the charcoal will burn the material and release the aroma.

Makko – Makko is a natural combustible bark from a native tree of Asia. Firstly we make a indentation in the ash with the help of ash press, now put makko in that indent and then again press with ash press, it burns slow but with high heat.