Katrina Rosales
Incense has been used in various cultures around the world for thousands of years, with evidence of its use in ancient rituals in Egypt, Babylonia, and China. The word incense comes from the Latin incendere, meaning to burn. Incense is made from aromatic plant matter, combined with essential oils and resins, and burned slowly to produce aromatic smoke. While incense sticks are now often machine-made, they can be hand-rolled using a few simple methods.
How to Hand Roll Incense
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Ingredients | Aromatic plant matter, essential oils, resins, wood, bark, seeds, roots, flowers, wine, honey, dried fruits, fragrant hydrosols |
| Tools | Wax paper, unscented bamboo sticks, shallow dish, cup or mug, syringes, acrylic board, coffee grinder, metal file, bowl, spoon |
| Techniques | Powder coating, paste rolling, hand-rolling, extrusion |
| Time | 12-15 hours for drying hand-rolled incense sticks |
| Tips | Use distilled water, dip sticks in oil, coat sticks with dipropylene glycol to prevent black smoke, store ingredients in a dark, cool space |
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What You'll Learn
Choosing your ingredients
You can choose from a variety of popular incense ingredients, including fragrant woods, resins, essential oils, and other additives. If you're using wood, you may need to file it gently and slowly with a metal file to get a fine powder without generating unnecessary heat or melting the resin. This process usually yields around 2 grams of powder per hour of work. Alternatively, you can use a hand crank coffee grinder to pulverize the wood. For resins, it is recommended to freeze them for about 15 minutes before grinding them into a powder using a mortar and pestle.
Essential oils are another key ingredient in incense-making. You can choose one or a combination of oils to create your desired scent profile. Common scents include woodsy notes like sandalwood, pine, cedar, juniper, and pinion pine; herbal scents such as sage, thyme, lemongrass, rosemary, and star anise; and floral fragrances like lavender, iris, rose, saffron, and hibiscus. You can also experiment with other scents like orange flower, cinnamon, calamus root, frankincense, vanilla, and myrrh.
In addition to these primary ingredients, you will need a binder to help your incense mixture hold its shape. A commonly used binder is makko (or makkoh), a powder made from the bark of the tabu-no-ki tree. You can adjust the amount of makko in your mixture to control the burn rate of your incense sticks. Other potential ingredients include distilled water, which is added gradually to form a dough, and blank bamboo sticks, which can be coated with your incense mixture.
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Preparing the raw materials
The type of wood used can vary depending on the desired fragrance. Popular wood scents include sandalwood, pine, cedar, juniper, and pinion pine. If you're using wood as a base, it must be processed into a fine powder before being combined with other ingredients. This can be done by freezing the wood for 15 minutes to make it easier to pulverize, and then grinding it into a powder using a mortar and pestle or a hand-crank coffee grinder. Electric coffee grinders should be avoided, as they produce too much heat, which can cause the loss of vital chemicals from the wood.
Once you have your powdered wood base, you can add other powdered ingredients such as dried flowers, roots, or seeds. These ingredients can be ground into a powder using a similar process as the wood. It's important to note that resins should only be ground using a mortar and pestle, as they will break the blades of electric grinders.
After combining all your powdered ingredients, the next step is to add a binding agent to create a dough-like consistency. The amount of water added must be carefully controlled, as too much water will make the mixture difficult to handle and cause shrinkage issues. It is recommended to add small drops of water gradually and mix thoroughly until a firm dough starts to form. At this point, you can knead the dough with your hands to ensure it is well combined.
If you are using essential oils or other liquid ingredients, they can be added to the dough mixture. However, it is important to use reputable vendors and pay attention to the ingredients to ensure you are using pure, high-quality oils.
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Making the incense dough
To make incense dough, you'll first need to gather your raw materials and process them into a fine powder. This can be done using a mortar and pestle or a coffee grinder. If you're using resins, you'll need to freeze them for 15 minutes first to make them easier to pulverize. For quality fragrant woods, you may need to use a metal file to gently and slowly file them down into a fine powder.
Once you have your powder, you can decide on the binder content. The binder used in incense is called makko or makkoh, and it's important to get the right amount so that your incense sticks hold together. Add a small amount of water to your powder mixture, a few drops at a time, and mix it together. Keep adding water gradually until the mixture forms a dough that doesn't crumble. If you add too much water, you can use additional powder to dry out the mixture.
Knead the dough with your hands for 10 to 15 minutes until it's homogenous and easy to handle. If the dough is too dry or brittle, add a small amount of water and knead again. The dough should be moist enough to hold together but not so wet that it smears or falls apart.
Once you have a smooth, pliable dough, you're ready to start rolling your incense sticks. Pull off a small piece of dough and roll it into a ball with your palms. Then, continue rolling the ball into a long, thin stick, using the bottom of a flat box to help guide you and ensure an even shape.
Place your rolled incense sticks on a piece of wax paper and allow them to dry for at least a couple of weeks in a cool, dry place away from sunlight and heat.
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Rolling the incense
The first step to making hand-rolled incense is to prepare the raw materials. If you are not starting with powdered ingredients, you must pulverize them using a mortar and pestle or coffee grinder. Electric coffee grinders produce too much heat, which can cause the loss of vital chemicals from the ingredients, so these should be avoided. Resins, in particular, can only be ground or powdered using a mortar and pestle. Woods are very difficult to pulverize with a mortar and pestle and usually require the use of a hand-crank coffee grinder or the purchase of powdered wood.
Next, mix your chosen ingredients with water to form a dough. Add the water gradually, using a pipette, and knead the mixture together. If you add too much water, pour out the excess and use the remaining powder to dry out the mixture. The dough should be firm and dry, but not crumbly, and should be kneaded until it is homogenous.
Now you are ready to roll the incense mixture into sticks. Pull off a small chunk of incense dough and roll it into a ball with your palms. Then, continue rolling the dough out into a long stick. It may help to use the bottom of a flat box to create a more even shape. Alternatively, you can roll the mixture onto a blank bamboo stick, or extrude the incense using a syringe onto an acrylic board.
Finally, lay your incense sticks out to dry. This process can take up to five days, depending on the climate. Keep the incense away from sunlight and heat during this time. Once dry, light your incense and observe how it burns and smells. If it does not burn steadily, you may need to increase the amount of makko in the mixture, and if it burns too fast, you should decrease the makko content.
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Drying the incense
Firstly, the drying time will vary depending on the ingredients used, the climate, and the shape of the incense. For instance, incense sticks will generally dry faster than cones. The drying process can take anywhere from 12 to 15 hours to a few days or even a couple of weeks. It is important to keep the incense away from sunlight and heat during this time.
Secondly, the traditional Chinese method of drying hand-rolled incense sticks involves using a drying screen. The sticks are placed right up against the edge of the screen, with subsequent sticks pushed closely next to each other. This ensures the sticks stay straight during the drying process. If there is enough incense to fill the entire screen, the sticks will naturally stay in place. If not, you can use a long piece of wood or acrylic to hold them in place.
Thirdly, the incense mixture should be at the right consistency before rolling. If the dough is too wet, it will be difficult to work with and the sticks may become tangled or misshapen. The ideal consistency is a firm dough that can be rolled out easily without crumbling. If the mixture is too dry, add a few more drops of water. If it is too wet, use the remaining powder to dry it out.
Finally, once the incense sticks have been rolled, they should be left to dry completely before burning. You can tell if cones are dry by checking the colour; the bottom centre should be lighter than the outer edges. For sticks, you can test one to see how it burns and adjust the makko content if needed.
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Frequently asked questions
The ingredients you need to hand-roll incense include essential oils, raw materials, and water. The raw materials can include resins like frankincense and myrrh, aromatic wood and bark, and additions such as seeds, roots, and flowers.
If you are not starting with powdered ingredients, you must pulverize them using a mortar and pestle or coffee grinder. Electric coffee grinders produce too much heat, so they are not recommended. You can then add tiny drops of water to the powder and knead it into a dough.
You can roll the incense dough into sticks with your hands on a piece of wax paper. You can also use blank bamboo sticks and roll the mixture onto them.
Allow your hand-rolled incense to dry for at least a couple of weeks, depending on the climate. Keep them away from sunlight and heat during this time.
