Seamus Hammond
Incense is a biotic material that releases a fragrant smoke when burned. The practice of burning incense dates back to ancient times and is used in ceremonies, for healing, and for cleansing. Incense is also believed to enhance concentration and stimulate creativity. While incense is readily available in stores, making your own at home allows you to customize your ingredients and cut costs. To make herbal incense with household items, you can use dried and powdered herbs such as cedar, lavender, sage, and sweetgrass, as well as common aromatics like cinnamon, frankincense, and sandalwood. You can also add liquid scents such as herbal teas, decoctions, or fruit juices to enhance the fragrance. The process involves mixing and grinding the herbs, shaping them into cones or sticks, and drying them before lighting. It's important to take precautions when burning incense, such as ensuring proper ventilation and keeping it away from flammable objects and children.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Purpose | Enhance concentration, stimulate creativity, aromatherapy, ceremonies, healing, cleansing an area, enhance the atmosphere |
| Materials | Dried and powdered herbs, flowers, resins, woods, essential oils, liquid scents, binders, water |
| Tools | Mortar and pestle, conical mold, heat-resistant bowl, salt or sand, charcoal, matches or lighter, scissors, heat-proof plate, hanger |
| Safety Precautions | Keep away from children and pets, avoid inhalation, consult a doctor if pregnant, nursing, asthmatic or with respiratory issues |
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What You'll Learn
- Choose your herbs: dried and ground, with a mix of bitter and sweet herbs or roots
- Add resins: use powdered resins for the other half of your mixture
- Include liquid scents: essential oils, decoctions, hydrosols, and other extracts
- Use a binder: gum or wood binders hold the incense together and give it shape
- Form the incense: use a mould or shape by hand, then let it dry for at least 12 hours
Choose your herbs: dried and ground, with a mix of bitter and sweet herbs or roots
When making herbal incense, it's important to choose the right herbs to create the fragrance you desire. Using dried and ground herbs is ideal, as this will allow you to blend a variety of bitter and sweet herbs or roots to create a balanced aroma.
For bitter herbs, you can choose from a range of options such as sagebrush, mugwort, yarrow leaves, juniper berries, wormwood, white sage, rosemary, thyme, and more. These herbs will add a sharp and pungent note to your incense. If you're looking for readily available household items, rosemary and thyme are excellent choices to add a bitter touch.
On the other hand, sweet herbs will bring a softer, more delicate fragrance to your incense. Rose petals, lavender, yarrow flowers, fir needles, and cinnamon are all wonderful options. Rose petals and lavender are likely to be easily found in households, adding a sweet and soothing scent to your blend.
Additionally, you can experiment with aromatic plants that are locally available and sustainably sourced. For example, lemongrass is known to improve concentration and give us energy, making it a great choice for an invigorating incense blend.
Remember, the key is to create a balanced mixture of bitter and sweet herbs that complement each other. You can also add other ingredients, such as resins, essential oils, and liquid scents, to enhance the fragrance and create a unique, personalised aroma.
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Add resins: use powdered resins for the other half of your mixture
To make herbal incense with household items, you will need to gather dried herbs, a variety of home-grown or store-bought herbs can be used. Cedar, lavender, sage and sweetgrass are among the most popular. Crush them into a powder using a mortar and pestle.
Now, add resins for the other half of your mixture. You can use commercial resins like frankincense or myrrh, or you can gather your own from conifer tree sap. If you gather your own, be mindful not to take resin that is still forming on the tree as it serves to protect the tree from infection. Instead, look at the base of the tree for pieces that have fallen off. Only gather hard resin, not soft sticky sap. To make the resin easier to crush, place it in the freezer for 15 minutes or a few hours to make it brittle.
Resins are typically used in incense mixtures in powdered form. You can grind the resin into a powder using a mortar and pestle. It is recommended to pulverize your ingredients by class, grinding woods first, then herbs, and saving the resins for last. You can also add a little bit of binder to help your mixture stick together. Honey, water, or dried fruit soaked in wine can be used as binders.
Once you have a properly mixed batch of incense dough, you can form it into any shape you wish. Sticks and cones are the most common forms, but you can get creative and form the incense into any shape you like.
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Include liquid scents: essential oils, decoctions, hydrosols, and other extracts
To make herbal incense, you'll need to gather dried herbs, such as cedar, lavender, sage, and sweetgrass, and crush them into a powder. You can also add liquid scents to enhance the fragrance. Here are some tips for including liquid scents like essential oils, decoctions, hydrosols, and other extracts in your homemade herbal incense:
Essential Oils
Essential oils are highly concentrated plant extracts that can provide a potent fragrance to your incense. When using essential oils, a little goes a long way. Add a few drops at a time and adjust the quantity according to your preference. Remember that essential oils are hydrophobic, so you'll need to combine them with a water-based liquid like water, tea, coffee, milk, fruit juices, or herbal teas.
Decoctions
Decoctions are made by boiling plant materials, typically the harder parts like roots, bark, or stems, in water to extract their aromatic and medicinal properties. To make a decoction, simmer the plant material in water for 20-30 minutes, then strain the liquid. You can use this infused water as your base liquid when mixing your incense ingredients.
Hydrosols
Hydrosols, also known as floral waters, are by-products of essential oil distillation. They contain water-soluble components of the plant and have a milder scent than essential oils. Hydrosols can be used directly as your water-based liquid without any additional preparation.
Other Extracts
You can also experiment with other extracts like absolutes, tinctures, or infusions. These extracts are typically made by soaking plant materials in a solvent, such as alcohol or vegetable glycerine, to create a concentrated fragrance. A few drops of these extracts can be added to your incense mixture to enhance its scent.
When working with liquid scents, remember that the amount you add will depend on the desired potency of your incense. Start with a small quantity and gradually increase until you achieve the desired fragrance strength. Additionally, ensure that your incense mixture has a dough-like consistency that can hold its shape. Too much liquid can make your incense mixture wet and difficult to mould.
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Use a binder: gum or wood binders hold the incense together and give it shape
When making herbal incense, you will need to use a binder to hold the incense together and give it shape. Gum binders and wood binders are the two most common types. Wood binders, such as joss powder or "tabu no ki", are easy to work with and often double up as a base material. Gum binders, such as guar gum or xanthan gum, are much stronger than wood binders, with a typical incense recipe using just 1/8 teaspoon of binder for every 2 tablespoons of material.
You will need to add water to your blend to "activate" the binder. This can be plain water, but other liquids that are mostly water, such as tea, coffee, milk, fruit juices, and herbal teas, can also be used. Essential oils can be used to supplement the amount of water in your blend, but they cannot be used as a replacement.
Once you have a properly mixed batch of incense dough, you can form it into any shape you like. Sticks and cones are the most common forms, but you can also get creative and experiment with different shapes. To create cones, place approximately half a teaspoon of the dough into a small conical mold. If necessary, insert a pin into the tip of the mold to help dislodge the cones. You can also shape the cones by hand.
After shaping your incense, place it on parchment or wax paper and let it dry for a minimum of 12 hours. Turn the incense over halfway through the drying process so that the bottoms dry out as well.
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Form the incense: use a mould or shape by hand, then let it dry for at least 12 hours
Once you have your incense mixture, it's time to form it into cones, sticks, or any other shape you prefer. The easiest way to shape your incense is to use a mould, such as a piping tip, or a small conical mould for cones. You can also shape your incense by hand, which gives you more freedom to experiment with different shapes. If you're using a mould, you may need to use a pin or similar tool to dislodge the incense after it has dried.
Place your shaped incense on parchment or wax paper and let it dry for at least 12 hours. Turn it over halfway through the drying process to ensure that all sides dry evenly. The drying process is important, as it helps the incense hold its shape and ensures it will burn properly.
After your incense has dried, it's ready to be burned. Fill a small, heat-resistant bowl with salt or sand and place your incense on top. Light the tip of the incense and blow it out after a few seconds. Your incense should continue to smoke and release its fragrance for about an hour. Always take precautions when burning incense, such as keeping it away from children and pets, and placing it on a heat-resistant surface.
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Frequently asked questions
Making your own incense at home allows you to customize your ingredients, cut costs, and avoid toxins and other harmful matter that may be found in store-bought incense.
You will need dried and ground herbs, such as cedar, lavender, sage, sweetgrass, basil, dill, marjoram, peppermint, rosemary, or rose petals. You will also need a binder such as gum or wood, and a liquid to activate the binder, such as water, tea, coffee, milk, fruit juices, or herbal teas.
You will need a mortar and pestle to crush and grind your herbs, a bowl to mix your ingredients, a heat-proof plate or bowl to burn your incense, and a hanger to dry the bundles.
First, gather your dried herbs and crush them into a powder. Then, mix in a binder such as gum or wood, and a liquid to activate the binder. Next, mold your cones or sticks and let them dry for at least 12 hours. Finally, place your incense on a heat-proof plate or bowl, light the tip, and blow it out after a few seconds.
