Katrina Rosales
Incense-making is a meditative and creative process that has been practised by almost every civilisation since the Stone Age. The art of incense blending has a long history in China, with the first known incense recipe book dating back 2,500 years. The practice then spread to Japan and beyond. Today, incense is used to create aromatic spaces both indoors and outdoors, and it continues to play a significant role in religious ceremonies and medicine. Making natural incense involves selecting aromatic ingredients, preparing raw materials, blending mixtures, and following proper drying and storage techniques. This introduction will guide you through the process of making your own incense at home, allowing you to create personalised scents for your space.
How to Make Raw Incense
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| History | The art of incense blending has thousands of years of history in China, with the practice spreading to Japan and beyond. The first known Chinese incense recipe book dates back 2,500 years. |
| Ingredients | Natural resins, woods, herbs, flowers, essential oils, and other aromatic ingredients. Specific examples include sandalwood, frankincense, myrrh, aloeswood, and herbal blends from the Himalayan mountains. |
| Tools | Bamboo charcoal or makko powder, tweezers or tongs, mica, coffee grinder, distilled water or fragrant hydrosols, mixing bowls or food-grade plastic bags. |
| Process | Select ingredients, prepare raw materials by grinding them into a fine powder, blend mixtures, add water to form a dough, shape into cones, sticks, or pellets, and allow to dry. |
| Techniques | Direct heat, indirect heat, and shape burning (drawing Chinese characters with incense powder and burning them). |
| Benefits | Incense is used for creating aromatic spaces, enhancing moods and occasions, therapeutic benefits, and spiritual or religious purposes. |
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What You'll Learn
- Choose your ingredients: wood, resins, herbs, flowers, essential oils
- Prepare raw materials: grind into a fine powder, sieve, mix with water to form dough
- Shape your incense: cones, sticks, pellets or loose incense
- Add a binding agent: makko, nanmu or tabu no ki powder
- Burn your incense: direct or indirect heat, charcoal or mica plate
Choose your ingredients: wood, resins, herbs, flowers, essential oils
When making raw incense, you can choose from a variety of ingredients, including wood, resins, herbs, flowers, and essential oils. Each of these ingredients brings its unique aromatic properties and contributes to the overall scent and quality of the incense. Here are some tips and suggestions for choosing these ingredients:
Wood:
Wood forms the base of your incense blend and adds a strong scent. Sandalwood, cedar, and pine are popular choices for their distinct aromas. "Red sandalwood," alder, and charcoal have low scents and are ideal if you want other ingredients to stand out. Wood binders, such as joss powder or "tabu no ki," act as a glue to hold the incense together in your desired shape.
Resins:
Resins like copal, frankincense, myrrh, and traditional Chinese incense powders are commonly used. They are designed to be burned on small indoor charcoal tablets, as lighting them directly can be challenging. When using resins, be mindful that they may affect the flammability and scent of your incense.
Herbs:
Herbs are a versatile ingredient in incense-making. You can burn dried aromatic herbs directly on charcoal or powder them for use in incense sticks. Common herbs used in incense include lavender, sage, and rosemary. You can also experiment with herbs from your garden to create unique blends.
Flowers:
Flowers can be used to create floral notes in your incense. Lavender, for example, has sweet and herbaceous undertones and is known for its calming properties.
Essential Oils:
Essential oils are concentrated plant extracts that can enhance the scent of your incense. A few drops of essential oils like lavender, amyris (West Indian sandalwood), or vetiver can go a long way. However, they are typically expensive and should be used sparingly. Additionally, essential oils are flammable and should be handled with caution.
When choosing your ingredients, feel free to experiment with different combinations. Incense-making is a creative process, and you can explore various ratios and blends to find what works best for you.
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Prepare raw materials: grind into a fine powder, sieve, mix with water to form dough
To prepare the raw materials for making incense, you'll need to grind your ingredients into a fine powder, sieve the powder, and then mix it with water to form a dough.
First, gather your dried herbs and spices. You can use a variety of home-grown or store-bought options, such as cedar, lavender, sage, and sweetgrass. If you're using resins or woods, opt for natural, high-quality ingredients.
Next, use a mortar and pestle or a coffee grinder to pulverize your ingredients into an ultra-fine powder. This step is crucial for ensuring your incense burns properly. Electric coffee grinders should be avoided, as they produce too much heat, causing the loss of vital chemicals from the ingredients. If you're having trouble achieving a fine powder, try adjusting the proportion of herbs and flowers in your blend or check the quality of your ingredients.
Once you have a fine powder, use a sieve to ensure the consistency is smooth. It's recommended to use a mesh screen sieve with a size of at least 80 mesh (0.18mm/0.007") and ideally 100 mesh (0.15mm/0.0049"). This will help prevent clumping and ensure even burning.
Now, it's time to mix your powder with a binder and water to form a dough. Common wood binders include joss powder (also known as jiggit) and Tabu No Ki powder (sometimes called Makko). Gum binders, such as guar gum or xanthan gum, are more potent and require smaller quantities. To activate the binder, slowly add distilled water or another water-based liquid, such as tea, coffee, milk, or fruit juice, a few drops at a time until a dough forms.
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Shape your incense: cones, sticks, pellets or loose incense
Incense can be shaped into cones, pellets, sticks, or left as loose incense. Each shape has its own unique burning characteristics and requires different preparation methods.
Cones
To make incense cones, mix your chosen herbs, resins, and other ingredients in a bowl and grind them with a mortar and pestle. If using ingredients like honey, add them after grinding the herbs. You'll need around 1 tablespoon of water and 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon of any other liquid ingredients. The mixture should be able to hold its shape fairly well. Form the cones by pressing the mixture into a piping tip, like the kind used for frosting. A wide nozzle will make it easier to fill and shape the cones. Slide a toothpick into the center of the cone to create a small hole, which will help the cone burn better. Place the cones on a tray or inside an open container and leave them to dry in a sunny spot for one to two days. Ensure the cones are completely dry before burning or storing in an airtight container.
Pellets
Pellets can be formed from any loose incense mixture. They add a richer fragrance and more dimension to your incense-making. Many resins come in a pliable form that allows for the molding of pellets. Labdanum is commonly used in Japanese recipes to form pellets, particularly during the fall and winter seasons, as well as for tea ceremonies. Simply combine all the ingredients, adding the pliable resin last, and knead well. You can also use dried fruit soaked in red wine to make pellets. After mixing the fruit with the loose incense mixture, add about 1 teaspoon of honey for every 3/4 cup of dried fruit and knead the mixture. Dry these pellets in a ceramic jar with a lid for 2-3 weeks.
Sticks
Hand-making natural incense sticks has a long history in China and Japan. The process involves blending natural ingredients like wood, herbs, flowers, resins, and essential oils. The incense dough should be kneaded and allowed to rest for a few hours to overnight before forming it into stick shapes. For small batches, you can roll the dough into thin sticks by hand or use an incense squeezing syringe. For larger batches, use larger incense-squeezing equipment to form long strands of dough, which can then be cut to the desired length and placed on drying screens. The quality of the raw ingredients will impact the burn time of the sticks; using natural, good-quality ingredients will result in longer-lasting incense.
Loose Incense
Loose incense is the simplest form, requiring no additional shaping or preparation beyond mixing and drying. The mixture should be allowed to sit for at least overnight to let the ingredients blend together. After aging, you can add makko to help bind the mixture, using between 10-25% makko for mixtures without resins and 25-80% for mixtures with resins. The exact proportion of makko will depend on your specific mixture and climate. Loose incense can be burned on a small mica plate placed on top of charcoal, with a vent hole poked from the top of the charcoal down, or directly on makko.
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Add a binding agent: makko, nanmu or tabu no ki powder
When making raw incense, adding a binding agent is an important step. Makko, nanmu, and tabu no ki powder are all binding agents that can be used for this purpose.
Makko powder, also known as tabu no ki powder, is a natural combustible material derived from the Tabu-no-ki tree, which grows in parts of Asia. It has a play dough-like consistency and can be easily shaped into cones, sticks, or other forms. Makko is scentless and will easily absorb the scents from any incense blend. It is important to note that true makko contains tabu no ki blended with other ingredients, so if you are looking for pure tabu no ki, you should choose a product that does not include additional ingredients. To use makko, simply mix it with herbs, resins, or spices, and add water to create your incense.
Nanmu, also known as zinanmu nanmu or zhennan nanmu, is a type of wood that comes from several species of trees, primarily the Phoebe genus. It is known for its resistance to decay and climate changes, making it ideal for architectural woodworking and boatbuilding. While nanmu wood is not commonly mentioned in the context of incense-making, its pleasant fragrance and impressive chatoyancy (an optical effect) make it a valuable material in other applications.
Tabu no ki powder, also known as tabu powder, is a pure and virtually scentless binder that is widely used in incense-making. It allows you to create various forms of incense, such as masala incense sticks, joss sticks, cones, coils, and cylinders. Tabu no ki is the only binder that easily binds to bamboo, making it a versatile choice for incense makers. To use tabu no ki powder, simply add it to your incense mix and a little water to shape your incense into the desired form.
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Burn your incense: direct or indirect heat, charcoal or mica plate
When burning raw incense, you can use direct or indirect heat. Direct heat involves placing the incense directly on top of or beside charcoal. Charcoal burns very hot, so it needs to be placed in something heat-proof like a terracotta pot or thick ceramic bowl full of sand. You can also use a piece of thick slate, a brick, or a brass incense burner. However, note that a brass burner will also need to be set on something heat-proof as it will get extremely hot. To light a charcoal tablet, hold a flame to its edges for 10-20 seconds. The charcoal will sparkle and smoke as it ignites. Place the dish near an open window or outside while the charcoal lights to allow the smell of the lighting agent to dissipate. After about 2 minutes, the charcoal will turn grey and ashy, indicating that it's ready. Sprinkle a pinch of incense onto the hot coal to enjoy the aromatic smoke.
The indirect method involves using a mica plate on top of the charcoal. Mica is a heat-resistant silicate mineral that lowers the temperature affecting the incense, allowing more fragrance and less smoke. To prepare your charcoal for the mica plate, scoop ash from the sides over the top of the charcoal and press down lightly to create a flat surface. Use tongs to lay your mica plate on top. You can then sprinkle incense onto the plate as the charcoal burns. The charcoal will need good ventilation underneath as the mica plate will restrict oxygen from reaching the surface of the coal.
Charcoal is not part of traditional incense recipes, and some ingredients, like aloeswood, can be difficult to burn. However, charcoal burning is likely the most common method of burning incense throughout history. It is also worth noting that the mica plate offers a slower heating process, a longer burn with less material, and a more nuanced scent profile.
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Frequently asked questions
Making raw incense involves selecting aromatic ingredients, preparing raw materials, blending mixtures, and following proper drying and storage techniques.
You can use natural ingredients like wood, resins, herbs, flowers, and essential oils. Essential oils like rose, lavender, and jasmine can enhance the scent and provide therapeutic benefits.
You will need bamboo charcoal or makko powder, tweezers or tongs, mica, a coffee grinder, distilled water or fragrant hydrosols, and two mixing bowls or food-grade plastic bags.
The ideal particle size for ground powders is very fine, passing through an 80 mesh screen sieve (0.18mm) at a minimum. This ensures a consistent burn and even distribution of fragrance.
