Home Made Incense
How to make Homemade Incense
Crafting incense involves a few essential components. Starting with first the base, this usually the bulk of the material and this provides consistent burning for the incense. This is usually made from various woods or dry herbs that burns well. Cedar wood, Sandal wood, Oud wood, Juniper, Cypress wood are some common woods that are used.
Next you have your aromatics. this can be really anything that you enjoy the scent of. Flowers, resins, herbs, spices, woods, essential oils musk, ambergris, honey, wine, and tea to name a few examples.
Sometimes a combustion aid is needed such as charcoal, this can be helpful and in some cases necessary depending and what you have access to and what you’re working with. In some cases such as high resin content incense the charcoal can be used to facilitate complete combustion. Makko powder is another material used as a combustion aid, it can also be used as a binding agent or “glue” to hold your incense together.
Binders hold the blend together; this will add strength and form to your finished product. Examples of binders are Makko powder, Acacia gum, Tragacanth gum, Guar gum, Xanthan gum, Resins from fruit trees, Honey and Beeswax.
Blending the ingredients in proper ratios and then forming a dough, using water, tea, or juice. Shaping this dough one can create cones, sticks, coils, or ropes. Using foraged or homegrown ingredients is safest; burning synthetic scents, glues, dyes, or solvents can emit harmful fumes during creation and burning.
Selecting your core ingredients is one of the best parts! Look around outside in nature (preferably somewhere further off the road where it will be less affected by passing cars) and find some local plants or resins that you feel called to. Tree resins such as pine spruce and fir are some of my favorites. I select ingredients that are not treated with chemicals, pesticides, or grown in polluted environments. Foraging or growing it yourself is one of the best ways to connect deep with the whole process and each ingredient.
Creating your own blend can take on many forms. Whether strictly for pleasure of the olfactory system, creating medicinal blends, or for spiritual use, the paths are endless. Take the plant properties and your health into consideration, maybe create a calm atmosphere with the addition of lavender or meditate with frankincense.
Some Suggested ingredients:
Energy Uplift: Cinnamon, Grapefruit, Spruce,
Meditation: Sandalwood, Myrrh, Frankincense, Aloeswood
Therapeutic/Healing: Frankincense, Copal, Sage, Palo Santo, Oud wood, Siam benzoin
Focus: Citrus varieties, Lemongrass, Cedar, Pine, Elemi, Frankinscense
Calm/Inviting Space: Floral, Rose, Jasmine, Lavender, Acacia flower
To begin, some supplies will make the job much easier such as:
A bowl for each ingredient and mixing
A mesh screen of various sizes
A grinder
A butter knife or something with an edge to scrape incense off your hands
Ingredients:
Base: Usually consists of Various Woods and Spice, the base supports consistent burning.
Binders: Such as Makko, Acacia gum, Guar gum, Xanthan, Tragacanth, or Joss powder. This holds everything together that would other wise crumble apart.
Combustion Agents: Makko powder or Charcoal is usually used when using ingredients that are difficult to burn such as thick resins.
Aromatics: These are the scented ingredients dry herbs, spices, resins, oils, honey, sugars, berries, woods, flowers, leaves, really anything that can produce an aroma when burned.
Water/Liquids: Water, tea, coffee, hydrosol, juice, and wine can all be used for the stage of mixing your dry ingredients with liquids to then knead into the right consistency
Sticks: Whether bamboo blanks, small branches from a tree, or even stems of herbs such as mugwort, lavender, or mint.
The process is as follows below.
Prepare Ingredients: Grind and sift each ingredient separately into a fine, consistent powder using a grinder and a mesh screen. The finer the powder the better. Measure out how much of each ingredient you plan to use.
Mixing: Take your measured ingredients and combine them into a single bowl except for the binder. You will add the binder later. Mix your ingredients up and slowly add small amounts of water and knead until you get a nice dough consistency. I use a spray bottle since it seems easier to manage the amount of water and provide a more even mix. BE CAREFUL with how much water you add, too much will create a sloppy mess that is difficult to deal with and you either add more ingredients or wait for it to dry enough to mold. I then slowly add small amounts of my binder and keep kneading it in adding water if it gets to dry and crumbly. you’ll know when you added enough binder based on how well it holds its shape and stickiness.
Shaping: When you have a good consistency you can then break off pieces and shape them into cones, sticks, ropes, or coils. Place them on preferably a screen, baking sheet, or any other surface they can suitable dry on with out sticking too much.
Drying: Put the shaped incense into a space tp dry. A dehydrator on low or a warm dry place or easy options. Many traditional incense are dried in the sun or in cool rooms. It takes about a day or two sometimes more depending on your environment to fully dry, depending on the conditions.
Final Testing: Once dry, light the incense and experience the aroma. If it doesn’t burn or you're unsatisfied with the results, you can crumble, grind, and sift the incense back into a bowl and adjust the ingredients according to your preferences.
Enjoy your homemade incense, and feel free to experiment with different ingredients and ratios to find your perfect blend!
Juniper Incense
Prepare Ingredients: Grind and sift each ingredient separately into a fine, consistent powder using a grinder and a mesh screen. You can throw each one into a blender or food processor, otherwise a mortar and pestle works with dry material and some elbow grease.
Mixing: Use separate bowls for each ingredient (base, aromatics, etc.). For Makko powder as the binder, I aim for just enough Makko to hold my incense together. Ingredients like Juniper burn well so you mainly need just enough binder to keep its shape and avoid crumbling on its own.
Adding Liquids: Slowly add small amounts of water, mixing it into the powder until it reaches a doughy consistency. Be cautious not to add too much water and make a sloppy mess; the mixture should be formable and hold its shape. It is easier to add more than to have to wait for it to dry to the right consistency or use more powdered product.
Shaping: Break off pieces and shape them into cones, sticks, ropes, or coils. Place them on a screen, baking sheet, or any suitable surface. Here i am using the branches from the Juniper i collected as the sticks to hold my incense.
Drying: Put the shaped incense into a dehydrator or a warm, dry place. If in the oven, set to the lowest temperature setting possible and check every few hours. Without the oven It takes about a day or two to fully dry, depending on the conditions. The higher the temperature and drier the more you will lose valuable aromatics so low temperatures are ideal for preservation.
If using a dehydrator, set to low temp or around 90-104 degrees and check it the next day
Final Testing: Once dry, light the incense and experience the aroma. If you're unsatisfied with the results, you can crumble the incense back into a bowl and adjust the ingredients according to your preferences.
