How are Incense sticks made??

[Rik Wallin]

How are Incense sticks made??


Agarbatti or the incense stick is hand made by making a paste of Aromatic wood, Leaves, roots and a special adhesive (gum). This paste is rolled onto fine wooden sticks and sun dried . The dried Incense Sticks are then hand dipped in Aromatic oils and perfumes to make a finished product that enlightens the spirit when lit. The incense sticks are available in a wide variety of fragrances and can be availed on customer"s choice.

What we avoid while making a good quality incense:

Our incense are not be perfumed with toxic or habit forming substances.
We do not use punk sticks to make incense. Punk sticks are cheap and in several cases can cause throat and nasal irritation as well as headaches.

Incense making as an activity:

Incense making is exercising our creativity in a joyful and meditative manner. You can make your own hand made incense in your favorite perfumes! Make incense to match your candles, soaps and bath & body products for great gift sets!
You can easily select & buy already made incense sticks and cones from us, and you can also make your own.
HOW TO MAKE INCENSE:

Select from Incense blanks (unscented cones or sticks). These come in two varieties: wood based and charcoal based.
Charcoal based blanks are easier to work with and produce a higher quality product. Prefer good quality charcoal based blanks soak up less oil, but produce a more pleasing aroma and less smoke than the wood based blanks.
Sandalwood base is common to almost every incense formula, and serves as a wonderful aroma as well as a burning agent of its own right. If you were making an incense of sandalwood alone, the amount of burning agent required is very less, however resins like Frankincense are difficult to burn and must be used in much lower percentages to sandalwood. Otherwise, your incense won"t burn properly, and may me too smoky or keep going out.

For Sticks:
Put on your gloves. Lay your sticks in a flat pan (a shallow glass baking pan works well to lay sticks in and submerge in the oil). Pour the incense oil over them. Saturate them by rolling the sticks around in the oil. When the sticks are saturated, lay them out on soaking paper or towel or cloth to dry. When the incense is still nearly dry, store it in an airtight container or a ziplock bag, or wrap it in a foil paper to avoid leaking the scent in the atmosphere.

For Cones:
Put on your gloves. Put your cones in a large ziplock plastic bag and pour the incense oil over them. Saturate them by shaking the bag with care. When the cones are saturated (turned wet), lay them out on soaking paper or towel or cloth to dry. When the incense is still nearly dry, store it in an airtight container or a ziplock bag to avoid leaking the scent in the atmosphere.

Note:

* Use DPG (Dipropylene Glicol - a synthetic, perfumers cutting) to dilute the thick incense oils. Do not use alcohol in place of DPG, it does not work well. Do not use straight fragrance oil as it will make excessively smoky incense!
* Incense/ Fragrance oils are very strong and can melt or eat through many types of plastic! so be patient and allow it to dry fully before using for best results. If incense is still wet or damp, it will not burn properly!
* Cones take little longer than sticks because of their thickness.

The leftover mixture of fragrance oils and dilatants can be saved in a glass container for future use. Dont just throw it up !

Some popular incense scents are Patchouli, Nag Champa, Sandalwood, Lavender, Jasmine, Frankincense, Ylang Ylang, Amber, Musk, Cedar Wood, Cinnamon & Dragon Blood.

Incense Ingredients as described in Indian Ayurveda:

Breaking down the five elements and their Ayurvedic relationship to plants and common incense ingredients we find them falling into five classes. The following shows the relationship:

1. Ether (Fruits) Star Anise
2. Water (Stems & Branches) Sandalwood, Aloes wood, Cedar wood, Cassia, Frankincense, Myrrh, Borneol
3. Earth (Roots) Turmeric, Vetiver, Ginger, Costus Root, Valerian, Spikenard
4. Fire (flower) Clove
5. Air (leaves) Patchouli

By Buddhist traditions, the 5 primary ingredients are:

1. Buddha Family
Vairocana (Transmutation of Ignorance) Aloes wood
2. Vajra Family
Akshobhya (Transmutation of Aversion) Clove
3. Padma (lotus) Family
Amitabha (Transmutation of Desire) Sandalwood
4. Ratna Family
Ratnasambhava (Transmutation of Pride) Borneol
5. Karma Family
Amoghasiddhi (Transmutation of Envy) Turmeric

Herbal Incense

Herbal and Tibetan incense is blended primarily for effect. Scent is the secondary consideration in many cases, characteristic herbs are subject to burn and not the scent alone.Many natural incense ingredients have almost no aroma until they are heated. Notably, Aloes wood as well as many other resins have little or no aroma until they are heated over the fire. These types of incense are available in powder form. These are sprinkled on hot burning charcoal to release their aroma.

We have Tibetan incense powder already mixed with the burning agent. This powder when poured on a powder incense burner and heated with a match stick, catches a slow fire and burns like a normal incense.

A word of Caution:
Always burn incense at a safe place, in the presence of adults. Keep it away from combustible substances. Don"t put burning incense in front of blowers, like fans, AC etc.. Don"t play with fire.