pros and cons of resin incense?

HearthCricket

I have a question about the resin incense, too. I was going to get a burner, some charcoal and resin, to try for the first time, but two people at the store said it creates even more smoke than incense. Is this true? I mean, when I think about it, resin is used by the church and that stuff is very smokey, until the whole large building with cathedral ceilings is foggy and the congregation is coughing! Is high quality stick incense better for home use, especially if using in one room with only some filtering into another room and about?
 

gregory

It certainly makes more smoke - but that said it smells so much better and the lovely smell lasts so much longer - who's to say which is better. I would go for resin every time and can't imagine why I no longer have a resin burner.... :confused:
 

Sulis

HearthCricket if you burn resin incense straight on top of the charcoal block it makes an awful lot of smoke - nice though.

To reduce the smoke put a piece of foil on top of the charcoal block when it's been lit and put the incense on top of that (that's my top tip :)).
 

Milfoil

Its true, charcoal with resin on does make a LOT of smoke so if I'm using it in my home I put the resin on a tiny bit at a time. Waiting till the charcoal is white before using helps but the initial burning of the charcoal is smokey too (or can be). You can burn resin on a bit of tin foil just over a candle too (if the candle is in either a burner or in a glass) - its still very strong even this way and needs to be tended with little bits at a time. In Japan there is an art to doing this and special tools.

Never thought about tin foil over the charcoal - thanks for the tip Sulis. :)

A traditional way is to burn the charcoal on a bed of ash which takes the heat and doesn't crack the container also the spent charcoal adds to the ash.
 

Sulis

Well I got a little sample of Prinknash's Basilica incense (thanks Milfoil) today and it's gorgeous.
My house is very smokey but very pleasant on the nose :).
 

Milfoil

Glad it survived the rigours of the postal service.

Your house will be feeling very grand now with the heady scent of Basilica in the air. :laugh:
 

WillowRose

I love it , my fave would be Frankinsence - only prob is that Its very smoky & since I've had my babies (and they're still young) I can't light them much ,Sometimes I'll put some insence at the front door so a little bit drifts in
 

Milfoil

Yes, it can be a bit smokey, good for big gatherings, not so good for one person in a small flat! :)
 

Moonbow

I tried resins about 4 years ago and posted here about it. I found there was a knack to lighting charcoal discs (not too much of a problem after trial), but I wasn't happy with the resins. At the time, the resins I could get my hands on were so strong they made me feel sick. I also found that the charcoal discs and resins needed constant attention, so I went back to incense sticks for ease and less attention.

If they've improved then I would try them again because I had no problem with lighting the disc, it was the resin that seemed 'artificial' to me.

Having said all that, I use aromatherapy oils more than anything.
 

Milfoil

I find there are some charcoal discs that seem to take forever to light and others which catch in an instant and require no attention. The Prinknash discs are cheaper than most others (90p for a pack of 10), light instantly, stay lit and burn to nothing.

The resin does need to be attended to, however, but I quite like doing that.

For ease, incense sticks are definately much easier to use. Light and forget basically and there are some wonderful ones. There are also some dreadful, artificial ones too . . . .

Gregory gave me a box of incense sticks once, they were lovely and I wish I'd kept the box. I wonder if she remembers what they were?