Incense

There are some really gorgeous smelling ones out there, but for me, nothing compares with Nag Champa.

firefrost said:

There are some really gorgeous smelling ones out there, but for me, nothing compares with Nag Champa.

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I'm so glad you said this. I am in the process of trying out various ones that I recently ordered. Some are soft, some are nice, some are deep, lots smell nice while burning but just leave a stinky smoke smell afterwards, for days. Here it is snowing out and I had to open windows to get the stink out, and it still smells! But Nag Champa, that lovely blue, white and red box, is still my favourite one and a keeper. I will probably air out again tomorrow and then burn a stick of this to make things smell nice again, or burn scented candles to kill the smoke smell! Nag Champa is just lovely!

AJ said:

Can you show us what you mean??

I actually read the back of a packet of Temple incense this morning and did you know there are instructions for burning incense??? Doh...
After you get the fire lit on stick incense you are supposed to blow out the flame. Hokey Smokes, that stick is still going and it has been over an hour. I think it usually takes about 10 minutes.

Slaps forehead.

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Ok, it's a typical bottle, I have a tall wine bottle, a big whiskey bottle, and some decorative craft-store aquisitions that I use. There's a small hole drilled about an inch up from the bottom, though for better ventilation, my husband drills one on each side. The kind I see in stores and craft markets generally have one.

Then, the bottom of the incense stick gets held in place, by shoving it through the tight rings of a standard key ring. So the stick crosses the O part, and you rest the keyring in the opening of the bottle, suspending the stick inside. The heat makes a vacuum, sucking air in from the vent holes in the bottom and creates a chimney of smoke out the top of the bottle. When the stick is spent, you take the stick out and replace it. The ash is all caught in the bottle.

The only trick in keeping it lit is this: Load the stick into the keyring holder, light it, turn it upside down and drop it into the bottle. When the keyring hits the bottle, the flame usually goes out, but the flame is what creates the vacuum, if there's no flame going into the bottle, then the stick won't stay lit, so just don't blow it out like you normally would.

I just did a Google image search, and found this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v319/gaiagal/P1020024.jpg

that sounds complicated but I do like the idea. Thanks for sharing.

I have one Temple (excellent) and four Vanilla (terrible) sticks left so I'll let my fingers do the walking at some of the sites mentioned. Next month...I've blown my discretionary fund on yoga blankets and bolsters this month.

My favorite is hard to find, but you can ask Whole Foods to order it for you in US. It's called Maroma Spa Quiet Mind.

I also like HEM Rose.

Other than that, I'm really into granular incense that you sprinkle on charcoal. Not the resins, but Japanese woods and things like that. I've recently started blending my own charcoal burning incenses with herbs and oils and it's a lot of fun. I love seeing the way the smoke rises up each time you put a pinch on the charcoal tablet. It's really mystical and is more interactive than burning a stick.

AJ said:

that sounds complicated but I do like the idea. Thanks for sharing.

I have one Temple (excellent) and four Vanilla (terrible) sticks left so I'll let my fingers do the walking at some of the sites mentioned. Next month...I've blown my discretionary fund on yoga blankets and bolsters this month.

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It's really not complicated at all, hehe. It's a bottle, with a keyring, and a hole in it. No moving parts

AJ said:

I actually read the back of a packet of Temple incense this morning and did you know there are instructions for burning incense??? Doh...
After you get the fire lit on stick incense you are supposed to blow out the flame. Hokey Smokes, that stick is still going and it has been over an hour. I think it usually takes about 10 minutes.

Slaps forehead.

Click to expand...

Haha.... this will keep me laughing all day!

Well I'm proof we are never too old to learn.

I used one of the vanilla sticks this morning, they usually burn down in 3-4 minutes. Blew the flame out it went dead. Relit let it burn a few seconds and then blew out, it burned for about 45 minutes. It is too sweet for my taste, but certainly good value for the money.

Gosh I wish I'd noticed those instructions before. Am I the only one who didn't know about blowing the original flame out? (blush)

Over the past few years I've gotten into mixing pure resins and oils to make incense. By using a morter and pestol to grind thing up, then I add a few drops of raw honey to the mix to make a paste. After that I roll them into little balls the size of rabbit droppings and let them 'cure' for about a month and then drop them on a burning coal. It's a heck of alot of fun and leaves you smelling great.

I mix a lot of my own incenses too, resins and herbs, and all, but I never thought about adding honey and making sort of a dough out of it. I'm gonna try it, that sounds like a great idea. Since I use the homemade stuff more for ritual work, it would be more convienent than a bowlful of powder, too, I think. Thanks for the idea!