How to Make Herbal Incense
For centuries incense has been used for healing, meditation, religious worship and seduction. Scent changes the atmosphere of a space and alters people's mood. Incense is made of pulverized herbs like cinnamon, vanilla, thyme, sage, sandalwood and cedar. Used as early as 1530 B.C. in ancient Egypt, herbal incense is limited to herbs or herbal essential oils as its sole aromatic ingredient to the exclusion of resins and woods. Make some herbal incense and put your personal stamp in any space your homemade incense is burned.
Things You'll Need
- Herbs
- Mortar and pestle
- Essential oil
- Odorless charcoal
- Dish or dish-shaped holder filled with sand
- Matches or a lighter
Instructions
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1
Select your herbs. Take care to use the freshest herbs around. The scent of some herbs when heated is very similar to their raw scent while others smell quite different. Experimentation is the best way to find the herbs that appeal to you when heated in incense form.
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2
Pulverize the herbs. The best way to do this is with a mortar and pestle because it does not damage the aromatic properties of the plants.
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3
Mix all of the herbs together. At this point, and a few drops of an essential oil if you feel it helps the aroma of your incense.
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4
Allow the mixture to cure. Place it in an airtight container and store it in a cool, dry, dark place for two weeks. This allows the aromas of each ingredient to fully blend.
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5
Fill a dish-shaped holder with sand and place a piece of odorless charcoal on the sand to contain any sparks or ash from the charcoal as it smolders.
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Light the charcoal.
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Sprinkle the incense mixture over the lit charcoal. Allow a few minutes for the charcoal to fully heat the herbal incense. The aroma of the incense strengthens as the heat of the charcoal increases.
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Tips & Warnings
Avoid using an electric device to grind your herbs. Electric grinders have blades or graters that move at fast speeds to accomplish the grinding. This motion creates heat that leaches the aromatic properties out of herbs. Save the electric coffee grinders for woods when making incense that includes them.
