Incense

While vending at the Inglewood Night Market I had someone question me on how incense are made. I do not actually make my own incense because I have found a brand, I love so much, I have no desire to burn any other kind. My interest was piqued though and so here is the rundown on how stick incense are made:

There are a couple of different methods for making stick incense. The easiest way is to purchase unscented sticks and to douse them in a shallow dish with your favorite essential oils (approximately 20 drops per stick) and allow to dry overnight. To roll your own incense is much more labour intensive and will require a bit of trial and error. Incense, both cones and sticks, are made from a combinations of fresh scented materials (resin, woods and herbs). These ingredients can be hand ground with a mortar & pestle or in an electric coffee grinder. Hand grinding is recommended as it adds less heat. Grinding your ingredients into a very, very fine powder is one of the keys to making cones or sticks that will burn properly. This mixture is combined with a substance called "makko powder" which is used to prolong the burn of the incense. If you have a mixture with no resins in it, then you will most likely need to add only between 10 - 25% of makko to your mixture. (i.e. If you use 4 tablespoons of loose mixture, try adding 1/2 - 1 tablespoon of makko). If you have resins in your mixture then you may need 25 - 80% makko in your mixture. This can also very depending on the climate in which you are living. Very slowly... add a little water at a time and mix with your hands, you want the mixture to become gummy and pliable yet still hold its form. Using your hands, knead the mixture very, very well then form it into cones or sticks. Cones are relatively easy to form. To make sticks, use a piece of wax paper on a flat surface and roll the mixture onto purchased sticks (typically bamboo). Allow to thoroughly dry (a couple of weeks).

There are really no limit to the different scent combinations that you can make. I would recommend keeping a journal, to record your recipes, so that you can go back a replicate the ones that you like.