by Carl F. Neal
If you feel a need to use large pieces of herbaceous materials, you might consider using them as smudge bundles instead. If you do wish to use large pieces of green herbs in your loose incense, you might try binding the large pieces of herbs in a miniature version of a smudge bundle. Herbs still on the stem can be tightly bound with thread. If tightly bound, air flow to the herbs is more restricted and they tend to burn more slowly and evenly. You can even add small pieces of resins or woods inside the bundle.
Larger pieces don’t tend to burn as evenly or as long as an equal amount of smaller ones. As you will see in the next section, there are several ways to process your materials into smaller pieces. No matter what method you prefer, smaller pieces will usually perform better in your censer. I prefer my loose incense to be about the size of rice grains. I will often process green herbs into pieces a little smaller than that. I like the contrast of the smaller green pieces and translucent pieces of resin with a scattering of wood splinters with a little bit of wood powder. For me, this produces the best combination of burning qualities with visual appeal.
Mixing
Mixing loose incense, although intuitive, does have a few factors to consider. Unlike powders or other finer forms of incense, loose incense has a tendency to “shake out.” That is, when stored even for a brief time, the smaller particles tend to settle to the bottom of the container. This is true with heavier ingredients to a certain extent, but it is the smaller particles that can most easily fit through the gaps and end up in the bottom of your container. As a result, you might end up with a less-than-ideal mixture when you put the loose incense onto your charcoal. As you work your way toward the bottom of the container, the mixture will always be different rather than giving you the consistent results most of us prefer.
You can use this apparent weakness to your favor if you’d like. While in most cases, incense users strive for consistency, you can create layered incense with the intent of having a constantly changing scent. Just remember that the finer particles will settle to the bottom—to get the best result, place the coarsest material at the bottom of the container and layer finer and finer particles as you fill the container. Over time those small particles will filter down, so every time you take out a pinch of incense you will get a slightly different blend. You can even use this for a visual effect and create incense that looks like layered soup or pasta mix inside a glass jar.
If you prefer to avoid this kind of inconsistency, you should keep your loose incense thoroughly mixed. The simple way to do this is to either use your loose incense as soon as you make it or to store your incense in a container with a tightly closed lid (always a good idea anyway!) and give it a few firm shakes before each use.
Aging
While you can use virtually any form of non-combustible incense as soon as you make it (moist incense being a notable exception), aging your incense does provide some strong benefits. This is especially true if you use oils (see the end of this section for more information about the use of oils in non-combustible incense), but all incense benefits from proper aging.
I’ll discuss the proper storage of your incense at the end of this chapter, but when stored in an air-tight container, blended incense ingredients share their oils. When loose incense, or really any incense, is used immediately after mixing, you can often easily pick out the individual ingredients. There are times when you might want that effect, but most incense users find that the final result of your incense is much nicer when the various ingredients blend and become a single, unique scent. This synthesis can be accomplished by aging your incense.
Assuming that you don’t expose your blends to air or sunlight, the longer your incense is aged, the more clearly the unique scent of the blend will come through when burned. Much of the finest incense, regardless of form, is aged like fine wine or liquor before it is sold. Being a huge fan of chili, I like to draw a comparison between incense and chili in this regard. When I make a pot of chili, it tastes good as soon as all of the ingredients are cooked, but it’s surprising how much better it tastes the next day. Two days later, it tastes even better—all those herbs, vegetables, and meats blend to create a single, consistent taste. It becomes nearly impossible to pick out the flavor of many of the individual ingredients as time goes by. Luckily, unlike chili, incense won’t go bad no matter how long you age it if you use proper storage.
Powdered Incense
Compositionally, powdered incense is essentially the same as loose incense. Any loose incense recipe can be easily modified to work in powdered form. While each form has its own advantages and disadvantages, it’s really an easy transition from making and using loose incense to making and using powder.
Although they are virtually identical compositionally, powdered and loose incense do differ in several major ways. Powdered incense tends to burn much more evenly, and it also requires different handling. When the larger materials are broken down into very small pieces, the quicker-burning materials are more evenly balanced with the slower-burning ones. This also means ingredients that are radically different in form or properties (such as a green herb and a soft resin) work in greater harmony. The final incense will typically burn longer because of this consistency.
Powdering results in more consistent burning as well as a superior blending of the scents. Powdered incense is also more controllable. It is easier to make accurate measurements with powdered ingredients and to measure the completed incense. A pinch, or a teaspoon, of powdered incense will be a much more accurate measurement than the same amount of loose incense composed of larger pieces. Powdering makes the large air spaces that exist in loose incense disappear. You also get a more consistent scent. Unlike loose incense that needs to be stirred or shaken before every use, powdered incense won’t separate out because all the ingredients are the same powdery size.
The process of powdering does present one of the drawbacks to this form of incense. There are essentially two ways to powder any botanical and both can impact the quality of the botanical and thus the quality of the incense. Some practitioners like to mix the botanicals before powdering them. Powdering them together can force some of the essential oils to the surface, and the oils from different materials will blend during mixing.
Powdering your own incense will help you control the loss of the essential oils from which botanicals derive their scents. I’m a strong advocate of making your own incense so you have control over this aspect of it as well as knowing how all the ingredients were stored before and after powdering. You also have to recognize that some botanicals are very difficult to turn into powder, so you may have to purchase them already in powdered form. While some incense makers freely use their kitchen tools for incense making, I’ve always kept my incense tools separate from my food tools. I will retire old kitchen tools for use in my incense workshop, but I never bring anything from the workshop back into the kitchen.
Grinding
Grinding is powdering incense by applying a great deal of pressure. Some incense makers use mills that grind two steel or stone plates together. When material is poured into an opening in one of the plates, it is drawn between the two plates and the powdered material falls from the bottom. This is the process used to turn wheat into flour. Some materials, especially harder woods, are nearly impossible to powder any other way.
Another common grinding tool is the mortar and pestle. These come in a variety of forms but work in the same fashion. Material is placed in a special bowl or plate (the mortar) and a grinder (the pestle) that is shaped to fit tightly into it is used. A combination of using the pestle as a hammer to smash larger pieces and pressing the pestle against the mortar with maximum force results in powdered material.
Grinding presses a great deal of the oils from the materials. It is also a hot process because of the friction between the two plates or the pestle on the mortar. This can result in the loss of essential oils. With some materials, it w
ill result in a sticky mess! This would be my last method of choice for powdering resins.
Chopping
This is the preferred method for powdering botanicals. Rather than using the broad pressure of grinding, chopping uses very focused pressure to cut the material into smaller pieces. Coffee grinders and blenders qualify as choppers. (These are not the same as a true coffee mill, which is a grinder as described earlier—many coffee grinders are inappropriately labeled as a mill.) Coffee grinders use blades spinning at high speed to chop the material into smaller and smaller pieces. Since pressure is only applied to a small part of the surface area of the material there is less loss of essential oils. It is also an overall cooler process, but chopping machines can still subject the material to inappropriate levels of heat if used for a prolonged time. Resins should be chopped with care, and the chopper should be pulsed rather than allowed to run.
Scissors and chopping blades also belong in this group. Scissors are very useful tools for the initial stages of chopping. All cooks know that a sharp blade is also very good at chopping, although that is the slowest method.
Chopping may not give you as fine a powder as grinding, but it can produce a nice powder by sifting it before use. A fine meshed sifter will turn chopped incense into superb powder. Some incense makers use more coarsely chopped materials in some forms of incense. Coarsely chopped botanicals can also be used in loose incense blends or moist incense.
Mixing
For optimal mixing, powdered ingredients would be stirred together. However, it is very time-consuming to get an even mixture for any large amounts of powder. Shaking is a better solution for larger quantities of powder. Put all of the powdered ingredients into an airtight container and shake vigorously until the powder is one consistent color. Optionally, you could pour ingredients together. The disadvantage with pouring powders is that you run the risk of losing essential oils if you lose any of the dust from the powder. Pouring is often used for initial mixing and then one of the other techniques is used to produce the finished blend.
Moist Incense
This is incense that is made with honey (or sometimes with jams or jellies) as a binder to keep the mixture together. It is simple to make and has a wonderful perfume quality. Japanese nerikoh is moist incense that is shaped into pea-sized balls. While the incense will cure, it will always retain some moisture if properly stored.
When I first learned to make nerikoh, I had very low expectations. As many of us did, I burned white sugar in science class in elementary school. The result was a chunk of carbon and an awful smell. I foolishly assumed that honey would have the same effect. Instead, I was stunned at the results from my first attempt. The scent was sweet and mellow. I was honored to be gifted with a nerikoh making kit by Shoyeido incense and was even more stunned the first time I made nerikoh with the high-quality ingredients included from one of the world’s most famous makers of incense. The kits are not commonly sold in the West, but they might be available through special order.
I strongly recommend that new incense makers begin by making moist incense, like nerikoh (you’ll find instructions in chapter 8). You will get outstanding results from a virtually fool-proof incense making process. “Dhoops” would also fit into this category, although their properties are not the same as nerikoh.
Oils
I’m personally concerned about the contents of essential oils that are commercially produced. There are certainly reputable retailers of high-quality essential oils, but it is very difficult to know exactly what you are buying. Labeling variations, undisclosed synthetic ingredients, and deliberate efforts at fraud make it difficult to have confidence in the natural origins of the oils you purchase. Oils are also very powerful and need to be used with reservation in incense. It is easy to create incense where the added oils overwhelm the botanicals in the mixture.
As a result, I’m not a strong advocate of using oils in incense. If you extract your own oil (which seems to be a growing hobby) then you know precisely what has been done with it. If you like working with essential oils, whether in incense or other uses, find a reputable seller who conducts rigorous quality control and publishes periodic results from their reports. Likewise if you aren’t concerned with keeping your incense completely natural, you can use any brand of oil as long as it produces the desired scent.
If you choose to use oils in your incense, only add a few drops at a time. Never underestimate the power of essential oils! If you find you have not gotten as strong a result from the oil as you would have liked, then add a bit more the next time you make a batch of the same incense. Only increase the amount of oil by one or two drops until you achieve the desired scent.
Controlling Burn and Heat
As I discussed in chapter 5, one common problem in incense burning is charcoal that is too hot. Using “self-lighting” charcoal and a lack of spacers can cause your incense to burn too hot, resulting in a loss of scent and premature replacement of the incense on the charcoal. Properly prepare your charcoal before you ever add any incense to it.
Loose incense will have to be replaced the most frequently because it burns faster because of the large air spaces in it. Powder incense will usually burn more slowly and evenly, so it won’t require as frequent replacement. Nerikoh or other moist incense will usually burn the slowest. Usually is a key word here. The composition of moist incense can vary widely, so some burn quite quickly. Typically a pellet of moist incense on properly prepared charcoal will burn longer than any similar amount of other forms of non-combustible incense.
Unless you plan to apply incense to your charcoal one time and then allow it to burn itself out, you will need to clean your charcoal while it is burning. A feather is a good tool (this is a traditional tool for cleaning ash from the lip of a formally prepared censer) but is obviously subject to scorching. A metal tool such as a spoon or a knife will work fine. Even a pair of tongs used to handle burning charcoal can be used to brush burnt material from the surface of the charcoal. Avoid blowing the ash from the charcoal. That will also blow around many fill materials and scatter ash around the room.
The only way to control the temperature of your charcoal (aside from using low-scent charcoal) is, as I mentioned in chapter 5, by placing insulation between the incense and the charcoal. In kodo, a mica plate is used atop the buried charcoal and the temperature is adjusted by raising or lowering the ash mound atop which the plate rests. The mica plate itself acts as insulation and also spreads the heat more evenly.
For some substantial insulation, you can use small ceramic tiles. It is not safe to bury self-lighting charcoal under ash, but it is safe to use a ceramic tile on top of the charcoal. This will lower the heat level, spread out the heat, and allow for quick changes of scent. You can prepare tiles with different incense blends ahead of time. When you are ready to change scents, you simply replace a tile with another one already prepared with the next scent. Glazed tiles are easier to clean, but unglazed tiles may be used.
Although these tiles are insulators, keep in mind that they will still be very hot. Don’t attempt to handle with bare hands one that’s in use. These types of tiles can be found in many craft stores and in some home improvement stores. I like 1-inch-square tiles, but even large tiles can be used. The thicker the tile, the less the heat will pass from it and the more slowly it will cool.
Extinguishing Charcoal
Ideally, you should allow charcoal to burn completely, but in some situations you may need to extinguish it. Take care when using water to extinguish charcoal. The charcoal doesn’t like water (it may even be an offense to the fire element in some traditions) and tends to violently disintegrate. I once dropped a burning charcoal brick into a toilet—it turned the entire toilet bowl black with charcoal as it exploded upon impact with the water. You can also smother charcoal in an airtight container. I only recommend glass or ceramic containers for this process. Plastic cont
ainers may melt from the heat and wooden ones could be scorched. Whenever possible, just allow the charcoal to burn out on its own. Clean any burnt incense from the surface and leave it in a safe, observed spot until the censer and ash are completely cool. You can even set the censer in a safe location outside if it needs to be removed from the room.
Storing Non-Combustible
Incense and Charcoal
Once incense reaches the proper moisture content, it should be kept in an airtight container. Practically speaking, those who do not make their own incense would want to keep the incense sealed from moisture but without anything that would intentionally create a drier atmosphere. Don’t, for example, store incense in a humidor or a box with a desiccant pack (those little silica gel packets that come in all sorts of items these days). This is true for all categories of incense. Once plants have been processed into forms that are suitable for incense, many of the oils have been forced to the surface. That makes the oils far more vulnerable to evaporation. You also want to seal the incense from absorbing additional moisture from humid air. Store your incense out of the light, especially sunlight. I prefer to store incense in glass or plastic containers. These can be tightly sealed and some are made from dark colors that help protect the incense from light exposure. Wooden containers can absorb oils from unwrapped incense, so I recommend that you put your incense into a plastic bag before storing it in a wood or paper container to minimize oil loss.
Charcoal should be stored just as you would store incense. Some charcoal comes in sealed packages and it can be stored that way until the package is opened. An open package of charcoal should be stored in an airtight container. Charcoal is more susceptible to damage from moisture. Charcoal with too much water will not burn properly and may not burn at all. If you suspect that your charcoal has been damaged by humidity, you can bake the water out of it. Don’t try this with self-lighting charcoal, as it could actually ignite itself in the oven. Bake the charcoal in a 250º F oven for 30 minutes to remove excess moisture.