How To Blend Your Own Incense

Incense, then, plays a very important part in ritual, and should, therefore, be used correctly. It is an excellent practice to always have an ample supply of good, all-round incense at minimum, in case of doubt- or if the incense needed at a critical point in the ritual happens to run out.

Blending your own incense in particular can be a very powerful tool. A blend you have made has the benefit of being filled with your intentions and power, as well as the more mundane (but no less important) benefit of knowing what has been put into it. And although I’ve often read that making incense “from scratch” is extremely difficult, in reality the basic formula for natural incense is very simple: Base + Binder + Aromatic + Liquid = Incense Dough

The base material helps with burning, and a good base material burns well evenly. They can be tricky, however, as some of them have very prominent scents of their own. It’s best, then, to choose one with a scent that compliments the rest of your blend; Sandalwood, Cedar, and Pine are all excellent bases that can add a very strong scent, while Red Sandalwood and Alder are lower scent options.

The binder is the ‘glue’ that holds the incense together in your chosen shape, and there are two types: Wood binders are easy to work with and, in most cases, act as a base material in addition to a binder. Common ones include Joss Powder (or Jiggit), Tabu no ki, and Makko (which includes Tabu no ki as an ingredient, but is not the same). The downside is that most wood binders aren’t as strong as gum binders, and so it takes quite a lot to stabilize your blends. Gum binders, on the other hand, are much more powerful and include materials such as Guar and Xanthan Gums. Because of their strength, though, it’s important to note that adding too much gum binder to a recipe can cause it to bind so strongly it can’t burn.

The final dry component is arguably the most critical: The aromatic ingredients. These are what you actually want to smell. And in this case, nearly all manner of herbs, resins, and woods have wonderful aromatic properties.

If you decide to make an apothic stock of aromatic ingredients, have a testing session with them to help you assess their particular quality: Burn a tiny amount of the ingredient on the charcoal, wafting the smoke to your nostrils with your hand. Start with a small amount and increase it if required, especially with any new or unknown ingredient. Test slowly. You will find that you soon begin to develop a ‘nose’ for incense. Keep a notebook of your observations… Is an ingredient warm, heavy, light, pleasant, sensual, etc, for instance; these notes will help you in blending when you wish to create your own as opposed to following others’ recipes.

Whatever you choose as your binder, you must add some kind of liquid to your blend in order to ‘activate’ the binder. And while this does need to be pure, plain water specifically, it does need to be a water based liquid at the very least. Any liquid that is mostly water will work just as well to activate your binder as a result. That includes tea, coffee, milk, fruit juices, honey, wine, and other liquids.

Keep in mind, however, that while many incense makers will also include liquid scents such as essential oils, decoctions, hydrosols, and other extracts in addition to dried and powdered aromatics? These do not contain water. You can supplement the amount of water you use with some oils, but you cannot use oils in place of water.

For an example blend, you will need:

• Mortar and Pestle
• A secondary glass, plastic, or wooden bowl
• Wood spoons for mixing
• Pipette or eyedropper each for choice liquids
• 3/4 tsp Makko incense base
• 1 tsp each of two different resins of choice
• 1 tsp of one aromatic herbal of choice
• 2 tsp another aromatic herbal of choice

Never use metal utensils for Incense and Oil making as the metal may cause some reactions with certain ingredients. Too, always use a mortar and pestle, bowls, and spoons that can be washed between uses, so that the previous mixing will not add to or contaminate any new incense being made. Likewise, keep the utensils for incense-making apart from, and do not be tempted to use them for, anything to do with the regular kitchen or food preparation (or vice versa; do not use your usual kitchen bowls or utensils for incense-making). Keep all oils and resins out of the kitchen away from food as well. Incense is not meant to be ingested, and in some cases ingredients can be actively harmful to ingest even if it is safe to inhale.

When you are ready to start, if you are making your own blends, begin with mixing small amounts of the ingredients together in equal amounts, and then adjust accordingly. If you are using someone else’s recipe, follow the instructions in order. In either case, always start by crushing each ingredient well individually (one at a time) in a mortar and pestle. When finished, combine your ingredients in a small bowl and mix them together with the wooden spoon, making sure they’re all evenly crushed up and mixed well together.

Begin to add small amounts of your liquid to the mixture using a pipette or an eyedropper, a few drops at a time, mixing well between stages. Doing it this way, and going slowly, prevents you from adding too much liquid and making the blend too moist; remember that you can always add more liquid as you go- but you can never take it back out once it’s in there.

Keep going until the blend reaches the consistency of play-doh. Once that happens and your blend has formed a paste, you can begin to form incense; a properly mixed batch of incense dough can be formed into any shape you wish. Sticks and cones are the most common forms, but there are many more out there. Whatever shapes you choose, let them dry for a minimum of 24 to 48 hours before attempting to use them.

The simplest method of burning your incense is in a decorative container made for that purpose, which you have filled with sand; the smoldering charcoal generates quite a lot of heat, and if this were placed in direct contact with many materials it would crack or damage most containers. Hence the risk of fire resulting from carelessness is ever present, and so sand is a necessary precaution to help better disperse the heat.

Do not fill the sand level with the brim of your container, however. Likewise, if you put the charcoal directly onto the surface of the sand, do not have the sand level. Instead, make a few scratch marks with a pencil or your finger to allow the air to reach the underside of the charcoal or it may go out. You will have to eventually take off the top layer of the charcoal as well by removing the spent ashes and charcoal with a scraper, and then replenishing your incense, depending on the length of the ritual.