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How To Make Incense

Step-by-Step Instructions

how to make incense - featured image

Learn how to make incense using all-natural ingredients: gums, resins, woods, herbs, spices, fruits, seeds, flowers, wines, honey, etc.

Since ancient times, humans have treasured these aromatic gifts of nature for pleasure, ritual, healing, and the esoteric arts.

The complete incense book
incense smoke icon - brown

The Complete Incense Book

by Suzanne Fischer Rizzi

This is a FREE educational website that provides step-by-step instructions with photographs on how to make and burn loose resin incense, kneaded pellets, trails, sticks, cones, and molds.

You can even have fun learning how to play incense games in the ancient style of Japanese Kodo.

Experience incense recipes with natural aromatics in the ways our ancestors did and begin to enjoy living each day drenched in nature’s sensory experience.

An extensive incense recipe section helps guide you through developing your own unique recipes.

Make incense recipes that inspire your day, cleanse a space, or relax your evening. Set the mood to entertain guests… meditative mixtures… enhance and bring clarity to your dreams… create a sensual blend for an evening of romance and intimacy…

Incense has been a part of daily life since the days our ancestors gained the ability to control fire.

With the first toss of an aromatic branch in the fire we quickly began learning about the vast world of aromatic plants and their incredible properties.

Incense is the very root of medicine, perfumery, and ceremonial practices. Incense is still used today in Ayurvedic and Traditional Chinese Medicine and remains deeply rooted in the spiritual practices of many cultures and individuals.

Incense is the origin of our love for nature’s exotic and mystical scents. A power and connection so strong it has evolved into today’s multi-billion dollar perfume and aromatherapy industries.

The very word perfume comes from the Latin phrase, par fumum, which means “through smoke.”

Earth’s aromatics enrich our daily lives and reconnect us to that which is beyond all words… to experiencing the infinite richness of the present moment.

Journey with us and let’s reconnect with nature through the timeless tradition of making and enjoying incense.

What’s needed to make natural incense?

step-by-step

Learning the ancient art of making incense is really quite simple, and outside of sheer enjoyment and motivation, it requires just a few basic things:

1) Incense Recipe (or a pinch of this & that)

2) Natural Aromatic Ingredients

3) Mortar & Pestle / Grinder

4) Measuring Devices

5) Jars for storage

See incense tools page for more info. Once you’ve gathered these together, you’re ready to begin making incense.

how to make incense - featured image

All incense making begins with the creation of a “loose,” “non-combustible” mixture, sometimes called resin incense.

A loose incense mixture is simply the combination of two or more ground, granular, powdered, and/or chipped natural aromatic ingredients (herbs, flowers, seeds, spices, woods, bark, gums, resins, etc.).

Loose incense mixtures will rarely burn on their own, hence the term “non-combustible,” and so they’ll need a heat source to release their fragrance; more on this later. First let’s create some incense, then we’ll decide how we want to heat it.

This section will take you through the step-by-step process of how to make your own loose incense. Once completed, you can either heat it as is (my personal favorite), or continue on to make incense sticks, cones, molds, pellets, or trails.

So gather your enthusiasm, tools, and ingredients and let’s explore how to make incense step-by-step…

How To Make Incense: Step-by-Step

Step 1 – Measure, Grind, and Measure Again

Measure each ingredient in your recipe either by weight using a scale (the preferred and more consistently reliable method), or by volume using measuring spoons and cups.

If using a weight scale, to make small recipe batches it’s best to use a scale that measures by the gram (preferably down to 0.01 gram).

If measuring by volume, use spoons that measure 1/4 TSP, 1/2 TSP, 1 TSP, and 1 TBSP. Measuring cups can also be used for making larger batches of incense.

TSP=teaspoon
TBSP = tablespoon

In both cases, roughly measure the ingredients in their whole form first, then grind each and make your final measurement once the ingredients are ground. *This is an especially crucial step if you’re measuring by volume.*

scale to measure
weighing bulk incense ingredients
measuring powdered incense

Grinding Tips

Grind each ingredient separately using a mortar and pestle (absolutely required for all gums and resins) and/or a hand-crank grinder or mill.

If you’re making loose incense, incense trails, or pellets, then grind all ingredients to a small granular form, about the consistency of sea salt or coarse sand. You may powder it all if you like, but it’s not required.

If you’re making incense sticks, cones, or molds, then all ingredients must be ground to a very fine powder. This allows the sticks, cones or molds to burn more reliably and evenly. Sift the ground powders though a small metal sifter/strainer to make sure all larger grains have been removed.

mortar and pestle and a grinder
combined coarse ingredients
sifting incense ingredients

Grinding Gums & Resins:

Freeze slightly gummy resins for 15 to 30 minutes prior to grinding for faster, easier, and more efficient grinding. Very soft gum resins like labdanum and elemi are best frozen overnight.

Resins must be ground or powdered in a mortar and pestle. They will clog, destroy, and ruin any grinder, mill, blender, processor, etc. you put in their path. The old fashioned way is still the only way. There are expensive commercial-grade grinders that could do the job but this web site is about making incense for personal use.

We prefer using a large solid granite mortar and pestle for the heavy work of grinding resins. Some soft gum resins may stick to the granite so freezing the mortar and pestle as well as the gum resins prior to grinding can help prevent this.

For gum resins that soften very quickly even when frozen, like labdanum, galbanum, and elemi, we prefer using a “seasoned” Molcajete mortar and pestle. A Molcajete is a traditional mortar and pestle from Mexico made from porous volcanic rock which you “season” by grinding in pre-soaked white rice to coat the pores. This helps prevent soft gum resins from sticking to the walls.

Tip: Adding the powdered woods or spices portion of a recipe, if any, to the soft resins as you’re grinding them can help keep the resin mixture dry and separated.

freeze gummy incense resins
thai granite mortar n pestle-opt
molcajete-mortar-pestle-opt

Grinding Woods:

Woods can be very difficult to powder and doing so can be a path of great patience and attention.

If you’re making incense sticks, cones or molds, it’s often easier to purchase woods already in powder form.

If you’re making loose incense, it’s okay to use small wood chips about the size of grains of rice. Powders work well too but aren’t necessary to make and heat a loose incense mixture.

To grind woods use a small hammer and wood chisel to chip the wood into smaller and smaller pieces. Once into very small, rice-size chips or shavings, woods can then be ground into powders using coffee grinders or grain mills, either manual or electric.

hammer and chisel for chipping incense woods
coffee grinder for incense woods

Grinding Herbs, Spices, & Flowers:

These are usually easily ground in coffee grinders or mills, either electric or manual.

Though sometimes hard, whole pieces of ingredients like cloves, cinnamon sticks, nutmeg, musk seeds, etc. are often best ground in a mortar and pestle first and then run through a grinder or mill.

Experiment with what works best for the ingredients you’re using.

Grinding Dried Fruit

Orange, lemon, lime and other citrus peels can be ground from the fruit by rubbing a cheese grater across the peel of the fruit.

Scatter cut peels on a screen, wax paper, cutting board, or cardboard and let dry, turning occasionally.

These dried peels can then be used as is for making loose incense, or can be ground into powders in a coffee mill for making incense sticks, cones or molds.

Dried fruits such as raisins, apricots, plums, quince, and others can be used alone or soaked in wines overnight, drained, drizzled with honey and then added to incense mixtures to create incredibly delicious soft-kneaded incense pellets

grinding citrus peels for incense

Step #2 – Mix

Combine the final ground and measured ingredients together as one mixture and grind it around a bit in the mortar and pestle to help “merge” the aromas.

combine and mix ingredients together
incense mixture after being combined

Step #3 – Heat & Test

Congratulations, you’ve now made your very own “loose,” “non-combustible” incense!

You’re ready to heat it and enjoy the fruits of your labor (and the labor of the many who harvest, grow, and bring these ingredients to us all).

Even if you plan to continue on and make kneaded incense pellets, trails, sticks, cones or molds with this incense it’s best to stop right now, heat it and see if you enjoy the aroma and/or energy of the incense. If it’s not to your approval, make adjustments now before moving on.

There are three basic methods you can use to heat your loose incense mixture; you can use incense charcoal, incense trails, or an incense stove. Click on each title to learn more.

use an incense stove to test incense recipe

Step #4 – Make Adjustments

Once you’ve heated your loose incense you can make adjustments to the recipe to suit your own tastes and desires.

This is a completely subjective step in the process of making incense, and so only your own nose, instincts, and experience can guide you.

Continue testing and adjusting the recipe until you’re completely happy with the results.

Step #5 – Finished or Moving On?

If you want only a loose incense blend for your uses then congratulations you’re done! You’ve made your very own all natural incense… enjoy!

Click here for information on how to heat or burn your loose resin incense.

Scoop the entire mixture into a glass jar, seal it closed, label it and let it stand at least overnight in a dark, cool space (a drawer or closet usually works well).  The aging process allows the entire mixture to “synergize,” or merge together as one complex aroma. Aging for several days or weeks will create a more matured, blended, and complex aroma.

An unglazed ceramic pot and lid is an ideal incense storage container. Since ancient days such pots have been buried near streams to age incense for months and even years.

If you want to continue on to make incense pellets, trails, sticks, cones or molds, there’s a little more work to do.

And now you’re prepared to move on to the steps necessary for making those types of incense.

Click below for step-by-step guides for making each type of incense:

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